12 Dec 22nD–Dec 28th, 2022 phoenixnewtimes.com phoenix new Times | music | cafe | film | culTuRe | NighT+Day | feaTuRe | NeWs | OPiNiON | feeDBacK | cONTeNTs | nonconsecutive week. The gin — made like all gin by infusing a neutral base with juniper and other botanicals — also calls for about 50 pounds of ponderosa pine bark and 40 pounds of other local plants. Foraging begins in the fall and continues at a leisurely pace throughout the winter. The Suncliffe crew has big dreams, including opening a distillery, releasing barrel-aged gins, and ditching their day jobs. So at the beginning of their biggest season yet, Lawrence and Giddings paid a visit to the fecund 20-foot juniper they call the “bobcat tree,” where two curious walkers approached. “What was the name of the gin again?” the woman asks, calling back from the house-lined road as she walks away. “Suncliffe!” Gidding replies. “Top shelf at Clark’s!” Giddings turns again to the bobcat tree. He and Lawrence continue plucking choice juniper. Pale berries drizzle into their baskets, forming heaps. A New Era of Gin In the popular mind, gin is a dusty spirit. It has the reputation of something enigmatic, esoteric, and never-changing. Green bottles of Tanqueray and blue bottles of Bombay Sapphire feel teleported from some past British era of galleons and funny hats. Gordon’s Gin dates to 1793. Beefeater London Dry Gin predates the U.S. But this reputation is unfounded. The universe of gin has expanded. Today, its classic styles are joined by modern addi- tions. You can find gins that lean into citrusy overtones, use nonplant ingredi- ents, or are pink in color. You can find new western or New American gin. These are small-batch gins straying from the London Dry and other older-style spirits, often using local ingredients to explore new flavor zones. Suncliffe is New American, as it uses only Arizona-native botanicals. It speaks powerfully to place — to Sedona. It all began on Memorial Day 2020, when Lawrence and Giddings helped Lawrence’s parents move into their new Sedona home. This was early in the pandemic, and the duo couldn’t do much, so they explored the local trails for two weeks. One journey sparked their new venture. “We were hiking Fossil Creek on the Mogollon Rim,” Lawrence said. “And we found this species of elderflower that only grows in Arizona. We realized that this was something a lot of gins use.” As they walked the cedar and juniper forests, the thunderbolt of a realization struck: They were surrounded by many of the fragrant botanicals that go into gin. “So we picked a bunch of stuff from all over,” Giddings said. “We experimented,” Lawrence added. Giddings grew up around alcohol, working at his brother’s pubs in London. Lawrence, who is from Arizona, liked to make elaborate vodka infusions for parties when he lived in New York. The two met in Tucson at Tiger’s Tap Room, a bar inside the historic Hotel Congress. Using the provisions from their forage, they infused vodka in Tupperware containers, testing various combinations. Though the liquids were “dirty yellow,” results were promising. Byrne, a longtime friend of Giddings’, suggested they were good enough to hone a recipe and start a gin company. What followed was a period of intense research. “We both had time,” Lawrence said. “We weren’t working. And the people who made alcohol were making hand sanitizer, so they had time to talk to us on the phone about our creative project.” They spoke to lawyers, designers, and distillers. After linking with a Napa Valley distillery, they experimented with five batches of gin. Eventually, Lawrence and Giddings settled on vapor-infusing a base made from non-GMO Missouri corn — and a final recipe. In the tightrope botanical balance, juniper leads from start to finish. Other key ingredients include the light influence of earthy, almost chocolatey ponderosa bark, which the duo breaks to free oils from before adding to the infusion. The gin is floral, though this quality is peripheral and serves to embellish the persistent juniper flavor. The gin is not citrusy, though it has citrus. “We use a little bit of orange to turn up the manzanita,” Lawrence said. For the 2020 vintage, Suncliffe produced 2,000 bottles. Producing more is the goal. Lawrence and Giddings would love to own their own distillery and make many spirits. But the hands-on act of foraging can be a whole lot of fun. “Juniper berries are so beautiful here,” Lawrence said. “I just love the color of them. They glow in the dark. At night, your head- lights catch them and they reflect. Like the waxy, glaucous kind of surface they have with the red rocks. It just gets me.” In the expanding universe of gins, Suncliffe occupies a distinct nook — one that has resonated with attentive drinkers for its refinement and aggressively Arizonan terroir. Since 2020, the brand has established a following in Arizona’s major cities, and people are thirsty for more. “When we think of what gin looks like, we think of Bombay, Tanqueray, Hendrick’s,” Lawrence said. “It’s a very cold blue-green vibe. It’s somewhere between pirates and Mad Men. We wanted to create something that felt modern, inclusive, and warm.” Pathway to a Prized Spot at Valley Bars You may have noticed a Suncliffe Gin bottle with its simple design and rust-red label perched on a prime bar shelf. Many progressive mixologists in town exper- iment with the spirit, and many watering holes known for their liquid intelligence are using the brand. Though the consensus seems to be that the liquor is one-of-a- kind, opinions about Suncliffe’s place in the gin universe vary. “Suncliffe Gin is very loud in its aromatics and flavors,” said Michelle Jacob, general manager at Gertrude’s Restaurant in Desert Botanical Garden, where all cocktails feature at least one Arizona ingredient. “You have the London Dry [style], which tastes like a Christmas tree, and the American wet that’s more soft and muted, like [Oregon-based brand] Chalky blue juniper berries accumulate in a basket on the first day of foraging season. Left: The pair working a “Bobcat Tree,” a juniper the size of a hot air balloon. >> p 14 Spirit from p 11 Chris Malloy Chris Malloy
