Some days are just fun and being invited to join Martin Miller at Miller’s Academy, Notting Hill, London, to help him select a Limited Edition strength to commemorate the 10th Anniversary of the birth of his namesake gin was a real honour. I was part of a panel that included Martin Miller himself, Alice Lascelles of Imbibe, spirits expert Ian Wisniewski and great blogger Jay Hepburn. We blind tasted five different high proof strengths of Martin Miller’s Gin, first neat, then drunk as a Gin & Tonic and finally as a Martini. We all agreed that the best one was the 54% AbV which came out as very complex with fantastic juniper and citrus notes. It will be bottled as a Limited Edition, hand signed and numbered by Martin. One thousand bottles only will be produced to celebrate the 10th Anniversary and will be given to friends and supporters of Martin Miller’s Gin. A really nice touch is that Bottle No. 1 will be auctioned at The Benevolent Drinks Industry Charity Dinner in London in June.

Imagine the delight here at Gintime Towers when we heard that one of our favourite bars and big Gintime buddy, Bramble, has been awarded ‘Best Place to Drink’ in the extremely prestigious Observer Food Monthly Awards 2009. The annual awards recognise the best of the best in UK food and drink and quite rightly Bramble are in there. We’ve always thought Bramble  may just be the finest place to drink in the world. It’s all down to Jason Scott and Mike Aikman, probably the best barkeeps ever. Well done guys and all the team at Bramble, keep those Clover Clubs coming!