Old Sam Gin

Now Available

We start with 200 proof/100% neutral spirits distilled from grain, then add purified water from a high desert aquifer. Then, by using the ancient method of compounded extraction, Old Sam Spiced Gin avoids oxidation of the delicate spiced flavor. Old Sam Spiced Gin is built with a complex variety of herbal ingredients including Italian juniper berries, hand harvested cherry stone juniper berries, star anise, cloves and other proprietary botanicals. the final mixture is finished with a dash of cane sugar to add a hint of sweet and to round off the volume of flavor.

Making new, high purity spirits using natural botanicals is an uncommon path. Old Sam Spiced Gin is a unique spirit, so much so that TTB had a challenge categorizing it. We use the most pure grain neutral spirits (GNS) made by MGP from USA corn available as our ethanol source. This base spirit arrives as 200 proof / 100% ethanol without congeners common in inferior spirits. We use Old Sam Vodka as a base and then cold infuse the spirit with our secret mix of ten botanicals including select Italian juniper and ultra-rare Indigenous single-seed / cherrystone juniper berries hand picked from trees in the desert mountains adjacent to Goldfield.

Cold compounding prevents oxidation of the delicate flavors of the botanicals brought out into the spirit base. These flavor elements include tannins and plant organics that are large, complex molecules. The resultant saturated solution of flavor elements with suspended microparticles of botanicals is double filtered down to one micron as Old Sam Spiced Gin is bottled. After resting in the bottle, Old Sam Spiced Gin may manifest some desaturation of the organic extractives out of solution. The desaturated organic flavor compounds may be evidenced as a subtle bottom layering which looks like a golden smoke or tiny golden coloured aggregate we call GinSmoke or spice nuggets.

This phenomenon is more evident if Old Sam Spiced Gin has been cooled and / or resting undisturbed. The GinSmoke/ spice nuggets are not faults, but rather are natural flavor elements that will resuspend/solubilize with remixing. Many whiskeys and barrel-aged spirits such as rum and brandy have similar large organics and tannins liberated from the toasted barrel wood. This is a recognized phenomenon called "whiskey smoke". Some companies "cold filter" to remove these flavor elements for appearance. Our standard method of cold compounding liberates organic flavor compounds from the botanicals which create the distinctive colour and taste profile of Old Sam Spiced gin. Ensure that the stopper is placed securely and "shake it up to wake it up". Careful agitation / shaking of the rested Old Sam Spiced Gin will redistribute these flavor elements back into solution.

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