Initial notes from the Panel included sawn rosewood, exotic hardwood resins, winter mulling spices, strawberry syrup and eucalyptus resins. A wonderfully aromatic, complex and rich profile we agreed. Some water brought out orange cocktail butters, celery salts, hessian and herbal toothpaste, plus some peppermint and aniseed. The palate was immensely spicy up front, with lots of American oak spices and lactones, liquorice melting on cast iron, black pepper, root beer syrup and clove oil. Reduction brought bread notes, rye spice, tobacco leaves, camphor and menthol balm and hoppy IPA notes, along with an impression of rosemary wood and natural tar extracts. Powerful but immense.

About Few Spirits

A grain-to-glass distillery since 2011, FEW Spirits produces award–winning craft whiskey and gin in a tucked away alley located in the growing Chicago suburb of Evanston, IL..

FEW Spirits is an American craft distillery based in Evanston, Illinois, just outside of Chicago. They pride themselves on producing everything from grain to glass; every aspect of the production of their spirits is done by them. They currently produce a range of award-winning gins and whiskies, all using ingredients sourced as local to the distillery as possible.

Evanston is also the home of prohibition, for it was here that Frances Elizabeth Willard championed the temperance movement with the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. As a not-so-subtle nod to her achievements, Paul Hletko named his distillery FEW Spirits when it became the first distillery in Evanston since prohibition. Every FEW Spirits label carries with it some local heritage by depicting a different scene from the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893.

The distillery has two copper pot stills. Their first still is a custom built german hybrid still and is used to produce the whiskey, as well as to strip low wines for gin production. The second still is also custom built, but is optimized for gin production. Since Few places all of their gin botanicals directly in the pot, the use of a separate still for gin production ensures that the gin flavors don't mix with their whiskey.

Although a relatively young distillery, Few has rapidly gained acclaim. Social and Cocktail named Few American Gin the most exciting spirit product introduced in the UK in 2012, and the Beverage Testing Institute awarded the Few Barrel Gin the highest rating given a gin in 5 years. Few was even picked as one of the gins for the Ginvent calendar in 2012.