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The US Gin Launch Timeline

For the purposes of categorizing and tracking the American gin renaissance, I created this timeline of when different gin brands launched in the US, with a number of caveats:

As the goal is to closely look at what happened in 1980-2010ish, I didn't include most new brands launched after 2009ish.
The older brand dates may not reflect the real first import date into the US. They are indications that they were probably around a very long time.
If the brand reformulated in a meaningful way (ex. Plymouth) I used the re-release date.
I have tried to focus on the US, rather than international, release date.
For Type of Gin, I categorized things into Dry, Genever, and Old Tom. I'm not trying to define which are "New Western" or whatever we're now calling the lighter, modern style. Those are labelled as Dry.
This post offers some analysis of the chart and gin history.
I cited my sources and have made a strong attempt to be accurate. It is not my intention to misrepresent or disinclude any brand.
If you have something to add (missing or incorrect information for brands launched 2009 or before), you can leave a comment below or email me.
Sorry about the formatting!

Gin Brand	US Launch	Origin	Type of Gin	Notes	Source
Booths	1740	UK	Dry		https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booth's_Gin
Gordon's Original London Dry	1769		Dry	first distillery in US 1934. Looks to have multiple distilleries	Wikipedia
Tanqueray London Dry	1830	UK	Dry		Wikipedia
Boodles	1845	UK	Dry	First bottled in the United States by Seagram's. In 2012, redesigned bottle and an alcoholic strength of 80 proof. The botanical recipe remains the same. Has always been made in the UK.	Wikipedia/PR contact According to a former PR employee, "Boodles was invented by the Seagram Company in the 1960’s. I don’t know where the year 1845 came from, but it is nothing to do with any distillery or product launch."
Seagram's	1857	Canada	Dry	According to Regan, Seagram's gin wasn't introduced to the US until 1939.	https://pernod-ricard.com/551/brands/see-all-brands/local-brands/seagram-s-gin
Beefeater	1876	UK	Dry		Wikipedia
Boomsma Stirling London Dry	1883	Netherlands	Dry		https://www.boomsma.net/
Bombay Original Dry	1959	UK	Dry	Bottle says 1761	Pr Rep
Bombay Sapphire	1987	UK	Dry		PR Rep
Cadenhead's Old Raj	1995	UK	Dry	Launched in UK 1972. "I believe the gin would have been exported to American from around the 1992 to 1995 period." – brand email	https://www.the-complete-gentleman.com/SpiritsGinBrandsCadenheadOldRajBlueLabelGin.html
Bendistillery Cascade Mountain Gin (Crater Lake Gin)	1996	USA	Dry	Name changed from Cascade Mountain to Crater Lake in 2012. Flavored by post-distillation maceration.	email
Junipero	1996	USA	Dry		anchor website
Citadelle	1996	France	Dry	1994 in Europe	pr rep
Tanqueray Malacca (defunct)	1997	UK	Dry	1997-2001, then a special edition in 2013	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanqueray
Plymouth Gin	1998	UK	Dry	Launched in 1793. Reformulated and relaunched in 1990s.	Regan
Beefeater Wet (defunct)	1999	UK	Dry		https://summerfruitcup.wordpress.com/tag/beefeater-wet/
Van Gogh	1999	Netherlands	Dry	"released in 1999" Regan	pr rep
Bardenay	2000	USA	Dry		brand rep
Tanqueray No TEN	2000	UK	Dry		Regan
Hendrick's	2000	UK	Dry		brand rep
Broker's	2001	UK	Dry	Broker’s was originally launched in 1998 and it was introduced into the U.S. Market in 2001	PR Rep
