With drinks festivals across the country postponed, distilleries switching production from spirits to hand sanitiser, pubs and restaurants closed nationwide and up to 1 million jobs at risk, these are unprecedented and worrying times for the UK’s hospitality industry. Whether you need a stiff drink yourself, or want to do your bit to support those that make them, here are a few ways to raise everyone’s spirits during the Coronavirus crisis.
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Wow, what a month! I knew #GinADayMay would keep me busy but I didn’t expect it to be quite that bonkers. And then there were the gin releases, gin events and gin deliveries… Read on if you, like me, need a bit of a reminder of what happened this May.
There appears to be no end to the long list of “International Days of This” and “World Days of That”, but they are certainly not all created equal. No one can argue with the aspirations of Random Acts of Kindness Day (17th February), while it’s relatively easy to understand the appeal of Hug Your Cat Day (4th June) or World Nutella Day (5th February). On the other hand, fewer (surely) will get too excited about World Toothache Day (9th February) or World Toilet Day (19th November). But World Gin Day? That’s the real deal! Sensibly scheduled for the second Saturday in June – to avoid any unwise school-night drinking – and now celebrating its tenth year, it couldn’t be in better, or more capable, hands than Emma Stokes AKA Gin Monkey.
Rich, warming and slightly spicy sloe gin is, for me, the quintessential festive tipple. It is also the perfect beverage to have in your cabinet at this time of year; a highly versatile drink that can add Christmas cheer to any number of cocktails but is also deliciously comforting, and still rather special, served neat. I love making (and serving) my own sloe gin but it does require a little organisation and a lot of patience. And, although there are ways to improve the standard of your homemade sloe gin, there’s no guarantee of quality or consistency. If it’s quality you want, where better to go than to Sipsmith where the craft gin renaissance began, and where I also happened to begin my own gin journey.
Gin A Ding Ding 