Did you know June 13th is World Gin Day? Neither did I!
There are a couple of gins I really enjoy, including Waterloo, but I’m always ready and willing to try something new. Still Austin Whiskey Co. has a rye gin (in a beautiful, newly designed bottle) and I was lucky enough to snag one just in time for World Gin Day.
Thank you, Still Austin Whiskey Co., for the bees knees gin kit! While I did receive a complimentary bottle, all thoughts are my own.
I’ve written about Still Austin a couple of times before – once in my write up of “The Yard” and once when they released their limited edition Sherry Cask Finished Bourbon Whiskey. I’ve always been a fan of theirs and will happily try anything and everything they put out!
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What’s really cool about Still Austin is that they are a “grain-to-glass” distillery. That means they manage every step of development, from gathering clean, pure grains from local farmers and ensuring ecologically sound distilling, to aging in a clean rickhouse in the Texas Hill Country.
Their gin is uniquely crafted from a base of Texas Rye grains, which they mill and distill themselves, in a process that moves through two separate stills. The column still crafts the clean rye spirit base and the copper pot still blends the aromatics seamlessly. The result is a perfectly balanced gin, made in small batches with real botanicals like juniper, coriander seeds, cinnamon, citrus peels, elderflower, and Jamaican allspice berries (in honor of their Jamaican master distiller Mike Delevante).
I used their rye gin to create one of my favorite cocktails – the ‘bees knees’. It is SUPER easy, trust me. I’m no cocktail master (in fact, if I’m being honest, I usually just crack a beer), BUT using Still Austin’s delicious gin made crafting my ‘bees knees’ easy. Fill your shaker with ice, 1.5oz Still Austin Rye Gin, 1oz lemon juice, and 1/2 oz honey syrup (honey that has been watered down a bit so it mixes easily). Then, shake and strain into a rocks glass with ice. That’s it! Hey look, I even have a Still Austin shaker!
You can find your own bottle of Still Austin Rye Gin here! Also, Still Austin is opening for cocktails in their garden area starting Tuesday, June 16th. So go get your socially distant drink on!
