I was kind of late to the gin game. Drinking it, as well BROVO making it. Like a few people I had some college memories around gin that weren't great. But in the last decade there have been a lot of new gins released in different styles, including west coast gin. The focus has been on botanicals-especially ones that are locally sourced, highlighting the terroir of an area.

Then a couple of years ago we started seeing cocktails that looked like this:

Wow. Talk about a sexy cocktail. Out in the world it's called a Spanish Gin and Tonic, because it's commonly presented this way in Spain. It's typically presented in a wine glass either red or white, with lots of ice, and ingredients that are in the gin are typically included as garnishes- lemon peel, juniper berries, rose petals, and other items. It can include a portion of vermouth, either dry or sweet, which adds to the overall flavor profile of the cocktail. It's bubbly, it smells fantastic and it tastes phenomenal.

It really embodied everything we stand for- an emphasis on ingredients and flavor. So, I started personally drinking more gin- mostly in gin and tonics, and mostly in the summer. I bought gins from around the country and tried their flavor profiles. When we travelled internationally, I made it a priority to try gins from the countries we travelled to. They were delicious and I learned that I loved Scottish and Irish gins. I made the gins into gin and tonics for friends, with the red wine glasses and herbs, fruits and spices added as garnishes.

Then one of our favorite distributors asked us if we had considered making a gin. We'd been making a vodka for a couple of years, with what we lovingly call an amaro makers focus. We decided it would be a good idea to add the gin and focused on creating a London Dry style gin. We spent about six months developing it and released it in spring of 2019. We would have been happy to sell 100 cases that first year, but instead we sold more than 2000 cases.

So, when you are looking for an easy but stunning summer cocktail, we'd like to humbly suggest a Spanish Gin and Tonic using our American made Pike+Clark Gin.

Here's what you need:

Good ice: You want it to look sexy and ice is a big part of that.

Next, source some botanicals for your garnishes. We suggest lemon peel and juniper berries as a good starting point. Next is the gin-our Pike+Clark Gin makes a solid base for a summer gin and tonic.

Last is the tonic water- we like to suggest Fever Tree for this, but there are many craft tonics that are great.

To make it easy, we've put together a Fancy Gin and Tonic Cocktail Kit with a bottle of Pike+Clark Gin, two small bottles of Witty Dry White Vermouth and Pretty Floral Vermouth, a small package of juniper berries and peppercorn and a few dehydrated lemons to up your lemon game. Here's a link to the packages: