Meet the Maker of Gin Phi

It was in New Zealand that Baptiste Kirchhoffer, accompanied by three of his best friends, had "the revelation". One evening, sitting around a fire during a wild card game, Baptiste, as usual, took advantage of his friends' drunkenness to cheat and win the game. Far from being fooled, his friend Albin called him to help! Baptiste's bad luck, added to his bad luck as a loser, got the better of the card game.

In the New Zealand twilight, the four friends walled off in church silence, no longer daring, unwilling to speak out because of irritation and resentment. To break the ice, his friend Laurent offered to serve a good Gin & Tonic to everyone to calm the storm. This cocktail did not have the desired effect, it rather had the effect of a bomb - which exploded in Baptiste's brain.

The young Baptist entrepreneur, inspired by this flash of genius, launched the Officine Distillery. A wind of madness is blowing over Colmar. In the land of storks and pretzels, Baptiste had had enough of seeing juniper berries in sauerkraut, so he decided to distill them! Its distillery is a self-proclaimed creative space, a laboratory of curiosity, a clever mix of experimentation and the elaboration of spirits that will make you fall in love.

Why the name, and why the gin? Wait, we'll explain. We wanted to give gin all its glory. Wrongly, because of horrible mixes of gin and tonic, people have turned to more mundane cocktails ... Blasphemy! 

Let's start at the beginning ... Dr Franciscus Sylvius, a 17th century Dutch chemist, is often considered the father of gin. In his day, alcohol distilled from juniper berries and bouquets of aromatic herbs was sold in pharmacies to fight stomach aches, gout and lumbago. This explains the origin of the name Officine.  The workshop de pharmacy is a French term for the part of the pharmacy where drugs are prepared.

This is why we are proud to present this month Ginseng, a balanced gin with a fresh taste. With a contemporary approach, Gin PHI is made from a good gin base, with woody and resinous aromas and a citrus profile. It offers a frank freshness on the nose and a medium finish on the palate, with floral notes to give roundness. This gin is distilled by hand using a 50 liter column still, which allows to adapt and perfect the creation of aromas, because the distillation is followed with attention and precision.

The distillation process is based on the use of a neutral alcohol in which the juniper berries are macerated and then steam infused with all the other plants. Baptiste's philosophy is to create small batches in order to be able to offer seasonal gins and meet changing demand. In the future, he would like to offer unique products.

The Officine Distillery manufactures ethical products. Most of the raw materials come from organic farming, but the products also come from the garden attached to the distillery. All the gins are diluted with Alsace spring water.