Virtual Tasting Programme 2nd September 2023
Meet-the-Makers Virtually on Saturday 2nd September 6pm - 8.30pm
The Gin To My Tonic are back on Saturday 2nd September 2023 6.00pm – 8.30pm as we take you on a whole new journey of gin discovery with Hentony Distillery, Henstone Distillery, Masons of Yorkshire, Long Dog Gin and Heart of Suffolk Distillery.
Over the course of the evening, you’ll experience first-hand the craft and graft that goes into each of these tasty creations, along with how their unique influences have helped shaped each of the creations. What we hope, is that you’ll find a new favourite, be surprised by something that perhaps you wouldn’t usually like, and that you fall in love with the people behind the brands.
Please don’t worry, you won’t be on camera personally and all interaction with us as hosts and our distillers will be via the interactive chat box due to the volume of people partaking, so there’s no need to feel nervous. Instead, just sit back, relax and get ready to sample some fabulous gins…
Love and Best Wishes,
The Gin To My Tonic Team
Suggested Mixers
Hentony Artisan Gin – Indian Tonic – Wheel of Lime or Pink Grapefruit
Henstone Rose Gin – Ginger Ale – Wheel of fresh Orange or Root Ginger
Masons of Yorkshire Pink Grapefruit & Cucumber Gin – Cucumber Tonic Water (provided) also goes with Indian Tonic Water – Slice of Cucumber and Pink Grapefruit
Long Dog Gin – Indian Tonic – Slice of Pink Grapefruit or Blood Orange
Heart of Suffolk Ivy’s Gin – Indian Tonic Water OR Cranberry Juice* – Cranberries or Juniper Berries
Where Sophistication Meets Small Batch, Hentony Artisan Gin
Launched in 2021 by Aga Niedzwiedz and Anna Kiryla, their story however started decades before! From two friends who met in University in Lublin and were studying the sciences all the way through to settling in the UK, discovering their passion for gin and eventually releasing their own!
Hentony Gin is inspired by their Polish heritage and their background of working in the sciences. The Hentony Gin name is a combination of the names of each of Aga and Anna’s son, Henry and Antoni, and the branding incorporates elements of the town crest of Lublin where Aga and Anna met.
“During the last few years we were blending botanicals, distilling, and sharing our passion with friends to finally create a gin which captures the essence of our personalities”
They have also been shortlisted for our People’s Choice Awards in Best Bottle Design! So if this bottle takes your fancy, vote for them!
What inspired you to begin making gin and what do you love about the process?
A few years back we were just standard/ normal gin lovers, visiting gin bars and enjoying gin festivals as visitors!
Following our weekend adventures, one evening, we went for gin making experience hosted by local distillery. As we both have science degrees, we had great fun in this classroom and decided to create our own small lab to play around with botanicals.
For few years we were trying various ideas and formulations and gathering feedback from friends and family. To finally develop something what we both believe is just perfect combination of citrus, herbs and spice.
What has been your biggest challenge so far?
We are loving every minute of our adventure but everyone has challenges!
“Running our own business” We had to learn everything from the beginning. Development and tastings sessions were the easiest of course, this meant deciding our own final recipe and designing packaging also not really difficult.
The main challenges for us has been managing the office related tasks, this is the less glamourous side of owing a Gin brand! There are always plenty of heavy boxes to carry and paperwork to do.
What is your favourite gin cocktail to make with your Dry Gin and can you tell us how to make it?
This is the most difficult question to answer as we have few equally gorgeous recipes!!
Hentony is perfect for making Negroni but also…
Hentony Gimlet ( 25ml gin , 15ml lime cordial , lime wedge , plenty of ice)
Gin fizz ( 25ml gin , 15ml grapefruit juice, 10ml sugar syrup, tonic, ice , mint for garnish)
Gin spritz ( 25ml gin , 15ml grapefruit juice, 10ml sugar syrup, Prosecco)
The Vibrant Spirits of Shropshire, Henstone Distillery
A distillery born out of a passion for spirits and good friendship, Chris & Alexandra Toller and Shane & Alison Parr set up Henstone Distillery on the beautiful grounds of the Stonehouse Brewery in 2017. The Brewery was the brainchild of Shane & Alison and after many years planning their venture, these 4 friends received a grant from the Rural Development Programme for England which meant they could get their 1000litre still, Hilda.
Their brand follows this motto – “Hatched from the Hearts”.
Hatched coming from the Hen in Henstone and Hearts comes from their commitment never to compromise the cuts of their distillations. Ensuring the top quality spirits each time they distil.
Their love for craft spirit development means they have multiple releases, ranging from Gin through to a Calvados type spirit. If you enjoy this Rose gin, why not vote for them in the Cask Aged category of The Gin To My Tonic People’s Choice awards?!
From the Heart of Yorkshire, Masons of Yorkshire Gin
What started as a Friday night Facebook post of which gin they were enjoying this week, Karl and Cathy soon set out to create their own gin that stood out from the rest – thus Masons of Yorkshire was born.
After a fire where they lost almost everything, they chose to see the positive, no one was hurt and they had a chance to rebuild in a new light. Following traditional processes, and extraordinary research and development, Masons now have a range of 13 spirits including Gins & Vodkas.
“If they wont drink it, they wont produce it” the ethos at Masons is they strongly believe in pushing the botanical boundaries and utilising their skills and knowledge to create new flavour profiles. Getting what they can out of new and exciting botanicals, instead of turning to sugar syrups for sweet flavours.
Masons have Gin & Vodka but would you ever have considered experimenting with other spirits such as Rum?
