What a month! The sun has shone, spring has sprung and I’ve been super, super busy! Keep reading for gin, brandy, judging and cocktails galore…

Booze News

Yet more sad news to kick off my March Gin Monthly, I’m afraid, as The Garden Shed Drinks Co. announced their closure after 7 years in business. If you’re a fan, there are still some bottles of Garden Shed Gin in stock so hop to it!

New Gin Alerts

I haven’t spotted many new gins this month but the one I have spotted (and been lucky enough to receive a bottle of) is certainly all about quality over quantity. Claiming to be the greatest innovation in gin for a generation, Aureus Vita Fibonacci Dry Gin is inspired by the application of the Golden Ratio of 1:1.618 to all the stages of gin production. Coming in at a hefty 61.8% ABV, Aureus Vita retails at a staggering £175! You can read my full review here.

I also spotted Papa Salt’s new Blood Orange Gin Spritz RTD in collaboration with Fever-Tree which sounds rather tasty to me! If you want to try it too, you should be able to find it in Sainsbury’s and Waitrose from April, priced at an affordable £2.90 per can.

My Month in Gin

If you’ve followed my journey you’ll know I truly fell in love with gin back in 2014, when I joined Gin Journey’s London Gin Experience, and visited Beefeater and Sipsmith. Having revisited the Beefeater distillery last month, it was super fun to rejoin the Gin Journey earlier this month too!

The new Clerkenwell tour takes you into what was once the epicentre of the gin craze and home to Booth’s, Gordon’s and Tanqueray, to visit four amazing bars, learn about four fantastic gins and savour four delicious cocktails. In addition to the classics – Tanqueray No. Ten and Beefeater 24 – and relative newcomer Renais, we were also introduced to Urban Rhino Gin by the very founder himself! This was the fourth gin journey I’ve had the pleasure of joining and I can’t recommend them more highly. And, if you’re not in London, they also offer tours in Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Brighton and Chester. 

I also had the great pleasure of attending the first-ever Mr Lyan Studio Lates (in the basement of what was once White Lyan) where Alice Lascelles and Mr Lyan himself (aka Ryan Chetiyawardana) discussed Alice’s best-selling book, ‘The Martini: The Ultimate Guide to a Cocktail Icon’.

While listening to a fascinating discussion about trends, food pairings, serving styles and much much more, we were also treated to a marvellous menu of Martinis. In addition to a magnificent Mountain Martini featuring Colombo 7 Gin, I was super impressed by not one but two non-alcoholic Martinis: a brilliant Botivo Gibson made with silver tip tea, and a Rhubarb Martini made using the only bottle of Beefeater 0.0 in the UK. However it was the Vodkatini with Belvedere Vodka 10, Champagne, maple and shiso oil that really stole my heart. Sorry gin!

In addition to receiving a bottle of Aureus Vita, I was also invited to enjoy the world’s first Fibonacci cocktail menu – featuring exclusive cocktails inspired by the golden ratio – in the stunning surroundings of Scarfes Bar at the Rosewood London.

The delicious Liber Abaci featuring white port, grapefruit and pine, struck me as a clever cross between a Gin and Tonic and a Paloma, but it was the Golden Ratio (made with Italian vermouth and rhubarb and vanilla amaro) and the remarkably smooth and sippable Aureus Martini that really blew me away. If you want to give them a try you’ll have to hurry down there today (31st March 2025)!

Finally I had the enormous pleasure of visiting the UK’s first dedicated brandy house in Walthamstow. Home to the Burnt Faith distillery, I really enjoyed an amazing welcome cocktail and comprehensive tour and tasting with master distiller Oliver Kitson, before heading upstairs to their brilliant bar to enjoy some fantastic cocktails and delicious food from Black Cactus BBQ. Even if you don’t fancy the tour (or the brandy!) the bar offers a selection of classic cocktails as well as a great view over the copper tops of their stills and is well worth a visit.

Somewhere in the middle of all that, I also managed to do more than a little judging! Three days at the World Drinks Awards 2025 saw me judge 1 bitters, 4 soft drinks, 19 no & lows, 19 flavoured spirits, 40 gins and 40 brandies. While two days at the Great Taste Awards involved tasting close to 120 different food products, including everything from olive oil, honey and spice rubs to cake, cheese and crab. And I’m still working my way through the samples for The Gin Guide Awards too! It’s a tough job etc etc etc!

Welcome to My Collection

A busy month means lots of goodies, so thank you to Aureus Vita, to 44°N Gin for their Miss Bigarade Limited Edition, to Luxardo for both their Sour Cherry Gin and delicious maraschino cherries, and to Burnt Faith for samples of their new RTDs, and to me for a bottle of their excellent East London Apple Brandy! Thanks also to Urban Rhino for a selection of their minis, to Two Drifters for a sample of their Overproof Spiced Pineapple Rum and Three Cents Pineapple Soda, to Shed One for their Fancy Frolic G&T RTDs, and to EVRYTHNG for a mini of their London Dry Gin.

Catching Up and Looking Forward

If you haven’t already had a read, my latest column for Drinksbiz – all about non-alcoholic aperitivi – is online now. And, after much umming and ahhing I can confirm #GinADayMay is back for 2025! The full post will follow shortly but here’s a sneak peek of the prompts for now! 🍸🛎🛎