Episode 203 - Barr Hill Gin with Ryan Christiansen

In this wide-ranging and pine-scented conversation with Master Distiller Ryan Christiansen, some of the topics we discuss include:

• How time spent in his father’s hardware store as a child led Ryan to appreciate taking complicated equipment apart and bringing people and communities together. 
• What it was like to build Caledonia Spirits from the ground-up alongside his partner and beekeeper Todd Hardy.
• Why Barr HIll gin defies categorization as a London Dry, Old Tom, or New American style gin
• Some thoughts on the finicky and inconsistent barrel aged gin category, and what makes Barr Hill’s Tom Cat reserve product such a stand-out example of what a barrel aged gin could (and perhaps should more often) be.
• Along the way, we cover the tricky business of understanding where bees have been hanging out, some hints as to the location of the mythical “juniper extraction curve,” why “hazy Martinis” are set to be the next big cocktail craze
• And much, much more.

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