Manchester Cathedral opened the grand front entrance to welcome guests to the Gin Society’s gin festival event in Manchester. On arriving, we were greeted with a smile as our tickets were checked and given a gin goblet and a metal straw which we were allowed to take home, a drinks voucher and a guide to the drinks on offer. The ticket, at a cost of £12, was a very reasonable price for all of this.
The guide clearly divided the gins on offer in to three categories – British gins, World gins and Fruit gins. With well over 100 gins available, the guide was very useful in helping to decide what to try without much fuss and I must say it even added to the excitement of planning what we would have next, inviting us to discuss the merits of one botanical over another with each other.
The main bars were also divided very clearly into the three gin categories on offer. I immediately spotted a favourite gin that I rarely get to try and was thoroughly delighted to sip it with my new sustainable straw. Aviation is an American gin and while the description says it contains notes of lavender, cardamom and sarsaparilla, it was not strongly floral or soapy and was a fantastic, subtle blend of flavours. The bar tenders were all very efficient and thorough, knowing without hesitation which garnishes matched each gin. My Aviation was dressed with a sprig of rosemary and three cardamom pods. The drinks were expertly poured, mixing the perfect amount of tonic with each drink.
My companions and I, in the name of research, sampled a few more gins over the course of the evening. To name a few - Dictador Ortodoxy from Colombia had a great citrus note and had been aged in rum barrels, Portobello Road, made in London, was very clean and light in taste. Unicorn Tears, another English gin, had a delightful hint of orange and was a pleasant surprise.
The ambience in the Cathedral was delightful and there were many happy faces sat around the many chairs and tables that were available. A singer entertained throughout the night singing a wide variety of songs from over the decades. She also informed us of a few announcements – there was a masterclass provided by guest distilleries every thirty minutes. These guest distilleries had their own stalls in the Cathedral as well, to the side of the Gin Society’s British, World and Fruit bars.
Although the Cathedral was busy, two of the masterclasses were cancelled as seemingly there weren’t people wanting to watch them. There may have been some confusion about this as we hung about the masterclass area at 8pm and then 8.30pm but there was no sign of a masterclass at all. We weren’t too concerned as we could see that the distillers involved were very busy and chatting to the customers. It was very clear that staff from the Gin Society and also from the guest distilleries were very accessible and amenable.
We managed to attend the 9pm masterclass with a representative from Brockman’s Gin. About two dozen attendees listened as the amiable rep told us about the company and the gin. He passed around two bottles of gin and told us to help ourselves while he got some tonic. Generosity breeds generosity, they say, and indeed Brockman’s generosity was shared around. I instinctively took a sip of the gin without the tonic while we waited and what a delicious taste! Blackberries! It was very pleasant to sip without the tonic but still kept its flavour when tonic was added. This gin, we were told is distilled with eleven botanicals including blackberry as a bass note, blueberry for a highlight and an aroma of liquorice to make a long flavour. With an intentionally less juniper flavour than is expected in a gin, this is easy to sip on its own without being thick or overly sweet as sometimes a sloe gin or damson gin can be. It is good to use in cocktails, we were told, and I can imagine already what a gin martini with this would be like, and also can be drunk traditionally with a tonic.
The company, Brockmans, is eleven years old and exports to forty-five countries around the world. They bottle everything in the UK to support industry here. Of all the gins I tried this evening, Brockmans is the one that I would definitely like to get a bottle of. It might go on my Christmas list!
Overall, the festival experience had a magical air to it from the friendly staff to the grand environment all with a whiff of luxury and pampering. It was well worth every penny and is suitable for a treat night out, a birthday or celebration, or even just one of those things you might luckily stumble upon when out and about.
The festival contained a food stall but as we had eaten already we didn’t try out what was on offer. There was also a rum and prosecco bar. I would have liked to have seen the rums in the guide book too as I am as much a rum fan as I am a gin fan, but the bar man gladly talked us through what was on offer and I had a lovely buttery fudgy Dominican rum on ice to end the night with.
We all thoroughly enjoyed the evening from start to finish and I would definitely try this again next year.
Reportage - Aaron Loughrey
on - 27/9/19
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