EVENTS

Eden Mill 12 Gins of Christmas

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Each year Eden Mill launch there 12 Gins of Christmas and each year we talk about it, then drink all 12.

Same this year so here you go;

12 Gins of Christmas release for 2017 is a luxury boxed gift set comprising 7 brand new, distinctive, and delicious gin additions that complement the 5 core gins included in the set.

Each of the 5cl gins is uniquely handcrafted and your gin gift box is completed with a pair of tulip-shaped gin glasses.

The 12 Gins of Christmas are:

1 x 5cl Original Sea Buckthorn Gin (42% ABV)

1 x 5cl Love Gin (42% ABV)

1 x 5cl Hop Gin (46% ABV)

1 x 5cl Oak Gin (42% ABV)

1 x 5cl Golf Gin (42% ABV)

1 x 5cl Botano Gin (45% ABV)

1 x 5cl Rai Gin (42% ABV)

1 x 5cl Mulled Gin (42% ABV)

1 x 5cl Slackwater Gin (47% ABV)

1 x 5cl After Dinner Gin (42% ABV)

1 x 5cl Orange & Clove Gin (42% ABV)

1 x 5cl Juniper Trio Gin (42% ABV)

2 x Branded Tulip Glasses

1 x Gin Tour Voucher for one (worth £10) – supplementary tour vouchers are available here.

1 x Booklet explaining the story and inspiration behind each gin as well as its suggested serve.

Cheers Eden Mill and Merry Christmas, this will last a decent time.  Well 12 days of it.

Makar Xmas Minitures

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So another one on our favourite list.  Makar have launched their mini gin trio gift pack.

I probably should chat about Makar a bit but you all should know.  We have chatted about them several times (I was meant to do a blog on the Gin Awards where Makar Aged Oak won best aged Gin award).

Makar launched these at The St. Enoch Christmas Market.  Each pack is presented in a festive foil wrap and contains one Makar Original Dry Gin, one Makar Old Tom Gin and one of either of the cask matured expressions; Makar Aged in Oak or Makar Aged in Mulberry.

The gift packs are available to purchase exclusively from the Makar stalls at the Christmas markets in George Square and St. Enoch Square and are soon to be available on on online shop. 

Priced at £15, the artisan gift is perfect as a stocking filler, or as a treat for yourself to try three of Scotland’s most-awarded gins in 2017.

Only 2000 festive packs have been created in this limited-edition release, so be quick off the mark if you want to pick up a box in time for Christmas. The Makar gift pack will be available in non-festive packaging throughout the year after the Christmas period.

Edinburgh Christmas Gin

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So next up is an act which is very comfortable providing a lot of gifts and variety and if your need lots of gifts Edinburgh Gin have box sets of all their products for every Gin lover.

Just came up with a new hastag #Ginglealltheway 

It might be rubbish.

So EG have launched their Christmas Gin (again).

If you have not seen or tried it, think of mulled wine but doing something similar for Gin.

The Christmas Gin is flavoured with an special Yuletide botanicals, which is essentially added the normal London Dry EG.  By Christmassy we mean, frankincense and myrrh and classic juniper, this makes for a warming gin either to sip or mix with.

To nose and taste, Rich aromatics include zesty sweet orange, while a finishing note of nutmeg adds comforting yuletide warmth.
The Gin is Bottled at 43% ABV and can be enjoyed as a G&T with orange garnish, Or a Christmas Negroni, the sweet myrrh providing balance to Campari’s bitter finish.
Thank you Edinburgh gun website there.

https://www.edinburghgin.com/our-gins/christmas-gin
Thanks

Graeme 

Pickerings Gin Baubles

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So like I said sorry for being away but here we are.

Let’s have a review of the best of British Gin Christmas presents. 

To start with I need to cover something I was meant to chat about following the Scottish Gin Awards, which is Pickerings Christmas Baubles.

So what are they?  Well in short they are standard baubles you would put on your tree but filled with Gin.  No complaints there.  The only disadvantage here is you can’t keep them to next year and keep bringing them out without your tree smelling like you’re some alchy. 

