Few Standard Issue Gin
FEW Spirits · FEW Spirits Distillery
A serious, characterful navy-strength gin from one of America's most thoughtful craft distilleries. Its assertive juniper spine and remarkable persistence on the finish make it a perfect vehicle for the theme — few gins linger like this one.
Nose
An immediate wave of pine-forward juniper leads, followed by cracked black pepper, bright lemon peel, and a whisper of vanilla riding underneath. There's a grain-forward warmth — a nod to the whiskey-style base — that gives the aromatics weight and gravity.
Palate
Muscular and unapologetic. Juniper arrives resinous and green, layered with coriander seed, fresh ginger, and a slow-building peppery heat. The high proof carries the botanicals across the tongue with authority, while the malted grain base adds a bready roundness that keeps everything from turning sharp.
Finish
Exceptionally long — pine-resin juniper, cassia warmth, and a lingering citrus oil brightness that refuses to fade. Peppery echoes remain a full minute later, making this a gin that stays with you.
- Style
- American navy-strength gin — juniper-forward, high-proof, with a distinctive malty backbone from the whiskey-influenced base spirit
- Botanicals
- Juniper, coriander, cassia, lemon peel, orange peel, grains of paradise, angelica root, orris root, and a proprietary blend of additional botanicals
- Base Spirit
- Grain-to-bottle spirit distilled from a base of corn, wheat, and malted barley — the same grain bill philosophy FEW uses for its whiskeys
Cocktail Suggestion
The Long Shadow — 2 oz FEW Standard Issue Gin, 1 oz Cocchi Americano, 0.25 oz fresh lemon juice, 0.25 oz simple syrup, 2 dashes orange bitters. Stir with ice, strain into a chilled coupe, express a lemon peel over the surface and drop it in.
Food Pairing
Cured salmon with dill, capers, and rye crisps — the gin's pepper and pine cut cleanly through the fish's richness while its grain-forward body echoes the bread.
Founded in 2011 by attorney-turned-distiller Paul Hletko, FEW Spirits was the first grain-to-bottle distillery in Evanston, Illinois — a town where Frances Elizabeth Willard's temperance movement had once made distilling literally illegal, giving the distillery both its acronym and its quietly rebellious identity.
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