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Squirrels Year End (Not Rear) Review

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So me (being Graeme or Squirrel to everyone except my family) used to write a blog every year, a new year’s summing up what had happened in past 12 months and my thoughts going forward. I feel I should continue you this through, taking it from whatever band blog I was in at the time and bring it into the Gin Club world.

2014 might be the quickest year of my life, I feel it was only a few weeks ago that it was my 30th birthday in February and that I was feeling all sad about being a different tick box on a survey or worse that certain surveys no longer apply to me. Like the feeling you get when you are older when walking down the town on a Saturday night and club reps ignore you as you’re not cool enough.

They do say though that from now on the years blur into one, they go quickly and that the all significant birthdays have a zero in them. Maybe the zero should signify the lack of hope. Jokes.

So apart from my ever increasing descent into middle age and having nothing to show for it lets review the year.

This was the year that we finally created Gin Club into something bigger than me and Caldo drinking gin in our pants and watching Mylie Cyrus on YouTube while constantly commentating on how “why yes I would” then comparing the difference between her and Taylor Swift. One you want to go home with and one you want to marry and have babies with the latter being Tay Tay.

We did our first official event at the Brew at the Bog festival which seen us pedal lots of gin through a new gin bar devised by the exceptional brain of Yvonne Murray. In doing this we put out the word of Gin Club to lots of gins. We were asked to comment on gin on Radio Scotland. At this point our “Club” had growing a torso, legs and we needed a head. Welcome Kate Gill. A woman who I have known for years only as Caldo’s cousin and seen either in Oxfam books or in her joggies on university avenue (and not in a clatty dirty old man at night meeting on university avenue way btw), she brought note pads and “don’t be stupid” looks / comments then made us have meetings. It’s fair to say she sorted out our ideas into a format. This then formed into our first sell out event in the Hidden Lane Tea Room.

From there we have essentially done a sell-out gin party each month in various locations (mainly the tearoom) until the end of the year.   I think a highlight for me with these events would be the London No.3 event in a hair salon (Kroma), as it was so random and really educational from a brand prospective. I also got to see Chris Grant not in a tracksuit and not talking about jumping stuff instead watching him craft gin cocktails.

Outside Gin Club life has gotten rather grown up. Caldo has buggered off to the Bermuda triangle of Glasgow’s south side, where people piss off too and they stay there hidden away, never heading west. You can’t just walk down the road with them for a pint; you have to bus it or drive. Me I decided to buy a house, not a flat, but a proper house, with a shed, lawnmower and a conservatory (the shed is full of gin btw; I need Wifi out there and a couch hehe). Kate did the biggest move, she traded Glasgow for Wolfhill. Yes no one who isn’t from Perthshire has a bloody clue where Wolfhill is. Essentially if you don’t need to you won’t ever go there, it’s a wee hamlet where I was once told the last wolf in Scotland was killed there. Glasgow or Wolfhill??? Hmmm tough one J . Then changed her job from Science to making money. Big move but she’s happier. Now she needs to open Perth’s first gin bar.

I usually get a big reflective in thinking about the year past. I have to say I am one of these people who evaluates his yearly performance. This year I don’t know what to make of it. I have made huge steps forward in my life, but think other aspects have frozen still. I have always felt that since finishing university all those eight years ago I have been minus achievement. Each year you sit exams and pass or fail them. Sadly the only exam I have sat this year was for P30 programme management training which I failed. I also hung up my musical hat and put my last band to bed. Which is a huge deal for me but one that only me and the five men involved seemed to be bothered about, like mist it just was there then wasn’t, you know it’s time to call it a day when an album you make gets less hits than a beetroot and chocolate cake. Haha. This isn’t a problem it’s just one of life’s things, the cake was bloody good though.

In our older life’s we don’t have this constant learning and evaluation. One of the few measures we have is our events or activities that cannot be quantified as pass or fail but busy, fun or educational. For Gin Club it’s been a huge success, we have created a grown-ups party where people drink small batch Gin and learn about the brands and the love each distiller puts into their products (except Gordons)

I don’t know what more to say about 2014. I would say it was fun, quick and I’m not sure if I did my best as a human this year. I know I could do so much better.

