Style & Regulation

Under EU law, a product needs at least 37.5% alcohol by volume to be called gin at all. This is set out in the Spirit Drinks Regulation (EU) 2019/787. Anyone wanting to call their drink "Distilled Gin" must actually distill the alcohol together with the botanicals. Simply flavoring neutral alcohol isn't enough.

Monkey 47 is distilled at Black Forest Distillers in Loßburg. It carries the designation "Schwarzwald Dry Gin" rather than "London Gin," even though the production method is similarly strict. A London Gin may have nothing added after distillation except water, alcohol of the same quality, and at most 0.1 grams of sugar per liter. The place name "Schwarzwald" instead points to the origin of the botanicals and the distilling location. There's no separate, EU-wide protected style for it.

The situation is different for Genever. Its designation as a juniper spirit is protected in the Netherlands, Belgium, and parts of France and Germany. The Black Forest has no protected gin category of its own. The style follows the international Contemporary Gin approach: juniper remains audible but shares the stage with many other, often unusual aromas from the local forest.

This sets the region apart from classic London recipes, which typically use eight to twelve botanicals and clearly foreground citrus and juniper. In the Black Forest, abundance matters more. The more layers of forest, bog, and hedgerow that can be found in the glass, the more typical a gin is considered for the region.