Gin gets its name from juniper, an evergreen tree. We make turpentine from evergreen resin. So it’s no wonder most people have trouble finding their foothold in gin - you’re trying to find good tasting alcohol and people are giving you a drinkable paint thinner.

I hated gin, too, until I did a tasting. The first thing I noticed - varying degrees of pine resin flavor. That was a big revelation.

But then you study gin and realize that gin is made with a bunch of botanicals, and the flavors come from whatever they steep in it.

Some botanicals are so strong that the producer basically has to label it “X Gin”. So like lavender gin is really distinctive and most people when using a gin will not expect it to be a lavender gin.

But then you have other botanicals that clearly shape the flavor but don’t rise to the level of something like lavendar. Cucumber is one of those. Henricks is famous for using cucumber and their gin is generally one of the first gins that people find they like.

Other than that, it’s a lot of subtlety. I prefer Plymouth. Some people prefer Beefeater. I also like Aviation.

The other thing to note is that some companies don’t do traditional botanicals anymore but create a sort of syrup or additive mixture in a chemical factory. It makes the alcohol uniform and consistent, but it can also just be gross and harsh.