For those that weren’t following our Instagram stories this week, Trudi and I visited the Sipsmith Distillery on Tuesday 7th May 2019 for their Sipper Club, an event that takes place twice a month at their Chiswick HQ. The evening consisted of a distillery tour, a tutored gin tasting AND a stunning four-course supper at Charlotte’s Bistro.
It started with Angus handing us a welcome drink of their traditional London Dry Gin with Fever-Tree Indian Tonic which went down very easily whilst Jamie was introducing us to all things Sipsmith. We started with a Distillery Tour before discovering why they were the first copper-pot distillery to set up shop in London since 1820 (that’s almost 200 years!).
Jamie did a fantastic job of entertaining us with stories from Gin’s long history (a part of Distillery Tours that we often find can be a little boring!) but he kept everyone very engaged.
Sipsmith were granted their license to distill by trade by Gillian Kerr, an officer of HM Customs & Excise back in 2008. Although, once received, Sipsmith noticed the stamp is actually dated in 2009 so debatable whether they were covered for their first year of trade! Nevertheless, they are a huge success and influence within the Gin Capital in 2019.
The London Gin Craze certainly wasn’t as fun as the name might suggest, depicted by William Hogarth in 1751. The English artist created two prints (Gin Lane & Beer Lane pictured sbelow), designed to be viewed alongside one another, depicting the evils of gin and merits of drinking beer. How times have changed, as we’re now able to enjoy the present-day ginaissance.
We’d now learnt the history, finished off our G&T so it was time to stand in front of the red velvet ropes where we were welcomed by Sipsmith’s ladies; Patience, Prudence, Constance, Baby Cygnet & Verity.
These beautiful, hand-crafted copper stills are responsible for making the various Gins that are on offer to us today and Jamie kindly guided us through how each one worked along with the essentials of how gin is made.
Naturally, it was the tutored tasting time next (Trudi’s favourite part!). We sampled several gins from the Sipsmith portfolio, starting with the classic London Dry Gin, followed by the latest Orange & Cacao (Chloe’s new favourite), Black Maple Gin Liquor & Sloe Gin. Our only feedback is that after sipping the sample, we would have preferred to then understand which tonic was best recommended to try with each. We were even lucky enough to sample some of the small-batch, limited edition distillations which are often only available to the lucky Sipsmith Sipping Society members!
After consuming plenty of Gin by this point, Angus walked us all just around the corner to Charlotte’s Bistro, one of the leading lights of the Chiswick dining scene. The cute restaurant is cosy, and its food is certainly a representative of the best British seasonal cookery. Our menu is pictured below alongside ANOTHER inclusive G&T to enjoy before starters. Trudi & I also enjoyed the recommended wines to try with each course, carefully selected and worked very well to complement each dish.
To finish things off, we enjoyed a selection of British cheese accompanied by Sloe Gin which paired nicely together.
As the evening ended, we said goodbye to the many friends we had made on the tour and received our Sipsmith gift bag with a 35cl London Dry Gin bottle and a Fever-Tree Indian Tonic can which we enjoyed as a nightcap once we got back to our hotel!
If you think you’d enjoy the tour as much as we did, head over to the Sipsmith Tour Page. The tour we attended is priced at £85.00 per person but we feel is worth every penny!
Thank you Sipsmith, see you soon! Trudi & Chloe
For those that weren’t following our Instagram stories this week, Trudi and I visited the Sipsmith Distillery on Tuesday 7th May 2019 for their Sipper Club, an event that takes place twice a month at their Chiswick HQ. The evening consisted of a distillery tour, a tutored gin tasting AND a stunning four-course supper at Charlotte’s Bistro.
It started with Angus handing us a welcome drink of their traditional London Dry Gin with Fever-Tree Indian Tonic which went down very easily whilst Jamie was introducing us to all things Sipsmith. We started with a Distillery Tour before discovering why they were the first copper-pot distillery to set up shop in London since 1820 (that’s almost 200 years!).
Jamie did a fantastic job of entertaining us with stories from Gin’s long history (a part of Distillery Tours that we often find can be a little boring!) but he kept everyone very engaged.
Sipsmith were granted their license to distill by trade by Gillian Kerr, an officer of HM Customs & Excise back in 2008. Although, once received, Sipsmith noticed the stamp is actually dated in 2009 so debatable whether they were covered for their first year of trade! Nevertheless, they are a huge success and influence within the Gin Capital in 2019.
The London Gin Craze certainly wasn’t as fun as the name might suggest, depicted by William Hogarth in 1751. The English artist created two prints (Gin Lane & Beer Lane pictured sbelow), designed to be viewed alongside one another, depicting the evils of gin and merits of drinking beer. How times have changed, as we’re now able to enjoy the present-day ginaissance.
We’d now learnt the history, finished off our G&T so it was time to stand in front of the red velvet ropes where we were welcomed by Sipsmith’s ladies; Patience, Prudence, Constance, Baby Cygnet & Verity.
These beautiful, hand-crafted copper stills are responsible for making the various Gins that are on offer to us today and Jamie kindly guided us through how each one worked along with the essentials of how gin is made.
Naturally, it was the tutored tasting time next (Trudi’s favourite part!). We sampled several gins from the Sipsmith portfolio, starting with the classic London Dry Gin, followed by the latest Orange & Cacao (Chloe’s new favourite), Black Maple Gin Liquor & Sloe Gin. Our only feedback is that after sipping the sample, we would have preferred to then understand which tonic was best recommended to try with each. We were even lucky enough to sample some of the small-batch, limited edition distillations which are often only available to the lucky Sipsmith Sipping Society members!
After consuming plenty of Gin by this point, Angus walked us all just around the corner to Charlotte’s Bistro, one of the leading lights of the Chiswick dining scene. The cute restaurant is cosy, and its food is certainly a representative of the best British seasonal cookery. Our menu is pictured below alongside ANOTHER inclusive G&T to enjoy before starters. Trudi & I also enjoyed the recommended wines to try with each course, carefully selected and worked very well to complement each dish.
To finish things off, we enjoyed a selection of British cheese accompanied by Sloe Gin which paired nicely together.
As the evening ended, we said goodbye to the many friends we had made on the tour and received our Sipsmith gift bag with a 35cl London Dry Gin bottle and a Fever-Tree Indian Tonic can which we enjoyed as a nightcap once we got back to our hotel!
If you think you’d enjoy the tour as much as we did, head over to the Sipsmith Tour Page. The tour we attended is priced at £85.00 per person but we feel is worth every penny!
Thank you Sipsmith, see you soon! Trudi & Chloe