Gin Club – May Edition – Gin Obsessions

So Thursday evening saw our monthly night of gin fuelled fun. There were 6 of us this time, not a bad turn out for a mid-week club night…usually there’s only 4, more on a weekend cocktail night.

Our gin club started as the odd gin night to try to educate one of our friends in the ways of gin, the idea grew legs, gained a couple more members and it’s own name G.C.D.C – Ginly Club Downley Club (because apparently every good club should have the word club in it twice!) The rule is pretty simple, bring a gin, tonic and some conversation. Oh, and if it’s a cocktail night, you have to bring the ingredients to make enough of your cocktail for all members.

Hubby and I took along this month’s Craft Gin Club bottle, Occitan and a bottle of Edinburgh Seaside Gin. Other G.C.D.C members brought Scapegrace, East London Gin and Brighton Gin.

We started off with the Scapegrace, previously known as Rogue Society. A really delicious New Zealand gin, made with 12 botanicals (juniper, coriander, nutmeg, cardamom, lemon peel, orange peel, orris, cinnamon, cassia, angelica, clove and liquorice) from all around the world and water from New Zealand’s Southern Alps. Scapegrace is a19th Century English word meaning a mischievous or wayward person, especially a young person or child; a rascal. Definitely one for us then! Based on the botanicals, this little beaut would be great served with a slice of orange, sadly there was none available but I’m sure this can be remedied on cocktail night!

After this we moved on to the Bordiga’s Occitan Gin. (Hubby was particularly excited about this as our 34 bottle strong gin cabinet has been running low on London Dry Gins.) This, I think, was his favourite of the night. A delicious gin, made with juniper berries from the Maritime Alps, Angelica Root, Cardamom, Coriander & Orange. Really delicious served with Fever-Tree Mediterranean Tonic.

Out came the cheese board, crisps and our G.C.D.C classic New Zealand dip…it’s become something of a tradition now!

Then on the the Brighton Gin . Not going to lie, I think this is the gin I was most looking forward to! not only does the bottle look amazing, but you can serve the gin with a classic piece of Brighton Rock!!! What’s not to love about that?! It is a beautifully smooth gin, using juniper, coriander seed, fresh orange peel, lime, angelica root and milk thistle which is native to the southeast. Milk thistle is known to help with liver function, so a gin which helps you cleanse your liver, so to speak, whilst drinking surely can’t be a bad thing. We drank ours as a classic Brighton Rocktail, but as a standard G&T, a slice of orange is suggested.

Time was pushing on and, as it was a school night, we decided to call it quits after the next gin. So we went for the East London Liquor Company’s PREMIUM BATCH NO.2 GIN, and at 47% ABV it was definitely going to be the last gin of the evening! Made with botanicals including juniper berries, coriander seeds, thyme, angelica root, winter savory, fennel seed, orris root, lavender, lemon peel, sage and bay leaf. This gin seemed to work well served with a slice of lime, and I’m sure it would make a mean cocktail…roll on June’s cocktail party!

Sadly, no time for the Edinburgh Seaside Gin this month, guess we’ll just have to save that for the sunny summer evenings which are soon to be rolling in!