Watershed Distillery has released a new spirit exclusively for Short North restaurant The Guild House. The Guild Series Gin is a citrus-forward gin distilled from grain and fruit with a post maceration of chamomile.
Fans of Watershed’s Four Peel Gin will likely love the new spirit as well: it builds on the same citrusy base with a slightly different balance of fruit and an added emphasis on chamomile.
“We downplayed the grapefruit peel and we put a tangerine peel in there, and we took out the allspice and put some nutmeg in, so it kind of has some of the same bones,” said Greg Lehman, co-owner of Watershed Distillery. “We distilled it the same way [as Four Peel Gin] but when it came off the still we soaked it in the chamomile.”
The Guild House debuted four cocktails last night using the new gin: Bold (Fernt Branca, Aperol, Carpano, Antica, Fresh Orange Juice), Sparkling (Pear shrub, egg white, chinese bitters, sparkling wine, lemon juice), Summer (Pimm’s No .1, angostura bitters, watermelon, lime juice) and Piano Man, a simple G&T with Ohio-made tonic.
The collaboration came about over drinks (isn’t that always the way) with Watershed’s co-owners Lehman and Dave Rigo, and Ryan Valentine, Beverage Director for Cameron Mitchell Restaurants.
“Ryan said ‘You guys are doing cool stuff, we’re doing cool stuff, there ought to be something really cool we do together,'” said Lehman. “It was a lot of drawing out ideas almost and then I think one day it just came out, ‘What if we made a special gin together?’ Then the ideas started flying and we all got excited about it and it’s really just been a fun project.”
The Guild Series Gin is the sixth spirit Watershed has released since the distillery was founded in 2010. In addition to Guild Series Gin, the distillery offers Vodka, Four Peel Gin, Bourbon Barrel Gin, Bourbon and Nocino.
Can we look forward to more collaborations and custom spirit releases from Watershed? Probably not.
“I don’t think we’re running out tomorrow to do [another collaboration],” Lehman said. “It’s kind of something special we did with [The Guild House], but we’re willing to sit down with anyone and concept ideas. And if both sides get excited about it, we might go do it.”
The Guild House is located at 624 N. High Street. We recently reviewed their brunch.
