“Gin dei Gin” Venice
A Venetian Family, a Sea Captain and a Bottle of Gin
“Gin dei Gin” Venice
A Venetian Family, a Sea Captain and a Bottle of Gin
It all started with Captain Gin
There are plenty of stories about Venice and the sea. This one starts with a surname: Gin.
Massimo Gin was born in Venice, still lives here and has worked with traditional boats for a long time. In 2019 an old maritime record turned his surname into the name of a spirit. Add a sailing ship, a captain, a family research project and a comic book with pirates, and you get a rather unusual background for a bottle of gin!
In 2019 Gilberto Penzo, a Venetian expert on traditional boats, found a familiar name in the Guida Commerciale di Venezia for 1871. The guide listed the brigantine Saggio, built in Chioggia in 1856 and fitted out in Venice. Its commander’s surname was Gin.
That was enough to catch Massimo’s attention.
The guide gave no first name. Massimo’s sister Giovanna went looking for one in naval registers, cargo records and port documents from around the Mediterranean, and the family identified the commander as Giovanni Gin. Massimo describes him as an ancestor on his father’s side.
The Saggio also turns up outside the family archive: the IsTraJ19 database of the University of Zadar, which tracks 19th-century Adriatic sailing ships, lists a 207-ton brigantine of that name, built in Chioggia in 1856.
So a man who had spent years around traditional boats found out that another Gin had commanded a sailing ship well over a century earlier. With a surname like that, a bottle of gin was the obvious next step.
A real captain, with a few imaginary pirates
The family then gave their captain a fictional adventure, written and illustrated by their friend Massimiliano Longo. The result is Le Avventure di Capitan Gin, an illustrated booklet that comes with every bottle.
The story is set in 1870, a few months after the Suez Canal opened. A journalist sails towards Venice aboard the Saggio. Near the Pelagosa islands, in the middle of the Adriatic, the ship meets pirates, escapes a shipwreck and finally reaches the lagoon. There Captain Gin invites the commander of a British sailing ship aboard to celebrate, and the story ends with the “original” Gin dei Gin recipe.
Did Captain Gin really fight pirates? There is no evidence for that. Did he write a gin recipe in 1870? That belongs to the comic book too. The family is clear about where the line sits: Giovanni Gin and the Saggio come from their research, the adventures are fiction.
When readers asked for a sequel, the family went the other way and made a prequel, Primo Comando, also by Longo. It comes with the most recent bottlings.
From the lagoon to the Mediterranean
The family history explains the name. Massimo’s sailing explains what is in the bottle. Sailing around the lagoon and the Mediterranean, he started paying attention to the scents of each place: citrus, herbs, spices. Those became the starting point for a botanical gin, which the family calls a Venetian Botanic Gin.
Gin dei Gin is produced and bottled by Distilleria Zamperoni in Veneto, in limited runs. The full recipe stays private, including one botanical the family prefers not to name.
Gin dei Gin (70 cl)
Here is how the family describes it. Juniper and citrus come first on the nose, with citrus leading, as a nod to the Mediterranean. On the palate, spices follow, then fresh mint and the balsamic side of Mediterranean herbs, with a hint of Eastern spices. The secret ingredient closes each sip with a long, clean finish.
How to drink it
The family suggests starting simple: neat, or with a single ice cube. It’s the best way to get to know any gin before mixing it.
For a Gin & Tonic, choose a very light tonic and add a thin slice of cucumber, a few pomegranate seeds or some pink peppercorns. A classic Gin Fizz, with lemon and sugar, works well too.
At the table, they pair it with smoked fish, liver pâté, roasts and strongly flavoured cheeses. That last one is the pairing we’re most curious about: a botanical gin next to a mature cheese from our Cheese Menu is something we want to try at the counter.
A family project
Massimo had the idea; his wife Francesca has followed it from the first tests to sales. Their son Giacomo and his wife Julia look after packaging and shipping, their daughter Silvia takes the photographs, and nephew Filippo designed the logo. Giovanna’s research found the captain, and Massimiliano Longo drew his adventures.
A producer, a family, a real ship in a real register, and a comic book with a sense of humour.
Where to find it
Gin dei Gin is available by the bottle at our All’Amarone Wine Shop, San Polo 1131, a couple of minutes’ walk from the Rialto Bridge, in the 70 cl bottle and in a 10 cl size. Take it home, or let us ship it to you.
At all’Amarone we usually start with wine: a grape, a vineyard, a vintage, a family winery. Gin dei Gin takes us somewhere else, with the same curiosity. It’s a small Venetian project, a piece of the city’s maritime past, and a family that turned an 1871 record into something you can pour.
The captain and the brigantine are real. The pirates came later. There is enough history to make you curious, and just enough imagination to make you smile.
Sources: Gin dei Gin, La Storia · La Famiglia Gin · Il Gin · IsTraJ19, University of Zadar. Photos courtesy of Gin dei Gin.
