Up and Coming GIN …

Increase in demand for gin is meaning distilleries are working 24/7 to give us our beloved beverage.

Gin has been around since the mid 1700s.

The first cocktail to be noted down was a gin-based cocktail.

It has never been so popular with bar and pubs pulling people in to try their massive collection of fabulous gins, with some having over 30 different types.

A lot of these having complex and interesting flavours like seaweed which is great as an aperitif to clear your pallet and open your taste buds, its best served with seafood dishes.

Pink Pepper is another new and different drink; with flavours of honey, cardamon, vanilla and hand picked peppercorns, these ingredients are distilled separately and then blended together.

Some gins are even said to have healing power; Nordes Galician is known as the therapy gin and claims to heal all sorrows, when drinking it neat it has a after taste of berries but if you’re too faint hearted for neat drinks adding tonic will bring out citrus flavours with strong grapefruit.

Many people are making a lot of money though this craze with some shots of gin costing as much as £5 just for the gin, no tonic, but people are paying for it and loving it too.

True North Brew Co is hitting this hard with the bars like Forum bar and kitchen, Blue Stoops and the British Oak having a huge range and now have started to the Sheffield School Of Gin.

This exciting new school is where gin activist can go and learn all about the history of gin, develop a deeper understanding of botanicals and become an expect in garnishes.

The curator will then assist you in developing your own blend to take home.

The session lasts three hours, during this time you will receive a Sheffield Dry Gin & Franklin tonic, one of there favourite gin cocktails and finish with the curators choice cocktail at The Old House at the cost of £70 per person.

The Gin Emporium is a mobile Gin Bar and Gin Tasting experience company which run mobile gin bars at events like weddings and corporate events, Gin Tasting experiences – completely mobile – up and down the UK, Gin Clubs – these are public ticketed Gin events in Nottingham, Bristol and soon Sheffield! Each month is different, themed and fun!

The Emporium stocks around 100/150 gins at one time and can cater between 150 and 2000 people at a time.

Gabby Garcia the director of the Gin Emporium said: ” Gin is now extremely popular at the moment and has been for quite a few years now. Licensing laws changed the way people could create gin and this made way for some really exciting gins to hit the market a few years back. The gin industry has continue to grow and flourish.”

“I loved Gin & had done for quite a while, before it became fashionable, I saw that Gin was getting more exciting for others and I wanted to share my love, enthusiasm and knowledge with other people.”

Gin isn’t something that will just stop at a certain time Gabby said: “Our busiest time starts in March and ends in about October. This tends to be corporate party season and of course hen dos & weddings. We also peak in December with Christmas parties.”

There are many exotic and expensive Gins in the market Gabby from the Gin Emporium said: ” We offer a range of Gins from outside of the UK. We now specialise in getting gins from Europe, South Africa, Australia & South America imported to bring people a variety they don’t see in other places. One of our new gins is the first London Dry Gin to be distilled in South America from Brazil.”

Gin is made with juniper berries which is not really a berry at all, it’s a female seed cone, nearly all picked wild and not cultivated which makes it great for the environment.

This wave of gin love has transformed the way we drink and serve, in Spain the “gin and tonic” is served in a balloon wine glass and comes with all kinds of botanicals.

We, here in Sheffield have now taken this fad and ran with it, now it’s strange not to get your seaweed gin in a wine glass.