The Ginstitute’s New Home at The Distillery, 186 Portobello Road
Rainy day in London? A friend and I holed up in the boutique rooms at The Distillery in Portobello Road and spent a wonderful evening at London’s now fabled gin-making experience ‘The Ginstitute’. The first of its kind in the UK, The Distillery is the new residence for capital bracer, Portobello Road Gin. Proud purveyors of London spirit, Portobello Road Gin’s new home features four floors designed for the discerning drinker, including a distillery, GinTonica (of which, more later, in FOOD), The Resting Room, a museum, off-licenced shop, gin-making experience ‘The Ginstitute’, and three boutique guest rooms overlooking London’s iconic market street, Portobello Road.
The Ginstitute really is the ultimate gin experience, allowing discerning drinkers to craft their own unique gin recipe to take home.
The 180-minute session* will captivate any intellectual (and thirsty) fellow as master distiller and entertaining raconteur Jake F.Burger and his expert team of ginstructors take guests on a historic whistle stop journey, revising the miserable gin era of London in the 1700’s made famous by Hogarth’s iconic ‘Gin Lane’ tableau, through 300 years of heritage belonging to Britain’s national spirit.
The intimate and interactive experience that culminates in making your own distillation begins in The Distillery’s basement History Room, situated adjacent to Portobello Road Gin’s own modern-day working distillery. ‘The History Room’ is a beguiling space that harks back to London’s Victorian gin palaces. Curved booths look towards the central bar, table lamps providing low-level lighting and walls lined and traditional cabinets with mirrors house gin artefacts including the first-ever English cocktail book, first-edition bottles of various now-legendary gin brands and vintage bottles of gin that are available to purchase (priced at £100 upwards).
Lubricated by gin cocktails, myself and the other Ginstitute ‘students’ moved on to one of The Blending Rooms in The Distillery to learn about the botanicals used to flavour gin. There is plenty of sniffing and guessing going on at this stage but it’s a wonderful experience in fine tuning your nose and going with your gut on scent and emotion. With the help of The Ginstitute’s gin gurus, we created our own bespoke blend to take away in a personally signed bottle. Each individual’s recipe is kept on file at The Ginstitute allowing its ingenious Alumni to re-order their gin and continue to enjoy it at home. Christmas gin in perpetua anyone?
Since its creation in 2011, The Ginstitute has helped over 20,000 gin lovers to craft their own artisan blend in splendid fashion.
Sessions are held daily and last just over 2 hours. Tickets for The Ginsitute are priced at £120 for a 180-minute session and are available to purchase here.
www.portobelloroadgin.com
About The Distillery:
www.the-distillery.london
Phone number is 020 3034 2233