Death's Door Gin

Dry, juniper and coriander heavy. Pretty standard

Washington Island, Wisconsin, June of 2012. My first camping trip with my then-girlfriend of about six months, now my wife. We stayed in a little cabin in a campground on the island; we spent the days exploring the secluded beaches and abandoned lighthouse, and passed the evening around a campfire...it's still awfully chilly in the evening when you're in the northern reaches of the Great Lakes Midwest. It was a wonderful time, and a perfect deep breath before she started her third year of medical school and I started my several month stint of "funemployment" before being called to serve my first parish post-seminary. To get to this paradise on Lake Michigan, we had to take a ferry from the northern tip of the Door Peninsula to the island across the Porte des Morts - Death's Door. While the distillery itself is in Middleton, a Madison suburb, the raw ingredients come back to the mainland across that treacherous little strait. Washington Island wheat for the mash, and three botanicals - juniper, coriander, fennel. That's it here. It is as simple as a gin comes - no plants that send you scrambling for your old Herbology textbooks from your time at Hogwarts, no exotic spices from distant lands, no surprising ingredients. Much like how the best Italian food is a simple combination of a few good quality ingredients at their prime, though, this is a gin more than the sum of its few parts. The spirit itself is almost creamy - that same soft, luscious quality found in a wheated bourbon or wheaty single grain whiskey is present here, with all of the rough edges smoothed away like the rocks on Schoolhouse Beach back on the island. The juniper lends a freshness, but it's the fennel that's the star of the show - not too licorice-esque, nor too Italian sausage-y, but in spicy harmony with the juniper. I suppose you could mix this in a cocktail, but honestly, it's nice enough on its own, and I'd hate to lose the distinct personality of the gin. Worth seeking out...just like Washington Island.

Rich, fennely gin. Delicious straight and in cocktails.