Gingineerist

For the last 15 or so years, the gin world has been desperately seeking a new category name to describe the wide range of innovative gins that have been emerging into the market since around the early 2000s; gins that push the boundaries beyond the traditional gin types. In about 2009 one of Aviation Gin’s co-creators, Ryan Magarian, busted out the label “New Western Dry” to describe the…

On gin, terroir and connection – A cross-BC road trip

Every summer that I’ve lived in Victoria I’ve driven across British Columbia and the Rockies to visit my family in Calgary, AB, of course because I love my family but also because the drive is stunningly gorgeous. I couldn’t help but turn this year’s trip into a gin road trip with a mission to find out as much as I could about our BC gins and the people that make them. What I found out was that…

Why BC is leading Canada’s craft distilling enlightenment with gin

Gin in all of its dark, twisty history, does not have much of a legacy in Canada. Despite this, British Columbia is bursting with distilleries that are straight up developing some great gins. Recent changes in liquor laws favoring craft distilleries and a unique desire to showcase the amazingness of the region have culminated in an environment ripe for gin creation that is leading gin production…

This is a gin that hasn’t really been on my radar until now. To be honest I have a slight mistrust for flashy packaging – I may be a bit of a purist in that I think a gin should stand on its own. Despite my inherent distrust though, I have tasted some great gins with obvious effort having gone into branding and packaging, and have been suitably impressed with the quality of the gin. This brings…

Wayward Distillation House Unruly Gin

It’s hard to argue with the fact that bees are awesome. They pollinate plants to help make new plants, and they make both beeswax and honey. Honey, as it turns out, makes really good gin. Of course, regardless of the type of base spirit used, the distiller orchestrates the flavor profile. Wayward Distillation House, based in the Comox valley on Vancouver Island, does a great job of this with…

When I returned from the UK in 2012 I was ecstatic to find out that a premium, small-batch gin was being produced locally in Victoria, BC. In 2008 the Victoria Spirits distillers set out to interpret gin in a more modern way, combining their love of Bombay Sapphire and Tanqueray gin with their collective backgrounds in science, bartending and in the culinary world to produce a beautiful,…

Odd Society Wallflower Gin

The team at Odd Society Spirits takes pride in ingenuity and originality, and their gin is certainly created with this in mind. If there ever was a gin that could tackle unsuspecting imbibers, it is Wallflower Gin. Like the unexpected burst of happy, joyful indulgence of running through a sprinkler, Wallflower delivers a stunning, well-balanced flavour experience that is uniquely subtle and…

Sipsmith London Dry Gin

I can’t help but be partial to Sipsmith London Dry Gin – it was the gin that started my love for gin in the first place. Paralleling my developing gin crush, on a bigger scale, Sipsmith was one of the major contributors to the start of the UK artisan, small batch gin craze when they opened 2009, being the first copper pot distillery to start up in London since 1820. Bashing through legislation…