Reviews

Gin Distillery No. 209’s Ginerator on his small batch specialty

No. 209 is a uniquely distinct gin, one that has broken the mould from the more typical juniper-based gins.  It is an artisanal product whose distillery on the Embarcadero, Pier 50 on the San Francisco waterfront, is the world’s only distillery built over water. The gin is distilled five times in order to separate the heads and tails from the heart of the distillation, and, according to the brand's fact sheet, only the middle is pure enough to be bottled. The distillery also produce a kosher gin for Passover, as observant Jews are not allowed to drink grain-based spirits during this holiday. No. 209 is small-batch and hand-crafted, overseen by Arne Hillesbrand, the distillery's "Ginerator".

Arne Hillesbrand at the Distillery

DEPARTURES: TELL US ABOUT THE ART AND THE SCIENCE OF MAKING GIN.
Arne Hillesbrand: Well, as you may know, gin is derived from vodka, which is considered a neutral spirit. This means it is a base, and what is added gives it a defined flavour. In our case, we use an Alembic still to make our gin. Ours is created from a mixture of diverse botanicals – Cassia bark, Cardamom, Bergamot orange peel, lemon peel, Coriander and Angelica – so it has a lemony, slightly spicy/warm, yet smooth taste. The chemistry is relatively simple: it starts with the neutral spirit, vodka, then water, then botanicals. The art deals with correct cooking techniques, understanding the scents and processes of steam and vapour.

HOW DOES ONE BECOME A GINERATOR? 
There are no real paths to this. Unlike learning viticulture there are no university courses you can actually take to become Ginerator. My background is varied, but, at base my father was a chemist and my mother cooked well. When I applied for this position at Distillery No. 209, I had experience in the chemistry of spirits making, I had management experience and I had a good taste palate. I also volunteered for a year, learning how to do this kind of work.
 
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN MAKING THIS GIN?
We have been making No. 209 since 2004.

COULD YOU EXPLAIN THE QUINTUPLE DISTILLATION PROCESS, AS WELL AS DEFINE THE HEAD, TAIL AND HEART FROM A TASTE PERSPECTIVE?
The heads, tails, and hearts are language terms of the distiller. The heads and the tails of the fermentation process are products that are tossed.  These components contain flavour compounds that impact the clean taste of the gin. We distill No. 209 five times, so the heart is five times purer... and so it is true that we bottle our gin from the heart

HOW DID THE IDEA TO MAKE A KOSHER-FOR PASSOVER GIN EMERGE?  AND WHAT IS THE PROCESS OF MAKING IT KOSHER? 
To my knowledge there are only four Kosher-For-Passover gins. But our idea came from our owner, Leslie Rudd, who is Jewish. He once said that during Passover, he wanted a good cocktail. So, we went to work on this. I had to substitute one grain for another and could not use certain spices and botanicals.  But I worked around that, using different grains and spices, with similar taste profiles. Then we had a Rabbi from the Orthodox Union come to the distillery and observe our processes.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE GIN COCKTAIL? 
Depends on the season! In the summer, it is a Tom Collins, a South Side or an Aviator. In the fall and winter it is a Negroni, and for a dessert cocktail it is an Alexander or a Last Word.

Visit the Distillery No. 209 website

– Departures-International.com

Gin, From Mother’s Ruin to Titillating Tipple

For all you gin monkeys out there, this one’s for you. Now it’s clear (well, ahem we hope so) that we love to travel, our very reason for being is to inspire you to explore by appealing to your passions and cultural sensibilities. Our second love is gin, but not just any old gin; boutique gin, in light of the quiet but propitious boutique gin revival that is occuring in pockets across the globe. We’ve selected our five favourite boutique gins and our favourite places to drink them. Because a gin and tonic is delicious, but a gin and tonic in the Beatnik neighbourhood of San Francisco is just one level up. It’s a hard job, we know, but someone’s got to do it.

So down to the history…In eighteenth century London, gin was cheap, copious and said to have been the ruin of many of its dipsomaniac citizens. ‘Gin Lane’, the famous artwork by the artist Hogarth depicts a London scene in which a mother is so inebriated by the narcotic that she has let her baby fall from her grasp.

In our modern day society gin is far from a ruinous tipple and as mentioned, is in fact experiencing somewhat of an auspicious revival. The resurgence is being led by discerning buyers in search of an exclusive product which has in turn seen the rise of boutique gins and micro-distilleries run by passionate artisans. Like the craft-beer trend we previously covered, the rise in boutique gins is driven by a cunsumer craving for a less commercial, more unique product; which in turn grants distilleries the liberty to experiment, resulting in some beautifully eccentric gins that are giving the traditional juniper-gins a run for their money. Take a look at our top 5.

No. 5, No. 209.

Perfect for a Gin Martini, this robust, quintuple-distilled American gin has been crafted with the utmost precision and attention to tasty detail. The recipe has been fastidiously adjusted by theginnoissuers at the 209 distillery in San Francisco, not once, not twice, not even thrice, but 87 times. The name is derived from the fact that the distillery is the 209th to be registered in the United States.

