Today’s the day it all kicks off and London becomes even more of a mecca for cocktail lovers. So much to do and so little time but we’ve picked out a few special gin things to do every day.
The hub of LCW 2015 is the Cocktail Village at Traders Market, 16 Horner Square, Spitalfields, London E1 6EW. It’s where you can pick up your £10 wristband and a free bar guide to get you going. Throughout the week it’s crammed with pop ups of all descriptions with cocktails at £5 a go.
There are 275 bars across London participating in LCW this year and around a quarter of them will be serving gin based cocktails so good news for us gin lovers. Watch out for bespoke drinks from the likes of Caorunn at the Bourne & Hollingsworth Buildings as well as from Beefeater 24 at Benares http://www.benaresrestaurant.com/london-cocktail-week-2015/
Spitalfields is where the much anticipated Soda Stream Mix collaboration with one of our fave Gintime friends Ryan Chetiwardana (aka Mr. Lyan) takes place all week from midday to 9.30pm with a programme of talks as well – see here for details: https://drinkup.london/cocktailweek/events/sodastream-mix-talks/
Also throughout the week is the World Class London Cocktail Week Hub in the basement of the Vinyl Factory at 51 Poland Street. The venue will home the UK’s first World Class pop up bar run by the UK winner of World Class 2015, Ali Reynolds. We’re particularly looking forward to The Tanqueray ‘Art Deco Bar’ and the unveiling of Jason Crawley’s ‘Imperial Cocktail Shaker’ with the chance for guests to create their own cocktails.
Dates for the Week
Top of our list is the super secret Hendrick’s Gin experience on Tuesday night that is so mysterious we know absolutely nothing about it apart from our instructions to turn up at a venue at a specific time – we’ll be there!!
If you’re in the trade then Casita and the Gin Mare team are bringing a touch of Hidden Ibiza to town. 6pm – late at Casita on Tuesday.
On Wednesday 7th we’re spoiled for choice but we’re determined to fit these in – The Happiness cocktail sessions with Fords Gin at Happiness Forgets in Hoxton Square and the Dead Rabbit NYC take over of Callooh Callay from 6pm – 1am.
Thursday is another busy day with a one-off Martini Masterclass, hosted by The Gin Guild in Gillray’s gin bar at the London Marriott hotel. Two more of our favourite people, Anistatia Miller and Jared Brown of Mixellany, will guide a specialised gin tasting and a seminar on the history of the Martini (trade only sadly).
Later in the day is The History of Gin at The Trading House in Bank courtesy of Portobello Road Gin. Also not to be missed is Hendrick’s Gin’s Great Phantasmagorical Excursion at Portside Parlour in Rivington Street – http://www.eventbrite.com/e/portside-parlour-hendricks-gin-present-the-great-phantasmagorical-excursion-tickets-18718300942 . Then it’s a mad dash to White Lyan in Hoxton Street for the Bramble takeover – a night not to be missed.
On Friday we’ll be making our way to Bermondsey for A Gin Workshop at the Bermondsey Distillery with Dr. Anne Brock and David T Smith. As well as instruction on the practical aspects of making gin, the workshop will allow attendees to discuss the more nuanced aspects of bringing a spirit to market. Topics covered include: production methods, “making the cuts”, working with botanicals, and filtration.
And on Saturday 10th we’ll be heading over to the N and C Showrooms in Shoreditch High Street for the 24 Hour Bar Build, a 24-hour international bar clash pitting the most prestigious bars from New York, Paris, Singapore and London against each other to create a cutting-edge new cocktail bar concept. We’re particularly interested to see what the Paris team featuring Bombay Sapphire come up with.
Many of the events at LCW require advance booking so be sure to get your ducks in a row at https://drinkup.london/ and keep up to date on Twitter – https://twitter.com/DrinkUpLDN
