April was busy but nothing compared to what May is going to be like! But let’s not get ahead of ourselves! Here’s all my booze news and everything I’ve been up to lately.

Booze News

April was all about openings and closures. Sadly, after 5 years in business, Dinnewell’s Gin has closed citing family and personal reasons. Meanwhile Nyetimber, who acquired The Lakes Distillery in June 2024, has closed the brand’s Cumbria visitor centre (including the shop and bistro) and ceased all tours, putting 15 jobs at risk. However, in more positive news, Square Mile Distillery is opening in May at the site previously occupied by the City of London Distillery and with its founder, Jonathan Clark, back at the helm!

Finally, following the news earlier this year that London Cocktail Week has moved its next festival to Spring 2027, Brighton Cocktail Festival is preparing to host England’s biggest cocktail festival this year. Back for its second year, Brighton Cocktail Festival will take place from Friday 18th to Sunday 27th September 2026 and is being sponsored by Warner’s Gin, so there will be plenty of amazing gin cocktails across the city! If you fancy a day beside the seaside, Super Early Bird tickets are available now for just £15!

New Gin Alerts

A handful of new releases have caught my eye recently. Having recently released their first gin, Salford Distillery have already added a Rhubarb Gin to their range too. All 300 bottles of batch 1 sold out super fast but the batch 2 pre-sale is now live! On the other side of the world, Australia’s Four Pillars have launched a limited edition Three Peach Gin, although sadly I suspect it will be hard to find over here. And Spirit of Manchester, who are celebrating 10 years since their Signature Gin launched, have announced they will be releasing a limited edition anniversary bottle in May, but whether or not it is also a gin remains to be seen…

My Month in Gin

Judging season is well and truly underway, and during April I judged No & Low and Premix drinks at the World Drinks Awards, a variety of drinks at the Free From Awards – the UK’s only awards body dedicated to food and drink that is free from one or more of the top 14 major allergens – and absolutely everything you can imagine at the Great Taste awards; from anchovies to za’atar and everything else in between, including bay leaves, beef dripping, calamari in curry sauce, cumin extract, date water, espresso, faggots, filter coffee, freekah, haggis, hot smoked salmon, kombucha, liver, marshmallows, peppercorns, popcorn, tomahawk steak and even vanilla extract!

I also had the enormous pleasure of attending the launch of TONIC Volume 9 at The Natural Philosopher. Although I’ve been a TONIC subscriber for a couple of years, this party was particularly special because Volume 9 is the first to which I’ve contributed. The venue and cocktails were all fantastic but what really impressed me was the atmosphere! Co-founders Benita and Rob have created a real community which it is a pleasure to be a part of, so why not get yourself a subscription too and you can also enjoy my article all about the exquisite eaux de vie made by Barney at Capreolus Distillery!

Last but certainly not least, I had a truly indulgent evening at volume 4 of Below Paired at The Bar Below in Mayfair. The one night only takeover saw Renais Gin bring in guest bartenders from all corners of London to create a menu of four bespoke signature cocktails each perfectly paired with a Michelin-star quality bar snack. In addition to The Bar Below’s own offering, we also enjoyed creations from Hackney’s Equal Parts, Holloway Road’s Bar Gemišt and Battersea’s Perola. I understand there will be two more volumes of Below Paired so keep your eyes peeled for the dates; at £10 per dish or drink it offers pretty great value too!

Welcome to My Collection

I received a fun little selection of samples in April including Utazo‘s ready to drink Spicy Gin-Arita, Cotswolds Signature Single Malt Whisky – which was recently named Best English Whisky and Best Value English Whisky at the English Whisky Awards – and Shy Sheep Gin which is made using foraged botanicals from Gower salt-marshes, and filtered over prehistoric Welsh Berwyn blue slate. I also treated myself to a couple of bottles of Botivo – including their new limited-edition collaboration with Coco de Mer – and in return was treated to a pair of Botivo socks to mark my third order. A very nice touch indeed!

Catching Up and Looking Forward

May is already upon us and although I have a lot of events, judging and travel lined up, for me the month is really all about #GinADayMay! Follow the fun on Instagram and do join in if you fancy it! 🍸🛎🛎