Next year we have some great ideas for events, some big things to come for Gin Club and I hope the gins and the guests will be up for drinking the Mothers Ruin with us. Actually I hope that Kate, Caldo and I get to drink more gin. The more events we have the less gin we get to drink, we only get to sample it and write the tasting notes L

 

Thanks

 

Graeme

 

Friday 8th of the 8th

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Our third Gin Club (well fourth if you include Brew at the Bog and possibly 128th if you include Caldo and I’s nights in the flat discussing Gin, Miley Cyrus and how much I think Pandas are pointless creatures). So let’s say our fourth official Glasgow Gin Club event, and this time round our tickets went on sale and out of sale in the space of a mere two weeks. Chuffed we were and far too relaxed. It came to the standard Monday night tasting where we decide the mixers, garnish and do our Gin “research”, so that we can create our lovely little booklet for all the Gin tasters on the Friday. There is this huge effort in the week running up to a Gin Club night, especially collating all the necessary items for the Friday, including the city wide search for Cape Gooseberries (for the Darnley’s View). This results in Kate (the scientist) stressing. Which we found is easily fixed by adding Mint and Fig to Blackwood’s and Tonic.

“Wow I can’t believe that, that taste, it’s a totally different drink,” she says in excitement.

And yes she is single!

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Friday came and our cars were loaded, along with the skies above Glasgow. Then they opened. Rain, Rain, Rain.

So the venue was set, the bar set, the music set and Bridget from the Hidden Lane had her wine in a tea-cup. The Mad Chef finished the Hendricks Sorbet, Malky had his red wine in a pint glass while he played northern soul and the Gin Clubbers arrived.

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This time round we were trying out a new token system instead of handing out one Gin at a time. It was a hit. The tasting guides assigned each Gin a colour, we then had four GIN ME cards also colour coded so that people could select their Gin of choice and at their own pace. There were only two issues; 1. People asked for “the green one please”, to which you had to say (remember) “ah yes Opihr”. 2. I left my bar blades at home and had to make an emergency purchase of a small bear in a kilt (also functioning as a bottle opener) for some of the mixers. Other than that the idea was a success, it meant we could discuss the Gin being selected as people came to our designated bar area. It also had the added effect, that people at different tables were actively discussing their Gin choices and really engaging with the Gins. At first people were picking Blackwood’s and the Opihr, I think this is probably due to the booklet layout. Then the flood of Darnley’s View and Strathearn Homecoming came. High praise all-round.

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Kate then decided to bring out the big guns and deliver her Gin Lemon Drizzle Cakes. Sweet lord in heaven. Imagine baking cakes to serve at a tea room that already makes cake.  They were incredible, they vanished rapidly too. I think we should get Kate to stick up recipes on the blog as standard after each event.

Bridget from the Hidden Lane has promised to create Gin Muffins for the future “hmmmmmmmm”.

On a side note to this Kate being the scientist that she is, weighs her eggs….I’ve never seen that, which is probably why my cakes are rubbish in comparison. Hopefully Bake Off will feature some accurate baker doing that this season.

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By now people were well into their third and fourth Gins. Hungry for more they were. So time to fire out the Sorbet. Yup Mad Chef Danny knows his measures; I think they go along these lines:

“Enough to knock out a bus of grannies going for high tea?? Aye!”

Mix it together with lime and sugar syrup and into the ice cream machine, serve with cucumber and there you have Gin Club Sorbet.

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After the GIN ME tokens have all been traded we open up the bar to sell all our extra stock we purchase for the evening. As always we keep going until it goes i.e. until the cups run out or until the Jurassic Park theme tune plays, signalling its 11:45pm – time to drink up or there will be a Gincident (GC copyright that phrase btw) on our hands.

We like to deck the place with props, many of which have our GC Phrases.

Gin Me = “Good evening Sir/Madame may I have one of your fine Gins”

Ginned Out = “I appear to have drunk too much Gin and am in danger of embarrassing myself”.

Gincident = “There has been an accident which is Gin related”. E.g. Spilt Gin, someone has snuck in a bottle of Gordons.

