Distillery No. 209

Never liked gin, true Vodka drinker, but since going on the Distillery tour, (no samples) and then tasting the gin, love it!!! Cant get it on Colorado, so when i get out to CA I make sure there is room in my luggage for at least one bottle!!! Love the stuff!!!

Fun tour and tasting event last week. I hope they do more. They gave a very informative tour of the distillery, explaining the history and the gin making process, and then a bartender from Clock Bar made us drinks. Best of all, they put us to the test and made groups of us create our own drink concoctions. It was a good crowd, very laid back and a nice distraction for a Thursday night.

What a gem! I’ll be honest. I’ve never been a huge gin fan and ever since the «incident» in 2005, I’ve steered clear of the stuff. When the opportunity to check out the digs and still at 209 came up, I decided to put my ill will aside, and I’m so glad I did!
209 is located at pier 50, and if you’re lucky enough to get in, you can check out where they keep the botanicals, learn a touch about how gin is made, «nose» the ingredients, and sip the final product. Surprisingly, I liked it — it didn’t have the overly perfumed flavor that most Gins seem to have.
Check it out if you can, this is a blast!

We got a very nice private tour of 209 a few days ago. Anyone who can PROUDLY drink gin at 10:30am is Rad. This tour was casual but informative. Cool little spot that I highly recommend touring. You’ll learn about important stuff like cardamom, juniper berries, and alcohol. Go.

Not that good, really– even for gin, which is an acquired taste. But it WAS free…
We «Elitists» got free Distiller 209 drinks at the Unilocal!Event at Harlot last night… it was made more amazing with Pineapple juice and 5 – 8 marichino cherries… and 2 slices of lime.
Also, there was a D.209 bottle the size of a county fair prize-​winning pumpkin on the bar. There should have been a tag on it reading, «Drink me,» cause I felt like Alice.
(Maybe it was the sparkly floor of Harlot? Or the Gin?)

Nasty Bathtub Moonshine.
I hate to look a gin horse in the mouth, but after drinking free gin from Distillery 209 all night last night, I was less than impressed, and I am not usually one to bite the hand that imbibes me.
I love gin. I really love gin. I am happy just drinking it straight, but the Formula 209 I was drinking last night was not good gin. Aside from the complex flavors and unique mouth feel of a good gin, what I love is the clean drunkenness it provides and the minimal after-​effects it has on my body. This gin was not smooth going down, nor did it settle well and I woke up with the closest thing to a hangover I have ever had, and I don’t get hangovers. This stuff will not be finding its way into my liquor cabinet.

Best Damn Booze in Town
Serendipity lent her hand one evening when I was early meeting a friend for happy hour at Last Supper Club… I was sitting alone at the bar and asked the bartender about the specials. He told me about one of them, and then pointed to the man next to me and said, «That’s the guy who makes this Gin.»
It was Arne, the distiller from Distillery 209.
I love Gin. I love gin drinks, gin on the rocks. I even love the way it makes some people get aggressive and weird, and sometimes pee in other people’s closets (but I digress).
Out of all the Gin’s I’ve loved, 209 really takes the cake. It doesn’t taste like a Christmas tree, or perfume or anything else that typically goes along with gin. Rather, it tastes of Burgamont Orange and corriander. It’s so smooth and so divine.
To top it off, the Distiller, Arne, is cool. He hosted an at-​home gin tasting some friends of mine and I threw for a local non-​profit.
We named a drink after him, the Arne-​Asada.

I love gin. I love it when I mention gin because «The Others» look at me in horror (!) … while I just smile knowingly.
I love drinking gin with my best girlfriend who introduced me to the finer points of a real god damn martini… and her 70-​something year old dad who taught her such. I only wish I got to meet her mom before she passed, who was a gin drinker too. Go, mom.
Knowing that. trust me when I say 209 is a very worthy gin. I was first introduced to it at AP Stumps in San Jose. I sought it out for home and had a a beautiful martini last night… all frosty and silver. I’ll be keeping this on hand from now on. Thank you 209.
Please. stir gently… don’t shake. I don’t like icebergs watering down my martini. Please put a little vermouth in… just a splash… and an olive or onion.
Now pass me a steak, or an oyster on the half shell.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…

An automatic 3 – 4 stars for any new boutique gin to come on the market, and this one is extra good. More of a clean tasting style along the lines of Leyden’s, not a botanical bomb like Sapphire. If you are in the mood for botanicals, you can mix your 209 with Vya dry vermouth for a delicious martini.
Enjoy in moderation, and always remember to heed Martyn Jacques’ woeful words of warning:
To him remarked his fiancé
As he was set to go away,
«Whatever peril you are in
Swear you won’t resort to gin».
Once he arrived in regions far
He went to visit the bazaar.
Against the fearful native din
He thought to take a sip of gin.
When he, arrayed in khaki pants,
Would go out hunting elephants.
The sun would make his head spin,
He took a thermos full of gin.
As fierce uprisings were put down.
Time after time inside the town
He celebrated every win
By toasting all his troops in gin.
He mumbled «I’m awfully tired»,
Then shortly after he expired,
But not before one last tin
Of something that was labelled gin.
His fiancé came with a wreath
Where he was laid six feet beneath,
Abandoned by his kith and kin
Because he had succumbed to gin.

