Gin de las Californias: a fusion of culture, flavors and experiences in one gin

Thinking, devising and developing a beverage that perfectly fuses the culture, flavors and experiences of Mexico is a challenge that Iván Saldaña and Casa Lumbre Spirits have successfully met with the creation of Gin de las Californias.

With more than ten years working in the spirits industry, specifically with gin, and with a year dedicated to this project, Mexican entrepreneur Joseph Mortera tells us all about Gin de las Californias: "a high quality Mexican gin with a unique and authentic botanical fusion".

"Throughout my career I have seen quite a few recipes, formulas and styles of gins. However, Gin de las Californias has very particular differentiators. For starters, with it we are talking about a single region. Our gin is characterized by having a dual spirit, where California is seen as a single region, regardless of borders, and it justly reflects this also Californian spirit through a distillate. To do this, we put together our list of botanicals from both sides of the border; from what is still the California region," Mortera told San Diego Red.

But this is not the only differentiator of this 100% Mexican gin. Joseph tells us that another characteristic point that makes this distillate unique in the market is the type of juniper used in its production.

"Most gins around the world use a species of juniper known as Juniperus Communis or juniper berries, which are really the most common because they grow basically all over the northern hemisphere of the planet, at different altitudes, different climates, in short, it's a tree that reproduces easily. But, for Gin de las Californias we have used an endemic species, a juniper endemic to California, which is found within a very small geographic strip between Los Angeles and the Ojos Negros Valley. This species is much more aromatic, less laden with a pine aroma and more laden with something floral, such as lavender," he says enthusiastically.

Launched on June 1 in parallel in the state of California and throughout Mexico, Gin de las Californias has two labels: Native and Citrus, each made with different botanicals and designed for different occasions.

"With Native we wanted to talk exclusively about the region. For this we used seven botanicals endemic to California. These are: Californian juniper, Californian artemisia, yerba santa, hops, seaweed -which gives a very interesting mineral part to the final product-, white sage and, finally, something very characteristic of the southern lowlands, which is damiana. It is this mix of botanicals that gives us this herbal part, this complex part of aromas and flavors. Personally, I like to think of Native as a spectacular combination of forest aromas and desert aromas, both of which are so characteristic of the California region," he says.

"On the other hand, with Gin de las Californias Citrus, we wanted to talk about migration. We can't talk about this state without referring to this topic, since it is the second most crossed border in the world, every day. Therefore, the list of botanicals for the Citrus label is made up of botanicals brought by migrations to the California region over time. The best example is that we use vine leaf, which is the leaf of the vine, the leaf of the plant that gives us the grapes for the wine. Likewise, we have citrus, which, even though they are not native to the area, they took hold and became very well domesticated. We also have almonds and two fruits: apricot (fig) and lemon grass; all this orchestrated by the Californian juniper, an element that characterizes our gin. In fact, it is the only botanical shared by the two labels," he adds.