Fourteen botanicals give Devil's Grin Texas Gin a profile rooted in Fort Worth rather than borrowed from a classic London recipe. Master distiller Brett Luchesi works from a corn spirit and introduces the botanicals through staged maceration. Juniper meets cedar, toasted mesquite bean, anise, cardamom, galangal, rose hips, allspice, orange, orris, lemon verbena, angelica, lemon and white sage. Cedar and mesquite form a dry Texan backbone with a faint roasted quality. Orange and verbena lift the opening; cardamom, galangal and allspice add warmth without erasing the pine. Sage appears in the long herbal finish. Bottled at 44% vol., the gin has enough weight for a martini yet remains comfortable with tonic. It won Gold in the Contemporary Style category at the 2026 World Gin Awards after earning Silver in 2025, and The Daily Pour scored it 91 points.

Staged maceration suits botanicals that release flavour at different speeds. Citrus and herbs can stay bright while cedar, mesquite and hard spices contribute depth. Corn spirit provides a rounded base, keeping the woody elements savoury rather than severe. That technical choice is central to the balance between Texan materials and classic gin structure.

The brand calls its tonic drink a Grin and Tonic. Over solid ice, marry 4 cl of gin to a 10 cl pour of dry tonic. Add orange peel and one white-sage leaf among the cubes, then rest a second peel and a small sage sprig beside the glass. Avoid smoke: the mesquite is already part of the botanical profile.

Different maceration stages respect the extraction rates of wood, spice, citrus and herbs. The rounded corn base keeps the roasted depth savoury and controlled.