Tuesday 26 November 2019

Liverpool Gin Distillery gin lab experience

When it comes to experiencing something really fun and unique in Liverpool, I think the gin lab at Liverpool Gin Distillery is up there with the best. Recently, I organised for a bunch of local bloggers to head down to Castle Street and take part in the gin lab experience - here's what went down...


After getting to try some of the lush food that the Gin Distillery have on offer (disclaimer: this isn't part of the usual gin lab experience) such as Scouse, black pudding sausage rolls, manchego and parma ham toasties and more, along with a classic Liverpool Gin & tonic - or lemonade in my case - we headed upstairs to the labs.


They are beautifully decorated with wooden benches, specious tables and plenty of silver barrels full of botanicals. There were more botanicals in small jars on the tables, and we each had a clipboard (anyone else just really LOVE a good clipboard?) with a sheet explaining what each botanical was, how much of it to use and what flavour it would give the gin. We sat down and our lovely distiller, Akil, gave us a fascinating history of gin - we learnt about Mother's Ruin, the gin boom and more.

Bopping around to the tunes coming through the speakers, we all started to measure out our botanicals. You have to use the three core botanics: juniper, coriander seed and angelic root - then you can pick three to five other botanicals and choose how little or how much of each one you want to use, within a suggested limit. I chose some five different flavours to go in mine, with more of the citrus-y ones to give it a fruity edge.



After choosing and measuring our flavours, we then had to transfer them into 80% ethanol in a copper still which was then placed on a heat mat. Some sort of science procedure to do with vapour and condensation happened (remember what you learnt about clouds in a year 7 science less? It's just like that but it's gin, not rain) and then it started to trickle out. The 'head' is removed, which is the harsh chemical compounds. You're then left with the heart, which is the gin itself at 80% - we tasted this, and it was sooooo strong. We then mixed this with distilled water, tested it with a refractometer to check it was down to 40% ABV, and bottled it up!


Our next step was to seal the bottle with wax, which was such a fun thing to do. You have to dip it in, let it drip, roll it on your palm and then dunk it in cold water which is actually much more difficult than it sounds, thank you very much. And voila, we had our gins! We tasted them neat and with tonic, and mine actually tasted nice so I was pretty impressed. We got to name them and print personalised labels, and I couldn't help but use a pun in the name.


The Liverpool Gin Distillery gin lab experience costs £70pp and you get to try some gin, see the behind the scenes of how it's made and, of course, make your own. You take home a 700ml bottle, and you can make a flavour that really suits you. I would truly recommend the gin lab experience, especially if you're looking for something to do as a hen party in Liverpool or you just really love gin! For more information and to book, click here.

Thank you so much to the Liverpool Gin Distillery for inviting us down to see the gin lab and make our own gin - we all had such a fab night!


10 comments:

  1. I would absolutely love to do this! x

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  2. This sounds like such an amazing experience, definitely worth the money! I like drinking gin and tonic from time to time, so I'm sure getting to make my own would be a lot of fun.

    Dominika | Into the Bloom

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  3. Ooh this sounds like a great experience and would make a great gift for a gin lover! x

    Jenny
    http://www.jennyinneverland.com

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  4. I've seen a few people do this and it sounds amazing! It would definitely make a good gift for a gin lover! Or even someone into their science haha!
    Bella x

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  5. This is such a cool idea! My whole family are big gin lovers so this would be a really great experience for us. I love that you went fruity with yours and the pun in the name is genius haha!
    Beth x Adventure & Anxiety

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  6. I absolutely love gin so this would be an ideal day out, especially drinking all the gin! Thanks for sharing x

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  7. Ah I'd love to do something like this - we're quite close to the Sapphire distillery so really hoping to go there at some point xx

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  8. OMG this is such a good idea! i was recently in liverpool and I wish i had seen this sooner!

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  9. Oh wow such a good idea for a gift!

    Erin || MakeErinOver

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  10. Oh this looks fun! Me and my mum would enjoy something like this :)

    Amy x
    The July Rose

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