I know it’s only October, but if you’ve got kids (as I do) they’re probably already writing their Christmas lists and what better way to get through the nagging than planning a few festive treats for yourself and your gin-loving friends? But why wait until the big day when you can start celebrating on December 1st with one of these amazing advent calendars!
My father grew up in Acton but I’ve had no reason to return to his roots. Until now. At London’s Gin Festival I was lucky to meet Oscar Dodd, Brand Manager at Bimber Distillery, who invited me to visit their site in North Acton. After following the central line train tracks, which run incongruously though a peaceful cemetery, one descends into Park Royal Business Park; the largest in London occupying about 500 hectares. The park is home to McVitites and Heinz alongside a number of smaller industrial firms, as well as Amathus Drinks, Speciality Drinks and, of course, Bimber Distillery founded in August 2015.
With the boom in gin showing no sign of abating, the number of subscription services continues to grow. There is now a wealth of choice in the miniatures market with five companies, including Gin Explorer and Little Gin Box, launching in 2016. Until recently though the Craft Gin Club, launched in January 2015, was the only gin subscription service offering full size bottles delivered to your doorstep. Now The Juniper Club is squaring up to them.
As the public’s appetite for gin continues to grow, so do the number of events devoted to the tasting and consumption of the spirit. Junipalooza and Gin Festival (both in their third year) are two such events which are, quite frankly, a gin lover’s paradise. What they are not, however, are events to which to take your friends who do not share your juniper obsession. This is where The Epicurean may step in; an event which takes some of the best elements of both Junipalooza and Gin Festival but which celebrates a wide range of high-quality wine, beer, spirits and food.
There is, I think, a fine line between being brave and foolhardy, determined and bloody-minded. For better or worse, perhaps they are all necessary character traits to build a business and to succeed with spirits. There is, after all, a lot to get right when you launch a new gin: the branding; the bottle; the marketing; and the product itself of course. JJ Lawrence certainly got his teeth stuck in when he decided three years ago to follow his passion and produce a new luxury British gin and he didn’t let anything stand in his way.
With recent reports claiming that us Brits are currently spending £1million a day on gin, and drinking 19million litres of mothers’ ruin annually, there is little escaping that we seem to be in the midst of a new gin craze. The original Gin Craze took place in the first half of the 18th century when gin consumption hit record levels, particularly in London, where it was estimated that one in every four properties housed some sort of distilling equipment. The Government was forced to introduce eight Gin Acts between 1729 and 1751 before the Gin Craze was brought under control, although not without rioting in the streets of London and a mock funeral for the spirit’s personification, Madame Genever! Then, as a consequence of new distilling methods, and the arrival of gin palaces on our streets, there was a gin resurgence during the Victorian era. Launched in 2015, during this most recent gin renaissance, Gin Lane 1751 brings together all these moments in the history of gin.
I love craft gin. It goes without saying that I love drinking it but I also love hearing the stories behind it. The tales about why people embarked on small batch distilling and how they selected their botanicals. Many craft gins are born of love of the spirit, such as Esker Gin and Rock Rose Gin, or, less often, of each other, such as with Manchester Gin! Some, like Pothecary and Sipsmith, are tales of perseverance and determination. Lots of new gins look to the future, searching out increasingly unusual botanicals, in their efforts to be modern and unique but far fewer look to the past. One of those is Half Hitch inspired by the lost gin history of Camden and now another to add to that list is Old Bakery Gin.
Scotland is, famously, saturated with both gin and castles. And now the Queen, resident of Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire and well-known to enjoy a daily Dubonnet and Gin before lunch, has a new local tipple to try as Esker Gin launches in Royal Deeside. Indeed, one of Esker’s central botanicals hails from Balmoral’s neighbouring Kincardine Castle Estate.
Beer festivals have, seemingly, been around for ever with Oktoberfest, generally recognised as the world’s largest beer festival, originating way back in 1810. Nowadays there’s a festival to cater for all passions, from cheese to chicken wings, but as recently as 2012 there was no festival devoted to gin. Gin lovers, and husband and wife, Jym and Marie Harris decided to change all that and Gin Festival was born.
It is fairly common for a new distillery to start making gin before moving onto whisky. Gin, which can be sold as soon as it is made, offers a relatively quick financial return in comparison with whisky which (due to legal requirement) must be aged before it is commercially viable. This helps to explain why approximately 70% of the gin produced in the UK is made in Scotland. What is much less common is for a gin to have its origins in whisky production, but this is the case in the story of Welsh distillery Dà Mhìle.
Gin A Ding Ding 