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Even although I (Squirrel, Hi) didn’t get to taste a single drop of the lovely stuff, I loved Fridays Gin Club. I don’t understand why it was so hot upstairs. Maybe the quinine in the tonic causes the bodies’ metabolic rate to increase and thus the air warms or maybe it was Malky’s dancing.

But I can safely say it was a great night and enjoyed by all.

A massive thank you to Blackwood’s, Opihr, Darnley’s View and Strathearn for being involved.

Anyone reading this that was at the event may remember our booklets stating you can buy these Gins from The Good Spirits Company, Bath Street, Glasgow or through their online portal.

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Full photos of the event can be seen at our Facebook Page (www.facebook.com/glasgowginclub)

A big thank you to everyone who came along and drank with us.

A huge thank you to Bridget, Malky B, Ritchie “the pigeon” Patton, Carly Morrison (who isn’t mine or Caldo’s girlfriend, she’s the licensee) and the Mad Chef. Finally to Bloc for “lending” us things like cups and ice.

Finally thank you to our stockists, The Good Spirist Company and Valhalla’s Goat.

Our next one is the 19th September Tickets out soon.

Thanks
Squirrel

GC

Rocking The Boat With Our Rollers In

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It’s 6.30pm on Wednesday – scheduled weekly meet time at Gin Club HQ. I’m somewhere between locating Sri Lankan tea leaves and boiling the kettle, when Squirrel comes out with “we should do it at Kroma, I go there, they are up for it”.

The thoughts that are going through my head; I need more loose tea, I wish I’d bought chocolate, what on earth is he talking about now?

So here is a brief insight into what happens at a midweek Gin Club meeting. Contrary to popular belief, we don’t drink Gin, we usually eat cake and lots of unrelated statements are delivered as a monologue and require deconvolution.

It materialised that Kroma was being suggested as a venue for an evening with No.3 London, I was then later informed that Kroma was a hairdressers. Ok, so we had done Gin in the Tearoom and it was a hit (so much so we are doing it again) but could we really pull off Gin in a hairdressers? Guess there was only one way to find out….cue Monday the 7th of July in Finnieston.

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No.3 London is an extremely classic and perfectly balanced London Dry Gin and it was raved about highly at the Hidden Lane. Having the opportunity to allow some of our Gin Club members to find out more about the Gin itself, from Amanda, the brand ambassador was such an exciting prospect for us.

Amanda gave us an insight into the fascinating story behind No.3; from the copper pot stills in Schiedam (Holland) that give birth to the spirit, to the origins of its name – 3 St. James’s Street in London is the residing address of the creators – Berry Bros. & Rudd.

Amanda Talks No.3

No.3 is a Gin which has been somewhat crafted to near perfection, and all with the undeniable expertise of Dr. David Clutton. Dr. Clutton is unashamedly my new hero, he is a chemist with a PhD in Gin. You read right, an actual PhD, he is a doctor IN GIN (the only one I should add). Nobody mentioned this option when I was considering Chemistry PhD’s – thank you University of Glasgow careers service and every graduate fair I ever attended.

So what makes No.3….well, No.3? Like all good London Dry Gins should, it has a heady note of juniper, this is combined with 2 other fruits – sweet orange peel and grapefruit peel, which are joined further by 3 spices; coriander seeds, cardamom and angelica root. Steeping these 6 botanicals prior to distillation allows their distinct flavours to really mingle and infuse into the mother liquor. Upon tasting neat, my first hit was distinctively piney from the juniper, followed swiftly by a complete citrus rush.

No.3 With Garnish

As well as a neat tasting, throughout the evening we also served; classic G&T’s garnished with lemon (plus Fever-Tree naturally), Negroni’s with a sliver of orange peel and G&T’s with a twist (lemongrass and coriander garnish), all were created and poured by the expert hands of Chris Grant. I have always claimed that Negroni and I are not exactly best friends, placing him (Negroni is a male FYI) in the exact same friendship group as Aperol – bitter with a deceptive appearance. However, I put my hands up, Chris I think I may have been converted. And although the bitter man may not have been everyone’s cup of tea, the lemongrass and coriander Gin’s went down a storm – seriously buy some No. 3 and try it!

