Among the innovative new spirits we're finally finding time to catch up with is BULLDOG Gin, an ultra-premium gin handcrafted in London housed in a broad-shouldered charcoal gray bottle with deep purple hues and an iconic spiked collar.

BULLDOG is quadruple distilled, triple filtered, and infused with the taste and aromas of its twelve distinctive botanicals, including poppy, lavender, and dragon eye - a cousin of the lychee fruit often heralded as an ancient Chinese aphrodisiac.

Made from traditional copper pot stills and a painstaking distillation process, BULLDOG exudes a smooth and harmonious texture with a distinctive flavor, with notes of fruit and citrus lending a refreshingly crisp character and balanced finish.

BULLDOG has enlisted renowned mixologists Somer Perez, John Freeman, and Michael Waterhouse to create some signature cocktails using the bold spirit:

"Plumdog Millionaire" – created by John Freeman

2 oz. BULLDOG Gin
1 oz. Japanese Plum Wine
1 oz. Lavender Soda
Black Plum Half Wheel Garnish
Lavender Sugar Rim

Directions: Stir over ice, strain. Serve in a martini glass with lavender sugared rim and garnish. (Cont'd after the jump)

A revolutionary cold distillation process is the genesis of Oxley, a beautifully-packaged new ultra-premium London dry gin from the UK rich with 14 botanical ingredients, including some unique notes making for a fresh, bright and intense spirit.

The heat used for traditional distillation can have an adverse effect on natural flavors, since boiling botanicals can cause delicate flavors and aromas to be lost, altered or diminished, while harsh or "cooked" notes can emerge. Oxley, the world's first cold distilled gin, prevents the problem entirely.

Oxley's botanicals including juniper, citrus fruits, and Meadowsweet, are prepared, weighed and measured by hand, and never overheated. Produced at 47% ABV and then hand-wrapped with a leather tie, only 240 bottles with galvanized metal accents are produced each day.

Unlike other gins which typically use dried peels, Oxley uses fresh, hand-peeled citrus fruits. Meadowsweet brings a rounded, almond flavor to Oxley and further harmonizes the botanicals in the spirit. To begin with Oxley will be available in limited quantities in select markets.

[via JustLuxe]

Summer may be over but the appeal of gin goes on. Beefeater 24 premium gin is the latest creation from the venerable London brand. The 24 refers to the fact that it is steeped in botanicals for 24 hours. What makes it different is the use of citrus notes like Spanish grapefruit and Seville orange peel and teas including green tea and Japanese Sencha tea. The result takes the spirit a little away from classic gin and into something with a bit less astringency and more of a softer style.

For ambitious mixologists the Beefeater 24 website has 24 cocktails created by London bartenders. Start with something simple like the Amethyst Drop which combines the spirit with creme de violette and maraschino liqueur and work your way up to more complicated concoctions like the Er Shi Si which involves infusing the liquor with a chai tea bag before adding citrus juices, liqueurs and an egg white. Beefeater 24 can be found for around $30.

Bryan Davis loves the sauce. The founder of the Esmeralda Distillery has already launched his own highly acclaimed obsello absinthe, and has now debuted his own brand of gin. Called Port of Barcelona, the spirit offers a unique alternative to the usual Bombay Sapphire or Beefeater brands found in every bar with a more complex blend of citrus, pepper, juniper, floral iris and vanilla hints, making Port of Barcelona Gin a compelling base for a classic martini or gin & tonic. And while it's bound to impress your guests, at $30 a bottle, it won't break the bank.

Tanqueray, the iconic London Dry Gin with a history that spanning 175 years and a Royal Warrant from the Queen of England, has come up with a number of new variations on the classic "T&T" - i.e. Tanuqeray and Tonic, which we hereby present so you can try them at your leisure:

T&T Refreshed

• 1.25 oz. Tanqueray London Dry Gin
• 1 Egg White
• .75 oz. Fresh Lemon Juice
• 1 oz. Simple Syrup
• Tonic Water

• Shake all ingredients without ice to aerate.
• Add ice. Shake.
• Strain over fresh ice into a Collins glass.
• Top with tonic water.

Muddled T&T

• 1.25 oz. Tanqueray London Dry Gin
• Tonic Water

• Muddle 3 lime wedges at the bottom of a Collins glass.
• Add Tanqueray London Dry Gin.
• Top with tonic water.

Continued after the jump.

