Toby, Author at I Love Gin

March 5, 2020March 11, 2020 by Toby

The ILoveGin Awards 2019 – Our Members’ Favourite Gins, Mixers and Tasting Boxes!

For each monthly G&T box, we ask our members to rate the gins and mixers they tasted, to let us know know how our selections stack up against the rest of the field. Now that we have combed through all the survey results from 2019, we can present some stats and favourites from the past year of gin drinking!

We ask 2 main questions for each box, featured gin, or mixer:

Rate this out of 5 stars.
Have you bought more, or do you intend to buy more of this?

We ranked all products by their star rating, and broke any ties by the higher percentage of people who intend to buy more. That process led us to a complete list of favourite Gins and Mixers from all our 2019 members boxes, and we’re happy to announce them below!

March 4, 2019 by Toby

Method and Madness Launch: a New Irish Gin

ILoveGin was invited to fly over to Middleton, near Cork, Ireland, to check out the launch of a new gin at “The Microdistillery, Middleton”. With Holly the Gintern unable to make it, Toby the Founder snapped up the chance instead (and took the opportunity to interview their Apprentice Distiller, as well as being one of the first to taste the new gin. Always a pleasure!)

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October 15, 2018October 15, 2018 by Toby

Fentimans Botanically Brewed Drinks

Fentimans Botanically Brewed Beverages are made with all-natural ingredients without any artificial sweeteners, and specially brewed with botanicals for extra flavour.

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October 15, 2018December 7, 2020 by Toby

Slingsby Yorkshire Rhubarb Gin is delicious!

Slingsby Gin was named after William Slingsby, who in 1571 discovered unique properties in the water of Harrogate’s Tewit Well. Slingsby was created with the desire to restore the ‘Spirit of Harrogate’! Originally released as a Limited Edition, Slingsby Yorkshire Rhubarb Gin is now a permanent part of their range….and you need to try it!

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September 13, 2017September 14, 2017 by Toby

Is this the hardest UK distillery to travel to?

Westward farm is a proper family affair. Aiden and his wife Grace, and his parents Mike and Christine all chip in to help with all parts of the family business, which includes essential oils, toiletries, applejuice and cider, eggs, and more! They even rope their 2 children, Joss 7 and Thea 3, in to picking the gorse flowers! Our favourite product from Westward Farm though, is of course their Gin!

You can now buy these great gins in our shop! Available for the next 48 hours only!

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June 19, 2017June 19, 2017 by Toby

“You’re Hired!” – ‘Gintern’ found after 5,000 gin lovers apply for their dream job!

Last year ILoveGin set out to find a ‘Gintern’ who would visit distilleries around the country, taste-test new gins and mixers, and report back to the team in London. The job advert went viral and was featured on hundreds of websites, newspapers, and on TV, and shared hundreds of thousands of times on social media with over 5,000 people submitting an application! And now we have found our winner!

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June 19, 2017 by Toby

Is Scotland the New Spiritual Home of Gin?

Stick your head through one of Ugly Betty’s portholes and you get a fragrant burst of juniper, coriander, orange and cinnamon. This bulbous copper pot still, complete with large chimney and heavy duty escape hatch, is reminiscent of an ancient time-machine or underwater sub. But Ugly Betty’s mission is to produce large quantities of gin.

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April 20, 2017December 4, 2020 by Toby

Say Hello to our Gintern Finalists!

UPDATE: 20th April 2017 – We’ve selected our final 8! See below for who’s coming to London for the final round!

As you probably already know, last year we started the hunt for a “Gintern” to help us track down exciting new gins and mixers to feature in our monthly members boxes. We knew it was a great job and would attract some attention, but we were blown away by receiving over 5000 applications! We had around 500 potential ginterns progress through to round 1, the social media Gin review round, and narrowed those down to our top 32 for round 2, the video application!

Well the videos are in, and again we’ve been blown away by the creativity and sheer amount of effort put in to tell us why they’re our perfect candidate. So now we’d like to introduce our shortlist of the best candidates we’re considering for our final round of tasks and interviews in London (including a visit to a distillery, lots of gin tasting, and more!)

Find our more about the Ginternship here, and read on below to see the video applications from the best of the best!

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September 8, 2016September 15, 2016 by Toby

Colombo Number 7 Gin – A recipe from the past

Colombo Gin is handcrafted in small batches in copper pot stills by Sri Lankan spirit producer Rockland Distilleries, and it dates back all the way to the Second World War when Sri Lanka was known as Ceylon. During that time gin was not allowed to be made outside the UK as the presumption was that good quality London Dry Gin could only be made by the Brits (unlike today where great London Dry Gins are made around the globe).

After a lot of convincing from Rockland Distilleries, customs officials eventually allowed the distillation of gin in Colombo, but known as Ceylon Made Foreign Liquor (CMFL) instead of using the esteemed title of ‘London Dry’. This ruling was also implemented in India creating Indian Made Foreign Liquor around the same time.

But due to limited trade during the war the recipe had to be tweaked, using native ingredients handpicked from Colombo’s public gardens, also known as the Cinnamon Gardens. At the time the only imported botanicals were juniper and angelica root. Little did they know these local ingredients would become a great selling point back in the UK decades later!

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June 20, 2016September 14, 2018 by Toby

Fentiman’s Botanically Brewed Beverages

Fentiman’s Botanically Brewed Beverages are made with all-natural ingredients without any artificial sweeteners, and specially brewed with botanicals for extra flavour.

What is botanical brewing exactly?

I’m glad you asked, it’s a rare talent! Botanical brewing is a combination of infusions, blending and fermentation of natural ingredients. Thomas Fentiman’s original botanical brewing method takes seven whole days – there’s no rushing in botanical brewing as this time-honoured technique requires concentration and focus in order to guarantee a superior beverage.

First of all the chosen botanicals are crushed and placed into copper steam jacket pans to extract the finest elements of flavour. The botanical extract is then filtered into a wooden vat where it is left overnight. This will help the live yeast to develop. The yeast is then removed the next morning and the live liquid is left to ferment in the wooden vat a while longer.

This is how Fentiman’s beverages has been brewed since 1905. It is this process that produces the depth of flavour, the sensation and rich texture which are the hallmark of Fentiman’s drinks today.

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