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Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/700131
www.cheersonline.com 15 July/August 2016 • was our largest category; now we have a hard time finding bottle space for the contemporary styles," says Rivers. Among the bar's curiosities are Oakland Spirit Co.'s Sea gin made with seaweed; Gracias a Dios gin made from 100% agave with 32 botanicals from each republic of Mexico; 15-year- old genever aged in Bordeaux barrels from the Rutte & Zn distillery, and Cambridge Distillery's Anty gin, with a spirit base that includes foraged red wood ants. It's not just the specialists who are discovering and stocking unusual gins. Victoria Freehouse, a British-style pub in Philadelphia, now carries just 10 gins on the backbar, but that number is growing. "Most of our cocktail list is gin based, and gin takes a prominent shelf behind the bar," says Victoria Freehouse owner Edward Strojan. Among the stock is Philly's own Bluecoat American gin, and the unusual Ophir Oriental Spice gin, made with botanicals found along the traditional spice route, including Indonesian Cubeb berries, Indian black pepper and Moroccan coriander. Statistics bear out this proliferation of fancypants gins. All of the category growth is coming from the top shelf, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S., which pegged volume increases of superpremium gin at 37.8% last year. Of course, that segment's 128,000 cases is just a drop in the bucket compared with nearly 10 million cases moved in the U.S. market; but that indicates there is more room for growth. CRAFTING LOCAL The economics of craft distilling is a factor in the propagation of new gins on the market. "Aging whiskey takes time, and craft distillers need product to sell while they are waiting. They can turn out gin in a week," observes Peder Schweigert, general manager of the Marvel Bar in Minneapolis. An unmarked speakeasy behind a purple door with avant-garde cocktails and eclectic décor, Marvel Bar stocks about 40 different gins. Among those are St. George Terroir, with botanicals of Douglas fir, Coastal sage and Californian bay laurel; and the local Far North gin. "It's a lot of work to sample and sort through all the new products on the market," Schweigert notes. "Like the other craft industries, beer and wine, there are good ones and mediocre ones," At the Tough Luck Club in Tucson, AZ, "We are seeing educated drinkers who are interested in the more unusual variants," says bartender Jon Holcombe. Part of a multi-faceted restaurant operation in a renovated funeral home, the bar is downstairs in what was the casket showroom. The Tough Luck Club carries over a half dozen gins. The latest addition is ultra-local: Mount Lemmon gin, produced by Three Wells Distilling using botanicals from the slopes of the 9,157-ft. Mount Lemmon within Tucson city limits. "For the longest time, the only gins available were a few of the big brands of London dry; now, there are all these new American-style gins on the market," says Jim McCourt, beverage director at Prohibition restaurant and bar in Charleston, SC. Prohibition carries about 15 gins, including a few from local distilleries. "People here are really into supporting community businesses," McCourt says. "And visiting out-of-towners want to try the local booze." The local scene is so vibrant that a company is conducting tours of nearby distilleries. The operator arranged to end the tour at Prohibition for some discounted drinks to round out the experience. It's been a plus for the restaurant. "We give them a good experience and get them to come back and enjoy our bar another time," notes McCourt. THE WHISKEY CONNECTION Although traditionally gin is a clear spirit, some producers have been releasing expressions that have been aged in barrels for a few months. This adds color and flavor, as well as polishes the edges. Those barrel-aged gins, say operators, are appealing to whiskey drinkers as well as gin aficionados looking for new experiences. "Whiskey drinkers know that a lot of flavor comes from the barrel," says McCourt, and they are interested in trying these gins. The Marvel Bar just purchased a 30-gallon barrel of custom-aged gin from J. Carver Distillery in Waconia, MN. "It's a real sipping gin that we can also incorporate into various cocktails," says Schweigert. The barrel may be loaned to a brewer for custom-aging beer. "Barrel-aged is one of my favorite categories. It's a great way to convert whiskey drinkers to gin," says Natasha Leila Bahrami, a.k.a. The Gin Girl. She carries nearly a dozen barrel- aged gins at The Gin Room in St. Louis, MO. Bahrami discovered the category in her early 20s while sampling a Dirty Martini made with gin rather than vodka Whitechapel Gin Bar, which opened last fall in San Francisco, boasts the largest selection of gin in North America. Consumption of superpremium gin, which increased nearly 40% in 2015, is now driving all of the growth in the spirit category