Hotaling & Co. Junipero Gin
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2021 San Francisco World Spirits Competition Gold Medal Winner
America's original craft gin; first post-prohibition craft gin in the United States made by hand in the classic London dry gin tradition. Offers a bold juniper forward flavor and made with a dozen botanicals in their natural state.
Distilled using a small copper pot still at the Hotaling & Co. Distillery on Protrero Hill in San Francisco.
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The 20th anniversary of this robust spirit, the first craft gin distilled in the U.S. after Prohibition was in 2016. The aroma mingles juniper and citrus; the palate also shows plenty of lemon curd sweetness and peppery spice (cubeb, grains of paradise, pink peppercorn), finishing spicy with white peppercorn and coriander seed.
The original Anchor Distilling Company was established in 1993 by Fritz Maytag, the same beverage visionary who sparked the craft beer movement with his purchase of Anchor Brewing in 1965. Maytag had rescued the struggling brewery and its iconic steam beer, and after several decades of exclusively producing beer, Maytag saw an opportunity to expand into the distillation of spirits.
Fritz’s vision of a rye whiskey revival was fueled by the bold realization that there were no pot-distilled whiskeys being made legally in America at the time. Finding inspiration in the rye whiskeys of America’s past and the great single malt whiskies of Scotland, Fritz gathered a small team to begin top secret research and experimentation in the distillery. The first whiskey went into barrel in 1994, and the distillery soon began producing three rye whiskeys under Fritz’s guidance, all pot-distilled spirit from a mash of 100% malted rye. Over time, the range of spirits expanded into other categories, with the addition of Junípero Gin and Genevieve genever. The creation of Junípero was particularly significant, as it effectively started the movement towards high-end craft gin in the United States.
In 2017, Anchor Brewing Company was sold. In early 2018, the new name of “Hotaling & Co.” was announced, a reference to one of Anchor Distilling’s most beloved small batch whiskies and to the San Francisco legend A.P. Hotaling, who came out West during the Gold Rush and quickly became one of the most reputable spirits dealers in the country.
Produced only in accordance with strict purity standards formulated by an 18th century European Parliament that guaranteed the absence of toxic distillation byproducts, the phrase “London Dry” on a bottle doesn't refer to any specific place of origin, age or ingredients. To be called a London Dry Gin, the base spirit must be distilled in a column still to at minimum, 70% abv. Natural botanicals can be added to the resulting neutral spirit only through re-distillation. Anything added after distillation other than water and a tiny amount of sugar disqualifies a Gin from the title, London Dry.