Tech disrupts a centuries-old business.

This one will surprise you.

From American public media, this is Marketplace Tech.

I'm Lily Dramale. When you think about gin, what tastes come to mind? Pine, maybe some citrus or

coriander? Well, it can vary quite a bit because unlike some spirits that are

highly regulated, gin is not.

Distillers can throw in all kinds of flavors and call it gin as long as a hint of

juniper berries gets in there.

Well researchers in Edinburgh, Scotland were not

satisfied by this. They've been identifying the exact elements that define

gin using get this nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

Think of it as something like an MRI scan

that lets scientists create a fingerprint for flavors.

And it could have big implications for this very old industry. for if you can analyze gin through NMR spectroscopy and whether the results of the research would actually be meaningful.

Because the answer was yes, it means that in theory it could be adopted by distillers in the industry. In reality the equipment is really

expensive so it's probably not going to be rolled out widely just yet but that doesn't make the

research insignificant.

It's a sector which has got a few big problems at the moment that it needs to adapt to.

In particular, one of its big problems is climate change,

which is impacting the quality and the quantity of available

juniper berries. There are also questions about how to protect the industry's

heritage. It's got a really rich history, but at the moment because it's really unregulated there are a

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