It’s a strange time for gin. It’s more popular than ever, with new bottles and distilleries appearing on a weekly basis. However, as the world of gin expands, so does experimentation within the category. New techniques, new flavours and new styles are all emerging, pushing against the legal definition of gin. As you’d expect, there’s a lot of discussion by gin makers and fans over whether this is a good or bad thing, and the latest shots to be fired have come from Sweden with the launch of Hernö Pink Btl Gin.
Continue reading “Hernö Pnk Btl Gin – a pink bottle of gin not a pink gin”Bathtub Gin – World Gin Day
It is, yet again, World Gin Day. As is law, today I will drink gin – this year at Junipalooza. But, in a departure from usual, I’ve also made some. Well, started the process anyway – it takes a day or so to make bathtub gin.
The Bramble Cocktail – World Gin Day
It’s World Gin Day, and while I haven’t made it to any events, or even far from my house, I have been drinking gin – there are some standards that need to be maintained. As in more recent years, I’ve not been necking G&Ts, but instead been trying my hand at a cocktail. This time, a drink which I have deep fondness for – The Bramble.
Aviations (and Blue Moons)
It’s World Gin Day again, which gives me another excuse to spend an afternoon drinking gin rather than tidying my flat. Last time I managed to write something for the day, I talked about the Negroni, still probably my favourite cocktail, and I’ve decided to go for another of my faves this time: the Aviation.
#LastDrinkOfTheWeek – Gin Old Fashioned for World Gin Day
Despite my having a small pile of limes in the fridge and a bottle of bourbon staring at me from my booze cupboard, I decided that I couldn’t let the third year of World Gin Day pass me by without mentioning it here. I may have spent most of World Gin Day itself, June 15th for 2013, with a Dodd’s Gin and tonic in my hand (from The London Distillery Company, who I will one day write about more fully on the blog) but Sunday is my evening for experimentation, so a Gin Old Fashioned it is.
Continue reading “#LastDrinkOfTheWeek – Gin Old Fashioned for World Gin Day”
Victoria Spirits
During my visit to Canadia I didn’t focus entirely on whisky. While I trawled the local bars (well, mainly the hotel and airport bars…I was busy) for new beers I also got caught up in an expedition to local distiller Victoria Spirits, makers of gin and more…
From my ‘in depth’ research before I left the UK I’d worked out that it was a shortish walk from my hotel to Victoria Spirits HQ, so considered the car-based coordination that had been organised slightly over the top. 20 minutes later, after driving down a variety of major roads in and around Victoria, we pulled down a wooded driveway a significant distance from the centre of town, and I started to doubt my map reading skills even more than I usually do.
Sacred Gin at The Juniper Society
After a summer hiatus the Juniper Society have returned. This is the sort of thing that happens when the organisers leave the hosting bar to go and run other places, but they’re all still friends and the lovely folks at Graphic are still hosting these evenings of gin fuelled learning, with Sarah and Adam still throwing booze around. You can see what’s happening over on the Facebook page. Anyways, this was the first one I’ve been able to make it along to for ages but the plan was still the same as usual – gin maker comes in; gin maker tells everyone about gin; everyone drinks gin; profit. This session was with north London’s cold distillation pioneers – Sacred Gin.
Quick Tastings
Work is starting to get busy and I’ve not got a lot of time to write long blog posts at the moment, so here’s some more random ‘short’ snippets on booze that I’ve managed to throw down my throat recently. In other news the blog was three years old last Friday. Which is quite scary.