What Is Purple Gin? The Scoop on Color-Changing Spirits

Purple gin is a particularly pretty category of juniper spirit that can range in color from deep indigo to grape purple. When acidic mixers are added, these tipples shift to bright fuschia or blush pink.

Whether you’re a seasoned gin drinker or a juniper newbie, you’ve most likely crossed paths with a purple gin. It’s pretty and it’s tasty — but just what exactly is purple gin and where did it come from?

What Is Purple Gin?

Ever trendy and most likely here to stay, purple gin is a subcategory of modern gin that takes full advantage of an eye-catching hue and an even more exciting color-changing feature that takes place during cocktail mixology.

While some of these gins technically come in shades of indigo or appear almost blue, they are usually called purple or color-changing.

Notable gins in this category include Empress 1908, Conniption Kinship Gin, Pink Marmalade Gin, Secret Garden Lavender & Echinacea and the newly launched McQueen and the Violet Fog Ultraviolet Edition.

Read more: ‘Not Your Grandparents’ Gin’: In Conversation With the Master Distiller Behind Empress 1908’s Striking Purple Gin

How Does Purple Gin Work?

A big bowl of butterfly pea flowers, a key ingredient in most purple gins. (Photo: MyOrgaFresh Organic Farming/YouTube)

Most purple gins typically derive their hue from the butterfly pea flower, a flower native to Southeast Asia.

Because of the presence of pH-sensitive pigments called anthocyanins in butterfly pea flowers, these gins shift from their original color to shades of pink when combined with tonic water or other acidic mixers like citrus juices. The anthocyanins react to the pH change by becoming more acidic, which causes a change in their molecular structure and alters how light is absorbed and reflected. This phenomenon is seen in a variety of anthocyanin-containing foods and beverages, including blueberries, red cabbage and even grapes.

The end product of distilling a spirit with anthocyanin-rich botanicals is a unique and aesthetically pleasing liquor that enriches the experience of whipping up a tasty gin cocktail.

Where did Purple Gin Come From?

The idea of using pH-sensitive compounds to change the color of beverages or food has been around for a while, but purple gin is fairly new in the great big world of spirits. The first commercially available purple gins were launched in 2015 by two different gin brands, Ink Gin and Sharish Gin — both claim to be the first to debut such a spirit.

(Photo: Ink Gin)

The use of anthocyanin-rich botanicals has since become a popular trend in the gin industry, with many distilleries experimenting with different flavor combinations and color-changing effects. Now, we see the emergence of purple gins that don’t change color, like Gin Lane 1751 Violet Gin, and color-changing gins that aren’t exactly purple, like Scapegrace Black Gin.

Because of a color-changing trick, some imbibers quickly write off purple gin as gimmicky. However, this category of gin presents widely varying flavors from classically pine forward to sweet and juicy. So if this style of juniper spirit piques your fancy, try out a couple before coming to any conclusions.

Cheers!

Read next:

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What Is Rail Gin? Everything You Need to Know About a Bartender’s Go-To Spirit

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