Gin and vodka start from the same thing: a spirit distilled to at least 95 percent alcohol, which US law calls neutral spirits. Vodka is that spirit diluted and bottled, with almost nothing allowed to be added. Gin is that spirit redistilled or mixed with juniper berries, and it must get its main characteristic flavor from them. That is the whole difference in law. Here is the legal definition of each in the US and the EU, in the regulators’ own words; how each is made; the history with dates, including the five Gin Acts and the 1405 court record where “wódka” first appears; the size of each category in the US; what the official cocktails for each are; and why a 1.5 oz pour of either is exactly one standard drink.
Last verified September 14, 2026. US definitions are quoted from 27 CFR 5.142 and 5.144 as currently in force, and from the 2019 edition of 27 CFR 5.22 for the older wording; EU categories from Regulation (EU) 2019/787; history from Wikipedia’s sourced articles, Britannica, Difford’s Guide and Lucas Bols; market figures from DISCUS, Impact Databank and The Spirits Business; cocktails from the IBA; standard drinks from NIAAA; calories from USDA FoodData Central. Full list at the end.
| Gin vs vodka | Vodka | Gin |
|---|---|---|
| What it is (US) | Neutral spirits distilled at 95% ABV or higher, bottled at 40% or higher | Spirits distilled, redistilled or mixed “with or over juniper berries,” bottled at 40% or higher |
| Defining rule | May add up to 2 g/L sugar and 1 g/L citric acid; nothing else; no wood | “Must derive its main characteristic flavor from juniper berries” |
| EU minimum | 37.5% | 37.5% |
| First record | The word “wódka,” 1405, Sandomierz court records, Poland | Genever taxed in the Netherlands, 1606; “geneva” in an English play, 1623 |
| US sales, 2025 | 72.5 million 9-liter cases, $7.0 billion | 8.0 million cases, $924 million |
| Standard drinks, 1.5 oz at 40% | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Calories, 1.5 oz at 40% | 97 (USDA uses one entry for both) | 97 |
What vodka legally is
27 CFR 5.142(a): “‘Neutral spirits’ or ‘alcohol’ are distilled spirits distilled from any suitable material at or above 95 percent alcohol by volume (190° proof), and, if bottled, bottled at not less than 40 percent alcohol by volume (80° proof).” Vodka is a type of neutral spirits, defined in 5.142(b)(1): “Neutral spirits which may be treated with up to two grams per liter of sugar and up to one gram per liter of citric acid. Products to be labeled as vodka may not be aged or stored in wood barrels at any time except when stored in paraffin-lined wood barrels and labeled as bottled in bond… Addition of any other flavoring or blending materials changes the classification to flavored vodka or to a distilled spirits specialty product.” Vodka filtered through at least one ounce of activated carbon per 100 wine gallons may be labeled “charcoal filtered.”
“Any suitable material” is the key phrase: grain, potatoes, grapes and sugar beet all qualify, and the label does not have to say which. Until 2020 the US definition also required vodka to be “without distinctive character, aroma, taste, or color” (27 CFR 5.22(a)(1), 2019 edition). TTB removed that language in its 2020 rewrite of the labeling rules, so vodka is no longer legally defined as tasteless; it is defined by the 95 percent distillation floor and the short list of what may be added.
In the EU (Regulation 2019/787, Annex I, category 15), vodka is “a spirit drink produced from ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin” from potatoes, cereals or other agricultural raw materials, at a minimum of 37.5 percent, and a vodka not made only from potatoes or cereals must carry the words “produced from” and the raw material on the label. That labeling rule is the 2008 compromise that ended the “vodka war” between the grain-and-potato countries of the vodka belt (Poland, the Nordic and Baltic states, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Slovakia, which produced more than 70 percent of EU vodka) and the member states that make it from other raw materials.
What gin legally is
27 CFR 5.144(a): “‘Gin’ is distilled spirits made by original distillation from mash, or by redistillation of distilled spirits, or by mixing neutral spirits, with or over juniper berries and, optionally, with or over other aromatics, or with or over extracts derived from infusions, percolations, or maceration of such materials, and includes mixtures of gin and neutral spirits. It must derive its main characteristic flavor from juniper berries and be bottled at not less than 40 percent alcohol by volume (80° proof). Gin may be aged in oak containers.” And 5.144(b): “Gin made exclusively by original distillation or by redistillation may be further designated as ‘distilled,’ ‘Dry,’ ‘London,’ ‘Old Tom’ or some combination of these four terms.”