Summer to us, even when it's late in arriving, is all about gin. Recently we got reacquainted with one of the best, Citadelle Gin from France, and discovered its fascinating story. Citadelle is inspired by a recipe created in the 18^th century in the French seaport of Dunkirk. Originally, French distillers Carpeau and Stival took spices from ships returning from the Orient and Africa and distilled them in 12 traditional copper stills at the Citadelle Distillery, one of France's oldest registered genievre (ancient juniper distillate) distilleries. It might have been consigned to the history books had not Cognac Pierre Ferrand dug the recipe out of the archives and adapted it.

The process was ideal for Ferrand, which was determined to create a spirit with a great mouth-feel and the thirst-quenching taste of juniper berries combined with the complexity of a very fine spirit. It also solved the problem of what to do in the distillery's downtime; strict French AOC laws allow the distillation of cognac to occur only from November through March. The breathtaking estate of the Logis d'Angeac where Pierre Ferrand Cognac is made lies in the heart of France's famed Grande Champagne Cognac region and features classic copper stills, works of art in their own right. Citadelle now keeps them busy for the rest of the year.

Few gins are produced in pot stills, and Citadelle is the only gin distilled in a Cognac pot still with a naked flame. Distilling gin on an open flame requires a deft touch and far more attention than a column still or steam distillation which is otherwise used. It also means the gin is made in smaller batches, one cask at a time allowing the master distiller to precisely discard the "heads" and "tails" of the distillation, keeping only the precious, flavorful "heart". This costly distillation method imparts a texture only found in spirits distilled that way. The result is a carefully crafted gin, made from whole grain wheat, natural spring water and infused with 19 botanicals that when intermingled allow the complex flavors to create a subtle bouquet with aromas of juniper and citrus.

Bombay Sapphire, the distinctive London dry gin infused with 10 botanicals hand-selected from around the globe, has come up with a festive twist on the classic Collins cocktail in honor of Independence Day, called the Red White and Sapphire (right).

Bombay Sapphire, distilled from 100% grain neutral spirit using a recipe that actually predates the Declaration of Independence by 15 years, includes lemon peel from Spain, orris root from Italy, coriander seeds from Mexico and cassia bark from Indo-China, among others.

To make a Red White and Sapphire:

1 1⁄2 oz. Bombay Sapphire
1 oz. fresh lemon juice
3⁄4 oz. simple syrup
3-4 fresh raspberries
3 oz. club soda

Muddle raspberries with simple syrup and lemon juice in a Collins glass. Add ice, Bombay Sapphire and stir. Top with club soda. Garnish with lemon twist and a fresh raspberry. Repeat as necessary.

Tucked into a barn in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts, Berkshire Mountain Distillers is quietly making a new line of craft liquors. An article in the Berkshire Eagle led me to the story of Chris Weld who produces Berkshire Mountain Distillers gin, rum and vodka. Weld's operation is small,he has just one employee, and he sources his ingredients locally when possible, using grain from nearby farms and water from a spring on his Great Barrington farm. Weld, a former physician's assistant is one of many entrepreneurs bitten by the distilling bug recently as small craft liquor lines are popping up around the country and producing high quality spirits, often at prices lower than some of the "prestige" brands.

The first product from the distillery was Ragged Mountain Rum, a traditional pot still style of rum, hand crafted in small batches and aged in bourbon barrels from Kentucky to create a sipping rum. Ice Glen Vodka and Greylock Gin were added to the line and Weld is currently working on Ethereal, a new gin that will have a more heavily botanical slant. The spirits sell for just under $30 and are now for sale throughout Massachusetts with plans to expand into New York.

We recently had a chance to try Bluecoat (right), the only American dry gin, after seeing it recommended by several top mixologists. The citrusy nature of Bluecoat, which is distilled in Philadelphia, is particularly appealing. They use organic American orange and lemon peel, combined with a "proprietary blend" of other US-sourced citrus.

The five times distilled spirit in a dashing cobalt blue bottle is crafted using a custom-built, hand-hammered copper pot still. It's distilled to be an extremely pure spirit, without the harshness of impure alcohols often present in other gins, and uses triple-filtered water combined with grain neutral spirit created from rye, wheat, barley and corn.

Only certified organic botanicals are used in order to ensure no outside influences on flavor, and Bluecoat uses only organic juniper berries which, in comparison to the typical berries used in most gins, transmit spicy, earthy notes as opposed to pungent evergreen ones. The blue bottle with gold highlights personifies the historic blue jacket and gold buttons of the Bluecoat Revolutionary soldiers.

