Distillery No.209 fervently seeks to continue the heritage of a small batch, hand-crafted distilling of spirits made with integrity. From the onset, the aim was to craft a gin for people who are mindful of what they drink. A line of limited production, Barrel Reserve Gins are also produced, utilizing used wine barrels from Napa Valley. Their water comes from the Sierra-Nevada Mountains, the botanicals are sourced from four continents, and the attention dedicated to detail is endless. The Master Distiller, or “Ginerator,” Arne Hillesland, crafts a contemporary, clean, citrusy, floral and lightly spiced gin with a smooth, honeyed finish that has found favor with trade and consumers, nation-wide. It distills botanicals sourced from all over the world: angelica root, bergamot, cardamom, cassia, coriander and Tuscan juniper berries, to name just a few. This craft gin is distilled from a four column, 1000-gallon, alembic pot still, affectionately named Rosie. The original distillery, (209th in the country) founded in 1882, was located in Napa Valley, but local regulations forced a move to a location friendlier to the spirits business.

209, has resided at Pier 50 for over ten years. They’re a vacation in a glass.The San Francisco-based Distillery No. Super tasty and fun? Absolutely they are! Make them for Friday night happy hour or a fun summer barbecue or to sip in the pool on a lazy Saturday afternoon. Sophisticated these drinks probably are not. Cute paper straws need also make an appearance since fish bowl drinks are generally too big to comfortably hold and sip. Make sure to fill your fish bowl with ice before pouring your mermaid water over top! A super cold drink is key when you’re in or pretending to be in the tropics.

You want all those things in a tropical cocktail, trust me. It has that rich, caramel flavor that is deeper and spicier and more Caribbean. That said, the spiced rum is really the right way to go. If you have silver rum already or want to have your mermaid water look a bit more blue, you can sub it here for the spiced rum if need be. Swapping out Swedish fish for slices of starfruit (that look so much like star fish when stuck to the side of a fish bowl) is honestly too cute for words. I guess it’s the hallmark of any good tiki bar drink, huh? But what classes them up is a twist on the execution. The basis of these drinks is still a lot of rum. Fair warning – they’re still loaded with booze. These mermaid water fish bowl cocktails are the slightly classier, fairly grown adult version. Until today, because I’ve gone and made them even better. Usually tiki bar inspired and tropical flavored, there’s nothing quite like a good fish bowl cocktail. That bar has since closed their doors and I’ve since grown a bit older, but those cocktails still remain imprinted in my memory as legendary. And they made the rest of the cold walk up the hill to watch Syracuse basketball a whole lot more entertaining. They were loaded with booze, topped with twisty neon straws and feature Swedish fish floating in brightly colored liquid. There used to be a bar tucked into the hill on the walk up to the Carrier Dome where they served the most over the top fish bowl drinks.

Fish bowl drinks