Kellner Brown and Elliott Morse strongly believe gin should be celebrated and experienced in the right way.
They, along with entrepreneur Stuart Lauer, are the creative team behind Juniper, which, Lauer says, is the only freestanding gin bar in the state.
Juniper was founded about two and a half years ago as a small cocktail bar, but quickly became a hotspot. Now boasting Arizona’s largest selection of gin, Juniper was conceived as a “stop over between larger bars,” said Morse, the general manager. “We never anticipated it was going to be as popular as it is.”
The trio doubled Juniper’s staff, but Morse said it remains a small cocktail bar that probably serves more patrons than it should. Morse said that at its grand opening the line of guests went around the block.
“It’s a spot where people could experience gin the way we understand it to be,” Morse said. “We ended up having a little more of an impact on the community. It’s a late-night haunt and an afternoon spot for martinis.”
Flavored with juniper berries and other botanicals, gin is typically made from a grain base, such as wheat or barley, that is fermented and distilled.
According to the Distilled Spirits Council, nearly 9 million, 9-liter cases of gin were sold in the country, generating more than $1 billion in review for distillers. The “super-premium” category showed a 16% growth in 2023, to surpass 700,000 9-liter cases.
Located on Congress Street in Downtown Tucson, Juniper is part of the Iron John’s Brewing Company family. The staff and special guests impart its knowledge of the spirit. Juniper offers the History of Gin Class led by Yale- and Cambridge-educated Dr. Robert Wardy, who has taught philosophy for 40 years. A lifelong juniper spirit and cocktail connoisseur, he shared his love of the drinks as a youth working in bars in Montreal and Italy.
Wardy guides guests through the history of gin and gin cocktails and anecdotes for cocktail connoisseurs interested in a deep dive. Classes will return soon, according to Morse.
Lowell Edmonds III shared the historical impact of the spirit in “Martini Straight Up.”
“FDR served a martini to Stalin at the Teheran conference in 1943 and asked him how he liked it,” Edmonds wrote.
“‘Well, all right, but it is cold on the stomach;’ 2:1 and a teaspoon of olive brine, both an olive and lemon rubbed on the rim.
“Stalin’s successor was served a stronger martini than the rather bland sort that FDR mixed. Khrushchev called it ‘the USA’s most lethal weapon.’ To elaborate on the presidential theme: Herbert Hoover was a ritualist, always stirring clockwise, and insisted on a larger glass late in life when his doctor limited him to one martini daily; Nixon insisted on Beefeater gin and 7:1; Gerald Ford always had two large martinis before meals; George Bush was keen on dry vodka martinis with a twist.
“And Jimmy Carter notoriously inveighed against ‘the three-Martini lunch’ (in a 1976 campaign speech, he complained that honest working people were subsidizing the ‘$50 martini lunch’ by way of unfair business tax deductibles).”
Ford, in 1978, said, “The three-martini lunch is the epitome of American efficiency. Where else can you get an earful, a bellyful and a snootful at the same time?’ Sadly when ordered by his doctor to give up either ice cream or martinis, Ford made the wrong choice.”
Juniper offers five signature martinis — Silver Swan (Sipsmith London Dry Gin, Boissiere Dry vermouth and a lemon twist); L’Agricole (Farmer’s organic gin, Carpano Bianco vermouth, olive brine, cornichon, carrot and bleu cheese olive); Glendalough Glen (Glendalough Irish gin, St. Germain, lemon twist); Airport Lounge (Aviation gin, Martini and Rossie extra dry vermouth, olive or lemon twist); and Los Alamos (Boodles dry gin, dash of Boissiere dry vermouth, and honey lime rim).
The signature cocktail is where Juniper shines. The Blue Juniper blends juniper gin, house prickly pear syrup, fresh lemon and lime and juniper berries. Meanwhile, Juniper serves a gin old-fashioned.
“You generally wouldn’t find an old-fashioned made out of gin,” Morse said. “We have five of them. This makes us special.”
