Gin Tabica

A self sacrificing journey into gin and all its forms. I drink so you do have too, but you will...

[gintabica]

Saturday night, the children are finally clean and fed, after they were turned out into the garden for the first time. The sun and warmth has arrived finally so its time to put cucumber back in the gin! I am not usually a fan of @schweppesgb tonic I find it too fizzy and not bitter enough for me but I have been converted by their new 1783 range! This cucumber tonic is delicious especially with this beautiful @manchester_gin distillers cut. I love the dandelion and burdock herbal notes with the sweetness of the elderflower. A new favourite and a gin I will keep coming back to it long after this bottle from the @craftginclub bottle runs out! I am already saving for another boytle of the Manchester gin raspberry gin, I have done all the childrens chores and earnt myself a whole £1, I really must give the girls a pay rise! #gin #ginandtonic #gnt #gindrinker #ginspire #ginlove #gintonica #ginlife #springhassprung #manchester #springinthecity #ginstagram

[gintabica]

Helping to keep the great minds of the future stay in tip top condition requires attention to detail and the ability to keep the booze flowing freely. And nothing says "I study astrophysics and planetary science" like @bloomgin and strawberries. And there are not many better ways to relax then feeding and watering your friend with the brain as big as the universe! Here's to conquering both the perceived and the smelt universe. Do check out my friends very exciting project @aromatomuk if you love fragrance and space its a winner! Almost literally! Good luck @marinabarcenillaparfums i will be waiting with space gin and space snacks! #spacesmellslike #spacegin #ginlove #greatmindsofthefuture #gindrinker #spacebuns #ginandtonic #bloomgin #ginspiration #ginspire #drinkaday #phdapplications

[gintabica]

Sometimes it takes a few goes to get to grips with something new and this @boutiqueygin miyagawa citrus gin it that something new. Opening this dram the citrus notes were more subtle than I was expecting once I had added @fevertreemixers tonic and a twist of clementine, I had lost some of the flavour and I panicked, my small dram ruined. There was no juniper and all I could taste was vodka, now this could just be my inexperience so I proceeded with caution. So in a bid to make it seem like I knew what I was doing I threw open my @toque_world botanicals box and selected a few juniper berries and just because I like it, a cardamom pod. Added to the gin, I was about to swig, sorry resample, when an errant My Little Pony went missing and the world ended for my 6 yr old. So crisis averted, Twilight Sparkle had fallen through the fire guard, I returned to my gin. What a treat awaited, the vodka tone had gone in its place was a delicious delicate marmalade and biscuits! The juniper sang through and the cardamom provided a spice and sweetness. I was just beginning to really get in to this gin when it was all gone. Oh the joy of trying something new followed by the bitter dissapointment of there being only a dram. Well I will have to investigate The Boutiquey Gin Company a bit further my appetite has been whet! Spit Roasted Pineapple here we come!! #boutiqueygincompany #gin #ginlove #ginlife #ginandtonic #miyagawa #gintonica #gindrinker #ginspiration #6yrolddrama #juniper

[gintabica]

This is all there is right...? Oh theres gin in there too..? inspired choice thank you @craftginclub my first box and my favourite chocolate! @williescacao is the what I want when its not acceptable to drink gin, probably anytime before 12 but thats not a strict rule. I will get to the rest of the box but for now I am just going to savour the sweet, white chocolatey raspberri-ness, cue Homer-esque drooling... #willescacao #drool #ginstagram #happyplace

[gintabica]

My only issue with a dram is that there isn't a second one! I do like to be able to really test a gin in plenty of ways, well at least that is my excuse for a gin a day, its research! That said being able to get a feel and taste for a new gin without splashing out is no bad thing. I reckon this gin is worth splashing out on though. @sadlers_ales Peaky Blinder spiced dry gin is a much more delicately spiced gin than I was expecting and no less delicious for it. Mr Gintabica and I thought it had a more liquor like flavour, like moonshine, but this was not a bad thing, it gave it a really spicy, dryness that was complemented by the addition of a dry slice of grapefruit. I opted for @fevertreemixers tonic but I had read somewhere that fever tree aromatic tonic is a good pairing so now I want to try that too! I think this will be a great winter gin, warming and medicinal, not like the exotic summer-y flavour of Opihr, something more British, more subtle. That said maybe it would be a more appropriate choice for what is turning out to be a long cold spring! Will be looking out for this one for the collection in the future! #pleakyblindergin #drinksbythedram #gin #ginspire #ginspiration #grapefruit #gincollection #ginlove #justasmallgin #ginandtonic #gintonica

[gintabica]

