Golden Moon Gin

Douglas fir is the botanical that places this gin in Colorado and nowhere else on the shelf. Golden Moon Distillery works it into a grain-based New Western DryContemporary ginAlso called New Western: juniper is still there, but other botanicals (citrus, flowers, spice) take the lead.GlossarySee Contemporary gin gins at 45% ABV, alongside lavender, rosemary, mint and tarragon around the juniper, and it is the fir that turns what would be a floral recipe into a distinctly mountain one. It took a Gold Medal from the American Distilling Institute in 2013.

Floral · Herbal

Lavender and mint open the aroma together and pull in opposite directions, which is precisely what makes the opening work: lavender floral and slightly soapy in the good sense of that word, mint cool and sharp, and neither one allowed to dominate the other. Douglas fir sits beneath them with a resinousResinousAn aroma reminiscent of pine or fir resin. It is juniper's signature, due to compounds such as pinene.Glossary green note close to juniper but sweeter and brighter, and the two of them together give the gin an unusually deep evergreen character. Rosemary reinforces that resin from the herb side, and tarragon adds a faint anise note that most drinkers will notice long before they can name it. At 45% every one of them projects clearly, and the palate stays floral at the front and herbal all the way through to a dry close.

The strength gives room to work with. A plain tonic over a generously iced glass lets the fir and the lavender separate, which is where the interest lies; a botanical tonic simply competes with them. A sprig of rosemary belongs here, since it repeats a plant the recipe already contains, and a lemon twistTwistA strip of peel twisted over the glass to release its oils, then dropped into the drink.Glossary works if you want the florals lifted instead. It is also very good in a MartiniDry MartiniGin and a little dry vermouth, stirred over ice and served in a well-chilled stemmed glass, with an olive or a twist.Glossary, where the evergreen character comes forward and the lavender recedes. A gin that tastes of a particular landscape is rarer than the marketing of the category suggests. It ends floral, resinous and dry.