The best gins for G&Ts, martinis and negronis, from our taste test of 50

From sustainable and low-alcohol tipples to Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre’s surprisingly sippable bottle, these are the gins worth your time – and tonic

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Gin and tonic has been a mainstay of British drinking culture since the 17th century, when its initial medicinal use soon turned recreational. It has seen several notable explosions in popularity over the years. The effects of the 18th-century “gin craze” were famously immortalised in Hogarth’s satirical artwork Gin Lane – though some might say worse crimes have been committed in the name of gin more recently.

A centuries-old ban on small-scale distilling was finally lifted in the UK in 2009, fuelling a huge boom in “craft gin” and record sales between 2015 and 2019. It also led to an incredible variety of bottles, flavours and colours, which were sometimes more weird than wonderful: Vegemite or Jaffa Cake gin, anyone?