GIN AS A FINE SPIRIT? The first gin to join the Navigate World Whisky (NWW) portfolio comes from KOVAL Distillery. Made using a base of white rye whisky, rather than neutral spirit – “So the base already comes with layers of flavour and aroma,” says Sonat – the Koval Dry Gin is both distilled and macerated with 13 hand-selected botanicals, including juniper, coriander, cardamom and grains of paradise. NWW will also offer KOVAL’s delicious Cranberry Gin Liqueur, infused with organic Wisconsin- and Michigan-grown cranberries. With the sweetness of organic sugar added to balance the natural tartness of the cranberry, this flavoursome and fragrant gin liqueur is delicious on its own or mixed with a splash of sparkling water as an approachable low-alcohol cocktail. THE NAVIGATOR | FEATURE In many Eastern European languages, the word ‘koval’ translates loosely as ‘smith’ or ‘blacksmith’. A shaper of things. One who creates. And in Yiddish it has the added meaning of a person who ‘forges ahead’, blazing a trail for others to follow. In a single word it’s a perfect snapshot of KOVAL Distillery, which was founded in Chicago in 2008 by Dr. Robert Birnecker and Dr. Sonat Birnecker Hart. While Robert comes from a long line of European distillers, and is a Master Distiller himself, Sonat traded a career in academia for the adventure of founding a craft distillery. In the years since they have established KOVAL as one of America’s leading craft distilleries, and trained thousands of distillers worldwide through their distilling consultancy. And although records point to a woman in ancient Egypt as the inventor of the earliest recorded distilling apparatus, when the KOVAL stills were first fired up it was one of the few woman-owned distilleries in America, blazing a trail for inclusivity in the industry. Remarkably, KOVAL also became the first legal distillery to open in Chicago in over a century. “Chicago was a distribution town,” says Sonat. “So there were probably people bootlegging and distilling illegally, but really, nobody had been distilling legally in Chicago since the mid-1800s. That’s somewhat ironic, as Illinois – the state in which Chicago is found – was once the heartland of American distilling. With the grain belt on the doorstep, the town of Peoria – just 200 kilometres from Chicago – was once home to more than 70 distilleries. Prohibition shut the stills, and by the time the 18th Amendment, and Prohibition, was repealed in 1933 Kentucky had snatched the crown as the cradle of American distilling. But KOVAL was quick to put Chicago back on the whiskeymaking map, growing from a single 350-litre still to today’s impressive facility in northern Chicago, where KOVAL boasts a pair of 5000-litre stills. And there are plans to install a third! From being a small family affair, the company has grown to more than 50 employees, producing up to 90 000 gallons [340 000 litres] of spirit per year, making it one of the largest woman-owned independent distilleries in the United States. And they’ve done it all while maintaining a clear focus on premium spirits handcrafted from a pioneering selection of organic grains. Koval Distillery 73
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