Last year Pickering’s launched these little beauts and they sold out far too quick.  This year there is no issues as they have been packing since the summer.

Each bauble is filled with 5cl of Pickering’s and there are six in the box.

Retailing at £30 for the six is an excellent price and these would be great for a Xmas present, along with a wee treat for yourself and your now alchy tree.  

All we need now is fever tree or Fentimens to launch tonic stars and we are laughing (how would the ice and garnish work??).

Link to the shop below.

https://shop.pickeringsgin.com/products/pickerings-gin-baubles

We are still here

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So I keep meaning to right another blog.  I was meant to do a whole host of blogs from the Scottish Gin Awards, but life ended up busy again.

At the end of September I ended up with a new job in Perth, which I had been after for ages as we had moved to Broughty Ferry (selling our lovely cottage in scotstoun – someone give me money to buy it again as second home please).

At the same time to adapting to people driving and walking slower in Perth (yes they do), Stuart and I noticed that every week and weekend there was another gin even and another and another.  Our little event had been recreated over and over all over the country.  Randomly I seemed to be helping other gins at these events.  So we didn’t know how if our market was saturated and thought “let’s give the events a wee miss for a while”.  

We were meant to start up again in November but the market stayed busy and no one wants another night out over Christmas.

Anyway now that that little explainarion is out of the way we will be back to full swing and starting back next week we will be back with the blog and our future event announcements.

Starting next week will be the first of our gin Xmas gifts.

Piping Live – Brockmans

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Last on our list for Piping Live and by no means least we have Brockmans. Now I have been waiting to get this on the list for a long time. At the Juniper festival in Edinburgh I was pairing up Brockmans with the new Pink Grapefruit tonic from Fentimans and I can honestly say it wasn’t like drinking Gin and Tonic, it was its own class. So much so I kept handing people tasters of Pink Grapefruit tonic and sending them over to the Brockmans stand.

Brockmans is the creation of one man Bob Fowkes who for years worked for the big companies such as Diageo. Bobs vision to create a gin Like No Other coupled with his knowledge of the market and marketing abilities gave birth to Brockmans which is indeed a Gin like no other, as no other Gin delivers the flavour Brockmans does.

Brockmans comprises of Blackberries, Cassia bark, Liquorice, Lemon Peel, Coriander, Angelica, Orange Peel, Almonds, Orris and Juniper (it is a Gin). The botanicals are steeped in pure grain spirit for hours to release their oils. Then, Brockmans is distilled in a 100 year old traditional copper still.

To smell you get straight of the bat that blackberry, which makes you think you could be about to taste a flavored vodka (which isn’t all Gins at heart) right and floral on the nose, its bloody excellent on the nose to be honest. To taste the Juniper is there but it’s sweeter, as the wintery fruit taste along with the citrus are dominate. There is also a wee bit of heat which is ginger bread like (you won’t get this with tonic though). Neat on the finish it is dry, which is a great balance from the sweetness on the nose.
Its honestly a wonderful Gin, well done Bob.
Remember we will be running two tasting events at Piping Live on Wednesday 9th August (from 5pm) and Friday 11th at the Piping Centre, Glasgow.

Tickets are available for Friday only now as Wednesday is sold out and can be found following the below link:

Wednesday 9th:
https://pipinglive.co.uk/events/2017-piping-live-presents-glasgow-gin-club-wed/

Friday 11th:
https://pipinglive.co.uk/events/2017-piping-live-presents-glasgow-gin-club-fri/

Thanks

Graeme

Piping Live – Glen Wyvis & Arbikie

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Right as I took Monday as a bank holiday for everything I didnt do a post about more Gins for Wednesday and Friday.

First off, we have added a fifth Gin to bill! Arnt we good to you. Mainly because I have been trying to get Glen Wyvis Gin back to one of our events for over a year.

So.. Glen Wyvis I discovered when running the Inverness Gin Tour as part of the NIP festival which runs out of Bog Bain Farm at the start of the year (i recommend that all booze lovers get out to one of their events). At this event I decided to slice the top of my finger off while cutting a orange then cracked a blood orange joke.

