Of All the Gin Joints in All the Towns

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A passion for premium spirits led Charles Tremewen to start Vancouver-based Long Table Distillery, a gin joint that meets the desires of those who love the spirit as much as he does. Together with co-founder, co-owner and wife Rita, Tremewen opened Long Table in February 2013.

The Tremewens refer to themselves as Ginsmiths, but with Long Table located on Hornby St. in Vancouver, this isn’t your typical distillery. Using the funky, laid-back, downtown vibe, the couple made the operation an experience on all fronts. Spirits are crafted on-site and during public hours visitors can buy liquor while also trying custom cocktails. In addition to gin, Long Table also produces vodka and a number of seasonal spirits like akvavit, limoncello and brandy.

“I absolutely adore gin,” Tremewen says. “One day I was just sitting there going, ‘gin is so good,’ and I was working at the time in the organic food industry as a brand manager and said to my colleagues, wouldn’t it be great to own my own gin distillery. And here we are.”

Now, as part of being a Ginsmith, he sources ingredients as locally as possible – which, for those who know gin, can be a challenge.

“Obviously, it was a lot easier to source our botanicals from a company that specialized in the sourcing and screening of high-quality botanicals,” he says, noting it’s much harder to find people who forage and grow what he needs locally. “Our coriander is Canadian, it comes from the prairies. Our base is corn, it’s Canadian. We source locally wherever we can, but we can’t always.”

But gin has been evolving over the decades and that’s where Tremewen’s passion really takes flight.

“The nice thing is that there are other people like ourselves that see the value in creating really exciting gins,” he says.

What began with standards like Gordon’s and Beefeaters grew into Bombay Sapphire and then the Henrick’s gin infusions which paved the way for craft gins. Spirits craftsmen made the world of gin something different and unique.

“If they can do it many others can as well,” says Tremewen. “There’s been a blossoming of gin distilleries. We’re small batch producers. We recognize that consumers want something a little different and they want something that has a face to it.”

Just as consumers want to see and meet the farmer who grows their food, the same goes for craft spirits. Tremewen notes it’s important to him that Long Table brings something to the community and the people they serve. To that end, he will be crafting an experiential gin from his past experiences, which is something other distillers have explored.

“A new western style gin, focusing on local ingredients,” He explains. “That’s the plan. So many of the experiences that we have are that of smell. When I was younger I was a park ranger with BC parks. This experience of working for many years as a back-country ranger, allowed me the access to very unique forest floor botanicals and plants, from mushrooms to mosses to those amazing smells on a summer evening, the air passing through stressed Douglas firs.”

Tremewen will try to mimic that aromatic evergreen note he experienced as the warm air rose up from the valleys carrying scents of a mature forest.

“This terroir gin, I would like it to carry that experience for me,” he says. “I’m trying to shape a profile around an experience I’ve had.”

Another way the Tremewens are making use of local ingredients is through a relationship with their brand ambassador, Tarquin Melnyk, who is front-of-house and head bartender. Melnyk is part of Ms. Better’s Bitters which offers a line of cocktail bitters (including the Green Strawberry Mah Kwan used in the Joyce) and syrups, like the rhubarb syrup made from locally-grown rhubarb (also in the Joyce).

Long Table Distillery is a small producer, turning out about 300 bottles of the 44% alcohol-content gin per run. The spirits will be launched in the UK by a distributor at the Imbibe show.

THE JOYCE:

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1.5 oz Long Table London Dry Gin
  • 1 oz fresh lemon juice
  • 0.75 oz rhubarb syrup
  • 1 dash Ms. Better’s Green Strawberry Mah Kwan bitters

METHOD:

Combine all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker and add ice. Give it a hard shake, then fine-strain into a chilled coupe. If you like, garnish with a dried citrus wheel, preferably blood orange. Serves 1.