Thanks to everyone for coming along to the hairdressers in Finnieston and drinking some No.3 with us. And of course an even bigger thanks to Amanda for bringing No.3 to a salon of Gin Clubbers in cutting chairs. A credit to Fiona for the amazing photos!

Not being content with stopping at just one night of bringing No.3 to the people of Glasgow, we packed up the silver key stirrers and headed along to the Abandon Ship womenswear launch in the Princes Square shop.

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The prints for the new line are amazing, uniquely ASA and like nothing else you’ll find on the high street….hurrah! The watermelon crop tee and skirt are to die for. We selected 3 serves for No.3 – the classic and twisted G&T’s as per Monday night and a Ginger Gin Fizz. I think it’s safe to say Glasgow LOVE No.3 London (and we love peanut butter and jam doughnuts).

To end this blog post in stereotypical girl style, I would be lying if I said that sometimes I worry people don’t understand what we’ve set out to achieve. However, if I’ve learnt anything from my fellow Gin Club founders in the last 6 months, it’s stay true to what you believe is right. We really love Gin and all we want is to find a fun way to make other people fall for it too….simple really?

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Gin Club

West Side To The East Side

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Saturday the 14th of June 2014, possibly the most prolific date in the Gin drinkers diary. Yup, you got it – World Gin Day! And what better way was there for Gin Club to celebrate this momentous occasion, than to attend Scottish Juniper Festival at Summerhall in Edinburgh.

Summerhall is the former Royal (Dick) Vet School and functions now as a venue and art space. Rather coincidently and somewhat luckily for us, it is also the home of Sumerhall Distillery  – the birthplace of Pickering’s Gin. On Friday 13th and Saturday 14th of June, for 2 days only, this unique setting was converted into  complete Gin paradise. 

Summerhall Dsitillery

I’m not going to lie, I wasn’t feeling my best towards the end of last week. One by one the Beatson drug discovery lab has been struck down by either a cold, flu or chest infection and in some cases all three. I knew it was only a matter of time before I was handed the baton. However, in the name of Gin I set the alarm for early Saturday morning and made my way towards Queen Street Station. There was only one thing on my mind, nope not the Gin venture that lay ahead, but rather getting my hands on that white coffee cup with the green face, and my name scribbled in marker pen on the side (needs must). And as I sat, waiting on cousin Stuart to arrive – I’m sorry to me Caldo refers to 5 family members – I gave myself a firm pep talk on the art of manning up.

Anyway, enough prattle….

What exactly is Scottish Juniper Festival? Simple, a celebration of all things Gin – think masterclasses, cocktails, talks and tastings. The festival itself was split into two sessions; afternoon (12-4pm) and evening (5-9pm). You must understand that for two VERY big gin fans this is an extremely limited amount of time, when you have a very long list of things to do.

Over the two floors and the courtyard of the main Summerhall building, 14 Gins were on show – where oh where to begin? In essence, it did not matter as either way we’d be making sure we visited each and every one. Between the two of us, we had probably at some point or another tasted most of the gins before, however, to be able to compare and contrast each Gin back to back is fantastic. It’s funny how easily your recollection of how something tastes changes, when you are comparing it to another Gin of even just slightly different botanical composition. Gin no longer just tastes like Gin. New notes, finishes, sweetness and spices all reveal themselves, both to great surprise and delight. In fact just being able to see so many artisan products all in one space at the same time was enough to leave me in awe (further ammunition for the boys at the next Gin Club Meeting)….

There are too many Gins to mention individually so I will put a list at the end. I did however, love the Opihr display (only mildly disappointed there was no Tuk Tuk – google it) and the Darnley’s Gin Cake! It was great to see a few of the Gins from our event the week before too and have a proper chat and say thanks.