Where to drink it: Sip this delicious gin at the classic Romolo Barin North Beach, San Francisco, in the neighbourhood native to Joe Dimaggio and famed for being the historic centre of the Beatnik subculture of the 50′s & 60′s.

– Pinch-Magazine.com

No. 209 Gin

Launched in 2005, No. 209 Gin is one of the dozen or so gins that have emerged in recent years from the re-invigorated craft distilling culture in the USA.

With its citrusy spice flavour profile, No 209 Gin is what we’ve come to call a “contemporary classic” here at The Gin Blog. No doubt, the flavour profile leans more towards American pallets, with its slightly subdued juniper and more prominent citrus notes however, the core gin backbone is still there. It hasn’t shied away from the category’s heritage and the team has managed to create a modern, contemporary gin, which would appeal to many.

The No. 209 story begins in 1880, when William Scheffler bought the Edge Hill Estate in St. Helena, at the time one of the most impressive wineries in the Napa Valley. A distiller at heart, Scheffler added a stone and brick distillery to the wine making facilities at Edge Hill in 1882 and registered the distillery with the Federal Government. The license number, 209, was granted which Scheffler proudly painted above the front door of his new distillery building. The spirits he produced were reputedly of very high quality and won numerous awards, including a medal at the Universal Exposition of 1889 in Paris, France.

Skipping some 100 years of history, most notably when all production ceased during Prohibition – new life was injected into the distillery in 1999, when Leslie Rudd became the new steward of the Edge Hill property. The Rudd family’s background is in wine and fine food – they own both Rudd Oakville Estate Winery and Dean & DeLuca and had purchased the estate for the vineyards. The story has it that Lesley Rudd had begun the restoration of the building on his estate, and one day while he was surveying the poorly maintained property, noticed the faintly visible words “Registered Distillery No. 209” painted above the iron doors.

From then on, unearthing the rest of the story became a passion for the family and the point of inspiration behind the historical restoration of the Edge Hill site. The restoration of the original Distillery No. 209 site received preservationist awards from both Napa County and the State of California. However, the size and location of the original distillery building were not conducive to the team’s plans to potentially revive some of the production that went on there – moreover, the constrains over what types of spirit can be produced in Napa Valley were also limiting as agricultural regulators would not allow distilling of anything other than a grape based spirit.

Intent on creating a distillery, the team decided to convert a 1920’s warehouse on Pier 50 in San Francisco. As it stands, the 209 distillery based off the end of a pier is currently the only distillery in the world that is located completely over seawater. By no means simply a novelty, there are very good reasons for this – the natural cooling properties of 13 feet of San Francisco Bay water beneath the pier keeps the air temperature in the distillery perfect for distilling year-round and the high ceilings could accommodate the 25 foot high still.

Once Lesley Rudd had decided to create a distillery, the goal was both clear and simple: to make the finest possible gin with care and intelligence for people who think about what they drink.

No. 209 Gin is distilled in a copper alembic pot still in a one shot process that takes nearly 11h to complete (not including the overnight maceration that happens before). At nearly 25 feet tall, and able of holding 1000 gallons, the still was created based on the shape of the Glenmorangie whisky stills (relatively distinct for their long swan’s neck) and were made by renowned still makers Forsythe’s. Interestingly, No. 209 Gin’s base spirit is a four-times column-distilled spirit made from Midwestern corn and has a smooth, almost sweet finish. This is rather different to the neutral grain spirit many gins are made with and creates a unique canvass on which the botanicals take on slightly different characters than they usually do with the usual grain base.

There are between 8 to 11 botanicals used in the making of No. 209 Gin (the exact number and list is undisclosed) and include juniper berries, cassia bark, cardamom pods, bergamot orange peel, lemon peel, coriander seeds, angelica root. From the taste of the gin and the flavour journey we experienced, we would suggest that others could include orris root, liquorice and perhaps cinnamon – although this is pure speculation and we can’t tell for sure. Although all the botanicals are placed in the pot still together when it’s time to create the gin itself; before hand samples of each batch of the individual botanicals are individually tested by the master distiller Arne Hillesland in mini pot stills to judge their intensity. Although there will only be small variations between them, slightly altering the quantities of botanicals added to the final process allows him to have a greater control and consistency in the end product.

As with the majority gins, only the heart of the distillation is used to create the final spirit, with the heads (beginning) and tails (end) of the distillation discarded – in the case for No. 209 Gin, Arne Hillesland selects a relatively small window for the hearts which only compromises of around 50% of the overall distilled spirit generated. This chosen spirit is combined with water from snowmelt from the Sierra-Nevada Mountains and is bottled at 46% ABV.

