Both myself and Mr GFB are already big fans of Pier Eight. Alongside some simple delicious dishes, are real sparks of fine dining – making it accessible to all. The diners are always a good mixture – young and old, ladies on a night out, couples dining and it’s got a warm, professional welcome that makes you feel looked after, but comfortable.
I’ve also, er, tested out the bar too. And whilst the gin selection is more limited, as is the cocktail menu, the drinks are well crafted, with again, great service.
The opportunity arose last week to visit one of their events. They’ve hosted an evening of fine dining, a quiz night (a second one is taking place next month) and a gin tasting. Which of course, saw me heading over for an evening of sampling.
The night began (after myself and my date had dined deliciously – need to line those tummies for gin!) with a Bramble cocktail made with Manchester Gin, one of the gins featured during the evening. We settled in on comfortable seats to eye the other contenders, all displayed for us to ogle while we sipped.
Our first gin of the evening was the one perhaps responsible for the craft gin movement (it’s a twee phrase, if accurate), Sipsmith. In 2009 they were the first distillery to open that wasn’t from a well known brand – they were responsible for negotiating with HMRC to change the rules on gin distillation, moving it from 1000s of litres to smaller production levels, therefore opening the doors for the smaller distilleries we see across the country today.
Their gin in this case – the London Dry – is a classic. Juniper backbone, a citrus bite that pairs well with the tonic from Fevertree. Classic flavours – something that everyone will recognise as gin.
Perhaps one that pushes more boundaries is Monkey 47. A bartender favourite it features, as the name might suggest, 47 botanicals, the majority of which can be found in the Schwarzwald – or Black Forest region of Germany.
The result is a predominantly floral gin, but don’t be deceived – the number of botanicals means that it can be paired with a lot of different flavours and suits a number of styles of drink. It’s why bartenders love it – not just because every mouthful brings something new to the palate.
A favourite also appeared, Whitley Neill.
Whitley Neill features a number of South African influences, as Master Distiller Johnny Neill, was inspired by his wife’s homeland. So botanicals include Cape gooseberry and baobab, resulting in a softly citrussy gin, that is popular with new gin drinks, as it isn’t juniper forward, or a ‘ginny’ gin.
Johnny has since branched out, and I can happily recommend his JJ Whitley range too – though they aren’t as available in your local Sainsbury’s as Whitley Neill is!
Gin Mare was also sampled – offering us a taste of the Mediterranean. From a family who worked as wine merchants in Spain, came two brothers who wanted to do something different. Over 100s of distillations they worked to find local botanicals that would give drinkers a taste of the sea, the taste of the Costa Dorada in Spain.
The result is Gin Mare – which uses ingredients including local olives, rosemary and basil in it’s distillation. It’s a personal favourite – a dirty Martini made with Gin Mare is akin to drinking a foccacia, oily herbal notes coat the palate and it’s infinitely satisfying.
Our final gin, was the one we’d started the evening with, Manchester Gin.
Seb was on hand to talk us through the process, the local botanicals they use, through to the end product, a gin that has solidly cemented itself in the bars of Manchester. Here, the garnish included rosemary which emphasised the herbal and earthy notes in the gin, brought from the dandelion and burdock, amongst others. If you’d like to know more, there’s a full review here.
As you’d expect, we had a bloody lovely evening, sampling, chatting and enjoying the delicious canapes sent out from the kitchen. If only I hadn’t had dinner, I could have enjoyed more of the crab blinis!
Maybe next time!
With thanks to Pier Eight for the invitation to the evening.