Chief Gowanus New-Netherland Gin

Distilled in the old Dutch colony of Brooklyn from grains grown in New York State, Chief Gowanus is based on an early American recipe for making a version of “Holland gin” out of American rye whiskey. With a little help from Brooklyn’s resident historian of drink, Dr. David Wondrich, we’ve taken our unaged, double-distilled rye whiskey, put it back in our traditional pot still with a few shovelfuls of juniper berries and a handful of Cluster hops (the variety likely to have been in use in 1809, from whence the recipe originates) and run it through a third time. Three months in an oak barrel to smooth it out a bit and the result is gin that, we like to believe, would have brought a smile to the legendary Gowanus, great chief of the Canarsees back in the days when Brooklyn was still Dutch.