While most of them are limited and very, very local, a host of distilleries have released gins of this variety--and they're all worth trying.

When it comes to spirits, you don't get much different than whiskey and gin. One relies on oak and time for its flavor, the other on intricate combinations of juniper berries and botanicals. Whiskey is slow and mysterious, almost alchemical -- who knows what goes on in those barrels? -- while gin is quickly efficient and rational. Whiskey is made by wizards; gin comes from scientists.

And I love them both. Which is why I greet the current fad for barrel-aged gin with open arms (and liver). Over the last two years a clutch of small distilleries have been releasing limited-edition brown gins, usually aged for about six months. The result is a rich, oaky flavor, a great alternative for classic gin and whiskey cocktails alike -- and not bad straight, either.

This spring, Roundhouse Spirits, out of Boulder, Colorado, offered a limited-edition Imperial Gin, the result of resting their standard gin in oak barrels for six months. Others, including Corsair, Breukelen, Rusty Blade, and Ransom, have likewise released barrel-aged gins, though the Ransom is the only one you're likely to find in your liquor store: the rest are limited and very, very local.