Things seemed to get a little hectic last month and shamefully, for the first time in over a year, we actually missed a gin club.  With it being Hubby’s birthday last week, we figured the July Edition would be a huge gin celebration to make up for it.

I’m not entirely sure at what point we managed to jinx it, but it didn’t go quite according to plan.  I managed to contract the lurgy, as a teacher this has become something of an occupational hazard, little people are surprisingly germy!  Being the generous, giving wife I am, I kindly passed my bug to Hubby…you guessed it…no Gin Club for Hubby.  Another Gin Club member got caught up at the pub at work in London.  Another was playing a gig and his lovely wife was going along to support him.  Before we knew it we were down to just three of us…ah well, all the more gin for us!

Our selected gins for July’s club were Marylebone Gin, Cruxland Gin, 7 Continents Gin, Warner Edwards Honeybee Gin, Gabriel Boudier Saffron Gin and Svinkløv Gin.

 

Marylebone Gin

As our quick starter for 10, we went for this month’s Craft Gin Club offering, Marylebone Gin.  I have been so excited to try this, and I genuinely squealed with delight when opening my gin delivery this month.  Marylebone Gin is made by the Pleasure Gardens Distilling Co, whose founder is non other than Johnny Neill.  A well known name in the Gin world, having already established two successful gin brands, Whitley Neill and J.J.Whitley, Marylebone Gin was destined to be wonderful.

Johnny Neill took inspiration for the names from one of the largest and most famous of the six London Pleasure Gardens, which were melting pots for society 400 years ago. Pleasure Gardens were large green spaces, which differed from public gardens, as they were used as entertainment spaces.   Marylebone Pleasure Garden was renowned for it’s recreation and sport, boxing and cock fighting, and is said to have been a regular haunt of the famous highwayman Dick Turpin.  Sadly the Marylebone Pleasure Gardens no longer exist in body, but thanks to Marylebone Gin, the garden lives on in spirit.

 

At 50.2% abv, this gin could knock you sideways, but is instead quite delicate and wholly refreshing.  Marylebone Gin consists of 13 botanicals, chamomile, lemon balm, lime flower, grapefruit peel, sweet orange peel, lemon peel, juniper, angelica root, liquorice, cassia bark, coriander seed, orris root and cloves, several of which would have been found in the Georgian Pleasure Gardens.

Following the advice of Alex from ELLC, I threw caution to the wind, tried the gin neat, and am now baring all to you, (…big emphasis on the I here…) I found it to have a fresh, citrus, floral start, followed by a lingering taste of liquorish and clove.  For our G&T, we drank it with Fentimans pink grapefruit tonic water. Now I have to say, pink grapefruit is one of my absolute favourites, so I was expecting big things and I wasn’t disappointed.  An absolutely deliciously refreshing drink, which I would highly recommend for the glorious summer we are having at the moment.

Svinkløv Gin

As I was with teacher buddy #1 when I submitted the photo which won me that bottle of Svinkløv Gin, it seemed only fair that she actually get a sample of the winnings.  There was only one bottle of Naturfrisk Tonic left, so this time I tried mine with Fever Tree Mediterranean Tonic.  Teacher buddy #1 and I have very similar gin tastes, so I wasn’t surprised when she gave me that oh my god I love it look.  Her other half (similar to my Hubby) wasn’t so keen, he found it a little too sweet and floral, which lead to a brilliant chat about what we could taste…we couldn’t even cheat because the label is written in Danish.  The more little sips I took, the more it reminded me of something, but what?  The taste reminded me of sweets I used to have when I was little called refreshers, my brother and I used to let them fizz and dissolve in water, before drinking the concoction.  Then it hit me, it was a similar flavour to drinking Gunpowder Irish Gin and Fever Tree slimline tonic, which is just GINcredible, no wonder I like it!

What next?…

Well, I’m actually quite ashamed to say what happened next.  I could perhaps blame the delicious 50.2% Marylebone Gin, but in all honesty I don’t see the blame lying there.  The only thing I can say in our defence is that it’s been a really long year and both teacher buddy #1 and I are barely even limping to the finish line.

Me:       What shall we have next?

We shared a glance

Teacher buddy #1:         I really want gin, but I’m so tired!

Me:        Me too

Teacher buddy #1:       Shall we just save the rest for Summer Gin Day?

Her other half didn’t put up much of an argument, so that’s where we left it.  Shamefully early for a Friday night, but I’m sure we will more than make up for it over the summer break!

 

Daffy’s Gin Competition

Thank you for all entries, the competition closes today, the winner will be selected at random and announced tomorrow.  Good Luck Gin Lovers!