Hampton's	2001	USA	Dry		Regan
Leopold's American Small Batch Gin	2001	USA	Dry		Distiller
Juniper Green Organic London Dry	2002	UK	Dry	Launched in UK in 2000.	importer email
Martin Miller's	2003	UK	Dry	UK launch 1999	https://www.martinmillersgin.com/the-gin/
Sarticious (Defunct)	2003	USA	Dry	closed but Blade Gin is same recipe made at another distillery	brand rep
Magellan Blue Gin	2003	France	Dry		brand contact
Martin Miller's Westbourne Strength	2003	UK	Navy Strength		pr rep
CapRock Organic Dry	2004	USA	Dry	"Peak Spirits founded in 2004" Regan	Regan
209 Gin	2005	USA	Dry		Distiller
North Shore Distiller's Gin No 6	2005	USA	Dry	"north shore distillery est in 2004" Regan	distiller
Zuidam Dry	2005	Netherlands	Dry		brand material
Zuidam Genever	2005	Netherlands	Genever		brand material
Aviation	2006	USA	Dry		Distiller
Bluecoat American Dry	2006	USA	Dry		Regan
Death's Door	2006	USA	Dry		Owner
DH Krahn	2006	USA	Dry		https://martini-lounge.blogspot.com/2006/11/dh-krahn-gin-launches.html
G'Vine Floraison	2006	France	Dry		Brand rep
Rogue Spruce	2006	USA	Dry	started getting awards in 2007	https://www.grizzlyliquor.com/Packages/Gin/Gin03.htm
Bulldog London Dry	2007	UK	Dry	Offices in NY	Regan
Dry Fly Washington Dry	2007	USA	Dry	"first distilled in Sept 2007" Regan	Regan
Greylock Gin	2007	USA	Dry	Distillery launched in 2007, not positive about gin.	https://berkshiremountaindistillers.com/about-us/about-berkshire-mountain-distillers/
New Amsterdam	2007	USA	Dry		Camper notes
Rehorst Premium Milwaukee	2007	USA	Dry	"Opened in 2006" Regan	https://www.jsonline.com/business/29543669.html
Right Gin	2007	Sweden	Dry	https://altamarbrands.com/our-brands/right-gin/essential-facts/	their website
Tanqueray Rangpur	2007	UK	Dry		Regan
Genevieve	2007	USA	Genever		Regan
Hayman's Old Tom	2007	UK	Old Tom		https://imbibemagazine.com/Old-Tom-Gin
Blade – Rusty Blade	2008	USA	Aged		brand rep
Citadelle Reserve	2008	USA	Aged		pr rep
12 Bridges (defunct)	2008	USA	Dry	distillery closed in 2012	https://www.the-complete-gentleman.com/SpiritsGinBrands12BridgesGin.html
G'Vine Nouaison	2008	France	Dry		Brand rep
Knickerbocker Gin	2008	USA	Dry		https://www.mlive.com/kalamabrew/index.ssf/2008/12/_holland_more_new.html
Organic Nation Gin (defunct)	2008	USA	Dry		https://www.organicnationspirits.com/about/
Whitley Neill	2008	UK	Dry	"launched sept 2005" in UK	brand rep
Bols Genever	2008	Netherlands	Genever		PR
Boomsma Fine Young Genever	2008	Holland	Genever	1883 founded. On US market by 2008 but date may not be exactly correct.	https://www.boomsma.net/
Beefeater 24	2009	UK	Dry		Wikipedia
Blade Gin	2009	USA	Dry	Same recipe as Sarticious	brand rep
Damrak Amsterdam	2009	Netherlands	dry		Regan
Greenall's Original London Dry	2009	UK	Dry	1761 Launch	Regan
Nicholas	2009	USA	Dry	"first bottle born on april 24, 2009 at 10pm" Regan	Regan
Oxley	2009	UK	Dry		brand material
Port of Barcelona (defunct?)	2009	Spain	Dry		https://martini-lounge.blogspot.com/2009/05/review-port-of-barcelona-gin.html
Ransom Old Tom	2009	USA	Old Tom	"first batch bottled March 2009" Regan	Regan
Cold River Gin	2010	USA	Dry		https://stuffboston.com/2010/10/04/original-gin#.U3p839JdX4U
Nolet	2010	Netherlands	Dry		PR Rep
Bloom	2011	UK	Dry	launched in UK 2009-2010	https://www.the-complete-gentleman.com/SpiritsGinBrandsBloomGin.html
Bols Barrel Aged Genever	2011	Netherlands	Genever		PR Rep
Bombay Sapphire East	2012	UK	Dry		pr rep

