Last Tuesday night, following a collaboration with Fortnum and Mason , we hosted a gin tasting evening for their gin loving customers.
The location was the crypt, a fabulous and intriguing subterranean room adjacent to the F and M wines and spirits section.With the thick stone walls, rich red carpet, heavy oak furniture and chandelier it was easy to feel like you were in the lower rooms of a grand castle somewhere back in the 1700’s.
The evening started with a classic Gimlet cocktail served courtesy of Tanqueray. While the guests were sipping their drink we began with a brief and (we’ve been told) entertaining and informative talk on the history of gin, from its 13th century origins, through to its 21st Century micro distillery based revival.
Then we went on to the tasting where we took the guests on a journey through the flavour spectrum of gin. We started with Fortnum’s own London Dry which is a great classic London Dry gin displaying hearty juniper notes delicately balanced with Seville orange. We then followed with Tanqueray Rangpur with its delightful flavours from the hybrid Rangpur fruit and pleasingly smooth finish. Next was Old English, which was a must given the environment. A wonderful, lightly sweet botanical gin made to an authentic late 1700’s recipe. This was followed nicely with Bathtub gin, a big favourite here at the London Gin Club. This wonderful warm, rich gin sits nicely in the spice category and has predominantly cardamom and orange notes. We finished with Dodds Gin, an intriguing contemporary gin which is somewhere in the herbal, spice slightly sweet citrus ball park! Complex and very nice.
We thoroughly enjoyed the evening, the guests where a delight and whilst we provided the gin-expertise, Fortnum’s were an absolutely fantastic host providing a wonderful environment and even got us rhubarb out of season. Is there nothing they can’t do?
Keep an eye on our site for future gin tasting events, coming up in the New Year.