Gin’s Revival In The Heartland

A martini isn’t a martini with vodka. It’s gin, and it will always be gin despite my inability to drink a gin martini. I find them deplorable in both taste and smell, but a gin and tonic is a whole different animal.

The U.S. Midwest has seen an uptick of something that just always made sense in the last decade, gin making.

Chicago, in particular, returned to the Prohibition notions of Al Capone and “bathtub gin,” but this time the distillers that call the Second City home have the protection of the law.

Letherbee’s line of gins is manifest to this point. There are no better gins being made outside of personal preference.

Chicago’s gin throne is better given to reviewers’ well-stated monarchy with other Chicago-area producers like Scofflaw (Lake Bluff, Ill.) and the chai gin offerings of Few Spirits distillery.

End of the day, I’m a Wisconsin native. The offerings of Death’s Door distillery can’t be frowned upon. The home base is on Washington Island off the “coast” of Door County, Wis.