The Regan cited as a source is gaz regan's Bartender's Gin Compendium, which has collected information from many gin brands.

This post was assembled with the support of Anchor Distilling, makers of Junipero gin and Genevieve genever-style gin.

June 25, 2014

A Cocktail Meant to Taste Like Money
The winning cocktail of the 2014 Bombay Sapphire Most Imaginative Bartender competition was Remy Savage of Little Red Door in Paris. His drink, the Paper Anniversary, contained just three ingredients: gin, saline solution, and "paper syrup."

The homemade paper syrup specifically was meant to reference the government bank notes that were once printed at Laverstoke Mill that Savage had visited earlier in the week. That former mill is the future home of the Bombay Sapphire distillery. (We toured the site and I'll report on that in a later post.)

For his final drink, Savage was able to source actual bank notes printed at this mill and use them as a garnish.

As this was the World's Most Imaginative Bartender contest, the 14 international competing mixologists were encouraged to take inspiration from their visit to England and use it in their cocktail. Other contestants used the taste of British things we'd experienced like tea and jams, or they mimicked the vapor infusion process through which Bombay Sapphire is made.

Savage used the idea of the printing mill and the smell of books to inspire his paper syrup. He said, "I tried to think of what paper smells like. The challenge was to go from a smell to a taste."

His paper syrup contained a base of caster sugar and water, to which he added vanilla, fresh cut grass from outside the hotel, gentian root and (gentian-rich) Suze liqueur, and Laphroaig 10 year scotch for a touch of woody peat. I tried the drink and it was really quite close to paper – the sweet grassy vanilla on entry that quickly faded to a woody dryness from the gentian. Brilliant.

The dash of saline solution he says is a common touch they use at Little Red Door to kick up the flavor of cocktails. In this competition rather than a water or neutral spirit base, he used a base of Bombay Sapphire.

Paper Anniversary
By Remy Savage of Little Red Door, Paris
- 45ml – Bombay Sapphire
- 15ml – Homemade paper syrup
- 1 dash – Salt solution
Stir all ingredients with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Paper Syrup:

For 800ml of syrup:
- 550g caster sugar
- 500ml of delicious parisian water
- 2 vanilla pods
Cook gently until it the sugar is dissolved. When it has cooled, add:
- 60ml of Suze liqueur
- 30ml of Laphroaig 10-year scotch
- 3g of dried gentian root
- 15g of clean fresh cut grass
Let infuse for 24 hours and filter syrup.

I'll post more about the contest and the other drinks the bartender created as soon as I get hold of all the recipes. There was a terrific diversity of flavors and styles that came from this contest challenging bartenders to use their imaginations.
June 17, 2014
How to Carve Up an Ice Block, Tools to Use, and Making Clear Ice at Home

There is a lot of ice awesomeness on one page of Saveur magazine's website.

In the June/July Drink insert in the magazine I wrote a story on how to break down an ice block into big cubes, spheres, spears, cobbler, shaved, crushed, and other ice shapes.

Instructions are on the page, along with a very brief history of the ice trade.

To accompany the story, Richard Boccato from Hundredweight Ice in New York went to the Saveur studio and broke down an ice block.

The pieces of ice he made are shown in the images above (and there are a lot more on the site). Saveur also made a lovely video of the process. Here's a still from the video:

You can see his techniques and tools in the video, plus it's just pretty. The video is at the bottom of this page.

Then, on another page I suggest some ice tools to buy. The chisel was Boccato's suggestion. I'm getting used to using it still, but it makes sense.

Finally, I also describe how to make clear ice at home.

Of course, you've probably already read how to do that here on Alcademics.

So that should satisfy your ice needs for today.

June 11, 2014
Regional Airline Mini-Bottles in Saveur

In the June/July Drink insert in Saveur magazine, I have a bunch of small drink stories.

One of them was inspired by my small obsession with airline drink menus, and it's called Sky High.

It's about how you can sometimes find interesting regional spirits on regional airlines. It was surprisingly hard to track these down and sometimes it was chasing a moving target as airlines changed from one spirit to another.

Anyway, give it a read.

June 9, 2014
Alcademics is a Best Publication Finalist for the Tales of the Cocktail 2014 Spirited Awards

This morning the four finalists in each category of the Tales of the Cocktail 2014 Spirited Awards were announced.

As mentioned previously, your host Camper English (for Best Writer) and this website Alcademics (for Best Publication) were on the long list.

Alcademics.com has made it through to the four finalists for the Best Publication. Hooray! Not bad for a mostly-one-person operation.

The other finalists are Imbibe Magazine (for which I also write), Punch Magazine, and Ginger Magazine from France (which I can't seem to locate online).

The winner will be announced at the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards celebration on July 19th.

Thank you for reading!

June 6, 2014
A Cup That Keeps One’s Mustache Clean

In the Drink insert in Saveur Magazine for the June/July issue, I wrote a small story about the very cool mustache teacups at Dead Rabbit.

Check it out here.

Related articles

A Wide Range Of Amari & Cocktails In Which To Use Them in Saveur Magazine

What Cocktail Bars Need More (And Less) Of

Ginger Beer Cocktails in Saveur's June Drink Insert

June 5, 2014
Rye Cocktails and Advanced Barrel Aging in Whisky Advocate
In the Summer 2014 issue of Whisky Advocate magazine I have two articles.

This is a rye-themed issue and it's pretty great, so you should probably just get a subscription or run out to a retail store that carries it. They don't typically put anything from the print magazine online so that's the only way to read these.