The distillery is still in development so stay tunned for updates on that. The Gin itself launched in summer 2015 and is the first from Dingwall. The takes it name from Glenskiach and Ben Wyvis, two old now defunct distilleries from the area. Incidentally a skiach is Gaelic for Hawthorn which is one of the botanicals in Glen Wyvis.

Glen Wyvis consists of nine botanicals, which are: locally picked hawthorn, Juniper (it is a Gin), Orange & Lemon Peel, Coriander Seeds, Angelica Root, Cinnamon, Orris Root, Almond Powder.

To taste there is a straight hit of Juniper, which lingers just enough for the Citrus Peel to come through. A very pleasant fresh tasting Gin which tastes like its made with love and attention.

Next on our list is something we haven’t had back in a while and is now my local distillery.

Arbikie is the a relatively new distillery from Angus (my local), well its actually an old one as apparently there was a distillery on the Arbikie estate over a hundred years It is ran by the Stirling family who decided to make the jump into distilling a few years back and who employed distiller Kirsty Black to craft their visions of Whisky, Gin and Potato Vodka.

Incidentally Arbikie are one of the few Gin companies in Scotland who make their own base alcohol. The Potato Vodka their produce (from locally farmed tatties on the Arbikie Farm) forms the base of their main Gin: Kirsty’s Gin.

Kirsty’s Gin, fuses a combination of traditional botanicals (juniper, angelica, coriander, liquorice and orris) with three more unusual ingredients, each plucked from sea, rock or land, such as; kelp, Carline thistle root and blueberries.

To turn Vodka to Gin, the spirit is added back into one of Arbikie’s copper stills alongside all of the botanicals and left to soak for a day. The still is heated very slowly, taking a full day to run. Taking off the highs and lows from the still what’s left is rested for a day then diluted down to its bottling strength of 43%.

Kirsty’s Gin has vanilla softness and fruit sweetness, no doubt led by the blaeberries. Its creamier than most spirits and something else we at Gin Club cant grasp but we put that down to the Potato Vodka.
Arbikie do a host of various products now alongside the Potato Vodka and Kirsty’s Gin, they have launched the spicy Chili Vodka and the AK Gin.

Remember we will be running two tasting events at Piping Live on Wednesday 9th August (from 5pm) and Friday 11th at the Piping Centre, Glasgow.

Tickets are available for both nights and can be found following the below links, Wednesday is nearly sold out though.
Wednesday 9th:
https://pipinglive.co.uk/events/2017-piping-live-presents-glasgow-gin-club-wed/

Friday 11th:

https://pipinglive.co.uk/events/2017-piping-live-presents-glasgow-gin-club-fri/

Piping Live – Minus 33

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Minus 33 was originally crafted by scientist at the Locabev Laboratory in Rosyth.  Minus 33 comes in at 33% so technically does not qualify as a London Dry Gin but It is a Juniper distilled spirit (which is also one of their taglines).
After 3 years and 539 test tubes of experimentation Locabev decided that the optimum strength for a really smooth spirit was 33%. This makes it the perfect drink for those on a diet as it comes in at 46 calories per serve. The decision to have a gin at 33% came after blind taste tests and those doing the tests came back and said they preferred the 33% version.  Which is fantastic news when you have just started a Gin company and it turns out you don’t have an EU category Gin.

Although Minus 33 was conceived in the lab, it’s now crafted by Cory the genius behind Silent Pool, to Sams recipe. 

To taste Minus 33 it is fresh and floral with hints of juniper, citrus, lavender, elderflower and angelica.

We have worked with Minus33 loads in the past and every time he does a tasting (assuming he hasn’t broken his leg), you are in for a treat, expect lab coats and cocktails.

Remember we will be running two tasting events at Piping Live on Wednesday 9th August (from 5pm) and Friday 11th at the Piping Centre, Glasgow.

