Time and time again when I suggest a gin cocktail to someone looking for something light and refreshing they respond "Oh I can't drink gin", and sometimes qualify it with something like "I get angry when I drink gin."
I'm a total gin snob. In recent years, however, gin manufacturer's asses were getting kicked year in and year out by vodka. So a lot of trailblazers started experimenting with ways to make gin taste less like, well, gin.