Think gin tasting, and you’ll probably think of a bar – maybe a private room upstairs, where everyone can sit around a single table, meeting new people who share the gin love. Then it’s gin, gin chat, and more gin.
But I’ve held them in places you wouldn’t expect. Manchester Museum. Chetham’s School of Music. In an age of budget cuts, limited funding and without getting too political, Tory government, our institutions are having to get a little creative – hosting events that they might not have previously considered. It;s a way for them to fund their maintenance, and ensure their existence for future generations.
The latest of these is the gorgeous Ordsall Hall.
But before you think this is a piece of self-promotion, this is a collaboration between Ordsall Hall, and local distillers, Zymurgorium.
I’ve been lucky enough to sample many of the gins from Aaron and Calum Darke – from their Manchester Gin, made using their own mead, which is distilled into vodka, before being rectified into gin, to favourites such as their Sweet Violet Gin Liqueur – Parma Violets in a glass. So the opportunity to sample their gins in a Grade 1 Listed Tudor manor house – a house that was in existence long before the first gin craze hit the UK, is one I can’t miss. It’s a recipe for an evening of alchemy.
Which is why on Thursday 18 May, you’ll find me in the audience of this gin tasting. The Zymurgorium range grows continually and I have no doubt there’ll be something new to try. And it’s hard not to love the enthusiasm of the chaps behind the brand. Given their first still involved a bastardised pressure cooker, it’s a true tale of ingenuity.
If you fancy joining in, tickets cost £25 per person, and can be booked online shop or by calling Ordsall Hall direct.
See you there?
