New Year doesn't just mark a clean page on a new calendar -- it evokes nostalgia for the times that led to that point. For many, New Year's Eve is a clash of impressions of confetti, champagne corks, standing in the freezing cold (18 degrees in Times Square this year) in hopes of jockeying for a couple of seconds of nationwide camera time. But for some, the best New Year's Eve is not on the streets but in a swank nightclub several stories above, where matrons in furs peer disdainfully at doxies in sequins, where a gentleman's black tie is correctly understood to be quite enough sartorial splendor for his role as escort, where the jewelry is platinum and the hair is marcelled, and where, although champagne is popped at midnight for an obligatory sip, the drink of the evening is the martini.

Into the world of chic, artisinal gins, enter New Amsterdam. Like the pre-code New York of its name, this gin bypasses the cheap sentiment of retro to be outright old-fashioned, without the speakeasy sting of bathtub gin. Soft citrus notes open the palate much as happens with a good sauvignon blanc, but then a strident bite of juniper marches forward, lockstepping like a Busby Berkeley kickline. As a pure sip, the juniper mid-note lingers on the palate; with vermouth or lime, a final spicy note surfaces, very lightly crowned with waft of minerality.

In cocktails, New Amsterdam stars in those requiring deftness of execution and purity of design. It makes a splendid martini, simultaneously smooth and sharp. Make your New Amsterdam martini either neat or FDR style, and use extra olives. A New Amsterdam gibson is deelightful, deelicious and deeelovely. And a gimlet -- the only gin drink one can legitimately interchange with vodka -- is the essence of that cocktail: shivery with juniper and sleek with lime.

However, New Amsterdam's deco curves don't fare so well against the flat wall assault of tonic water. A gin and tonic should be crisp and lively, the playful, flirty cousin who takes to the tennis courts while the aloof martini remains on the veranda. New Amsterdam's subtleties are lost in all that ice and all of those bubbles -- for your g&t, use a favorite standby such as Tanqueray or Seagrams. Finally, the New Amsterdam gin website has the collection of cocktail recipes that liquor websites usually do -- many of them inspired by neighborhoods in the old New York which was New Amsterdam. So if you like fussy cocktails or just to experiment, give one of them a try and then leave comments below to let us know what you think about New Amsterdam's cocktails, your own martinis and gimlets, or your New Year's memories and plans.