Does gin taste better when made on an island?

The so-called ‘gin craze’ of the early 18th century is said to have led to ‘mother’s ruin’ being made available in more than 7,000 specialist shops up and down the length and breadth of England, many of which experimented with delicious special ingredients such as turpentine and sulphuric acid in an attempt to tease-out a few elusive extra flavours.

Fast forward 300 years and, save for the killer extras, the gin craze has come full circle. And it’s no longer confined to England or even to the mainland because, in case you hadn’t noticed, ‘island gin’ is now all the rage. That’s gin, made on islands. Where distillers claim elements such as salty maritime air, storm-tossed samphire and bits of ‘hand harvested’ kelp give their gin the extra edge that mainland producers just can’t supply.