UNITED WE STAND

Melissa and Lee Katrincic are the co-founders of North Carolina’s Durham Distillery. Founded in 2015, gin has always been its focus. The distillery produces Conniption American Dry Gin, in addition to a Navy Strength Gin, a barrel-aged gin and several canned cocktails including a gin and tonic.

But most recently Melissa and Lee made headlines by founding the US Gin Association to help gin producers band together to advance the category stateside. We sat down with Melissa Katrincic to learn a bit about the association and their plans for American gin.

Aaron Knoll (AK): Firstly, what is the US Gin Association and why create a new association solely for US distillers?

We founded the US Gin Association in 2021 with the intention of finding community for US gin distillers to move the category forward. It is not the white spirit of choice in the United States. That is vodka. So, not only