Throughout the day various Gin led talks were also taking place, all within the “Spiritual Sessions Theatre” – accompanied of course, by various juniper based tipples. Picture the scene; curved rows of tiered wooden seats, a blackboard on the wall, a vaulted sky light, 3 antiquarian lady chairs on which the Gin experts sat and desks flanked by Gin, oh and there was a man with a dog. As I sat there 4 Gins in hand, I couldn’t help but think, that if only all my chemistry lectures could have been delivered in the same way (I’m sure I could have argued relevance in some way) then maybe I would have found studying the different lattice structure of metals more interesting….I did say maybe. Geraldine Coates, the prolific author of GinTime certainly blew any lecture I’ve ever sat through out of the water.

The central courtyard was a visual feast with the Pickering’s Snickering Pig Roast and Gin Cart, Hendrick’s Ma’am (Winnebago) and the Cocktail Bar all occupying separate corners.

Just a few small steps into Ma’am and you are instantly transported into the wondrous world of Hendrick’s; jars stuffed full of sensuous botanicals, etchings, maps of London Gin Dens, books in glass cases, a typewriter, a branded lamp, a cuddly toy (loved the generation game) and Hendrick’s, lots of Hendrick’s! Duncan McRae led visitors (or maybe more aptly passengers?) through the history of Gin; from Holland, through the scandalous Gin soaked streets of London to an English Rose Garden where one would enjoy tea from the finest china whilst nibbling on cucumber sandwiches. All to be rounded off with a mighty fine peach cocktail.

23 Gins in (a mere estimate I had lost count somewhere between 1.30 and 2pm) and there was still more to see…..but first food, I needed food. Pit stop at the Snickering Pig before onwards and upwards to Pickering’s. Pickering’s is a relatively new Edinburgh Gin and we were fortunate enough to have a chat with Marcus about his creation. This was followed by a good old look around the distillery – I was pretty much in the copper still with excitement, as Stuart measured up the size of the thing, realising that getting one in his flat was in fact achievable.

It was definitely after 4pm by the time we left the distillery and Summerhall was hotting up for the evening guests. I know we would have stayed for another 4 hours but there was another action on the To Do List that had to be seen too.

In fear of not yet being Gin’d oot we had spied the opening of Heads and Tales – a new bar at the home Edinburgh Gin in Rutland Place, it really would have been rude not to at least go and see the place wouldn’t it? One Gin cocktail (Stuart opted for an Irn-Bru Botanist – when in Rome), a G&T, and a Zizzi’s pizza later, I was definitely ready to get back home. We rolled back into Glasgow at the very respectable time of 11.30pm – definitely the earliest return after a night out I’ve ever had!

To top it all off, on Sunday my head was positively clear – the world was a great place, I’d had the best day learning and talking shop, caught up with all the family in Edinburgh and drank the best Gins…..

It wasn’t until Monday morning when I chirply got in my car to drive to work that I realised that my glasses (which I had to pitch to my Mum as an investment) were still on holiday in an unknown location Edinburgh…..cue a long day of phone calls describing comedy sized tortoiseshell spectacles.

It would be criminal to finish this post without acknowledging Martin Duffy of Solid Liquids for pulling the biggest and best Gin jamboree together. Gin Club are counting on the event being annual!

A list of the Gins we enjoyed and chatted to; Burleigh’s, Opihr, Caorunn, No.3 London, Darnley’s View, Crossbill, Gin Mare, NB Gin, The London No.1, Blackwood’s, Hendrick’s and Pickering’s.

Kate

The Glasgow Gin Club Premiere

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As you may or may not know, Glasgow Gin Club had it’s very first Glasgow event on Friday (June 6th) at The Hidden Lane Tearoom. It certainly would have taken a great deal of skill to avoid this information if you are friends, work colleagues or mere Facebook acquaintances of any of the three of us.

Our aim for the night was always simple – bring really good Gin to the people, have a good old chat about the stuff and just have fun. There are SO many mind blowingly good Gins out there that people don’t know about, and it was almost criminal not to do something about it. I guess we knew (or should I say hoped) that no matter what happened along the way, as long as we had enough great Gin and really good tonic on the night, plus a half tonne of ice shards we could keep a tearoom full of Gin fans happy.

