New Zealand may be a small country, but its gins are slowly but surely making their mark on a global scale.
While my wife and I were travelling around New Zealand, we were fortunate to meet Joerg Henkenhaf, distiller and founder of Broken Heart gin, at his home near Queenstown. Broken Heart’s story has been told many times, so it was great to chat to Joerg more about his gins and how he created them.
The street food scene in London is thriving. Brands like Kerb and Street Feast have brought together some of the capital’s most interesting and talented chefs to squares, festivals and even abandoned warehouses. Market Hall have now joined the party, giving traders a more permanent base inside disused properties with personality.
Christmas 2016 feels like a long time ago now. Back then, my in-laws gave me a bottle of gin in a beautiful ceramic bottle. It was from their local gin distillery, The Gin Kitchen, then operating out of the back of one of the pubs in town, and who had just released their first gin a month prior: Gusty Monkey.
Sipsmith was one the first gins I ever tried when dipping my toes into the world of gin. It’s a delicious, well-balanced traditional London Dry that has always been synonymous with quality to me, and because of that, it’s always had a home on my gin shelf.
Earlier this year I started working at a fantastic charity called Breast Cancer Care. Every summer they run a great fundraising initiative called Afternoon Tea where supporters host parties to raise money to support the vital work the charity does. I couldn’t resist getting involved and combining two of my passions, gin and supporting good causes, by hosting an Afternoon G&Tea!
Meaty legends Bleecker Burger and Pitt Cue Co joined forces on London’s Southbank for one night only to raise money for charity in the tastiest possible way. For Pitt Cue Co this was a real return to their roots, starting out as a food truck in the same stretch of the capital.
For my birthday this year my wife Kirstin took me for a weekend away to seaside town of Margate in Kent. The present itself was to stay at the absolutely gorgeous Reading Rooms B&B, a restored Georgian town house a few minutes away from the seafront.
Much has been said about Tanqueray’s Flor De Sevilla gin. The 180-year old brand released its latest gin earlier this year, and it’s been flying off the shelves and filling up my Instagram feed ever since.
Inspired by the beautiful Gower Peninsular in South Wales, the first area in the UK to be designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Gŵyr is a bold new gin that you won’t forget.
The great gin gathering that is Junipalooza returned for its 5th year last week. Back at Tobacco Dock over the World Gin Day weekend, it gave gin fans the opportunity to taste gins from all around the world and meet the people behind them.