If gin flew to Mexico and had a fling with mezcal, this would be their love child.

Stick with me, because this love story takes a little explanation, starting with a 30,000 foot review of how gin is made before we get into the particulars of Gracias a Díos (GAD) Agave Gin.

“Daddy, where does gin come from??”

The U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) defines gin as “spirits with a main characteristic flavor derived from juniper berries, produced by distillation or mixing of spirits with juniper berries and other aromatics or extracts derived from these materials … .” (Emphasis added.). That’s it; other than juniper dominance and bottling at no less than 80 proof/40 percent alcohol by volume (abv), the United States doesn’t impose many mandates on gin.

Some gin is made by distillation (from scratch) of a fermented mash that includes juniper berries, but for practical and cost reasons, most American gin making begins with a purchased vodka-like base spirit—i.e., almost pure ethyl alcohol, distilled to at least 190 proof (95 percent abv). That’s not a TTB requirement, but high-proof alcohol is affordable to buy, so starting with it is an acceptable shortcut for distillers who make their spirits with pot stills (and that’s most of them). It would take multiple, expensive runs through a pot still to get from fermented mash to a high-proof base spirit that’s ready to receive the menu of botanicals any gin producer is going to introduce.

The base spirit is then either distilled again, this time with juniper and other botanicals in the still, or else the juniper and botanicals are macerated, infused, or percolated into it through other methods. Sometimes a little of all of the above happens.

The “other botanicals” are key to creating unique flavor profiles in a gin. Licorice is especially pungent, coriander seed is very savory, and so forth; there is no restriction on what other “aromatics or extracts” a distiller can add to a gin as long as the juniper is there and takes the lead. The flavored, near-final distillate will still be very high proof, but the distiller will dilute it to bottling strength.

The key takeaway: The base spirit for gin is usually only a vehicle for the flavors and aromas.

Let me guess: You’re saying GAD Agave Gin isn’t like all the other gins?

Yes, boys and girls. GAD Agave Gin has more in the mix than juniper and botanicals. Its base spirit is distilled from Espadín—the agave variety most used to make tequila’s cousin, mezcal, and I’ll hazard a guess that it was not distilled to complete neutrality. Far from it. The Espadín is very prominent among the Agave Gin’s aromas and flavors. Yes, there’s juniper, too, and 32 other botanicals (one for each Mexican state, the distiller says); the company’s website doesn’t offer much detail on what the botanicals are or how they’re added to the spirit, but we take their word and the word of the Mexican government.

Also, I don’t know about you, but I can’t begin to sense 32 discrete botanicals in anything.

My first impressions were … confused. I tasted this “gin” and immediately thought it doesn’t know what it wants to be when it grows up. It isn’t a spirit that a purist in either gin or tequila or mezcal will welcome easily, and you won’t find me making a classic Martini with it again; I tried that several ways and the Martinis were frankly unpleasant to my palate. But since I got as far as buying it and tasting it straight up, I went searching for gin cocktail recipes that might work with tequila or mezcal and vice versa. Lord knows I hate to waste 750 ml of any booze.

My mind map was, “what pairs with both gin and mezcal?” The answer: Lime, and to some extent lemon. Tequila or mezcal and lime? Always. Gin and lime? Always. Sayyyyyy…. Maybe we have a tasty overlap here. And, yes—it is. The complexity of this spirit works beautifully with a mix of citrus.

Therefore, meet the Oaxaca Gimlet, named for the Mexican state that dominates mezcal production. I’ll stop short of saying that “agave gin” is the spirits oxymoron of the century, but this is a niche player on the bar, for sure.

OAXACA GIMLET
1½ oz Gracias a Dios Agave Gin
1 tsp Mezcal
2 tsp Freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tsp Freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp Agave syrup

Combine the ingredients in a shaker, shake with ice, and strain the mix into a chilled Nick & Nora glass. Garnish with twist of orange zest or lime wedge.

A final rant

I have long believed that the TTB is too lenient on its one unique standard for gin—that juniper must be the main characteristic of the spirit. (“You had ONE JOB … “) Too many so-called craft gins, and a couple that are top-shelf international brands as well, smell and taste to me more like perfume shops than a juniper berry. This gin is yet another data point in support of my view.