Style & Regulation

Unlike genever, for instance, "Irish Gin" holds no protected designation under EU Spirit Drinks Regulation (EU) 2019/787. There's no rule dictating which botanicals, distillation method, or origin a gin must have to carry the name. The term only signals geographic origin, not a fixed style.

Nevertheless, almost every Irish gin follows the EU's general category rules. Simple gin may be made from any agricultural alcohol flavoured afterwards. "Distilled gin," by contrast, must actually be distilled together with the botanicals, at least for part of the alcohol. Both categories require a minimum of 37.5 percent alcohol by volume.

Many Irish houses also market their products as "London Dry Gin," even though they've never set foot in London. The term describes a production method, not a place. London Dry requires that nothing but water be added after distillation: no flavouring afterwards, no colouring, and no more than 0.1 grams of sugar per litre.

Plymouth Gin was once protected as a place-bound designation, but lost that protection in 2015, showing just how unstable geographic claims can be in the gin world. Irish distilleries like The Shed Distillery in Drumshanbo or Dingle Distillery in Kerry never had to go down that road. They started out from the beginning without any fixed legal framework for their origin, relying instead on storytelling around provenance in their marketing.

Stylistically, most Irish gins sit somewhere between classic dry London Dry character and a more modern, botanical-forward style, often called Contemporary Gin. Individual ingredients like fuchsia from Dingle or gunpowder tea from Drumshanbo are deliberately pushed to the fore, rather than hiding behind the juniper.

So Ireland remains a country without its own protected gin style, yet it has a clear, recognisable signature all the same: juniper as the foundation, plus exactly one or two local ingredients that instantly place a bottle within a landscape.