Meet Freya Estreller and Mary Bartlett of Future Gin in Downtown Los Angeles

Today we’d like to introduce you to Freya Estreller and Mary Bartlett.

Freya and Mary, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Firstly, we all love gin and we all love each other. Future Gin is a collaboration amongst five of us ladies who have been friends for a while in Los Angeles and whose personal and business lives intersect with each other in the restaurant, food and cocktail world. We thought it would be fun to work together and make a delicious, everyday gin that represented our Los Angeles & California roots.

As for who we are, Amy Atwood is a prominent natural wine distributor and importer in California. Mary Bartlett is the National Beverage Director for Arclight Cinemas. Freya Estreller is Head of Operations at Tea Drops and co-founder of Coolhaus Ice Cream. Natasha Case is co-founder and CEO of Coolhaus Ice Cream. Morgan McLachlan is co-founder of the Spirit Guild and our distiller. Together, we have 50+ years of food and beverage experience.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Well, we have been working on this for the last three years! But, it always takes time to get a product and launch right. It took almost a year and numerous iterations of the botanicals and formulation to get it just right. Besides that, we’re so thankful for all the support we’ve seen in California and now New York, where we just launched in April, and especially because we are 100% female vertically integrated from distiller to distributor to owners.

Please tell us about Future Gin.
Future Gin was created by four women who wanted a spirit that represents everything we love about California, from its natural bounty to forward thinking. Future combines the structure of a London Dry gin, with a lot of juniper, but rather than the traditional bitter orange, we went with Meyer lemon to incorporate juicier orange qualities. We added avocado leaf, which we plucked from the tree in our backyard to give the gin a rich mouthfeel, and also included grape leaf as an ode to Amy’s background in wine. Overall, it’s a versatile gin that tastes great in both bright, floral cocktails and more savory ones like a dirty martini. We also donate a percentage of our proceeds to the Downtown Women’s Center in Downtown Los Angeles. We are proud to be 100% female distilled, distributed and owned.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Freya – playing basketball and riding my bike through the streets of Atwater Village, where I grew up.
Mary – baking lemon bars and playing board games with my siblings.

Pricing:

• $34 – $38 / 750 ml bottle depending on retailer

Contact Info:

• Website: www.futuregin.com
• Email: amy@amyatwood.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/futuregin

Image Credit:
Image of cocktail only – Here’s Looking at You; Image of bottle with cocktail – Violet Grey; Image of bottle on red seat – Wyatt Conlon

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