Think of gin and you probably think of English brands like Beefeater, Boodles, and Gordon's. But at least one new bottle on the shelf is very American, right down to its historically relevant name: Bluecoat.
That's "Bluecoat" as in "American solider in the Revolutionary War." The redcoats fought on the other side (and drank those other gins).
The copy cleverly reinforces the point. "Assert your independence," says the home page. On the About page we're told that Bluecoat is "distilled in the birthplace of America"--Philadelphia--and that it's a "revolutionary spirit."
Well, a different spirit, anyway. Bluecoat is distilled in "a custom-built, hand-hammered copper pot still" using organic juniper berries and "a proprietary blend of organic American citrus peels and other organic botanicals."
The word "gin" came into English relatively recently, in 1714. It's a shortening of geneva, which is an alteration of Dutch genever, which means "juniper."
(Via Serious Eats.)
Wow, I would have had to think a second before associating "bluecoat" with independence and all that. I have to say that what flitted thru my mind in the first few microseconds was "bluenose" and "turncoat" before I got back on track. :-(
Posted by: mike | January 10, 2008 at 12:49 PM