Future Gin was designed by four longtime friends and queer women Mary Bartlett, Amy Atwood, Natasha Case, and Freya Estreller, with a view to come up with a spirit that told an L.A. story. The best part was they didn’t have to go much further than their own backyard when it came to combining avocado and grape leaves with Meyer lemons, and they had landed on a firm taste of California.
They mixed the makeup of a dry gin alongside mid-city backyard flavors, distilling them next to traditional botanicals to arrive at a 90-proof concoction which is owned fully by women, all the way from development to distribution.
Estreller says the four women have been friends for some time now, and she and Case are a married couple. The two launched their Coolhaus frozen treat brand back in Culver City, and it has been bought out by Urgent Company’s Perfect Day.
“We had known Amy since 2008, when she was one of the first lesbian business owners in food and beverage that we had met right when Natasha and I started Coolhaus.” Estreller says. “We really looked up to Amy and loved gin, and wanted to make something very LA-inspired that tasted like the bountiful flavors of California citrus. In the beginning with the first batches, we were using Meyer lemons from our backyard, avocado leaves from Amy’s backyard, and must have gone through 14 or 15 iterations, and it took about a year to get to the final product on the market now. It’s very citrus-forward with the lemon and grapefruit, and of course, juniper. It’s not chill-filtered, so that keeps a lot of that bold citrus flavor. Typically with chill filtration, you’re freezing and straining all the oils out from the citrus and we wanted to highlight that. It also gives it a softer mouth feel.”
The couple has plenty of brand chops to carry them forward, not to mention Bartlett’s bartending background and Atwood’s distribution knowledge. Thanks to all that, these four women have come out with an accessible and assertive spirit in the $38-$40 range, which stands for a kind of future in an industry where there are precious few female brand owners.
Apart from making and expanding Future Gin from scratch, Case and Estreller are still very much involved when it comes to the Coolhaus brand. They are also parents to two kids: Nico (2) and Remy (5). Meanwhile, Case is looking to get her first taste of the political arena.
Asked if all of that gets stressful, Estreller says, “Well, that’s why we have ice cream and gin. We have a very vibrant life and there’s a lot that we’re interested in. The kids provide a new way to live again. I feel like I’m seeing the world through the eyes of our kids, and it’s a new perspective. Our 5-year-old Remy is biologically related to me because he came from my egg. Then 2- year-old Nico comes from Natasha’s egg. We used the same sperm donor, so Nico and Remy are biologically related to each other through the donor.”
She continued, “Natasha did try to carry the second time around, but it just wasn’t working, and because I had already carried Remy, we decided that because Natasha’s eggs were a year-and-a-half younger and we were going to have to do IVF anyway, I figured I could carry. But honestly and selfishly, I imagined what it would be like if Natasha was pregnant, I’d have to take care of Remy, be working full-time and then I have to take care of my pregnant wife – hmmm, I decided I’d rather have it the other way around.”
It’s a good idea having both extended families staying in the village and raising the kids, because as the couple says, it widens your heart and causes you to make more time, and you also prioritize better once you have constraints. Estreller says, “If you want to get something done, give it to a working mom.”