So in the US, “London dry” is a claim about method (distilled with the botanicals, not compounded), not about place; a London dry gin can be made in Indiana. Sloe gin is not gin at all under 27 CFR 5.150; it is a liqueur “with the main characteristic flavor derived from sloe berries” and at least 2.5 percent sugar by weight.
The EU has three gin categories. Category 20, gin: “a juniper-flavoured spirit drink produced by flavouring ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin with juniper berries,” minimum 37.5 percent, with flavorings permitted. Category 21, distilled gin: “produced exclusively by distilling ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin with an initial alcoholic strength of at least 96 % vol. in the presence of juniper berries and of other natural botanicals”; “simply adding essences or flavourings” does not qualify. Category 22, London gin: distilled gin whose flavor “is imparted exclusively through the distillation of ethyl alcohol in the presence of all the natural plant materials used,” with no coloring and no more than 0.1 g of sweetening per liter. Genever, the Dutch and Belgian ancestor, is a protected geographical indication rather than a category. Plymouth gin held its own EU protection from 2008 until its owner, Pernod Ricard, withdrew support in November 2014 (its stated reason: “a GI should represent a collection of brands, rather than just one”), and the protection lapsed in February 2015. “Plymouth” is now a brand name, not a legal style.
| Vodka (US, 27 CFR 5.142) | Gin (US, 27 CFR 5.144) | Vodka (EU cat. 15) | Gin (EU cat. 20 to 22) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base | Neutral spirits from any suitable material, 95% or higher | Distillation, redistillation or mixing of spirits “with or over juniper berries” | Ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin from potatoes, cereals or other raw materials | Ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin flavored with juniper |
| Defining rule | 2 g/L sugar and 1 g/L citric acid at most; no wood | “Main characteristic flavor from juniper berries”; may be oak-aged | Non-cereal, non-potato base must be labeled “produced from…” | Predominantly juniper; London gin: flavor only from distillation, 0.1 g/L sweetening at most, no color |
| Minimum bottling ABV | 40% | 40% | 37.5% | 37.5% |
| Named sub-types | “Charcoal filtered”; flavored vodka is a separate class | “Distilled,” “Dry,” “London,” “Old Tom” (distilled gin only) | None | Gin, distilled gin, London gin |
How each is made
Both begin with fermentation of a grain, potato, fruit or sugar base and distillation to 95 or 96 percent alcohol, which strips out nearly everything but ethanol and water. From there the two part ways.
Vodka is that neutral spirit, optionally filtered through charcoal, “reduced in strength with distilled water and bottled without aging” (Britannica). In the US it may carry the 2 g/L of sugar and 1 g/L of citric acid noted above and nothing else. What differs between vodkas is the base material, the number of column-still passes, the filtration and the water, none of which the US label has to state.
Gin takes the same neutral spirit, dilutes it (Difford’s puts the typical cut at roughly 96 percent down to about 50), and adds juniper by one of three methods. Steeping, or maceration: the botanicals sit in the spirit and the whole is redistilled in a pot still. Vapor infusion: the botanicals are held in a basket inside a modified still and “only encounter the spirit as vapour” (the method Bombay Sapphire describes for itself, per Difford’s). Compounding: botanical extracts or essences are mixed into neutral spirit with no redistillation, which is legal gin in the US and “gin” (category 20, not distilled gin) in the EU. Juniper is the only mandatory botanical; after it, Difford’s says, “coriander and angelica are the most popular botanicals,” followed by orris root, citrus peel, cassia, licorice and cardamom. A gin’s botanical list is the producer’s choice and, unlike the class, is not defined anywhere.