I’ve heard about 209 gin for a while, but I have not had the occassion to try it. I love gin (I know, shocker, Blake loves alcohol…), but when I go to make my gin purchase at the store I go for standards like Tanq or Bombay.
Last night at the Unilocal Elite event they were pouring complimentary G&T’s with 209 gin. My first thought, «how dare you.» I couldn’t be helped not to have one. I ended up have 4. They were terrific. I have yet to have this gin in pure (read: Martini) form, but all signs point to it being a clean and tasty gin. And you have to love the local boys.
I went home after the event and noticed that my stock of gin was dwindling – you can bet that I will be looking to purchase a bottle of 209 in the near future.

Very smooth, drinkable, clean gin. I’d rate it as being a bit better than Tanqueray.
Honestly, it’s probably much better, but my personal preference goes toward the more aromatic, herbal gins — Sapphire, Tanq 10, and especially Citadel which is hands-​down my favorite — so the clean flavor of 209 doesn’t do all that much for me.

I’m in the bar business and always a bit skeptical about new spirits being pitched my way (I hit a wall with mint chocolate vodka).
However, I accepted an invitation for a tour and tasting at the 209 distillery.
Any doubt I had quickly disappeared upon entering the facility.
The distillery is pristine with an enormous copper kettle as it’s centerpiece. There are flavor development areas where Arnie, the Master Distiller, mixes cardamon, bergamot, cassia and other components to create a beautifully smooth & aromatic gin.
There’s even a mini bottling line where Arnie and his assistant bottle and package the gin themselves.
As a bartender I often suggest substituting 209 in traditional vodka based cocktails to add more complexity.
I’m not a pitchman for 209. Just inspired by their creativity and focus on creating the best product they can.
Oh, and one extra star for helping San Francisco defend it’s title as the Food and Beverage Heavyweight Champ

Two Gs n Ts and no hang over? Fahbulous dahling!

I don’t really like gin, but this stuff is pretty good. I’ve seen them giving out samples at a few Unilocal events and their staff is friendly and knowledgeable.
They have a pretty good story of how their distillery got started. I don’t know if this is true, but this is what one of their staffers told me. Apparently some buy bought a winery and found some old shack with a distillery in it. So he decided to start making gin. Back then, each distillery had a number assigned by the state, and the old distillery was #209.
Minus one star because I still don’t really like gin.

I’m glad you gin people have something to keep up with the vodka arms race. But as far as I’m concerned, even 209 gin still tastes more like Formula 409. I’ll give 5 stars for the obvious quality, but jeezus – it’s still gin (shudders).
Perhaps my bad gin attitude is rooted in the G&T’s I used to drink in college at my friend Martha’s apartment in Oberlin. Martha and her roomie would serve mine in an enormous Spencer Gifts brandy snifter we dubbed The Terrarium, and we’d nibble hors d’oeuvres of raw cookie dough on rice cakes. Oof.

I used to think I didn’t really like Gin — I mean I wouldn’t turn down a G&T if that was the only cocktail being offered, but I never ordered it from a bar.
Distillery 209 has totally changed my opinion of Gin. Now I know that I just don’t like most Gin but I really really like Distillery 209 Gin.
Why is so much better? I don’t have the palate to understand or the vocabulary to explain if I did. See mynameisdavid’s review, Monica’s review, Stephanie’s review… or better yet just drink some and see for yourself.
PS Thanks Distillery 209, more kinds of booze I like to drink is just what I needed in my life.

Distillery 209 has it right! They took the traditional taste of gin (Juniper, pine, etc) and warmed it up a bit with bergamot, lemon, cardimon, coriander and other spices. It gives it much more of a soft flavor that makes it easy to mix with drinks. I loved the one called «summer fling» at the Kamalspa /​Yelp Elite event. Yummm!
Look forward to future events where they are at!

I’ve never been a gin drinker per se, but I may have been converted last night. This is not only a great tasting gin, (keep in mind, no hang over today) but it’s also a company with a creative vision and a worthy conscience. They began in 1882, and have recently began a 209 revival — and rightfully so. This is a great company with a great tasting product.

I’m not the kind of guy to turn down a drink. Ever. And altough my gin has never been seen without its buddy tonic, the times they are a changin’. My gin will be going solo these days with his new moniker, Distillery 209. I won’t drink something because it’s local (take note, there Thirsty Bear), but I will drink liquor because it’s fantastic and that’s exactly what this is. Tasty tasty gin that’s new to San Francisco. And if you get a chance to talk to their marketing guy, Jason, he’ll tell you some fascinating things about the history of the company, origin of their t-​shirts and much more.

Being a gin fanatic, I’m very impressed with Distillery 209. It’s a clean gin, but still very aromatic, drinkable with tonic or in a martini, but also quite refreshing by itself. The fact that they’re local, right in San Francisco, just gives me more reason to imbibe in their spirits.