You say Dutch courage, I say gin. You may well ask what the two have to do with each other, and now begins your (brief) lesson in the origins of a drink increasingly favoured by Australians.

The young English mercenaries who fought alongside the Dutch against the Spanish in the mid 1500s noticed that the clear alcohol being consumed before battle by the Dutch soldiers seemed to have a calming effect.

It may not necessarily have helped them win on the battlefield, but it would have numbed the pain nonetheless.

When they returned home — so the story goes — the English soldiers brought with them the idea of making their own version of the alcohol, and so the earliest gin was produced and the term "Dutch Courage" entered the English lexicon.

Londoners, particularly the poor, fell upon the cheap, rough spirit. Gin was blamed for a multitude of sins and was nicknamed "mother's ruin".

It's reputation these days is more top shelf. It is claimed that more classic cocktails are made with gin than any other spirit.

And no two gins are alike, because while every gin relies on juniper berries in the production process, there are any number of other additives that can be used.

This is what is making Tasmanian gin so distinctive — the local botanicals.

Tasmania offers 'distinctive' local flavours

One of the "fathers" of distilling in Tasmania is Bill Lark.

Distiller Bill Lark says gin is becoming an iconic product for Tasmania. ( ABC News )

"The rate of which the local market and the international market is looking for our special gin, I'm convinced our local gin is here to stay as an iconic product for Tasmania," he said.

In a state where unemployment is a major problem, the dramatic increase in the industry is welcome.

Five distilling licenses have been approved in the last 12 months.

John Cole lives in his hand-built stone and timber cottage set among the verdant, rolling hills of Wilmot in northwest Tasmania.

He is a distiller, one of the smallest in the state, but one of a growing band of people turning their hand to making distinctive Tasmanian gin, with the help of his wife, Ruth Cole.

"I'm the chief taster. I check on consistency of product and enjoy every drop," she tells me as we sit outside in their garden, bordered by fruit trees and grape vines.

John Cole uses local ingredients wherever possible to infuse his gin.

"I buy juniper from a local shop in Devonport, allspice is in Hobart and elderflowers grow wild around here" he said.

Outside the capital Hobart is the Lark distillery, best known for its world-famous whisky.

But it is also turning out highly regarded gin because of its distinctive local flavours.

"In the early days of making gin we were playing around with botanicals. We know gin has to have juniper and coriander and citrus and we were given some Tasmanian native berries to play with and what we discovered was that the Tasmanian native berry was a sensational botanical, rich in character and nose qualities," Mr Lark said.

Tasmanian sloe gin selling quickly

Not far away at Dodges Ferry, Rex Burdon is making a less common and less commercial type of gin at his Nonesuch distillery.

"Sloe gin has been drunk for centuries in the UK. Sloes are a wonderful little fruit — sour as it's possible to be," he said.

Sloe gin is made using sour Sloe berries. ( ABC News )

"We take those little fruits — we wish there was more of them — but we have to forage for them, get what we can and it's enough to make an almost commercial batch of sloe gin."

The Nonesuch distillery turns out each year about 3,000 bottles of the ruby-coloured sloe gin.

They sell quickly.

Bill Lark says gin may be enjoying a new-found popularity amongst the young, but it is never gone out of favour in many parts of the Island State.

"When I go into the highlands of Tasmania, most of the fishing population, old blokes are drinking gin and tonic; that's their preferred drink," he said.

"We finish the day's fishing on the lake and pull up at the boat ramp and the first thing is they bring out their cold eskies with gin and tonic."