I am a lucky girl, my loving parents ever worries about my health and well being decided against the yearly onslaught of chocolate by asking the Easter bunny if she minded popping by @masterofmalt and picking up a wee dram or two? So health giving and antioxidant gin it is woohoo! 4 newbies to me and 1 i have tried but am looking forward to giving it another go. This will also be my first try of @boutiqueygin gin. I have longed after trying the spit-roasted pineapple and the moonshot gin but just as excited to be trying miyagawa citrus gin and rhubarb triangle gin. There is also @sadlers_ales peaky blinder spiced dry gin that i am looking forward to, i have really grown to love spiced gin. Ther is also the fantastically named Feckin Irish Gin. I think ill drink that while watching one of my all time favourite tv shows Father Ted. Finally @ginsharish Blue Magic which i tried last time with strawberries so i will be looking for other garnishes for that one. All in all i am happy to say that the end of the Easter holidays is starting to look a bit brighter despite the weather! Thanks mum and dad xxxx #gin #ginspiration #ginspire #drinksbythedram #ginlove #ginmixer #thanksmumanddad #gincollection #ginminiatures

[gintabica]

Happy Easter! The day started with mini eggs and has now moved onto gin and jelly babies it really can't get much better! Something light and delicious and with the inclusion of cucumber as a botanical, must be one of my 5 a day. @hendricksgin and @fevertreemixers elderflower tonic is the perfect accompaniment to chick shaped jelly babies, the cucurmin really brings out the cucumber and the pink one perfectly highlights the rose botanicals 😉. Turns out @moo_free_chocolates easter eggs are a perfect easter treat for a lactose intolerant child, everyone happy and i get to eat the emergency haribo! Enjoy your day! #gin #easterbunny #gindrinker #ginlife #gineaster #jellybabies #hendricksgin #fevertreetonic #ginandtonic #gintonica

[gintabica]

Tonight is the calm before the chocolate induced storm tomorrow. Easter is a day of extremes when you have a choco-cake-aholic daughter and a lactose intolerant daughter who can't eat chocolate but desperately wants to, we only discovered the intolerance in Sept so there have been a few Easters of disappointment past. The youngest if left to her own devices will have eaten every morsel of chocolate she can get her hands on before breakfast, wr have smeared most of it all over her fave not because she is 3 but because she wants to. The eldest on the other hand will be looking longingly at the shiny wrappers and wondering if she should chance it. So this is our first go at a moo free easter and in case vegan chocolate is as bad as I think it will be I have Haribo in reserve. The magic of easter has not been lost on my eldest, depsite 5 years of egg shaped tummy aches that easter has bought. So here is to the optimism of 6 year olds and my chosen drink is the drink of pink! @pinkstergin with fresh raspberries, stolen from the pudding for tomorrow, and my first mint of the season. One of my favourite gins and the perfect way to get into bunny shaped character! #easterbunny #spankthemint #pinkstergin #pinkbooze #gin #ginlove #gincollection #ginandtonic #gintonica #raspberries

[gintabica]

Back on firmer ground now with a stright forward gin @bombaysapphireuk and a straight forward tonic @fevertreemixers indian tonic. The bombay sapphire website has some great serve suggestions and here is one worth trying. Singed cassia bark or cinnamon stick and lemon twist. Cinnamon is the surprise flavour for me with gin it adds a layer of warm spiciness to the right gin. By burning it slightly before hand adds a smokey flavour layer and weirdly a creaminess to this gin and tonic. So delicious! Anyway after trying and failing to pair gin with hibiscus tonic I am happy to report that I can still put a decent g'n't together 😋 #gin #ginlife #cinnamon #bombaysapphire #gintonica #gintonicaddicted #ginlove #gnt #ginandtonictime #ginandtonic

[gintabica]

I can't get this hibiscus tonic by @lambandwatt to play nice with any gin. What am I doing wrong? I have tried it with fruit forward gin, with floral gin and with very dry gin. Here I have coaxed it in to a glass with @aldiuk Oliver Cromwell gin and a sliver of lime peel. But it just takes over, I think it maybe more suited to vodka where the sweetness is balanced out. I am also not a fan of agave as a sweetner, the raw health conscious of Glastonbury are obsessed with sugar alternatives which often means you end up having to sweeten coffee with yacon, stevia or date syrup or eat sugar free chocolates flavoured with reishi mushrooms or purple corn powder which has left me with a kind of sugarfree PTSD. The taste of mushrooms, raw cacao and yacon syrup, when you were expecting chocolate deliciousness, is one that is hard to overcome. The absence of sugar is as noticeable as its presence. I know we should all cut down on our sugar intake and that but there is a line that must never be crossed and Glastonbury not only crosses it, it dances all over it! Anyway if anyone has a suggestion for a good gin to go with this I would love to hear it as I don't want to give up just yet! #gin #ginlife #ginandtonic #ginsuggestionsneeded #ginsuggestion #gintonica

[gintabica]

