As y’all know by now, I do love me a gin. Last weekend The Gin Festival came to Liverpool (it’s the biggest in the UK and tours the country all year) and returned to Lutyens Crypt in the Metropolitan Cathedral AKA Paddys Wigwam AKA Christ The King. Honestly, that cathedral has more aliases than Beyoncé. There’s something rather debauched about drinking gin in a place of worship given its reputation but hey, if you’re going to worship any alcohol, it might as well be botanical based.
If like me, you’re a lover of gin then here’s what to expect if you visit The Gin Festival…
What’s so fab about The Gin Festival?
- The queen is rumoured to love a good gin but in The Gin Festival you can act even more royal because you don’t carry cash. Cash is for peasants. You get a wristband on arrival which you top up with credit and then that credit can be used at any of the bars or off licences in the venue. Of which there are loads. The event was chocka and we didn’t have to queue up once.
- You can try over 100 gins from all over the world with different flavours and strengths (My absolute favourite was the n with Fever Tree light (tastes like fizzy black currant juice…. and I never want to speak about the black tomato flavoured gin ever again. I’d like to erase it from my memory). There’s a brochure with full descriptions in as well to help you make up your mind.
- You can buy any of the gins on offer as full sized bottles at the off licence and have them delivered to you for free.
- There are free samples of gin EVERYWHERE. I mean you could get very merry in a very short space of time if you partake in them all. They give you a neat shot and then give you it with the recommended mixer so you can taste the difference. Neat gin actually isn’t that bad, some of them don’t even make you do ‘shot face’.
- They have live entertainment on.
- They have masterclasses ran by different gin makers.
- They have food (thank god, much needed after all that gin).
- The atmosphere is amazing and there’s people of all ages there.
- The venue in Lutyens Crypt is actually bloody lovely – such a gorgeous building.
- OMG nearly forgot, you get a free copa gin goblet on your way in that you use to go and get all your gins in and you get to keep it at the end!
Here’s my video diary of The Gin Festival
How do I book The Gin Festival?
The Gin Festival has events all over the country throughout the year so they’re not back in Liverpool for a little bit but ay, it’s an excuse for a weekend away if you ask me. You can find all their upcoming events, shop their gins and all that malarkey on their website.
I received payment to attend this event but that in no way detracts from it’s absolute amazing-ness. All opinions are 100% mine, me own and no one else’s.