On the nose, spicy citrus notes come to the fore with a mellow juniper and slightly floral backdrop. Overall, the flavour of No. 209 is citrus forward, but not overbearing – although the bergamot orange clearly plays a large part in the ensemble. The warmth from coriander and cassia anchor the gin, while the cardamom imparts its very distinct taste. The juniper notes are much more subtle compared with the sometimes resinous feel of some classic London Dry’s. Overall, No. 209 Gin feels like a modern interpretation of a classic gin done with an American twist. As a suggestion, Brand Ambassador Martin So suggests using a slice of pink grapefruit (not squeezed) as the choice of garnish when serving a G&T, and having experimented with a few garnishes when using No. 209 Gin, we tend to agree. Lime and lemon push the citrus elements too far while orange just increases the already prevailing bergamot orange flavours in the gin. The pink grapefruit works as it compliments the notes without over exaggerating the existing ones, whilst also offering something new.

The bottle shape takes its cues from the more familiar shapes of 1900’s bottles, with its broad shoulders tapering down to a skinny base. Ironically (given that with so many gins in existence, there are few that use numbers as their names), the bottle is very similar in shape to Berry Bros & Rudd’s No. 3 Gin (who incidentally share the Rudd family name but were not connected in the creation of  No. 209). Allegedly, the inspiration for the shape came from a prohibition era bottle of bootlegged Canadian Genever discovered during the restoration process amongst the rooms of the disused Edge Hill distillery site (on the right above).

There are 4 members in the No. 209 Gin team and as such, this means that its profile has only been growing slowly since its launch 7 years ago. This is not to say that the gin hasn’t been noticed however, many have been heard singing its praises and with a bit more of a push over the next 18 months in the UK, expect to hear a few more. The important part has been achieved – they have created a great gin, slowly built credibility, continued quality control and are now taking the next step in looking to reach a wider audience. It’s a foundation that many new gins should look at as a model of how to establish a long-term brand. No. 209 Gin’s price point (over £30) however, does make it slightly inaccessible and combined with relatively limited on trade availability, opportunities to try are not the easiest to come by. Despite this, we would say that like its San Franciscan cousin Junipero – it’s worth seeking out.

Talking to the team, they seemed to be focused on building a sustainable growth, based on those drinking it having a real understanding of their product. In a fierce marketing environment this means two things; firstly, that it will not see a meteoric overnight rise any time soon, and secondly, that they deserve respect from trying to do the gin justice. It will grow in time, and we look forward to seeing it on its journey. A quick glance at the Rudd estate and what has been achieved with their wines gives a good indication of what’s to come for the gin. Also, anyone who’s enjoyed any of the Rudd Estate wines will be able to confirm that, while they may be slightly more expensive and not as easy to come by (in the UK) – boy – it’s worth the hunt.

To find out more about No. 209 Gin, visit their website:

www.distillery209.com

They are also on Twitter:

@209GinUK

– The Gin Blog

San Francisco Gin Gets Personal

Whether you are an amateur or a die-hard gin drinker, San Francisco–based Distillery No. 209’s new series of monthly tastings will inspire your palate. During this unique tasting event, titled the No. 209 Gin Experience ($25 per person), a guest mixologist helps participants understand and develop their gin preferences based on a lineup of cocktail tastings as well as their personality traits.

In addition to the tasting, 209’s master distiller takes guests on a tour of the 4,000-square-foot facility, on which they learn the history and some of the secrets behind No. 209 gin’s distinct flavor. Topics include botanical selection—the nine to 12 spices used in 209’s recipe—single shot distillation, in which only the most pure portion of distillation is used, and the 25-foot copper alembic pot, where distillation takes place for nearly 11 hours. (415.369.0209, www.209gin.com)

– RobbReport.com

The New Gineration

In the age of craft distilleries, it takes something special to make a mark. Enter San Francisco’s Distillery No. 209, an artisanal gin purveyor that happens to be the world’s only distillery built over water. Located­ on the city’s historic Pier 50, adjacent to AT&T Park (superconvenient before Giants games), Distillery No. 209 traces its origins back to 19th-century Napa, but the taste of its gin — handcrafted from all-natural botanicals including citrusy bergamot orange and coriander seeds — is entirely modern.

Opened to the public in June, the distillery’s monthly No. 209 Gin ­Experience is a roughly hourlong tasting tour that helps uncover each person’s level of gintrest. Whether a seasoned ginthusiast or a ginnocent vodka drinker, you’ll walk away with new appreciation for the juniper spirit. $25/per person, www.209gin.com

Tasting Tips

What to look for: Juniper as the predominant flavor, but gin can also contain hints of other botanicals such as anise, cinnamon and rose petal.

Gin quality: Lower-quality gins often include the heads and tails of distilling, which can negatively affect flavor. Top-quality gins — like No. 209 — use only the purest form.

Ginnocent or Ginthusiast: Ginnocents lean toward western-style gins (as opposed to London dry gin, which has a predominant juniper flavor) and refreshing cocktails like Tom Collins. Ginthusiasts tend toward martinis.

– American Way