After 6 weeks of; planning event format, confirming Gin’s, designing membership cards, matching garnishes, securing a venue, changing original event format, roping in friends, calling in favours and sourcing 100 miniature spoons for Gin jelly with 24 hours to spare – Gin Club was almost ready to open it’s doors for the very first time.

The Gin gods were definitely on our side on Friday night – the sun continued to beat down as the evening drew in and although for once we were not celebrating Gin o’clock ourselves, it was the ultimate G&T weather. The Tearoom doors opened at 7.30pm with the event set to kick off just after 8pm and as  membership card no. 4 was handed out at around 7.35pm (the founders being numbers 1,2 and 3 and Snoop Dogg 213 – see instagram) Glasgow Gin Club became official.

Tables were set with tasting cards alongside the corresponding bottles and in keeping with the vein of our amazingly unique venue, it seemed only fitting that we used some empty bottles from our personal collection to hold one or two flowers – let’s just say Stuart had a busy week to ensure we had enough Gin Club vases.

Ok, so details…..what Gin’s did we actually serve at Gin Club? The running order (all served with Fever-Tree Indian tonic water);

(i) London No.3 Dry Gin  – a traditional London Dry Gin created with 6 botanicals in copper   pot stills – garnished with a slice of lime.

(ii) The Botanist – hails from Islay and contains 31 botanicals in total – 22 are foraged on the island – served with a slice of lemon and sprig of thyme.

Interlude – Gin and Elderflower Jelly

(iii) Strathearn Heather Rose – the combination of Rose and Heather produce this uniquely delicate, floral Gin – no garnish just tonic.

(iv) Caorunn – 6 traditional and 5 celtic make up the 11 botanicals in Caorunn, one of which – the Rowan Berry gives the Gin it’s name – delivered with a slice of red apple in the glass.

To Finish – Gin and Tonic Sorbet courtesy of Mad Chef

The lovely Craig Johnston kindly agreed to come along and drop some serious tunes as the soundtrack to our evening (promised payment in Gin of course) and who didn’t enjoy a bit of The Temptations, Chrvches or the Jurassic Park theme tune while sipping on their Gin and Juice? Bridget from the Hidden Lane Tearoom was also on hand to serve some of their own delicious baked treats. Gin, Jelly, Cake, Sorbet and Sunshine – think we covered almost all bases.

Now, 5 days after Event No. 1, we can confirm that we served over 200 G&T’s to a little over 50  Gin Clubber’s – a number that we’re still overwhelmed by. As a result Gin fever has well and truly hit Gin Club HQ – Who are we kidding? We’ve always had it. But  the ideas for what comes next are certainly mounting up.

Thanks again to absolutely everyone who came along (both under order and free will) and helped us through the Gin and 120 bottles of tonic. We hope that a few of you may be willing to do it again…?

Photography by Ritchie Patton

Gin Club At The Hidden Lane Tearoom

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After countless emails, several agendas and drafts of minutes for Gin Club meetings involving a stressed Kate and two calm and collected boys……we have some exciting news – Gin Club is coming to The Hidden Lane Tearoom for it’s very first event!

On Friday the 6th of June we will be hosting an evening of Gin (of course), Banter (always guaranteed) and music. As you may have gathered, we all love Gin, now we want to invite you all to drink some really amazing G(&T’s) and understand why we talk about the stuff every minute of every day (near enough) and perhaps more importantly find out what really goes on at Gin Club…..

Tickets are available here  http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/event/123645

We will be revealing more details as the week goes on so watch this space!

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Gin Club

The London Gin Club

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As I get on the train back from London (with a just small hangover), I feel I should tell you all about my new happy place – The Star in London which between 6 and 11 becomes The London Gin Club.

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Having to travel to London for the week, I knew I had to go and check this place out, it would just be plain rude not to visit the home of The London Gin Club.

Situated in the centre of London, maybe 5 minutes walk from Oxford Circus and down a side street, there is a little bar on the corner, which you might just miss if you weren’t looking. Thankfully I had trusty Google Maps to show me the way.

