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Dry gin has been flying off Blacktip Island store shelves since the first of the year as a result of the small Caribbean island’s Dry Gin January campaign, implemented to encourage residents to consume less alcohol. (photo illustration by Wendy Beaufort/BTT staff)

In a variation on the popular Dry January sobriety campaign, Blacktip Island residents this year launched a Dry Gin January to encourage more locals to participate in the movement, organizers said.

“People talk a lot about doing a Dry January, but a lot of others feel shamed for drinking at all when others pointedly aren’t,” Donna Requin said. “With this compromise, we can make just about everybody happy. Teetotalers can swear off booze, and the rest of us can enjoy a refreshing adult beverage made with gin instead of whatever we usually drink.

“It also opens people up to the many varieties of dry gin available, and the plethora of cocktails one can make with it,” Requin said. “Prior to this, I had no idea what a ‘bramble’ was. Now it’s my favorite drink. And even if folks don’t cotton to gin, it’ll give them a new appreciation for their rum and beer come February first. And, end of the day, we’re not demanding people drink only dry gin, or enforcing that. We’re just encouraging it.”

Not all on the small Caribbean island are happy with the campaign.

“Got a big spike in one-car accidents, and drink-driving arrests, since the first of the year,” Island Police Constable Rafe Marquette said. “Problem is, gin has just that little bit of extra alcohol, and it sneaks up on folks not used to it. More folks passing out at bars, too. As a public safety caution— going partly sober, or whatever this is, will not keep you out of jail, or out of the ditches.”

Island bars have taken advantage of the movement.

“We’ve got a whole gin cocktail menu, and folks can’t get enough of it,” Sand Spit bartender Cori Anders said. “Tom Collins, Singapore sings, vespers, you name it. Our ‘martini Tuesdays’ have been especially popular. The only drawback is no one gave us a heads-up this dry gin thing was gonna drop, and it caught us by surprise. We’re having to fly gin in, special delivery, to keep up with demand.”

Local merchants noted a similar uptick.

“Gin’s been flying off the shelf all week,” said Peachy Bottoms, owner of Peachy Bottoms Grocery and Sundries. “My hope is people really develop a taste for gin over the next few weeks and this becomes the norm. A bunch of new gin afficionados is just what this island, and my bank account, needs.”

Requin said the program’s success has created the possibility of more alcohol-themed months.

“There’s already talk of ‘potato vodka February,’ and ‘single-malt March,’” she said. “Big picture, we’re going to continue encouraging people to drink less by drinking selectively.”