Lucas Bols, the world's oldest distilled spirits brand originally established in 1575 in Amsterdam, has relaunched its Dutch Genever gin, a white spirit created almost two centuries ago. The word "gin" has disappeared from the new bottle (above) in favor of "grain neutral spirits", as the old world Genever bears little resemblance to the dry London gins we're familiar with these days. Bols Genever is made by blending a unique distillate called maltwine with a carefully selected secret blend of botanicals; the result is a superior quality spirit with a unique smooth character that can be made into a variety of delicious cocktails. Genever has in fact been an essential cocktail ingredient for nearly two centuries; Jerry Thomas, author of the world's first cocktail book The Bartender's Guide cited it as one of only four essential cocktail spirits back in 1862.

Los Angeles-based TRU Organic Spirits has launched a new small batch, artisanal gin using 14 whole botanicals. The botanicals in TRU2 Gin (right) are macerated in layers forming an organic wheat base spirit.

The gin is not re-distilled after the maceration process in order to preserve its rich, balanced flavor profile, a technique that "harks back to the earliest curative gins made by 16th century physicians throughout Europe," the company notes.

We're used to gins these days being crystal clear, but the macerated ingredients including juniper berries, fresh lavender and chamomile impart a distinctive amber hue to this flavorful spirit.

TRU, which is known for its artisanal vodkas (our favorite is the lemon infused version), uses state-of-the art column stills that produce the purest spirits possible in only one pass in order to conserve energy. The company also plants a tree for every bottle sold.

Drinking, if done well and stylishly, can lead to literary inspiration. Or at least not impede it too much. Take that great chronicler of wealth and society F. Scott Fitzgerald, for instance, whose 112th birthday is about to be celebrated; some of his best work was clearly done under the influence. Just look at Tender Is the Night (1934). Of course the intemperate author, left entirely to his own devices, might have been less poetical in his consumption of alcohol and thereby rendered a less perfect work of art. But his great friends, patrons and mentors Gerald and Sara Murphy, upon whom Tender Is the Night is based, showed him how to do the thing properly.

The beautiful, rich and clever Murphys, central figures of expatriate social and cultural life of the Jazz Age in France, held court at their villa on the French Riviera in Antibes - this was long before the Russian billionaires arrived, before there even was such a thing in fact - and dispensed cocktails at the dazzling dinner parties immortalized in the book. Gerald tried to limit his guests' consumption of same in order to prevent the gatherings from devolving into total inebriation, though Fitzgerald usually managed to down more than his fair share. This often led to breakages, shouting matches and even suicide attempts, proving Murphy right.

The Fitzgeralds of course, were legendary boozers. When they later lived in shabby gentility in Great Neck, Long Island, they would drive back and forth to Manhattan for binges in a second-hand Rolls-Royce. Their houseboy would frequently find them passed out on the lawn in the morning, the car more or less in the driveway. For Murphy, however, drink-making was a stylish ritual imparted by his father, owner of the Mark Cross luxury goods company.

More and more spirits also doing charitable work. England's Whitley Neill Gin has created "The Whitley Neill Top of the Tree Challenge" cocktail competition to raise money for UK-based charity, Tree Aid, which supports African communities. UK bartenders will be creating cocktails involving the gin and at least one other ingredient which has derived from a tree. The cocktails will be available until August 1 and the bars will donate money from each cocktail sold to the Whitley Neill Planting Project in Africa.

Whitley Neill Gin already donates five per cent of the proceeds of each bottle sold to Tree Aid. Tree Aid focuses on the poorest sub-Sahel villages where 90 per cent of the population depends on trees including the Baobab, which is a signature botanical in Whitley Neill. The gin was launched in 2005 and is produced in small batches in an antique copper pot still and contains two African botanicals, baobab fruit and Cape gooseberries. It sells for around $30.

The general trend in gin these days is to infuse it with ever more exotic botanicals and other unusual ingredients to make as distinctive a spirit as possible. However, New Amsterdam, a new gin from the E.&J. Gallo Winery in California (their first non-grape product), is more about subtlety.

The quintessential gin component juniper is suppressed in this "straight" concoction, which with its citrusy notes produces a lighter, cleaner, less "ginny" gin than you're no doubt used to. The name refers to the 17th-century Dutch settlement that became New York City and the modernistic bottle features a slice of the Manhattan skyline.

See the gallery for some neat New Amsterdam cocktail recipes formulated to highlight this fresh, summery spirit.

There has been a surge of new gins on the market but what about the other half of the summer essential G&T? Now there is a new premium tonic water, Q Tonic. Q Tonic has no high fructose corn syrup and has 60% fewer calories than regular tonic water. The brand uses hand-picked quinine from the Peruvian Andes and is sweetened with organic agave. The tonic water has been launched in selected restaurants and retail outlets around the country and online. It generally costs around $10 for a pack of four bottles.

[via Notes on a Party]