I have to admit, when it comes to gin, I am pretty late to the party. For years, every time my friend tried to get me to try it, I would accuse her of trying to poison me. Always dramatic. However, after trying it with lemonade, I realised it wasn’t the gin I didn’t like. It was actually the tonic. Or rather the amount of quinine in the tonic.

Since this revelation, I have decided that actually, I wrong all this time and jumped straight into the gin scene and have been trying new and different flavours with Jo from Coming from Carsonsmummy.

Gin to My Tonic Show

So when my sister got me tickets to the Gin to my Tonic show in Liverpool recently, I was pretty excited to go. With over 60 stalls to get around and 2 samples per stall, we had a lot of tasting ahead of us. The event time was 12.30 pm to 4.30 pm on a gorgeously sunny Sunday afternoon. The show was in the Exhibition Centre which has a stunning view of the River Mersey.

We headed to Caffe Nero for a coffee and a slice of cake before making our way to gin heaven. My only issue before arriving was, as I hate tonic, would my enjoyment be spoiled and ruin the gin for me?

Honestly, at some points yes it was. Some tonics were too much for me especially one after another as we drank our way around the stalls. I had no idea there were so many different distilleries and flavours of gin to try. There was so many I wanted to buy, but also so many we didn’t get to try.

We decided on a strategy going in but quickly realised that wasn’t going to work so we changed our approach and made sure to visit the stalls we really to see and then make our way around the rest. This way meant we were able to sample some gins we had seen online and in stores and find some we hadn’t yet discovered ourselves too along with some fabulous tips and suggestions for enjoying our drinks too.

Tips for Gin Sampling.

Jo mentioned a friend of hers had also visited the day before us and advised us on some tips. In hindsight, we should have taken heed of her advice so I am going to share some little suggestions for you should you be visiting a show like this too. We did end up having to get some salty fries and a bottle of water to cleanse our palettes after a few samples as we had lingering aniseed tastes from some of the stronger dry gins.

• Don’t go on an empty stomach.
• Take some water or a non-alcoholic drink with you for in-between sampling.
• Consider adding some snacks in too.
• Don’t be afraid to go against the suggestions and add more tonic/mixer to your drink
• Take your time.
• Don’t feel the pressure to visit every single stall, unless you really want to.
• If, like me, you don’t like tonic water, consider taking your own mixer with you so you can tell how the gin will taste with your preferred mixer.

Finding My New Favourite Gin.

We tried some amazing gins and some that weren’t to our liking. I have to admit though if I had tried more with lemonade I would probably have enjoyed some a little bit more. Also, I have no sense of smell and this really affects how and what I can taste in drinks too. So if there is no description it is because my tastebuds aren’t as good as they should be!

Top of my list is Sis4ers Gin. The Caramel Espresso Gin with Coke is hands down my new favourite drink! Trust me, the gin needs the Coke it is a taste sensation and something I am looking at treating myself too very soon!

I didn’t get a picture of the caramel espresso but I did manage to get one of the limited edition pride gin, this was also gorgeous too!

I also wanted to try out Pin Gin as I follow them on Facebook and always seen them on my feed. I loved the premium pink gin!

Another brand I have been eyeing up is the Liverpool Gin brand. There were so many great flavours to try along with some fabulous ones from Whitley Neil too.

But…… my favourite stall was the last one we visited before leaving. Jeffreys Tonic. Only it’s not tonic as you know. It is a flavoured tonic syrup that enhances different drinks. With 4 flavours to add to different types of gin, I bought myself a bottle of the classic syrup to mix with soda water for a different way of enjoying gin.

Stalls at the Gin to My Tonic Show, Liverpool 2019.

Below is a list of all the brands at the show and I will highlight in bold the stalls Jo and I visited.

• Yorkshire Explorer Spirits.
• Infusion Gin
• BH1 Gin
• Jarrold’s Gin

• Locksley Distilling
• Whitby Distillery

• Brockmans Gin
• The Artful Pour
• Sis4ers Distillery
• The British Honey Co Distillery
• The Sweet Potato Spirit Company
• Manchester Gin
• Pembrokeshire Gin Co
• Pilgrim’s Drinks
• Daffy’s Gin
• Nelson’s Distillery & School
• Spirits of Virtue
• Orkney Gin Company
• Halewood Wines and Spirits
• The House of Botanicals
• Colombo No 7
• Bullards Spirits LTD
• Caorunn
• Wild Thyme Spirits
• Buzbee’s
• The Three Graces Rose Gin

• Eden Mill
• Artisan Drinks Co
• Craft Gin Club

• Cuckoo Gin Lancashire
• Old Bakery Gin Distillery
• Sipsmith
• Collagin
• Brighton Gin
• Craft Distillery
• Turncoat
• Henstone Distillery
• Jeffery’s Tonic
• Puerto De Indias
• The Copeland Distillery
• Four Pillars
• Cygnet Gin
• Anno Distillers
• Pin Gin
• Gin to my Tonic Exclusives
• York Gin
• Brentingby Gin
• Tarsier Gin
• Nerabus Islay Gin
• Divine Gin
• Exmoor Distillery
• Lixir Drinks
• Manly Spirits Co
• HMS Spirits Company
• KURO Gin
• Normindia Gin
• Arbikie Highland Estate
• Schweppes
• Keepr’s Gin

• Panache Natural Flavour Infusion.

What is your favourite gin brand? Do you have one I should add to my to-try list?