Our Favorite Winter Gin Picks

Unlike some other Old Tom gins, Anchor's derives its sweetness from distillation with star anise, licorice root, and stevia. The spirit is distilled in copper pot-stills and is not chill-filtered. It was first introduced in September 2004 and is bottled at 45% ABV.

American Aviation Gin was released in 2006 as a collaborative product between Seattle bartender Ryan Magarian and House Spirits Distillery based in Portland, Oregon. Using a neutral grain spirit, seven different botanicals - juniper, elettaria cardamom, lavender, sarsaparilla, coriander, anise seed and dried sweet orange peel - are steeped and boiled with the spirit in a steel vat before being distilled again and bottled at 42% ABV. Note: As of February 2018, actor Ryan Reynolds is the proud owner of the gin brand.

Spring44 is quick to point out that 96 percent of the premium clear spirits consumed in the United States are imported. With Colorado’s premium water supply and bounty of botanicals they believe that they can compete favorably with the overseas brands. Even their beautiful Vendome copper pot/column still is manufactured in Kentucky. Most of the botanicals are certified organic and the Mountain Gin features some classics such as juniper, coriander, and orris root and some more contemporary gin favorites like kaffir lime leaf, peppermint, and basil.

St. George produces three distinct gins. Their Terroir Gin aims to highlight the forest and earthy flavors of the state of California. They do this by using a dozen botanicals including local California bay laurel, Douglas Fir and coastal sage, the latter two they distill individually. As for the others, the juniper and bay laurel get placed in a basket to be vapor-infused while the remaining botanicals are placed in the pot-still. This is sold at 45% ABV and is available in 750ml or 200ml sized bottles.

Green Hat Gin is distilled from winter wheat in Washington, DC at the New Columbia Distillery, the first operating distillery in the capital since Prohibition. Their fall/winter expression "Ginavit" combines the botanicals of gin which features juniper and aquavit which features caraway.

Sacred Gin is produced in a micro-distillery in North London. (Not hyperbole. It's distilled in a family home.) Rather than using a traditional pot-still for production, vacuum-distillation is used which requires a far lower temperature. 12 botanicals are used including juniper, cardamom, citrus, nutmeg, and boswellia Sacra (aka frankincense), hence the name of gin. Nine other gins along with vermouth and other apéritifs are produced here as well.

Philadelphia Distilling Co. was founded in 2005 and is the first craft distillery to open in Pennsylvania since Prohibition. To honor the importance that Philadelphia has in American history, the distillery named their gin after the bluecoats American soldiers wore during the Revolutionary War. The brand's barrel-finished gin includes an additional aging process to the gin production. Taking the Bluecoat flagship gin made with four botanicals - juniper berry, coriander seed, citrus peel, and angelica root - this product ages for three months in new, charred American oak barrels. It is bottled at 47% ABV.

FEW Barrel Gin takes a fairly neutral spirit base and flavors it with juniper, coriander, and other botanicals. It is then aged in a mix of new American oak barrels and used rye and bourbon barrels before bottling at 46.5% abv.

Perry's Tot Gin, created by the Brooklyn-based New York Distilling Company, was originally developed while the distillery was creating its initial gin product. The distillery originally planned to create only one version of gin, but decided to produce multiple styles, including this product. This gin is named after Matthew Perry, a 19th Century US Navy Commodore who was once Commander of the Brooklyn Naval shipyard. It is also named for a "tot" - a sailor's daily ration of alcohol. Made with eight botanicals - juniper, cinnamon, cardamom, star anise, lemon, orange and grapefruit peel, and wild flower honey - this gin is bottled at 57% ABV.

First introduced in October 2016, Citadelle No Mistake Old Tom Gin is a limited edition release from Maison Ferrand. Caribbean brown sugar is toasted, slightly browned, and then alcoholized. This toasted sugar is then aged in spirit casks for 3-4 months. The aged toasted sugar is then added to its Citadelle Reserve Gin, a barrel-aged version of their standard gin, and it spends a further for four months into casks to ensure proper absorption. Bottled at 46% ABV.