The history, with dates
| Year | Vodka | Gin and genever |
|---|---|---|
| 14th century | Britannica: “a liquor called vodka was present in Russia during the 14th century” (no document cited) | |
| 1405 | First written “wódka,” in the Akta Grodzkie court records of Sandomierz, Poland, as a medicine and cosmetic; the word is a diminutive of the Slavic “voda,” water | |
| 1575 | The Bols family opens the “het Lootsje” distillery in Amsterdam; genever from 1664 | |
| 1606 | A Dutch tax on jenever, which rules out the usual story that the physician Franciscus Sylvius (born 1614) invented it | |
| 1623 | “Geneva” appears in Philip Massinger’s play The Duke of Milan | |
| 1688 to 1690 | After William III’s accession, brandy imports are restricted and the London distillers’ monopoly is broken; gin production takes off | |
| 1729 to 1751 | Parliament passes Gin Acts in 1729, 1736, 1743, 1747 and 1751. The 1736 Act taxed retail sales at 20 shillings a gallon and required a £50 license; two licenses were taken out, and it was effectively repealed in 1743, by which point the English were drinking 2.2 gallons of gin per person per year. The 1751 Act restricted sales to licensed premises rented at £10 a year or more. Hogarth’s Gin Lane is from 1751; the craze had mostly ended by 1757 | |
| 1751 | Empress Elizabeth’s decree of June 8, 1751, the first Russian official use of “vodka” in the modern sense | |
| 1793 | The Black Friars distillery begins making gin in Plymouth | |
| 1826 to 1831 | The Coffey column still makes high-proof neutral spirit practical, which is the base of both modern vodka and the London dry style | |
| 1849 | Boord and Son introduce the “Cat Brand” Old Tom, the sweetened style later linked in a 1903 trademark case to distiller Thomas Chamberlain | |
| After 1945 | Vodka, until then “primarily popular in Eastern Europe” (Britannica), begins to grow fast in the US | |
| 2007 to 2008 | The EU “produced from” labeling compromise | Hayman’s (2007) and Ransom (2008) revive Old Tom; Plymouth receives EU protection (2008) |
| 2015 | Plymouth’s protection lapses | |
| 2019 to 2020 | Regulation (EU) 2019/787 replaces the 2008 rules; TTB rewrites 27 CFR part 5, dropping “without distinctive character” from the vodka definition | |
How much of each is sold
| US, 2025 (DISCUS) | 9-liter cases | Change | Supplier revenue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vodka | 72.5 million | −2.2% | $7.01 billion (−3.0%) |
| Gin | 8.0 million | −3.5% | $924 million (−3.4%) |
| All spirits | 318.1 million | $36.4 billion |
Vodka sells about nine times gin’s volume in the US and is the second-largest spirits category in the country by volume (Impact Databank). By brand, the largest US vodkas in 2025 were Tito’s (11.85 million cases), Smirnoff (7.55 million), New Amsterdam (5.66 million), Svedka (3.34 million), Absolut (2.58 million), and Ketel One and Grey Goose (2.45 million each). The largest US gins, on the most recent brand table (2023 volumes), were Tanqueray (1.35 million), Bombay Sapphire (969,000) and Hendrick’s (591,000). Worldwide, Smirnoff (23.4 million cases) and Gordon’s (7.2 million) led vodka and gin in 2025.
Standard drinks and calories: identical
NIAAA’s standard drink is 0.6 fl oz of pure alcohol, which it gives as “1.5 fl oz shot of distilled spirits (gin, rum, tequila, vodka, whiskey, etc.)” at about 40 percent. USDA FoodData Central has one entry for the four spirits at 80 proof (174815): 64 calories per fluid ounce, 97 per 1.5 oz, zero carbohydrate. Gin’s botanicals add nothing measurable; the exceptions are sweetened styles like Old Tom and sloe gin, which the entry does not cover.
| Pour | Pure alcohol | Standard drinks | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.5 oz gin or vodka at 40% | 0.6 fl oz | 1.0 | 97 |
| 1.5 oz at 37.5% (EU minimum) | 0.56 fl oz | 0.94 | About 91 |
| 1.5 oz navy-strength gin at 57% | 0.855 fl oz | 1.4 | About 138 |
| 750 mL bottle at 40% | 300 mL | 16.9 | About 1,620 |
The formula is ounces × ABV ÷ 0.6. A gin and a vodka at the same ABV are the same drink by strength, and at the same pour the cocktails below are too. See What Is 80 Proof for reading the label and How Much Is a Fifth for the bottle math.
The official cocktails for each
The International Bartenders Association’s list is the closest thing to a canon. Gin’s drinks are mostly in the Unforgettables, the pre-war classics; vodka’s are in the Contemporary Classics and New Era lists, which fits the dates above.
| Cocktail | Spirit | Other ingredients (IBA) | List |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dry Martini | 60 mL gin | 10 mL dry vermouth; stirred; lemon oil or olive | Unforgettables |
| Negroni | 30 mL gin | 30 mL Campari, 30 mL sweet vermouth; built on ice | Unforgettables |
| John Collins | 45 mL gin (Old Tom for a Tom Collins) | 30 mL lemon, 15 mL syrup, 60 mL soda | Unforgettables |
| White Lady | 40 mL gin | 30 mL triple sec, 20 mL lemon | Unforgettables |
| Clover Club | 45 mL gin | 15 mL raspberry syrup, 15 mL lemon, egg white | Unforgettables |
| Moscow Mule | 45 mL vodka | 120 mL ginger beer, 10 mL lime | Contemporary Classics |
| Bloody Mary | 45 mL vodka | 90 mL tomato juice, 15 mL lemon, Worcestershire, Tabasco, celery salt, pepper | Contemporary Classics |
| Cosmopolitan | 40 mL citron vodka | 15 mL Cointreau, 15 mL lime, 30 mL cranberry | Contemporary Classics |
| Espresso Martini | 50 mL vodka | 30 mL coffee liqueur, 10 mL sugar syrup, one espresso | New Era |
| Vesper | 45 mL gin and 15 mL vodka | 7.5 mL Lillet Blanc; shaken | IBA official list |
There is no IBA gin and tonic, vodka tonic or vodka Martini; those are house drinks everywhere and official nowhere. The Martini is the one where the two spirits are swapped most often, and we cover the swap, the ratios and the shaken-or-stirred numbers at The Traditional Martini: Gin vs Vodka. Two vodkas side by side are at Belvedere vs Grey Goose.
Frequently asked questions
Is gin just flavored vodka? In production terms, most gin is neutral spirit (which is what vodka is) redistilled with juniper and other botanicals. In law they are separate classes: gin must get its main characteristic flavor from juniper, and a vodka with anything added beyond 2 g/L sugar and 1 g/L citric acid stops being vodka.
Which is stronger? Neither, at the same ABV. Both must be at least 40 percent in the US (37.5 in the EU), and a 1.5 oz pour at 40 percent is one standard drink for either.
What is vodka made from? “Any suitable material” under US law: grain, potatoes, grapes or sugar beet, among others. In the EU a vodka not made from cereals or potatoes must say “produced from” and name the material.
Is vodka legally required to be tasteless? Not since 2020. The old US definition said “without distinctive character, aroma, taste, or color”; the current one defines vodka by its 95 percent distillation floor and the short list of permitted additions.
What does London dry mean? A production method, not a place: gin distilled with its botanicals rather than compounded, and in the EU with no coloring and at most 0.1 g/L of sweetening. It can be made anywhere.
Is sloe gin a gin? No. Under 27 CFR 5.150 it is a liqueur, with at least 2.5 percent sugar by weight.
Which sells more? Vodka, by about nine to one in the US: 72.5 million 9-liter cases against 8.0 million for gin in 2025.
Sources
- eCFR: 27 CFR 5.142, Neutral spirits or alcohol (vodka), 27 CFR 5.144, Gin and 27 CFR 5.150, Cordials and liqueurs (sloe gin); 27 CFR 5.22, 2019 edition (govinfo), checked September 14, 2026
- Regulation (EU) 2019/787 (EUR-Lex), with the Annex I category texts as reproduced by The Gin Guild and winegrowers.info, checked September 14, 2026
- Wikipedia, Vodka, Vodka belt, Gin, Jenever, Gin Craze and Plymouth Gin; Britannica, Vodka, checked September 14, 2026
- Lucas Bols, corporate history, Difford’s Guide, Gin production, Old Tom gins and Plymouth gin; The Spirits Business, Plymouth Gin to ditch its geographical indication (2014), checked September 14, 2026
- DISCUS, 2025 support tables; Shanken News Daily (Impact Databank): leading vodka brands (February 2026), vodka’s top players (July 2026) and gin category (January 2025); The Spirits Business Brand Champions 2026, vodka and gin, checked September 14, 2026
- IBA: Dry Martini, Negroni, John Collins, White Lady, Clover Club, Moscow Mule, Bloody Mary, Cosmopolitan, Espresso Martini and Vesper, checked September 14, 2026
- NIAAA, What is a standard drink and USDA FoodData Central 174815, distilled spirits 80 proof, checked September 14, 2026
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