US spirits producer The Vale Fox Distillery has partnered with bar experts Gary Regan, Leo Robitschek and Jeffrey Morgenthaler to create its inaugural gin.
Tod & Vixen’s Dry Gin 1651 is made with botanicals including juniper and angelica root without chill filtration to “retain these robust flavours”.
The gin, which was developed alongside the three bartenders for use in cocktails, is said to be “bold on entry giving way to a well-balanced, vibrant gin with a weighty mouthfeel”.
Marketing consultant Arthur Shapiro has written a graphic novel to accompany the launch of Tod & Vixen’s Dry Gin 1651. The work tells the “tongue-in-cheek tale of two grey foxes with a penchant for imbibing” who embark on a quest to save their homeland from imminent environmental destruction.
Tod & Vixen’s Dry Gin 1651 is now available in New York from select retail locations including Ambassador Wine & Spirits, Brooklyn Wine Exchange and Boutique Wines with a suggested retail price of US$39.99.
The Vale Fox Distillery was founded by former investment expert Eral Gokgol-Kline, who after constructing the distillery discovered that his ancestors had also worked in the spirits industry.
Alongside Gokgol-Kline, the production team includes British master distiller Roselyn Thomson, Harry Cockburn and Douglas Cruickshank.
He said: “Through some genealogical research, I learned that in 1651, my great, great (great, great, truly great) Dutch grandfather founded a New York distillery. I hope we’re making his ‘spirit’ (sorry) proud, though you have to wonder what he would have thought of the Brit [Thomson] we have in here refining old-world distillation techniques with a newly scientific approach.”