The River Test Distillery, based on the beautiful banks of it’s namesake in Hampshire, have something a little special on their hands with their London Dry. For the record, the gin was once called Mayfly but has been re-branded. I’m a little geeky on these things so I’m really pleased to have one of the…
Gin Guide 2020 Winners
It was a great pleasure for me to get involved with the Gin Guide Awards for the first time this year. Some of the gins I tried were excellent and overall the entries were of a very high calibre. As always with judging the samples were judged blindly. Paul Jackson of The Gin Guide has…
Touching Base in Times of Social Distance
Hi All, Long time no speak! I know, I know, I owe you an explanation. What with these strange times everything has changed somewhat, but it is still decidedly busy. The job and student workload continues from home, and my gin related work is going strong as in this time of tech being the prominent…
SF Days 4-6 – ADI – Judging of Craft Spirits 2020
Last year I was relatively disciplined with writing posts each day. It was easy to find a little time on waking up or going to sleep and it’s really good for my head to help evaluate the experience. This year it’s been very different. This year I’m returning to friends. The ADI family are such…
SF Day 2 – Chinese New Year, Cheers and Coco Bang. Day 3 – the Hangover
I’m doing this in a slightly higgledy piggledy fashion this year, due to snatching times to write. Last year gave me a little time in the mornings to sum up the day before, this time I’ve got more people to see, which is a great thing, but that means less time to write. The plan…
San Francisco Day 1 – Flights and Flip Cup
I’ve been so excited to come back to San Francisco. It’s such a cool place. If you’re not been, put it on your list. It’s a place that everyone should experience at some point. Although the revolutionary mentality of the 60’s counter culture gave way to the roaring force of Capitalism, there remains a residue…
World Gin Awards 2020
Yesterday was a great day on the gin calendar, the World Gin Awards final 2020. Just prior to Christmas I completed judging of the semi finals, some 70 odd bottles that were sent to me at home to judge, score and write notes on. With 900+ entries this year, the judges were all sent different…
All change – Whats new for 2020
Happy New Year all! Some of you may have noticed things go a little quiet towards the end of last year. Truth be told, I was a little stretched and had to hold fire from writing on here for a bit. As much as I love writing this blog, I have to juggle it in…
As you may know, I’m a big supporter of IOW Distillery. Our history goes back a long way, when I had only been writing the blog for a ahort time and I took a trip to meet Xav and see what they were about. If you want to read that post from way back when,…
Competition – Win a bottle of Pinkster!
Are you a Pinkster fan? Hopefully so. If you haven’t tried it yet, it’s a lovely gin and very well established, taking it’s place in the market long before the boom in fruity ‘pink’ gins. Made with real raspberries, it’s lovely when served with light tonic and raspberry with mint garnish. As well as pioneers…