A beautiful, text-book example of the Mid-Atlantic Gin style.

Once upon a time, Gil Spaier, the founder and distiller at All Points West, was an architect. And he says he might’ve still been one, but it just so happened that he had come across Philip Roth’s American Pastoral. And then? Well, it sparked interest in old industrial Newark where he had just moved with his wife and where immigrants used to pioneer and staff breweries in the Ironbound neighborhood. Sadly, none of those remained. But Spaier never let go of the idea of using traditional Irish pot-still methods on barley and corn Spirit and about 15 years later, in 2017, All Points West was born. And then? Just 2 years later, their Whiskey got the Gold Medal plus "Whiskey of the Year" from the USA Spirit Rating Competition and they’ve been going strong ever since.

Besides being really good at making Whiskey, All Points West also makes delicious Vodka, Rum and Gin in the meantime. Their Cathouse Gin is the text-book example of the Mid-Atlantic Gin style: this basically means it’s softer, richer and broader in flavor than London Dry style. Crafted with 13 selectively sourced botanicals – 9 of those provide classic top notes and aromas, while the other 4, including elderberry, rose hip, liquorice and Cinnamomum verum make up for the broad balancing richness. It’s bold, it’s contemporary and we can’t be the only ones who find it quite good, too, as it won the Gold Medal at the 2019 John Barleycorn Awards.