Devon: Salcombe Gin School

I was invited to attend Salcombe Gin School recently.  I hadn’t been to Devon before, just through it and was really looking forward to spending some time there with Mr R.

Salcombe is about a 4 hour drive from where we live so we planned to make a nice little break-away out of our trip to the Gin School.  We travelled down on the Thursday and after checking into our hotel we walked around the village to get our bearings and to find out where we would be going the following afternoon.  We found Salcombe Distillery easily and found out they are open for drinks in the evening.

We popped upstairs to the gin bar and had our first taste of Salcombe ‘Start Point’ Gin!  A really lovely gin – I thought how easily I could used to drinking this!

The following afternoon we arrived for our class and checked in upstairs in the bar area.  We were offered a gin & tonic while we waited for all the participants to arrive.  More of this lovely gin – already getting very used to drinking it. It was served in a large balloon glass loaded with ice, served with Indian Tonic Water by Fever Tree and garnished with a wedge of pink grapefruit.  This is their suggested serve of the ‘Start Point’ gin.

After an introduction to the Distillery and the most important member of the team – the still whose name is Provident and was named after an 18th century sailing ship, we went to the class room.

This is certainly a class room with a difference – 10 mini stills instead of desks, each one set up for the participants to distill their own gin!

Graham and Andy were our distillers and teachers for the session. Each gin had to include three botanicals; juniper berries, orris root and coriander but it was up to us to pick the remaining botanicals we wanted to use.  If you don’t use juniper berries in your distillation you cannot call it gin, it is only flavoured vodka!

It is common to have a total of 10-15 botanicals however some gins use 30 or more.  Salcome Gin ‘Start Point’ has a total of 13 botanicals. All of the botanicals we needed were in jars and containers around the room.

We gathered all of our chosen botanicals together ready to put into the mini still in front of us.

After some consultation Mr R and I decided to make our gin with a Grenada twist. Amongst other botanicals we used nutmeg, cinnamon, mace, mango, coconut and hibiscus flower all found on the island of Grenada also known as The Spice Island.

Graham and Andy had a complete list of the botanicals divided into sections such as citrus, sweet, floral, herbs & spice and woods & earth and depending on our overall goal suggested we include something to balance out and create smoothness as well.

While we waited we were poured another ‘Start Point’ gin & tonic and chatted to the other participants.  As each gin started to fill our glass containers we were encouraged to try each other’s final cut.  There were some very simple and some very complex (chilli and black pepper!) but they were all good.

We bottled our own finished gin, sealed it, named it and labeled it.  Into a wooden presentation box to take home.  Because the botanicals we chose to use are found on the island of Grenada we named ours ‘Grenada Sunrise’!

There was enough left over to head over to the bar for a quick gin & tonic of our own!  Really tastes fantastic when it is a gin you have made and distilled yourself! There is nothing like it!!!!

A visit to Salcombe Gin School makes a great gift for the gin lover in your life.  There are loads of great hotels and restaurants in the area so you can make a lovely break by the coast to if you want. To book your place at ‘Gin School’ use the link to their website, email them on ginschool@salcombedistilling.com or Telephone 01548 288180.  I am certainly looking forward to visiting Salcombe again and of course having a Salcombe Gin G&T!!

For more about Salcombe have a look at my posts about the weekend there.

Devon: Salcombe Harbour Hotel

Devon: 48 Hours in Salcombe

I was a guest of Salcombe Gin School. I received a complementary place for myself and Mr R. I was not required to write a positive review.  All opinions and photographs are my own or Mr R’s.  No photographs may be reproduced in any form without my written permission.