News

It took a while, but creaky old gin has caught up to vodka in at least one fashionable regard: sky-high pricing.

A product humbly called No. 209, made in a warehouse on Pier 50 in San Francisco, hit the shelves in Ontario last month at $59.95, a record for the category. That's almost 50 per cent higher than existing superpremium brands Tanqueray No. Ten and Hendrick's, both launched years ago and just under $41.

It's also considerably more expensive than Grey Goose, the wildly successful vodka that laid the golden egg for luxury white spirits back in the 1990s. Grey Goose sells for $43.95 in Ontario.

But it's possible No. 209 will raise eyebrows among traditional gin devotees for an entirely different reason: its flavour.

The shaving-cream blast of juniper, a hallmark of classic gins, has been sidelined.

In its place are bold notes of citrus and cardamom, prompting a traditional gin lover to ask perhaps: Where's the Beefeater?

"I kind of went down the citrus-spice road, if you will," Arne Hillesland, technical director and master distiller at Distillery 209, told me over the phone. "It's not a big, giant Christmas tree of a gin."

Likely to be rolled out to British Columbia and Alberta in late summer, the spirit also displays an opulent texture and subtle sweetness evocative of many pricey vodkas, the latter feature a virtue of its unconventional base grain, corn, the stuff that gives bourbon whisky its characteristic sweetness.

No. 209, which takes its name from a federal licence number for a long-defunct distillery in nearby Napa Valley, may be the most compelling example of a new field of liquors Mr. Hillesland calls "nouveau gins." Though variously flavoured with herbs, spices and fruits, what unites them is simple: less juniper, the coniferous berry that has been gin's defining ingredient since its creation in the Netherlands in the 17th century.

Building on a trend that started years ago with European brands such as the fruity Tanqueray No. Ten and cucumber-laced Hendrick's, the field has opened way up to a host of boutique players, mainly from so-called microdistilleries sprouting up across the United States. Though most are not yet imported to Canada, they include Aviation (a hot brand that plays up lavender), Sarticious (cinnamon and cilantro), DH Krahn (Thai ginger) and Distiller's Gin No. 6 (lavender again). Widely available across Canada and a steal for the money is the English-made Quintessential, another lavender-scented brand that also gets an infusion of lotus flowers. It sells for as little as $27.49 in Newfoundland and Labrador, $27.75 in British Columbia and $27.95 in Ontario.

These kinder, gentler gins are aimed, of course, at the ubiquitous vodka drinker. By taming juniper and reaching for au courant scents from the aromatherapy cabinet, these gins are supposed to be more cocktail-friendly, or at least more cocktail-friendly to cosmo-tippling, spa-hopping urbanites who learned how to drink by watching Sex and the City rather than, say, by reading Kingsley Amis.

"You get that wonderful welcoming scent," Mr. Hillesland said of bergamot, a prominent ingredient in No. 209. The aromatic citrus fruit, whose oil is responsible for the flavour of Earl Grey tea, is widely used in the perfume industry to impart a subtle lemon-lime-like scent. Instead of extracting oil from the peel, though, as some other gins do, Mr. Hillesland dumps the whole peel into the still for a fresher taste.

"I think it's a very approachable gin for folks who may have a preconceived notion about gins being medicinal or overbearing," he said.

Arguably no one is more sanguine about gin's evolving makeover than W.L. Lyons Brown, founder of Altamar Brands. The three-year-old company, based in Corona Del Mar, Calif., makes the confidently named Right Gin, a $40 (U.S.) brand distilled in Sweden that, judging by its website photos and marketing strategy, is unlikely to become official supplier to the House of Windsor any time soon unless the Queen decides to throw a pool party for William and Harry's army pals. For now available only in a few large U.S. cities, it not only tastes a lot less like juniper but also brazenly shatters the stuffy cucumber-sandwich and Ascot-races imagery of a spirit that might be described as the opposite of hip.

"Our first objective was to fix the taste of gin," said Mr. Brown, a fifth-generation descendent of the family that controls Brown-Forman, the Kentucky-based company that owns Jack Daniels, Finlandia Vodka and a stable of other spirits. "The second thing we're trying to do is make gin cool again."

Enter the celebrities. In a minor publicity coup, the brand was splashed across magazine society pages when it launched a year ago in Las Vegas, thanks to its sponsorship of a much-paparazzied after-party at The Palms hotel featuring rock idol Gwen Stefani, which was also attended by the flash-lit sisters Paris and Nicky Hilton. Mr. Brown leveraged similar exposure soon after by sponsoring the party for the premiere of Ocean's Thirteen, where star George Clooney sat at a table prominently displaying a bottle of Right Gin.

"Celebrity exposure has a tendency to accelerate interest in the brand," said Mr. Brown, who spent 17 years in his family's company before venturing on his own with Altamar.

Though growth in the gin category has been modest by vodka standards, Mr. Brown believes the market is primed for a clear spirit with fresh cachet. "Vodka has achieved trade fatigue at this point. People are getting tired of it."

Fashion aside, gin stalwarts might ask the Socratic question: When does it stop being gin and start becoming just flavoured vodka, like Absolut Citron?

"Gin is flavoured vodka," notes New York-based cocktail expert Gary Regan, co-author with wife Mardee of a forthcoming book titled The Bartender's Gin Compendium, due to be published in September.

But Mr. Regan nonetheless admits to struggling with the philosophical question. Gin - the word is a derivation of the Dutch for juniper - must by definition contain some kind of juniper extract, implying it should taste of the stuff.

"I've come to the conclusion that, yes, they are gins," Mr. Regan said. "They do include juniper, and they're bringing some diversity to the gin line, so I'm welcoming them with open arms." He also happens to be a fan of No. 209, calling it "glorious" in a recent review.

Mr. Hillesland, of Distillery 209, for his part, prefers to flip the logic on its ear. Gin as flavoured vodka? That's one way to look at it, he says. Here's another: "Vodka is unfinished gin."

As a gin lover, I'm hoping, however, that we'll never see an Absolut Juniper.

*****

New-school gins

Gin No. 209 $59.95

(Ontario only; due for launch in B.C. and Alberta in late summer) Deliciously silky, with prominent lemon-lime and Indian spice notes, starting out sweet but finishing perfectly dry. Superb. Quintessential $27.95

(slightly less in B.C. and Newfoundland and Labrador)

Aromatherapy in a glass, with prominent spa-soap scents of lavender and lotus flower, finishing clean and dry. Excellent for the money.

Hendrick's $40.50

Cucumber and rose petals keep the juniper in check for a complex, beautifully balanced taste. Very good, and great in a gin and tonic.

Beppi Crosariol