ith a menu featuring more than 30 Quebec gins, at Madame Smith you will find a gin that will please your tastes. Try our cocktails by the glass or the pitcher, including our famous gin-tonics, served with their herb and fruit toppings and their recommended tonics. Discover new flavours with our Chin Gin Trio. Every Wednesday, enjoy a double gin for the price of one.
What is Gin?
Gin is a spirit, that is to say a distilled liquor in which we infuse or macerate agricultural raw materials. In the case of gin, ethyl alcohol comes from the distillation of fermented rye or corn kernels, to which are added juniper berry aromas. Its production originates from the former Netherlands, therefore from Holland and part of present-day Belgium, towards the end of the 17th century. The British quickly adopted gin and made it their own, less flavored version, which is now found in most gin cocktails.
Different Manufacturing Methods
Dutch or Belgian gin, also called Genever, comes from the distillation of fermented maize and rye flours which are subsequently redistilled after the addition of aromas of juniper berries in particular, but also of anise, fennel, coriander, orange peel or cumin, depending on recipes. The result is a highly flavored gin, less popular than its British counterpart.
English gin, or London Dry Gin (even if it is not produced in London), is made from rye or corn alcohol, because a law in England forbids the distillation of basic grains to producers of gin. The producers will then distil the base alcohol a second time by adding the aromatics or mixing it with aromatics alcoholates and pure water. The result is a lightly flavored gin that mixes well in cocktails.
Popular Cocktails
Gin is a dry alcohol that is rarely drank pure. It is therefore most often mixed in cocktails in its London Dry Gin variant, the most popular are Gin tonic, White Lady, Gin Fizz or Negroni.