Advanced-Level Barrel Aging – Of Cocktails

Bartenders are doing some amazing things with barrel aging. In the story I cite new/cool/innovated techniques from:
- Tradition in San Francisco
- Bergerac in San Francisco
- Jamie Jones of Manchester
- The Barking Dog in Copenhagen
- Bon Vivant in Edinburgh
- Manhattan Bar at The Regent, Singapore
- Jack Rose Dining Saloon in DC
- Liberty in Seattle
- Pint + Jigger in Honolulu
- Pomodoro in Boston
- Half Step in Austin
- Citizen Public House in Scottsdale
- Ryan Chetiyawardana of White Lyan
Phew, that was a lot of bars to include in a one-page article.

The Rituals of Rye

Now that rye whiskey is back, what do you do with it? This story has a lot of new cocktails (like, a lot of cocktails), but I think the really interesting part is about which classic cocktails demand rye versus bourbon.

It includes recipes and/or quotes from:
- Nathan Burdette of Los Angeles
- Jonathan Smolensky of Canada
- Vincent Toscano of Rye in San Francisco
- Brad Peters of Hock Farm Craft & Provisions in Sacramento
- Enzo Errico of Milk & Honey, New York City
- Audrey Saunders of Pegu Club, New York City
- Brian MacGregor of Wingtip, San Francisco
- Chris Neustadt of Jimmy at the James Hotel in Chicago
- Brian Means of Fifth Floor Restaurant, San Francisco
- Anthony DeSerio of Splash restaurant in Guilford, Connecticut
- Ted Kilgore of St. Louis
- Andrew Freidman, Liberty, Seattle
- Molly Wellmann of Japp's in Cincinnati, Ohio
- Michael Callahan, Bartender-At-Large in Singapore
- Abigail Gullo of SoBou in New Orleans
- Tamir Benshalom, Bull Valley Roadhouse in Port Costa, California
- Geof Anderson of Annunciation Restaurant in New Orleans
- Ray’s and Starck Bar in Los Angeles
- The Passenger in DCAudio Discotech in California
- Elixir in San Francisco
- Barrel in Washington DC
Pick up a copy!
June 4, 2014
A Great Big Story about Gin & Tonics in Saveur
In the June/July issue of Saveur Magazine, I have a bunch of drink stories. The biggest, longest one, which took me a few months of research to put together, is on the Gin & Tonic.

It has a bunch of history, a bunch of recipes, and a bunch of tasting notes.

The main text of the story is here.

Types of gins with different flavor profiles are here.

Bottled tonic waters and tonic syrups are here.

And recipes include:
- Plymouth G&T from Barceloneta in Miami
- Dill G&T from Jordan Gold
- The Pretty Tony by Brian MacGregor of Wingtip in SF
- Mother of Pearl from Optimist in Atlanta
- Conquistador from Coqueta in SF
- Los Gintonic from Aragona in Seattle
- Queen Victoria Tonic from The Other Room in Nebraska
- Bar Code Gin & Tonic from Barcode in Bellevue, Washington
June 2, 2014
Ginger Beer Cocktails in Saveur’s June Drink Insert
Saveur magazine has an insert in the June/July issue that is a mini-magazine called Drink. I wrote a handful of stories for it.

I'll post them as they show up online (get excited, ice fans!), but the first to appear is a story on ginger beer. It's a bit of history, a bit about the difference between ginger ale and beer, and several recipes for drinks that show how it goes with everything:
- Audrey Saunder's Gin-Gin Mule (gin)
- Erick Castro's Kentucky Buck (bourbon)
- Horse's Neck (cognac)
- Dark 'N' Stormy (rum)
- El Diablo (tequila)
I'm not sure if the Chilcano (pisco) will appear anywhere, but that's a pretty easy one to figure out.

The main story with fun illustrated recipes as above is here.

Or to see the recipes written in normal format, you can follow this link.
May 27, 2014
Alcademics and Camper English in Top 10 Finalists for Tales of the Cocktail 2014 Spirited Awards

Today Tales of the Cocktail announced the top 10 finalists in all categories for the 2014 Spirited Awards.

This website, Alcademics.com has made the list for Best Cocktail & Spirits Publication.

Camper English, your host, has made the list for Best Cocktail & Spirits Writer.

Hooray!

Voting for the Spirited Awards is already complete – the voting panel doesn't revote on the finalists but just from the initial list of many nominees. The list of the top 4 finalists will be announced later, and then the winners will be announced at the awards ceremony in New Orleans in July.

The full list of finalists in all categories is here. Congratulations to all.

Related articles

Camper English to Receive Legends Award at San Francisco Cocktail Week

Featured writer: Camper English

12 Rounds With… Camper English

Does Water Matter in Spirits Production?

May 24, 2014