May 12, 2026
The VA250 gin is built on a traditional “London dry” profile. Juniper forward, there also are notes of angelica, coriander, orris root and lemon peel. Having honored gin’s deep historic legacy, the team then wove in Native Virginia top notes of pawpaw, rose, sassafras and sumac, with exotic flourishes of cardamom, cubeb and aniseed.
It’s best enjoyed in a spirit-forward gin cocktail. Serve over ice with your favorite tonic water and a squeeze of citrus, or build a local riff on a classic Martini or Negroni featuring Virginia-made vermouths and liqueurs.
To celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, the Virginia Spirits team set out to create something fitting for the occasion. Something that honored our nation’s founding and history while paying homage to the place where it all started: right here in Virginia.
We spent a lot of time brainstorming how to mark a once-in-250-years moment. As we thought about what Virginia Spirits means today, what it meant in 1776, and what it might mean in 250 more years, a few themes emerged. We wanted to work with distillers from all areas of Virginia – the mountains, the heartland and the coast – and to pair those regions with spirits that have historical significance in the grand scheme of Virginia’s growth as a craft spirits producer.
After over a year in the making, we present: The Virginia Spirits 250th Celebration Trio Pack that consists of a gin, whiskey and rum.
Gin, like America, is British in origin. Beginning in the 17th century, gin was extremely popular in England. The name “gin” stems from a Dutch spirit known as “jenever” or “genever,” a spirit that was originally distilled from malt wine with botanical herbs added to make the flavor more agreeable.
As gin evolved in England, so too did the distilling method, exchanging malt wine for grain and establishing juniper as the main botanical. The unique flavor of juniper added to neutral grain spirit would become the “London dry” style, still the standard today.
Like rum (and lots of other spirits), gin was believed to have medicinal properties from the juniper berries. Iconic gin cocktails like the Gimlet and the Gin & Tonic are based on centuries-old treatments for centuries-old ailments (gin + lime juice for scurvy, gin + quinine for malaria).
Gin was a staple in the colonies as soon as it arrived from England and remains a fixture in bars and homes across the country. Of course, we can’t claim that gin has any healing properties (especially if you are making Prohibition style “bathtub gin”), but we can promise that the botanical spirit offers plenty of room to add flavor that is unmistakably Virginian.
To make a one-of-a-kind Virginia gin, we gathered three of the best botanical spirits producers in Virginia. Peter Ahlf of Mt. Defiance Cider & Distillery in Middleburg was head distiller along with support from distiller Kimberly Nuckols. Barry Haneberg of Virago Spirits in Richmond and Peter Morgner of Vitae Spirits in Charlottesville rounded out the team with blending and distilling support.
The team had a common goal: to make a gin that highlights Virginia and its rich history. Each distiller began working on gins that incorporated native Virginia botanicals before blending them together to taste and adjust. Before bringing all of the gins together, as Haneberg recalls, “There must have been 20-30 botanical tinctures, and at least 25 different blends,” all leading up to a tasting panel at Mt. Defiance in March of 2025.
The panel met on a sunny day in Middleburg, gin in tow, to begin tasting and producing the final blend, sampling dozens of gins with vastly different botanical notes.
“We tasted them all,” Ahlf said. “We decided which pieces of each individual recipe were intriguing to have in the final blend…it took us through nine different test batches until we found the one that we thought was perfect.”
The end result is a gin that captures the essence of Virginia’s rolling hills and verdant mountains through native Virginia botanicals – a fitting piece of the trio pack and a resounding achievement in highlighting Virginia and its rich history.
The VA250 gin is only available by purchasing the Virginia Spirits 250th Celebration Trio Pack, available exclusively at Virginia ABC stores. Keep in mind, this is an extremely limited release, with only 2,400 available for purchase. Limit one per customer. Once they’re gone, they’re gone!
