No travel to London would be complete without a visit to Piccadilly Circus. That’s what we do on our last day of our holiday trip. The huge screen is still really impressive.

We then stroll to Fortnum & Mason. We do some shopping until we meet Guy and Sheridan for an afternoon tea. Fortnum & Mason is very well-known for their afternoon tea and also offer gluten-free or vegan ones. The rectangular sandwiches on the bottom plate consist of different types of bread with salmon, cucumber, egg, and coronation chicken. The middle plate has scones which we eat with clotted cream and jam. The top plate contains several friandises as the sweet ending of our meal.

Time really flies! We show Sheridan and Guy a wine trader who has a nice selection of spirits. Guy is a keen whiskey fan and finds a bottle he’s really interested in.

We then drive to Notting Hill and stoll around the market until our Gin workshop begins. At the “Ginstitute”, our host Patrick tells us a lot about the history of Gin and how in the industrial time, people could only cope with their work and life in general by having a glass (of pure gin) before and after work, or how Gin & Tonic became a thing. Bit by bit, Gin then developped to what it’s today: an interesting alcoholic beverage we enjoy with soda water, a tonic water or as part of a cocktail. At the same time, we get different variations to drink.

Then, the practial par starts! We all assemble around a table where Patrick introduces us to the ingredients which we can later use to create our own gin. We can smell them in their original form as well as taste them as a liquid. He explains how every gin consists of a citrus part, a spice part, and a “dry” part. And there are optional additions such as rosebuds, camomile, fennel seeds, cardamom, or… asparagus. Little by little, we smell and taste until we have everything we want. We tell Patrick who instructs his colleague how much of every ingredient he should put into our bottles, which are already half-filled with the “regular” mix of juniper berry, coriander seeds, angelica, and orris root.

Patrick is really enthusiastic about Gabi’s floral mix but also likes Guy’s “ice tea” mixture a lot. Sheridan, I, and the other five workshop participants are really happy with our gins, too, which we also get to taste. We leave the workshop with our own gin, another bottle of gin from the distillery, and a tonic each.

This was a fun day that we enjoyed a lot. Sadly, it’s now time to say goodbye to Guy and Sheridan, too. We all hope to get together again soon.