FIRST JOURNEYS - A RACE AROUND THE WORLD 2020 - PIN 20 OF 23
ST GEORGE TERROIR GIN, USA
AROUND THE WORLD, ONE BOTTLE AT A TIME.
PHILEAS FOGG WOULD SURELY APPROVE
Day 12 stop 1 ...
We don't distill to meet your expectations, we distill to exceed your imagination.
These are words off the website for St. George Spirits and it certainly seems appropriate to stop there on my virtual tour!
Terroir Gin is pretty much a forest in your glass and this is exactly what they intended! Sipping on it transports you to the forests of California and this really deserves to be served in a big balloon glass so that you can get your nose right in when you sip - I thought my stemless glass would be good enough for this, but it failed!
However, the gin still stood up to my expectations and although it's not a new bottle in my collection, it's one of my favourites and one I hide from any guests.....the gin is mine!
A classic g&t is all this needs and so I'm going to sip and inhale for a short while and then dash off, as I've got to get a couple more stops in before I'm back in the UK for World Gin Day on Saturday.
Atlas Note:
St George Spirits was founded in 1982 by Jörg Rupf, making it one of America’s pioneering craft distilleries. It began life making eau-de-vie, but over the years the range has expanded considerably, with gin, vodka, whisky, absinthe and liqueurs now part of the portfolio. The distillery is based in Alameda, California, in a former naval air station hangar, and has become known for its experimental approach and its focus on creating spirits that reflect their Californian surroundings.
Terroir Gin, released in 2011, is probably the best expression of that philosophy. Rather than simply making another gin and giving it a Californian name, St George set out to capture the landscape itself. It uses Douglas fir from Mendocino, California bay laurel, sage, wok-roasted coriander, lemon and Seville orange alongside juniper, angelica root, orris root, Saigon cinnamon, cardamom and fennel seed. The result is deliberately woodsy, herbal and aromatic, with the intention that you can almost taste the forests, hillsides and chaparral of Northern California in the glass.
The production is equally interesting. The fir and sage are distilled separately to help minimise seasonal variations, while fresh California bay leaves and juniper are vapor-infused and the remaining botanicals go directly into the still. The result is a gin that is quite different from a traditional London Dry and one that really does taste of somewhere.
For me, this is what makes Terroir particularly interesting from an atlas point of view. It is genuinely a gin of place, embracing the idea that a gin can express its landscape in much the same way that wine expresses terroir. It was also an early example of the distinctly Californian style of gin, using native and locally sourced botanicals to tell the story of where it comes from. And, perhaps most importantly, St George is still making it today — a testament to how well that idea has stood the test of time.
"It's a walk in a forest..."
"Show me a bottle
and I'll tell you a story."