We were lucky enough to be invited to a gin tasting event hosted by The Bombed Out Church and Turncoat Distillery
We received a very warm welcome from the staff working the event and was greeted with a full glass of gin and tonic to enjoy before the event began.
The distillery owner was a great host for the evening and talked us through the different gins we had to sample. He provided us with his story of how he began the distillery and went on to tell us how each gin came to be as we tasted them throughout the night.
The first gin of the night was ‘Our Man in Sicily’ which is distilled as a light gin using the vapour method. The ingredients include Sicilian Lemons, Rosemary and Thyme. I really enjoyed this gin as the Sicilian lemons were a really pleasant flavour and would be great during the summer
Next up was the London dry which has 11 botanical ingredients including lemongrass, coriander, lemon and orange peel and walnut leaf. This gin was really smooth to drink and the blend of ingredients created a lovely flavour.
After that, we tasted the Dragon Tears which were described as being love or hate the flavour. The main ingredient of this gin is the flower of a Jasmine plant which definitely created a floral flavour. This was a pleasant flavour to try however I definitely preferred the citrus flavours.
Next was the strongest gin of the night at 43%, the Cascade gin. This flavour is created using piney and citrus Cascade Hops with lots of Cardamoms. We were advised to use a tonic for this sample as it releases the citrusy hops. You could definitely tell that this was the strongest of the gin and had a very sharp and strong citrus flavour.
Lastly, the Bold Street Chai gin which is an award-winning gin and is distilled on Bold Street using chai tea leaves. He described the gin as being a wintery gin that would be enjoyed around Christmas time. This flavour was quite strong and you can definitely taste the chai tea leaves so if you enjoy that flavour then I would recommend it, however, this was my least favourite flavour.
We were also provided with a token that we could redeem for a free full glass of our favourite gin or we could try their pink gin. Of course, I had to try the pink gin and it is one of the nicest pink gins I have tried. It had the sweet berry flavour but wasn’t sickly as many pink gins can be.
We really enjoyed the rest of the night as the bar was open to allow the guests to continue drinking there until the end of the night. They also had a great performer for live music entertainment. Finally, I can’t forget to mention how beautiful the venue was at the Bombed Out Church as they created a magical atmosphere to be in.
Overall, it was a great event to attend and my favourite gin flavours were the London Dry and the pink gin. They have a bar at the Albert Dock that you can visit or you can order their gins online.