Tickets are available for both nights and can be found following the below links, Wednesday is nearly sold out though.
Wednesday 9th:
https://pipinglive.co.uk/events/2017-piping-live-presents-glasgow-gin-club-wed/

Friday 11th:

https://pipinglive.co.uk/events/2017-piping-live-presents-glasgow-gin-club-fri/

Piping Live – Valentia Gin

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So our first Gin to be featured at our two events for Piping Live is Valentia.

Valentia Gin comes from the Sierra Nevada mountains in Granada, Spain where (I read) the water is known for its exceptional purity. The Gin is double distilled in small batches in a traditional cooper pot still. Valentia is made using “Mediterranean botanicals” which are; Juniper (it is a Gin), Angelica, Cardamom, Thyme, Coriander, Rosemary and Valencia citrus fruits.

When we have discussed Valentia in the past we described it as the perfect Gin for that feeling that you are on holiday as itsfresh, fruity and definitely citrusy.

To taste there is the initial juniper hit but it is like a punch, it’s a level hit, this fades quickly to leave the citrus fruit. To make it had an orange sherbet flavour.

One of the added bonuses of having Valentia along is you get to meet Alfonso. For the ladies reading, Alfonso is Spanish, well dressed and owns a Gin company. You can’t really go wrong there and his chat is on point.

I’m pretty sure he is due me a pint from juniper festival too.

Remember we will be running two tasting events at Piping Live on Wednesday 9th August (from 5pm) and Friday 11th at the Piping Centre, Glasgow.

Tickets are available for both nights and can be found following the below links, Wednesday is nearly sold out though.

Wednesday 9th:
https://pipinglive.co.uk/events/2017-piping-live-presents-glasgow-gin-club-wed/

Friday 11th:
https://pipinglive.co.uk/events/2017-piping-live-presents-glasgow-gin-club-fri/

A long session 

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A couple of things to keep you updated!  First we had a gin club the other week and it’s was so hot we decided to do it outside in the lane.  Secondly I helped out at the Edinburgh Juniper Festival and it got out of hand.

So on the 26th May we had our second main Gin Club of 2017.  With mixed emotions the Gin world is getting really busy, events all over the place (not bad news for Gin Lovers tbh) but for us we thought we would Buck the trend and do less.  Btw we are taking full credit for being the first event of its type in Scotland.  

A rather nice Gin Club in May though, it was sunny enough to be outside the whole night.  Which is a good thing as being inside the Tea Room on a sunny day is tough, hot ovens and a roof that absorbs heats causes sweaty drinkers.  In May we featured Darnleys View, an old favourite of ours. We also had Larios Rose, one of Spain’s most popular Gins, East London Gin and an old favourite of my teenage years, Xoriguer Mahon Gin.  I’ll post full blogs on all the gins and how we served them too.

This weekend was the Edinburgh Juniper Festival.  If you don’t know what it is, it’s essentially what we do but way bigger.  And a lot of gins, it’s pretty much the cheapest way to drink lots of amazing drink over an afternoon or evening. 

So me (Graeme) was tasked with helping out our old friend Ru from Fentimens (formerly Rock Rose), providing tastings on all the mixers they do.  The best bit about it was that I had a bottle of every gin in the place to mix it with.  It did mean explaining to people I couldn’t just let you try the gin you needed to have the mixer first.  Stupidly I also decided that I would start sampling these gins (not that I hadn’t before) from 12pm.  

The mix of sugar and lots of Gin made me a bit bold.  I think at one point I said a woman laughed like Chick Young, I accused a brother and sister of incest, accidentally of course.  Don’t worry I was lovely too.  Even to the ladies that didn’t like the most amazing commotion of Gin and Mixer ever which is Brockmans and the Fentimens Pink Grapefruit Tonic.  

I think that combo sent me on the fabled path of destruction.. Which ended at 4am.  Along the way some other Brand reps spilt two of my pints, one gin, I smashed a pint.  Shared some of the bottles I had carried with me and oh missed a few trains.

This weekend might be a repeat! Juniper festival Glasgow is on.  I’m helping at another event in Dundee for Minus 33.