At Whitechapel, a gin-focused cocktail bar that opened in San Francisco in 2015, you can order every gin cocktail you’ve ever heard of, as well as quite a few you surely have not.
As you do, chances are high that you will indulge in several drinks without ever having the same brand of gin touch your lips twice.The bar’s version of the old English staple, Pink Gin, is made with Plymouth, a venerable old brand from its namesake English port.
Meanwhile, the Martinez, the gin and sweet vermouth drink that some postulate is the antecedent of the Martini, is prepared with Ransom Old Tom Gin, a modern facsimile of the sweeter “Old Tom” gins that were prevalent in the U.S. and England in the 19th century.
Then there’s the Ginger Rogers, a locally famous cocktail that was invented by bartender Marcovaldo Dionysos in 1998. It calls for Botanist Gin, a botanical-heavy potion made on the far-off Scottish isle of Islay. All told, Whitechapel uses 25 of the 400 gins they carry to make their various cocktails, and each choice of which brand pairs best with a certain drink is being made by the bartender—not the patron.