"junipero gin" news and stories

Packing materials of every stripe. Photo: LeNell Smothers.

Alabama-born LeNell Smothers defines herself first and foremost as a bartender, but she's been called many things -- most recently, the proprietress of LeNell's liquor store. She's owned her own whiskey label (Red Hook Rye) and has been recognized by her home state as an honorary colonel. Other interests include gin, sin and men.

New Yorkers are no strangers to packing for a move. The search for a place to live seems to come around far too often. If you survive the apartment hunt without losing your mind, you will lose it in the search for boxes and a moving truck. Growing weary with the ever-present New York conversation about rent, landlords and brokers, my man and I decided on a house in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico.

Moving time is when real friends get a chance to prove their devotion. To entice a few to help pack up my glassware collection, I filled an antique leopard-print shaker with some California spirits. I figured if I was moving to the Mexican side of Cali, my packing friends could be rewarded with a new cocktail creation using spirits from there.

After the jump, a new pomegranate aperitif and LeNell's Pom Packer.

Junipero Gin is 49.34 abv. / 98.6 proof and is made by Anchor Distilling Co. in San Francisco, the same folks who make the excellent Anchor Steam Beer and other fine brews. It has "more than a dozen" botanicals according to their website.

The aroma is very light, almost not present at all until I pressed my nose deep into the snifter. Then I got a slight but sharp alcohol smell with just the faintest trace of juniper and some unknown spices. I kept on sniffing the gin for a few minutes, trying to discern what the components of the aroma were. I spun and circled my glass so the spirit would coat the inside, so more would evaporate and the aroma would increase, but to no avail.

Finally I kept the snifter in my hand until it started to warm up and finally the nose of the spirit started to come out. I could smell faint spices, and some sharp juniper notes. I put down the glass so that I could type and picked it up again a minute later and the glass had cooled down and the aroma faded. So I started warming it up all over again. I have never had such a fight to bring out a gins aroma before. This was becoming an epic struggle indeed.