Rogue Pink Gin takes the spruce and ages the gin in Oregon pinot noir wine barrels–a type of wine famous in Oregon–which provides the pink hue and different flavor profile. We don’t consider it “flavored” per se but it does have a different texture and taste from a traditional gin.

Somehow in their tasting, the 2014 Beverage Testing Institute was able to channel their junior high school social studies lessons on Paul Bunyan by claiming the gin had a “lumber accented finish.”

Rogue Spirits is actually an extension of one of the first microbreweries in the Pacific Northwest (Rogue Brewery) founded in 1988 by several University of Oregon fraternity brothers and a home brewer. After a great deal of success, they branched out into microdistilling. The distillery is run by John Couchot in a traditional copper still and joined Rogue in 2006. They’re locally famous for trotting out different spirits to their beer drinkers, thrusting tasting glasses under the nose, and demanding, “Try this!” In this way, their informal focus groups inform their spirits production.