The Gin & Rum Festival - Trafalgar Warehouse
The weekend just gone I was super fortunate to visit and review the Gin & Rum festival which I recommended in my Things to do in October post I was really excited, it's the largest Gin and Rum festival tour* and promised to deliver over 60 different Gins and 60 different Rums so off we went
This years venue was Trafalgar Warehouse which is in Sheffield City Centre right near one of my old haunts Corporation. It's a gorgeous space that I've seen used for practically everything from Weddings to Exhibitions. It's got a really cool industrial vibe and is a really open space perfect for an event like this
The Event
If you've ever been to a beer festival this is a very similar set up in that you buy a ticket for the event which was super affordable at only £13 which got you entry into the event plus a little tote bag, Gin glass, branded pen and a guide for the event full of details of all the spirits available and little notes about their flavours and what to pair them with. You buy your drinks tokens (£5 a drink) and then peruse the guide and decide where to start then pop up to the bar where you get the drink of your choice plus a wide range of mixers provided by Schweppes
The Drinks
120 options of drinks is quite something! Within the guide it was very nicely split up into British Gins, World Gins and Flavoured Gins and the same for the Rums. As I'm not made of money and could definitely not still be alive after drinking 120 drinks (£600 if you were feeling flush and crazy) we decided to have one drink from each to begin with so 6 drinks alternating between Gin and Rum, between me and Connor we tried the following drinks:
- Mom Gin - Vibrant berry taste with a sweet finish
- Rascal Gin - Passion Fruit and Raspberry
- Empress Gin - Indigo blue and turns into a soft pink gin with mixer
- Lola & Vera Pink - Red berry sweetness and a little anise
- Whitley Neill Blood Orange Gin - Twist of orange
- Bombo Spiced Rum - Hints of caramel and tropical spices
- Rathlee 3 year old Rum - Transatlantic tipple with zesty fruit juice
- Rebellion Spiced Rum - Full of spice
- Old J Cherry Spiced - Gold spiced and marasca cherries
- Soul Passion - Fruity, tropical with a splash of Mango, Pineapple and Passion Fruit
The Atmosphere
I genuinely loved the vibe of the whole festival. It was really relaxed with tons of space, chairs and tables. Music was played but it wasn't distracting and there was a singer who came and did a few crowd pleasing songs (Wonderwall, Iris etc.) there was room to dance if people felt like it but it had a really chilled out vibe.
There was also masterclasses run through the evening where you could learn more about the Gin's / Rum's what to serve them with, the best garnishes for Gin and lots of samples
All in all it was a brilliant event and is still touring the UK so you should definitely check if it's going to be anywhere near you anytime soon!
What's your favourite Gin or Rum?
I'm not usually a gin drinker but the ones you mentioned sound amazing with the fruity infusions.
ReplyDeleteI honestly thought I didn't like Gin, turns out its the tonics I dislike - try with lemonade it might change your mind
DeleteOh my god this sounds amazing! I keep seeing gin festivals come up on my Facebook and I'm desperate to go to one! The ones you mentioned sound fantastic - I'm glad you've discovered the joys of gin with lemonade! So many people say they don't like gin but often it's the tonic that's the problem! I personally love a good tonic but lemonade works so well with the fruity gins!
ReplyDeleteIt tastes SO much better than with tonic
DeleteThis sounds amazing! I'm a fan of spiced rum and haven't heard of these ones before. I'll have to see if I can track down some of them.
ReplyDeleteKim x chimmyville.co.uk
They were really nice! I think my favourite was the Old J Cherry
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