Blucoat Bartender Battle

We attended the Bluecoat Bartender Battle last night in the dreamy Millennium Ballroom at Loews Philadelphia Hotel.

It was a great evening with a young crowd cheering on their favorite bartenders from throughout the area, gathered to mix drinks with Bluecoat American Dry Gin. While there we chatted with Andrew Auwerda, the President of Philadelphia Distilling, the makers of Bluecoat.

Bluecoat is distilled in Philadelphia in a custom-built, hand-hammered copper pot still. A true batch distillation, the process calls for extremely slow heating of the pot, which allows for maximum separation of alcohols. Impurities are discarded, leaving what Bluecoat calls "the purest, most flavorful alcohols producing a spirit that is intensely smooth and invigorating."

When the Philadelphia Inquirer's Craig LeBan assembled a group of discriminating imbibers to judge the aroma, smoothness and flavor of gin brands he discovered that Bluecoat came away with the top honors. "This locally-made spirit was the big winner with a softness and pronounced botanical, citrus aromas that appeal to less hardcore gin drinkers," LeBan said. "It was the group's decisive favorite for gin and tonics and also the all-purpose favorite."

With its distinctive blue bottle Auwerda says Bluecoat takes its name from the American bluecoats who won the revolutionary war. "Why should we drink British gin?" Auwerda argues. "Didn't we win the war?"