We have a brown spirit plan if ever we wanted to move into this category but in the current climate the investment is best spent re-enforcing the quality and provenance of our gins & vodka. We strongly believe the proof is in the spirit, so we want to keep distilling perfection!
Which is your favourite product and why?
Our Tea edition gin – it creates such a wonderful dry gin perfect in a negroni, martini and G&T but we did it using tea, Yorkshire tea. I believe it’s the most awarded gin using tea as a botanical in the world!
How long did it take you to finalise your Dry Gin Recipe?
Originally approximately 3 months but we have changed stills twice. The first time we changed still it took around 6 months to recreate. The second time around 3 months. The recipe and still we use now is such an improvement on when we launched in 2013. When you change still, spirit matching is one of the most difficult things to accomplish, it is all about copper contact and how new metal affects flavour!
For The Love of Dogs..And Gin, Long Dog Gin
Long Dog Gin came about from the owners love and passion for their Miniature Dachshunds `Max` and `Paddy`. Taking the boy’s red colour combined with their strong character and loyal and loving nature, the team at Long Dog Gin sought to create a bold yet smooth gin of red citrus flavours that would stand out from the crowd.
Neat on the nose, there’s lots of layered citrus, slight sweetness, touch of spice. On the palate, it’s got a gorgeous soft mouthfeel, despite the heavy citrus layers, they stick to the finish with a classic grapefruit bitterness, whilst up front is lots of light warming spice.
In a G&T, the nose is citrussy, but juniper heavy. The palate gives off lots of citrus, with a big bite of grapefruit bitterness. It’s a refreshing G&T, ideal to enjoy on the patio, in the sunshine with a big slice of pink grapefruit.
The same love and pride we have for `Max` and `Paddy` has been put into the creation of our gin and they hope you are going to love it too!
The Clues Are In The Title, The Heart Of Suffolk Distillery
The Heart of Suffolk Distillery was launched by husband and wife team Martyn and Karen Luke in February 2018, when a dream turned to reality.
Both are local to the heart of Suffolk with Karen growing up just a half a mile from where the distillery has been established. Gin has been a passion of Karen’s for many years and more recently of Martyn’s and it was an easy decision, when naming their signature product, to honour Betty, Karen’s mother, who shared the same love and enjoyment of a good quality gin.
Karen and Martyn were joined by their son Ryan in April 2022. Ryan made the decision to leave a successful career in education to lead the way in the distillery. Ryan had always helped out in the background since the distillery started and felt that he could not miss the golden opportunity of becoming the business’s newest driving force. Ryan joining us made sure that the Heart of Suffolk Distillery remained, at its core, a family business proud of sharing our gin with other gin lovers.
The Heart of Suffolk Distillery makes real gin for real people. Each batch of around 70 bottles is hand signed and numbered by our distiller Ryan who believes that when he signs each bottle he puts a piece of himself into each bottle.
What made you want to start a Distillery?
In 2016 Karen and Martyn were touring Scotland when they visited Rock Rose Distillery. After spending a length of time with the owners, Martyn came away with a desire to try and make his own gin. After a handful of tests, Martyn created a London Dry Gin, which later became known as our Betty’s Gin, named after Karen’s mum who lived in Bacton and introduced Karen to gin. In October 2018, a unit which is still our production space today, became available and Martyn and Karen decided to launch the Heart of Suffolk Distillery to showcase artisan spirits. In April 2022, their son Ryan joined the business to help drive it forward and take it to the next level.
Would you consider experimenting with rums?
We are in the process of launching our Spiced Rum (Honey and Vanilla).
This will be launched in Autumn. We have also recently launched a liqueur range which includes an Amaretto.
Do you have any exciting plans for 2023?
More the end of 2023 but we are in the process of opening a bar. We are also moving into a new shop and event space on the same site as our distillery to further showcase local products.
This year we have launched the first ever People’s Choice Awards by The Gin To My Tonic. We are putting the power in your hands! So, if you have enjoyed the stories and spirits you have heard this evening, why not cast your vote for these exquisite distillers!
Heart of Suffolk – Best London Dry Gin
Masons of York Pink Grapefruit & Cucumber – Best London Dry Gin
Long Dog Signature Gin – Best London Dry Gin
Henstone Oak Aged Rose Gin – Best Cask Aged Gin
Hentony London Dry Gin – Best Bottle Design
SAVE THE DATE
Fancy coming to meet our fantastic distillers in person?! Take a look at our Festival and Show Dates below!
Bury St Edmonds 9th September 2023
Cardiff 15th-16th September 2023
Bristol 23rd September 2023
Brighton & Hove 30th September 2023
Chester 7th October 2023
Bournemouth 13th-14th October 2023
Glasgow 3rd-5th November 2023
Manchester 17th-18th November 2023
Swindon 25th November 2023
Winchester 9th December 2023
Cardiff Cathedral Gin Tasting 9th December 2023
Gloucester 16th December 2023
Colchester 3rd February 2024
Harrogate 10th February 2024
Cheltenham 2nd March 2024
Liverpool 2nd March 2024
Exeter 9th March 2024
Birmingham 23rd March 2024
Reading 20th April 2024
Aylesbury 4th May 2024
Nottingham 18th May 2024
Faringdon (Oxfordshire) 7th-9th June 2024
Dumfries 14th-15th June 2024
Newcastle 22nd June 2024
Salisbury 13th July 2024
Truro 20th July 2024
Aberdeen 8th-10th November 2024
Tickets available at www.thegintomytonic.com/tickets
Or why not subscribe to our VIP Spirit Club with a choice of a monthly or bi-monthly subscription with added benefits, savings and rewards.
