The English Gin Renaissance

When we left England to live in Boston, some ten years ago, Gin was freely available in pubs. But in terms of craft varieties, Hendrick’s was the closest you could get to ‘fancy’. And let’s be clear - Hendrick’s is a nicely marketed, well concepted beverage, but hardly ‘craft’.

And then something happened. It’s unclear how the spirit of Hogarth’s Gin Lane returned, but Gin sales have doubled in the 2016-2018 period. DOUBLED?

Which brings this post meanderingly back to The Colney Fox, a typical, nicely restored pub in St. Albans about half way between Cambridge and Guildford. It wasn’t a planned visit - just a pitstop for the other half of #taketheworld and our new son, on the way to visit some friends. But it was here that the blinkers came off and I realized how epic the new ‘ginessance’ has become. There’s even a gin specific menu for heavens sake.

What’s exciting, is that it’s not just volume by variety that has exploded., and that instead of the large manufactures dominating with fairly bland, heavy Juniper offerings, there are now 351 distilleries in the UK with 54 opening in 2018. One per week.

Our favorites in our brief return back to the mother land were Sherlock, based in Ripley where we used to live, and the better known Silent Pool, also Surrey based and sourcing all ingredients from local farms and gardens.

But to you, dear readers, our tips are simple. Try all of them as you can and enjoy a radical but wonderful new blossoming of one of the oldest of English drinking love affairs.