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In Capulet’s sea of divine cocktails, its houseblend gin shines.
The Exchange’s highly anticipated Capulet Cocktail Club recently bowed with a bang, instantly winning over Raleighites with well-balanced cocktails from mixology mastermind Zack Thomas. But beyond the menu’s celestial lineup lies an off-menu gem deserving of its own spotlight. Enter Capulet’s houseblended gin, forming the backbone of many of the ornate Italian-inspired destination’s signature gin-based ’tails.
Like a restaurant’s housemade oil or spice mix—designed to bring balance across dishes—Thomas’ custom concoction combines three of the Capulet crew’s favorite bottles: Conniption Navy Strength and two that remain under wraps. He hints that one leans heavily juniper, while the other brings a brighter citrus profile into the mix.
Altogether, the resulting house gin is “layered, expressive and resilient… balancing citrus lift, botanical depth and proof-driven structure—and performing consistently across stirred and shaken drinks,” he says. No stranger to the gin game, Thomas pulled inspo from his days of blind-tasting the spirit, tuning his palate to how different flavor indicators and styles behave when stirred and served up, or shaken with citrus.
While some bars blend rums for Tiki or tropical cocktails, blending gins is far less common, says Thomas—and allows Capulet to make its spirit a deliberate expression and not just a single-bottle default. “We wanted to do it for our house identity,” he explains. “It tastes like us and not like a brand [patrons] have had somewhere else before… appealing to all cocktails and giving us a unique expression of the spirit.”
Giving the already notable cocktails a further leg up, the house blend features prominently in standout sippers like the Quattro Bianchi—a 1980s-era Long Island Iced Tea riff layering gin with rum, tequila, Cointreau and tart soda—as well as the Ghost Light, a floral gin martini with Luxardo and jasmine, plus standards such as a Negroni or G&T.
A defining detail in Capulet’s already buzzy cocktail menu, the one-of-a-kind gin blend doesn’t just raise the bar—it underscores the team’s commitment to making every pour unmistakably its own. And the proof is in the glass.
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