Alibi Gin

Seven passes through a custom copper pot stillPot stillA traditional still, often copper, that distils in batches. It keeps more texture and character than a column.Glossary go well beyond what any gin needs, and the point of doing it has nothing to do with strength. Each run strips a little more of what the distillers judged unwanted, and what comes out is a spirit chosen for clarity rather than for weight. Two East Coast bartenders built Alibi that way, at 45%, which is 90 proofProofThe American measure of alcohol strength: twice the ABV (90 proof = 45% ABV).Glossary.

Dry · Spicy · Floral · Herbal

Bartenders designing a gin tend to design a component rather than a soloist, and this recipe reads accordingly. Spearmint is the signature and it is not a subtle one: cooler and sweeter than peppermint, it delivers a fresh herbal lift that arrives immediately and stays legible under a mixer. Cinnamon supplies the warmth and the structural counterweight, dry rather than sweet. Guatemalan cardamom adds the third dimension, an exotic spice with citric and resinousResinousAn aroma reminiscent of pine or fir resin. It is juniper's signature, due to compounds such as pinene.Glossary undertones that ties the mint to the cinnamon instead of leaving them at opposite ends. Juniper holds the centre of the whole arrangement.

The nose is floral and herbaceous with juniper and mint both clearly present. The palate is dry and structured, crisp mint at the front, then cinnamon warmth, then the layered cardamom spice. At 45% the texture stays clean and controlled, and the finish is persistent without becoming heavy.

It behaves as intended. A Gin and Tonic keeps the mint and spice distinct, and stirred drinks show the dry structure best. Seven distillations is an expensive way to reach a clean spirit, and the mint is what tells you the clarity was aimed at something rather than pursued for its own sake. When the people who made a gin spend their evenings pouring it behind a bar, the bottle tends to answer questions the drinker has not yet thought to ask out loud.