So, I went to a Ginnery …

… and I drank a Cucumelon.  That’s a cocktail comprising of Melon liqueur, Schweppes cucumber tonic, Bombay Sapphire, garnished with pink grapefruit. I was also tempted by the Fino (Bombay Sapphire, Manzanilla dry sherry, fresh lemon wedges & mint leaves with Fever-Tree sicilian Lemonade) and by the Pink Pepper Phizz (Star of Bombay, pink grapefruit juice, Bottlegreen plump raspberry cordial, Martini Prosecco & a pinch of pink peppercorns).

For my birthday this year, Himself suggested we go on a distillery tour. Whilst the proper name is a distillery, doesn’t that sound dull and soulless? So for me, a ginnery it will ever be. Gin is hugely popular over here with new brands springing up seemingly every month.  From what I understand, gin is relatively easy to make when compared with most alcoholic beverages and, the current enthusiasm for all things artisinal food and drink, has encouraged a number of people to give it a go. However, we were visiting one of the more established brands, which was in the forefront of gin’s resurgence in popularity, Bombay Sapphire.

Did you, I wonder, think “what on earth could turn a distillery into an interesting visitor experience?” for I’ll admit I did, but well, it’s gin …

The experience kicks of with the history of the location itself – a mill has been on the site since before we started counting years in four figures, most recently a paper mill producing paper of such high quality that it was used for the printing of currency. A rather extraordinary glasshouse was designed and built to house living examples of some of the botanicals which go into making Bombay Sapphire the gin-drinking experience that it is.

But their primary innovation was the Aroma Map Room …

Right next door to the big copper pots where we’ll get the talk about how gin is made is a rather unassuming room containing four tables. You’re invited to walk around the tables, sniffing various boticanical ingredients and marking your preferences onto a colourful little card. You could also grind some of the raw ingredients to enhance the aroma experience, but I especially liked the display of plants in victorian style glass domes.

If you paid proper attention to the instructions you were given along with the card (from which you may gather that I did not), your preferences would indicate which of the cocktails from the one-free-cocktail-included-in-the-price menu would be best suited to your taste.

For a photographer, it provided pleasing subjects as well as a few challenges (the etched brass & blue glass were especially tricky). For a gin drinker, the cocktails were a winner, and the location was perfect for a sunny day – alongside a clear fast flowing stream running through the old mill buildings. I didn’t ask whether one could purchase additional cocktails, although there was no evidence of other visitors doing so. If one could, I imagine it would be a rather tempting venue for a sunny afternoon’s gin imbibing and maybe they’re not keen on encouraging excessive loitering …

I’ll close with a selection of glasses, each winners of the Bombay Sapphire Designer Glass Competition which ran during the 1990s, and included entries from no lesser names than Swarovski and Tom Dixon. I’m afraid I was remiss in not noting the designers of these which caught my eye …

Cheers!

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© Debra Carey, 2018