Specialization is sizzling in New York’s crowded bar scene. Need an Italian aperitivo? Or Japanese-style cocktails? You’ve acquired choices in spades. Spirits themselves, too, show wealthy sufficient to warrant whole bars devoted to their various expressions, particularly whiskey and agave spirits like tequila and mezcal. There’s one spirit, nonetheless, that two bar trade veterans imagine deserves one other devoted vacation spot, particularly now: gin.
Brian Gummert and Blake Walker have joined forces to open the gin-focused Chin Up Bar at 171 Chrystie Road in New York Metropolis’s Decrease East Aspect. The partnership is sensible: Gummert owns Decrease East Aspect cocktail bar Topic; Walker bartended there, in addition to at Nitecap and Amor y Amargo, the latter of which is one in all New York’s prized specialty spots concentrating on amaro.
“Brian and I each love gin, and there’s been an explosion of thrilling gins prior to now 10 to fifteen years,” Walker tells Observer. Traditional London dry types from well-established distilleries have lengthy been widespread in Europe and again bar staples in the US. However extra lately, American craft distilleries, like Tenmile Distillery in upstate New York, have been leaning extra into the spirit. Gins are additionally popping up in areas not beforehand related to the spirit, the place endemic fruits and botanicals give it a recent spin—South Africa’s Bayab Gin with native pineapple and palm sap, for instance, or Vietnam’s Sông Cái Distillery with heirloom pomelo, jungle pepper, black cardamom and inexperienced turmeric.
The fun of discovery fueled the proliferation of whiskey and agave bars during the last twenty years, Walker provides. Craft whiskey choices exploded in New York, adopted by an elevated availability of high quality tequila and mezcal, and out of the blue bar-goers had whole classes to discover at devoted locations. Now, he says, gin “is ripe for that.”
Gin’s personal craft increase has resulted in myriad completely different taste profiles for such exploration. Walker and Gummert curated a again bar simply shy of 100 gin bottles forward of the December 2025 opening, which Walker says might seemingly double within the subsequent few months and proceed to develop from there. Along with heavy hitters within the London dry vein, Chin Up Bar’s cabinets symbolize the aforementioned choices from upstate New York, Vietnam and South Africa, in addition to these from Japan, India, Kenya, Mexico, Australia and extra.
Bolstered by this type of choice, Chin Up Bar speaks to gin lovers above all else. However Walker and Gummert are keen to wager that even those that imagine they don’t like gin simply haven’t discovered the gin for them but.
“Lots of people keep away from gin as a result of unlucky experiences early of their ingesting careers,” Walker says. “That they had unhealthy gin, or they nonetheless have the notion it’s old school or stodgy. I believe that’s diminishing and loads of these attitudes have actually sloughed off, however there’s nonetheless a bit of little bit of persistence there.” For Walker and Gummert, the notion that gin is all pine tree and booze burn could also be what has prevented the spirit from having its personal devoted menus prior to now.
To showcase gin’s versatility and huge breadth of regional expressions, Walker and Gummert have formed a menu balancing traditional gin cocktails with extra novel creations.
The classics assist reveal the influence completely different gins can have on acquainted, widespread taste profiles—Martin Miller’s Westbourne Power gin is ideal in a martini with a refined stability of juniper, citrus, spice and clear smoothness. Roku Japanese gin has peppery spice and herbaceous inexperienced tea notes that sing in a grimy martini, and Neversink New York gin possesses a touch of sweetness that brings out the identical within the Gibson’s leek vermouth and sherry vinegar whereas tempering the drink’s acidity and brine. Then, there are the extra adventurous Chin Up Bar originals.
Floral, citrusy and spicy, Dorothy Parker New York gin pulls collectively the Rendezvous in Chennai. With Madras curry, coconut, apricot, ginger and lime, the marginally creamy, velvety cocktail explodes with shiny, tropical flavors earlier than the savory curry, with its refined warmth, blossoms and lingers within the drink’s end. Elsewhere on the menu, the Australian 4 Pillars yuzu gin performs with guava and sunflower seed orgeat, whereas the Mexican Condesa prickly pear gin anchors thyme, kiwi, honey and glowing wine.