Upon finding the place, we were greeted and asked if we had a reservation – we did not, but luckily they were happy to sit us at the end of the bar so we could get our well-deserved Gin. The lovely Kate (not our one) came over, told us a little bit about the bar, showed us the menu and helped us decide upon what to drink. By decide, she basically told us where to start, but I certainly can’t complain as she returned with 2 rather tasty Gin and Tonics; a King of Soho and Monkey 47. We sat on our stools at the end of the bar, me – with a grin from ear to ear like a kid in a candy shop.

After starting to work our way through the menu, we decided that we should get a taster selection – choosing to go for the over proof selection of strong Gins!

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We were joined again briefly by Kate who chatted for a little about the Gins, before we got talking about Glasgow Gin Club. Then we were off, chatting and sharing Gin knowledge and giving them ideas of what else to stock. We sat and drank until they closed (obviously), in the end I was the last one to leave – I would have been quite happy to stay all night. I also got chatting to Deena who was working behind the bar, pouring and serving the Gins perfectly.

As the night drew to an end I headed off to the tube, still grinning like a Cheshire cat, having drank great Gins all night and making two new friends.

After having such a great time on the Thursday, I would have been gutted if I hadn’t popped back on the Friday for one last drink (which maybe turned into two but I wasn’t counting).

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Turning up at about 10pm on Friday every table was taken, both upstairs and down, with everyone working really hard to keep the Gin flowing and keep people happy. We were lucky that a table had just become available before we arrived, so we said all our hello’s before grabbing a seat and ordering our first Gins of the night, when last orders were called we just had to get another.

Anyway, would like to say a huge thank you to everyone working both nights that we were in, you were all very informative and clearly love Gin as much as I do. Special thanks to Kate and Deena who looked after us so well and were lovely to chat to. Hopefully, we can see you again soon either down in London or up here when we have a little event of our own. Hope you all managed to get a staff drink after your busy Friday.

I would really recommend that anyone down in London visit this busy little place. With such a fine selection of drinks to choose from, some may find it difficult to make up their minds – but don’t worry they have a Gin “Wheel of Chance” to help you decide – next time I’m down I’m spinning it all night.

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Caldo

A Gin Bar And A Barn

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So….Brew At The Bog feels like almost like a century ago now (slight exaggeration), but things have been so busy with Gin Club that we are only just getting round to telling you about it now. Put simply, we had an amazing day! The Gin Bar looked incredible, the staff went above and beyond and the Gins were literally flying off the shelf, I think almost all had sold out by the end of the day. We really were taken aback by the intrigue and interest in what we’re up to and about Gin in general – turns out our fascination maybe isn’t so crazy?! Anyway, Brew you have inspired us and hopefully (fingers crossed) we’ll be bringing our Gin vision back home to Glasgow very soon!

I had the best intentions of documenting the whole thing in photographic form, only to realise that I had left my memory card in some unknown place that is still to be identified, cue ridicule from the boys. The iPhone functioned as an emergency back up, but I can only apologies for the poor attempt that follows.

A few final credits; To This Silent Forest who powered through on a drenched and fittingly named Pond Stage, battling with just a few minor technical difficulties and to Yvonne for allowing us to be part of The Gin Bar in the Barn….

Kate

The Origins Of Gin Club

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You’ve read about the Wedding, Arisaig, the Homemade Gin and know more about Squirrel’s daily routine than you may have bargained for. Now it’s time to read about us….The Gin Club.

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So there you are, two men about to hit the late stages of their twenties, one slightly further along than the other (even although many people think that the younger of the two is the older brother of the other – typical).  Both like Gin, one has a more discerning taste and he slowly builds a rather bespoke collection. Following Birthdays and Christmas’ of asking only for Gin the collection continues to grow.  His shorter, less grey friend comes round often and they start to sample each in turn. This happens more and more.  One supplies the Gin, the other, the ice, tonic and garnish; until the shorter (and ultimately chubbier/buff) friend decides he should start purchasing his own bottles of craft and small batch Gin too. They start drinking these gins before heading out and painting the town a creamy beige colour.

