Few Standard Issue Gin is a specialty, high-proof and concentrated version of the gin. It is bottled at 114 proof (what some would call “navy strength”). It is considered a more juniper-forward, traditional style of classic gin with a dash of fennel for character. Where most gin on the market is a flavored vodka where the base spirits is a ‘grain neutral spirit’ (read: unblended vodka), Few uses a whiskey spirit base, which is a nod to the original Dutch Genever malted grain base.

Few Spirits, founded by Paul Hletko, is an homage to the “timeless liquors of the past.” It is based in Evanston, Illinois where they claim as the very birthplace of the (late and unlamented) temperance movement… an article from the Chicago Reader cites dry rulings going all the way back to 1855. In fact, the FEW name is actually the initials of Frances Elizabeth Willard, who was the national president of the Women’s Christian Temperance Movement and figured largely in Prohibition (as well as the more laudable Women’s Suffrage). Thus, the name is a bit of an ironic joke. Should founder Paul Hletko and Frances Willard meet in heaven’¦ well, that will be an interesting conversation. The spirits are batch distilled using American midwestern grain. Few Spirits says that when the first drop of liquor was made at their distillery it was the first legal drop of alcohol made in Evanston, IL.