Cheers

At Oceana, a Michelin-starred seafood restaurant in New York, classics are popular, like the Vesper, with Russian vodka, choice of gin, Lillet and vermouth; and the Bee's Knees, with gin, lemon juice and honey (drink prices vary depending on the gin). The 500-seat operator also offers two specialty gin-based sips for $14 each. The Gin and Ginger mixes gin with housemade ginger ale, citrus, pineapple, lemon bitters and "drunken" raisins, and the Jalapeño Gin Fizz combines Greenhook Beach Plum gin with Laird's Applejack, peach schnapps, cava, jalapeño and lemon. Oceana stocks 46 gins, priced from $10 to $18. Gin cocktails the Garden, left, and the Bentley (below) available at Willie Jane in Venice, CA. LOCAL AND SMALL-BATCH SELECTIONS As the "drink local" movement takes hold, more bars are stocking shelves with spirits produced in the same town or state. Oceana wine director Pedro Goncalves believes it's important for any good gin program to support American and small-batch gins. To that end, he stocks Greenhook Ginsmiths ($10) and Comb 9 gin ($10) from New York, and Bluecoat gin ($10) from Philadelphia. Not all operators have the luxury of available local gin options, Goncalves notes. If that's the case, "be selective and use your judgment, and choose gins with interesting flavor profiles," he advises. Staff at Flintridge Proper ascertains what guests like about a certain large-brand gin—from its "lightness" to "floral notes"—and then recommends a similar small-batch option. Big gin brands are "a building block," Caverly says. "They provide a reference to introduce guests to the small-batch gins." Plymouth gin is the best-selling gin for Flintridge Proper, followed by its own house-made Flintridge Botanicals gin. Third is a four-way tie between Tanqueray Malacca, Fords gin, Cap Rock Colorado Organic gin and Uncle Val's Botanical gin. Modern gin styles that downplay the traditional botanical flavor in favor of other ingredients have really taken off, says Kyle Mathis, head mixologist at Taste by Niche. The European country fare-focused restaurant in St. Louis, MO, offers about 25 gins priced from $6 to $11; its top-selling brand is Broker's. Contemporary gins are lower in juniper, "which is a flavor most gin 'haters' shy away from," Mathis notes. "If you say orange zest, save and lemon instead of pine, pine, pine, it's easier to broaden someone's gin horizons." FLAVORED AND AGED GINS Though all gins are technically "flavored" neutral spirits, some producers are crafting versions with decidedly ramped-up taste. Among the larger brands, Seagram's has a line of Twisted fruit-flavored gins, while Tanqueray and Beefeater have limeflavored expressions. In addition to its London Dry Gin, Russell Henry Gin in San Francisco produces two flavored versions. Hawaiian White Ginger Gin is infused with macerated organic white ginger sourced from the Hawaiian island of Kauai. Its Malaysian Lime Gin is steeped in the leaves and fruit of the limau purut, a variety of lime that's native to Malaysia with a robust, slightly 22 | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014 www.cheersonline.com

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