These nights of Gin appreciation were always accompanied by their love of everything social media orientated.  They were after all the first generation to really take to chat rooms, Hot or Not, Faceparty, Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.  Whilst testing the Gin they would be on YouTube watching anything from Rap Battles to People Falling Over, this was accompanied by Tweets and photographs of the Gin of choice, and affectionately labelling it “A Club”.

Through the world of social media, people responded to the pictures and posts asking, “Can I become a member of Gin Club?”. Slowly before and sometimes after nights out, the club grew in size.  Gradually this club started meeting more and more, continuing to watch things on YouTube but more importantly to chat and drink Gin.  First some Gin companies noticed. Then a festival noticed and asked, “Fancy curating a Gin bar?”, of course they said yes.  BBC Radio Scotland noticed, “Fancy coming on the radio to chat about Gin?”, again they said yes.  Before long they were speaking to Gin distillers from all over the world, their tweets became a blog, their private social media accounts became the Gin Club pages – it was official.

Then it was time to take things to the next level; organised nights with Gin tasting, music, banter and of course more Gin.  Time to organise more Gin events.  Time to get serious with blogging about the product they loved so much. And time to get a lady scientist to come in and organise the tall one and the shorter one into a well-oiled Gin machine….

The First Time I Ever Saw (Tasted) Your Face (Gin)

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So I was sitting on my usual 11:30 am perch, as I do everyday at roughly this time. I won’t say where exactly, however, to the males reading this it’s the place you sit and feel at your most relaxed, unless it was a heavy night before, you’re ill or if you have been on you smart phone and leaning on your knees until your legs go numb.

Anyway while sitting there contemplating this week’s Gin Club post. I started to think at what point I started liking Gin and I can remember it exactly. Best start from the beginning….

So my Dad (the old fart Stewart Macdonald) loves Gin, however, he speaks of a time where the mere smell of the stuff used to make him wretch. I also had the same experience. Any of my friends will know I never really took to drinking with the rest. I hated the smell and taste of all booze. I always imagined red wine would taste like Ribena – it doesn’t and has been a disappointment ever since.

So, I had this distaste for alcohol (which isn’t a bad thing, in Scotland it’s just considered weird). What I did have a taste for, was making and serving it to my Dad. I apparently pour the best Gin and Tonics in the Macdonald household, well I did, now my eight year old nephew does, start them young eh? I remember pouring Gin and neither enjoying the smell nor the wee sip I would take just to confirm that I indeed didn’t like it. Eventually I accepted this fact and stopped.

One night whilst still at University I was out in Perth and a girl I knew happened to be there, I think her name was Lyndsay Buchan (if you’re reading this or know of her, tell her I missed the boat and it plagued me for a few months as you/she, is/was hot). We were chatting away in Sportsters (local pub/nightclub) whilst queuing at the bar. She asks “Do you want a drink?”, of course I said “Yes”. At this point in my life I was pretty strict with what I drank, Jack Daniels and Pepsi or nothing at all. “Good” she replied, “I’m drinking Gin”, naturally I thought, hey, I could be in here. So, obviously I said, “Cool I will have one of those too” (knowing full well I couldn’t stand it).

Whilst debating who was paying for this round, I go into my wallet to pull out a £20 note and a condom falls out. She picks it up and says, “Someone’s sure of himself”. Red faced I reply “I would rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it”. Yes that was cool of me, however, it was a long time ago and I no doubt didn’t execute it in such a smooth manner. Anyway, we sat down and drank the Gins.

That night I loved Gin, it tasted so fresh, clean almost. It was citrusy and cold. The Gins went down better than the Jack. From then on in, all I drank was Gin and Tonic. My Dad’s bottles didn’t last as long and he stopped getting me to pour them.

I will say that not all food stuffs that I have tried because of a hot woman have worked out so well. Dundee German market for example. Hot olive girl handing out free olives. I put one in my mouth and chew, she says “Good?”. “Yes” I grimace back. I rapidly excuse myself and spit the thing out. Caldo quips “I knew you didn’t like olives”. “Aye, but she was hot”. Olive fail.

I haven’t seen Lyndsay Buchan in about eight years; I think she moved to Australia. But anyway, thanks for making me like Gin.

Squirrel