New Haven’s Omni Hotel hosted a cocktail competition featuring Tuck Gin on March 18. The event was held in the hotel’s Bar 19 venue. Twelve local bartenders competed making their best cocktails using Tuck Gin for judges, with Karina Soto of 1928 Cocktail Club emerging as the winner. Founded in Westport, Connecticut, by three friends, Tuck Gin takes its name from the Saugatuck River. The line includes Tuck Gin, Barrel Finished Gin (aged in French oak barrels previously used for red wine) and its Tuck & Tea canned line, which takes its gin and creates a noncarbonated canned cocktail blended with organic black and green teas and a small amount of pure cane sugar. Tuck Gin is distributed in the state by Connecticut Distributors, Inc.

Photos by Casey Goulden.