Getting In On The Gin At Gin Festival York

In the last few years the explosion of gin has been a phenomenon, I’d go even as far to say it is now as big as prosecco.  From local micro distilleries to city centre gin bars popping up, all serving an abundance of new and exciting flavours.

Hitting cities and towns all across the UK, Gin Festival has brought tens of thousands of gin enthusiasts together to discover craft gin. We attended their festival stop at York Barbican where over 100 gins were on offer to sample, masterclasses with knowledgeable producers, cocktails and live music to celebrate all things gin!

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We received our own gin book which explained each gin, its recommended garnish, a bit about the brand, plus our own ‘copa’ glass. You were then set loose on their labelled A-D with bars filled with beautifully designed bottles, categorized into gins from the UK, Europe and further afield, and flavoured gins. Working on a token system each token was £5, the equivalent to one measure, its perfect garnish and as much or little tonic as you like.

Being Yorkshire proud of course our favourites of the day were Masons Yorkshire Gin limited edition slow distilled sloe gin, garnished with strawberries and mint, and Slingsby’s rhubarb flavoured gin, served with raspberries. Both topped with FeverTree Indian tonic, as much or as little as you wanted.

Between filling up our copa glass with a new gin from around the World there was also the opportunity to meet the people behind the brands, sample and learn about their range of products and distilling techniques.
We’ve been to a few different spirit events over the last few months but nothing comes close to our experience at Gin Festival York. Set to stop next in Yorkshire at Leeds and Sheffield we cannot recommend Gin Festival enough.
Find out more about Gin Festival.
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