{"id":195462,"date":"2026-04-01T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/?p=195462"},"modified":"2026-04-01T16:38:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T22:38:20","slug":"alpine-distilling-thriving-in-the-ginaissance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/community\/alpine-distilling-thriving-in-the-ginaissance\/","title":{"rendered":"Alpine Distilling: Thriving in the Ginaissance"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sara
Alpine Distilling\u2019s CEO Sara Sergent in revolutionizing the \u201cginaissance\u201d with handcrafted liquors and fresh botanicals. Photo: John Barkiple<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Believe it or not, drinkers, gin is on the rise in the United States. The liquor has seen a steady growth in popularity over the past decade, with a stark 187% rise from 2019 to 2024 in super-premium gin consumption. It\u2019s part of what many gin enthusiasts are calling a \u201cginaissance,\u201d and Park City\u2019s own Alpine Distilling<\/em><\/a> isn\u2019t just riding the wave \u2013 it\u2019s defining it. Opening its doors in 2016, Alpine<\/em> focuses on crafting premium liquors using high-level distilling processes with a major focus on botanical gin. \u201cGin is great because there are so many possibilities,\u201d says Alpine\u2019s Master Distiller and CEO Sara Sergent<\/strong><\/a>. \u201cYou can enjoy it over crushed ice or with some tonic or soda. It\u2019s a great low-calorie offering.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of focusing on getting the most that we can, I like to focus on getting the best that we can\u201d<\/h4>\n

Sergent is recognized as the first woman in the United States to specialize in vapor extraction distilling, a complicated process that involves heating alcohol until it vaporizes and is then channeled through botanicals suspended in a basket. This results in a gentler extraction of flavors and aromas, and because the botanicals never come into direct contact with liquid, the process allows for more precision and control over the final flavor profile. \u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful way to pull exactly what I want from the botanicals,\u201d Sergent explains. \u201cInstead of focusing on getting the most that we can, I like to focus on getting the best that we can.\u201d Alpine<\/em>\u2019s dedication to this process is the reason they were able to win London\u2019s prestigious Gin of the Year award in 2021.<\/p>\n

The winning gin itself is their Alpine Elevated Gin, a London dry style gin crafted from botanicals that include juniper, coriander, angelica root, cardamom, ginger root and citrus peels. It\u2019s crafted to work well with cocktails or by itself, neat or on the rocks. \u201cWhen people try our gin for the first time, neat or in a cocktail, they are like, \u2018Oh! I do taste ginger. Oh! I do taste cardamom,\u2019\u201d Sergent says. \u201cInstead of a blend, we actually have very accentuated aromas and flavors, which I\u2019m very proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe distill like it\u2019s 1870\u201d<\/h4>\n

While Alpine<\/em> is proud of their award-winning botanical gin, that doesn\u2019t mean they don\u2019t put the same time and detail into crafting other botanical liquors. Alpine<\/em> offers darker drinks, like their aged Triple Oak whiskey and their Straight Bourbon, each crafted with carefully measured water amounts and attenuation rates. \u201cWe distill like it\u2019s 1870,\u201d Sergent says. \u201cOur whiskeys are very tried and true.\u201d They also offer several liqueurs, including their Preserve, a blood orange liqueur inspired by a sunset Sergent watched over the Swaner Preserve & EcoCenter<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Even with its prestige recognized at an international level, Alpine<\/em> still takes time to participate in and engage with their hometown, Park City. They offer distilling courses at the lounge in their Social Aid & Pleasure Club, host a number of book and knitting clubs and make sustainable efforts in the community, whether it\u2019s recycling, reusing botanicals for farming efforts or donating their spent grains to Wasatch Resource Recovery<\/em><\/a> for methane fuel.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time we do fail, it gets us that much closer to being great. It\u2019s special because there are so many possibilities.\u201d<\/h4>\n

\"Sara<\/p>\n

With the success Alpine<\/em> has found in the last decade, a lot of it comes down to being open to experimenting and not being afraid to fail. \u201cEvery time we do fail, it gets us that much closer to being great,\u201d Sergent says. This attitude plays a big part in the unique, curated liquors they offer and why they are able to stand out at an international level. \u201cIt\u2019s special because there are so many possibilities,\u201d Sergent says. \u201cAnything that has a carbohydrate can be distilled. We can go through a lot of fun exploration.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the spirit of experimentation and exploration, Alpine<\/em> plans to continue to roll out new craft liquors and more offerings at their lounge. They have a single-malt whiskey they plan to release soon and are offering opportunities to create your own unique gin, giving you the chance to join the ginaissance!<\/p>\n

Read more coverage on local food and drink artisans by Austin Doty:<\/strong>
\nTable x Bread: Building the Bakery<\/a><\/strong><\/em>
\nDavid Jimenez & Tastemakers: Crafting Conversations<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gin is on the rise. It\u2019s part of what many gin enthusiasts are calling a \u201cginaissance,\u201d and Alpine Distilling isn\u2019t just riding the wave \u2013 it\u2019s defining it. … read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":195521,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","_expiration-date-status":"","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[],"_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[13038,340],"tags":[31951,31950,9252,31946,31947,31948,31949,13291],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195462"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}