"I hate gin.”
And Lyons Brown ain’t just whistling Dixie. But perhaps having a predisposition against the stuff was just the ammunition this fifth-generation whiskey-maker needed to make the necessary improvements. Generally speaking, gin is a distillation of neutral white grain spirit blended at some point with juniper berries. Artisan master blenders will often incorporate botanicals, too, like bitter orange peel, coriander, orris root or angelica root, thus creating a proprietary blend and something unique, like a work of art. But as with art, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, or in this case, the drinker.
Every good story needs a hero
With the warm Nevada sun setting somewhere beyond the giant windows of Downtown’s Sidebar lounge, Brown’s eyes sparkle with a familiar shade of blue-green, like the young juniper berries themselves, as he discusses his new passion, Right Gin. No one seems more surprised about the way things have turned out than W.L. Lyons Brown III himself, the fifth generation of his family to control the Brown-Forman-owned Jack Daniel’s Whiskey empire, located in Lynchburg, Tennessee, which is, ironically, a dry county.
Brown and his longtime colleague from his whiskey days, Cory Isaacson, both self-described spirits-grazers, were out on the town, doing their “noble work,” that being to keep an eye on the state of the liquor union by tasting ... and sipping ... and drinking everything on the market. To hear Brown tell it, there was one spirit in particular that never failed to disappoint; no one could have known at the time that Brown and Isaacson would spend the next few years trying to fix that.
“There’s this category called gin that has this amazing history. It’s like a category that has lost its mojo.” Realizing that no one has been doing anything to make gin “cool” since the days of The Great Gatsby and F. Scott Fitzgerald, Brown took a leave of absence after 17 years in the whiskey biz to focus on entrepreneurship, create Altamar Ventures and make gin.
“Nobody was giving people a reason to consider gin,” he says, and especially not in the luxury category. That’s where Brown and Isaacson wanted their product to live, not down in the doghouse with the dusty sloe gin and the schnapps, but eye-level, just over the barkeep’s shoulder, side-by-side with its vodka cousins.
Gin in the nude
Recalling those nights of noble work, Brown sought to fix the problem of gin’s notorious perfumey, botanical aftertaste while also turning a profit. He likened the liquor’s heavy, oily presence to that of a bad cigar, and that could be bad for business: “I just never wanted to have more than one!
“What’s really refreshing?” he wondered. With the help of Sweden’s renowned master blender Heinrik Facile, balance was found between the required presence of juniper and the other classic elements of coriander leaf and cardamom; the refreshing citrus elements of lemon, bergamot, lime and bitter orange; and also the very modern twist, Sarawak black pepper. It took the three of them 18 months to develop the right formula, the distillation process itself a proprietary blend of gin-making techniques. “It’s Altamar-style,” says Facile. “It’s lighter on the juniper, heavier on the citrus,” says Brown, sipping Right straight up. (“Our gin has to be gorgeous in the nude.”) Sidebar general manager Bill Haskin concurs, “I get plenty of burnt tangerine.” Wait 10 seconds for the pepper, they coach.
To prove Right’s compatibility, they will host a series of private dinners at Nove Restaurant at the Palms, encouraging either the spicier or citrus aspects out of the drink with the right dish. Perhaps poured over a sorbet as an intermezzo?
Waxing sentimental, Brown and Haskin recall fondly—if vaguely—one gin-soaked afternoon when four master mixologists dove into a case of Right at Sidebar, creating 37 signature cocktails, including the Red Bull Mojito, a classic South Side, oyster shooters, a gin and strawberry Caipirinha and—hold on to your barstools—the Spicy Tuna Roll made with Right Gin, muddled tuna and wasabi.
Haskin admits he’s even been driven to a little subterfuge to slip the product into someone’s skeptical hands. The Caipirinha arrives, luscious and crisp, as does another round of Right, straight up like Brown likes it, “standing alone” with nothing but a sliver of orange peel.
What’s in a name?
As evidenced by Right’s Latin credo Est unus modus verus, Brown and Isaacson began with the simple belief that there is a right way to make gin. When it came to packaging, they thought, “Let’s try to create a modern classic.” On the company’s website, RightGin.com, one encounters an impressive coat of arms just stuffed with hidden meanings. While the stags, crown, double-headed eagle and even the fly nod to the classic, the strong black sash is a contemporary take on those worn by officials, ambassadors and other people of importance.
“It’s very important in the packaging that you feel those luxury characteristics coming through.” Like it or not, people judge books by their covers, wines by their labels and, as Brown points out, liquors by their weight.
Only in Vegas
With Isaacson working from Chicago and Brown in LA, one might think they would stage Right Gin’s launch from one of their home towns first. But no. “The evolution of the Las Vegas brand is accelerating at such a pace right now ... best mixologists in the country, best chefs in the country, best restaurants, best nightclubs ... and it’s all built around the notion of a hall pass to do the things you really want to do in a very cool place that is getting even more elegant and more sophisticated. This is the coolest city on the planet right now.”
Right Gin celebrated its official launch at the Palms Pool & Bungalows’ Ditch Fridays on May 4. With the Palms and the N9NE Group as partners in the brand-building process, Right has 35 events slated for this summer at the hip property and is featured at every bar there. While Brown negotiates luxury positioning at other top nightclubs, lounges and properties, Sidebar still enjoys the position as Right’s Vegas point of origin. Lee’s Liquors, which is for the time being the only place you can buy the $40 bottle, will host upscale tastings with trained bartenders. Soon, NY, Chicago and Boston will get their turn, then Miami, LA and San Francisco.
Might makes Right
Jack Daniel’s whiskey never advertised with much more than its basic stats and that comforting, trustworthy black label, yet it still found its way into the glasses of the each decade’s cool crowd, from Sinatra and Keith Richards to Lynyrd Skynyrd and Axl Rose. “What Right is about is sophistication and elegance and the notion at that in every sort of behavior there is a right way to do it. It’ll find its way without having to be pushed. It’s a higher ground we’ve going after.”
As if on some cosmic cue, Mayor Oscar Goodman strolls into Sidebar just as Brown and Haskin are extolling the virtues of Right Gin. A well-known gin-martini connoisseur, the mayor is even sponsored by Bombay Sapphire. He is sent a Right martini, and bartender George reports back with his honor’s honorable verdict: “He said, ‘Tell [Brown] it’s a very nice gin, but if he wants me to drink any more I’ll need a check for $125,000.’”
For now, it is the cool crowd of Vegas’ turn to lay claim to a label. Brown invites anyone curious about Right Gin to visit him every Friday afternoon this summer at the Right Gin cabana and bungalow compound at the Palms Pool’s Ditch Fridays. Even if you’ve never met a gin you liked, “just mention Right Gin.” That’s some good old Southern hospitality for you.