If you think the days of ordering a gin-and-tonic have gone the way of the skinny cigarette and flapper girl generation, think again. The St. John’s, NL-based  company that managed to get an iceberg into its vodka is planning to make you a convert with its gin, added to its repertoire of spirits in 2006. The secret? Well, aside from the fact that it’s “chilled by nature,” with virgin water 12,000 years in the making —

“It’s the purity of the water itself,” says David Hood, senior vice-president of Canadian Iceberg Vodka Corp., which also bottles iceberg rum and drinking water. “This is not your grandfather’s gin. It’s extremely smooth, and like Iceberg Vodka, it doesn’t have that burn when you drink it.”

Oh, yeah, the iceberg thing.

The company sends vessels out into the Atlantic to collect “bergy bits,” one-to- three-ton chunks of ice that break off of the gigantic icebergs themselves. It’s a tricky and potentially dangerous endeavour. Icebergs are essentially enormous floating pieces of the polar icecap, some 250 to 300 m (820 to 985 ft) long. Workers bring the bits back to the facilities, where a controlled melting process takes place. This ensures the iceberg is never exposed to the environment, protecting its pristine state, says Hood, “like when snow fell at the North Pole hundreds of thousands of years ago.”

The crisp, clean taste has impressed vodka drinkers since the company launched its signature spirit in 1995. Iceberg Vodka now ranks ninth on the national stage; the company has seen a 27% jump in revenue over the last year, says Hood, who hopes his G&T will be the next “it” cocktail.

“Gin is making its rounds among younger people who are looking for more flavourable, mixable spirits,” he says. “Anything you can do with vodka, you can do with our gin.” www.icebergvodka.com