Walker and Gummert aren’t afraid to enterprise past conventional gin cocktails and innovations crafted particularly round gin. Aquavit, basically a Scandinavian gin riff that includes caraway as an alternative of juniper, punches up the historically extra rounded, sweeter old school with spice, whereas apple brandy, Granny Smith apples, wasabi and purple shiso broaden its taste horizons with a shiny crispness, earthiness and warmth. Gin even discovered its method right into a coquito Walker was pouring earlier than Christmas. The wealthy, coconutty Puerto Rican vacation punch is made with rum, however Walker splits its base with gin. The result’s a extra complicated coquito with punchier spices and refined botanicals retaining the drink safely distant from cloying territory.
There’s a lot to find out about gin at Chin Up Bar, however it’s as much as visitors how a lot data they need served up with their drinks. Walker and Gummert prioritize workers training, so data on numerous gins comes throughout extra naturally in dialogues with visitors moderately than requiring rehearsed spiels. In addition they plan to have traditional gin botanicals available for individuals to scent on their very own, and so they permit visitors to liberally pattern with one-ounce pours of something on the again bar.
“It’s essential for us to depart the doorways huge open to academic experiences and discuss issues in a educated method with out forcing it on anybody,” Walker explains. “They will simply are available and have a scrumptious drink with out that if they need.”
Chin Up Bar’s seafood-forward menu has been deliberately developed to pair effectively with gin. Even within the minuscule world of gin-focused bars, this stage of element is uncommon; gin isn’t framed in a pairing context the identical method as wine, beer, and even whiskey.
There’s the choice to easily feast on shrimp cocktail together with your martini, however it’s also possible to order dishes really useful based mostly in your particular drink. For instance, Walker recommended smoked mussels escabeche and a tuna dish with purple shiso leaf and dehydrated beets to pair with the Rendezvous in Chennai and aquavit old school. The purple shiso leaf in each the tuna and the old school matched effectively, and the mussels’ smoky character highlighted the Rendezvous’s savory curry be aware. (It’s price mentioning that the satisfyingly toothsome, densely flavor-packed beets on that tuna dish deserve their very own award.) A choice of oysters will not be as fastidiously curated to cocktails’ flavors, however equally to the shrimp cocktail, they really feel like a low-stakes, traditional nosh for a cocktail bar.
All of this gin celebration takes place in a refreshingly singular house. You gained’t discover Artwork Deco “bathtub gin” nods right here, nor the de rigueur martini bar plush purple banquettes. The house itself feels sculptural, with cave-like white stucco partitions impressed by the Gilder Middle on the American Museum of Pure Historical past. Excessive vaulted ceilings with sky murals by Ori Carino wink on the ceilings of Grand Central Station, whereas touches of greenery pay homage to Sara D. Roosevelt Park close to the bar. All collectively, the inside appears to be like other-worldly—it’s giving a chicer, extra restrained Mos Eisley Cantina—however each aspect weaves in some New York reference.
Envisioning Chin Up Bar’s house, Gummert recollects serving drinks elsewhere throughout the pandemic and considering how excited individuals could be to be in a brand new house.
“Folks had been caught in nostalgia for some time, however now appear to be wanting one thing recent,” he says. The bar is in a brand new constructing, so he and Walker acquired to design the format from scratch. “Patterns emerged little by little, impressed by New York public areas, cathedrals, subway stations…it was time to see one thing new and attention-grabbing in New York.”
Walker and Gummert would love Chin As much as grow to be a vacation spot cocktail bar, however Walker notes that “it’s locals, it’s regulars that preserve you open and sustained for a very long time. Our focus has been creating an expertise to make individuals wish to come again time and again.” Gin fans will already be locked in to an idea like this, however between the reliably well-made classics, attention-grabbing originals, and robust meals menu, there’s greater than sufficient for each different sort of imbiber to understand.
