Hear more about The Gin Room on the Arch Eats podcast.
The Gin Room already has an impressive resume. It’s received a James Beard Award nomination and numerous international accolades, and proprietor Natasha Bahrami has been inducted into the Gin Hall of Fame. Now, the South Grand bar can add another feather to its cap: The Gin Room has been nominated for the 2023 Best Spirits Selection by Liquor.com.
“Liquor.com is a force,” Bahrami says. “This is the place where you go to find out about how to do better and see recipes and celebrations of some of the best bars and bartenders. It’s focused on the U.S., but it’s also a global celebration of our industry. It’s by our industry, for our industry.”
This marks the second year for the awards, as well as The Gin Room’s second nomination in the Best Spirits Selection category. The online platform established the awards to recognize industry professionals and bars whose work advances the spirits world and who exemplify the best of the American drinks industry. Nominees include established names who have helped define the country’s modern bar industry, as well as up-and-comers whose innovations are helping to create its future.
For Bahrami, being recognized alongside such venerable industry veterans as Washington D.C. ‘s Jack Rose Dining Saloon and San Francisco’s Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant is a distinct honor, considering the impact they’ve had on her. “The people who are nominated in this category are the ones who I was thinking about and looking to when I was thinking about immersing myself in the world of gin,” Bahrami says. “These are literally the people who built their categories.”
Bahrami opened The Gin Room a decade ago as a way to share her passion for the spirit with her hometown. A longtime industry veteran, who was a fixture while growing up at her parents’ late restaurant, Cafe Natasha’s, Bahrami left town to pursue a different path in Washington D.C.—only to find herself pulled back via the spirits world, when an exploration of gin ignited what would become her defining professional passion. When she returned to St. Louis in 2013, she was determined to create a world-class gin bar. She opened The Gin Room alongside Cafe Natasha’s to nearly instant success. She credits the team’s commitment to educating people about gin for helping achieve such recognition and is thrilled to share it with her city.
“The reason I opened The Gin Room in Missouri, rather than D.C. or the East Coast,” Bahrami says, “is because I wanted this for the city I love so much.”
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