Just when I though gin couldn't get any better I realise that it is perfectly acceptable make tea with it! @summerfruitcup aka David T Smith, the author of Gin Tonica and my introduction to gin being more then just a drink, it can be a little work of art too! The recipes in this book are varied and wonderful but I had to start simply. So here is my attempt at The Earl. Earl Grey is my favourite tea but I abuse it with milk, lots of milk, so this felt quite virtuous! I soaked the teabag, this was a @teapigs Darjeeling earl grey, in @ableforths bathtub gin in a seperate glass as instructed. I chose Bathtub as I thought the spices and the orange peel would compliment the bergamot in the tea. I added the gin and the soaked tea bag to a glass with lots of ice, a sliver of lemon peel and @fevertreemixers tonic. The recipe suggests only steeping the teabag for a minute or so but I felt it needed longer, that maybe because it did need longer or I that like the flavour of earl grey. The flavour worked so well with bathtub and I think gin in general, it is perfect alcoholic tea! Or breakfast gin! It is a great way of adding more options as the recipe goes on to suggest there are lots of tea bags that will work including herbal and fruit teas. Glastonbury is the home of weird and wonderful tea so I reckon there are enough options to keep me going for a lifetime. Anyone for matcha, sencha, gunpowder, ayurvedic contemplation tea gin? #ginlife #gin #gnt #ableforthsbathtubgin #ginlove #gintonica #earlgrey #teagin

[gintabica]

A bit belated but here all the same my sunday serve. @hendricksgin is such an unusual gin but one i love, the crisp sweet cucumber flavour with delicate floral rose notes it is to be savoured with a simple garnish of cucumber and maybe a few pick peppercorns. So when I saw this mixer i thought i had to try it with Hendricks. @doubledutchdrinks cucumber and watermelon combine 2 of my favourite summer things, but i was a bit disappointed when it arrived and i realised it was a mixer, not tonic. Would it be too sweet? Would i miss the bitter tonic element? Well first i tried the mixer on its own as a non-al-co-ho-lic drink, (not even my predictive text can pick that one up) and found it to be pleasant and refreshing neither flavour competed and the sweetness was just right for something flavoured with watermelon. I can't help but think of watermelon jolly ranchers! But this was a grown up flavour so i decided to go for broke and make a gin and not-tonic. I did not garnish this time as i wanted to get a feel for the two together. At first i thought "nope back to tonic for me" but as my tastebuds stopped searching for the bitterness i began to see what all the fuss was about. Its not tonic but for a change and for a refreshing and flavoursome drink with or without the gin, ( is that even a thing?) it is great! My hats off to the ladies for creating I am not sure what to try it with next it seems to be made for Hendricks but i think a summer cup could be a possibilty? Suggestions welcomed though! #ginlife #gindrinker #gincocktails #hendricks #hendricksgin #doubledutchdrinks #ginmixer #gin #gnt

[gintabica]

I have had the pleasure of a short working break which means i feel relaxed but like i also lile i need a reward for working so hard ;) so i have decided to start reviewing the 3 tonics i bought ages ago! So here we have @opihrgin with @londonessenceco grapefruit and rosemary. I love the citrus and herb combination, I went for dried pink grapefruit and a sprig of rosemary as garnish. The tonic has lovely savoury edge which pairs well with the spiciness of Opihr. This was a very nice addition to the drinks cupboard and at a push would be just as nice with just ice. Its just as well that i now have a gin cupboard, as this was meant to be a celebration prosecco night but it exploded in the fridge as Mr Gintabica laid it down after pouring me a glass, with a stopper in! So this gin is to make up for having to clean the precious liquid off tomato ketchup, mayonnaise, milk and petit filous etc. I would say that this drink did an honourable job of filling the prosecco shaped hole in the evening. #gin #opihr #ginandtonic #ginlife #gintonica #ginlove #londonessence #grapefruit #gindrinker #ginning #rosemary

[gintabica]

Like something named after a house in Game of Thrones this gin looks the part too! @houseofelrick is my tipple for seeing off the mini beast from the east today. There is a heady nose of juniper and coriander and beautiful flavour of liquorice once tasted. Perfect and warming while sheltering from the snow, in March! I really like this gin it is full of unusual flavours, rich and exciting. Highly recommend! #gincocktails #ginlife #gin #gintonica #gincollection #ginaddict

[gintabica]

Last night I sampled this delight @sipsmith Lemon Drizzle Gin! While it snows there are not many things that are better than staying in and eating cake. Well it turns out that you can go one better; staying in eating lemon posset with honey madeleines and drinking cake! This gin is so delightful the nose is fresh and zingy but the taste is sweet and creamy but not sickly. It has a biscuit flavour with hints of vanilla like a lemon shortbread. I can see why it started as a sample and has now joined the sipsmith ranks permanently. I served it with a twist of lemon peel and a few lightly crushed juniper berries and good glug of @fevertreemixers tonic. I was pleasantly surprised and happy to introduce it to my students at my retreat. Sadly they enjoyed it too and now its all gone.... i think another bottle will need to be panic bought just in case there's more snow! #sipsmithlemondrizzlegin #gin #ginandtonictime #ginaddict #gincollection #minibeastfromtheeast #ginlife #gindrinker #fevertreetonic #sipsmith

[gintabica]

Its been a while since i have been able to post, first the excitement of snow for my 2 girls who have never seen it before kept me busy for the weekend. That was quickly replaced with the dreaded lurgy, youngest went down and then Mr GinTabica went down and naturally he was close to death. Thankfully being a gin drinker with all the anti-oxidant and infection fighting properties that brings, i have so far been spared. Proof if any was needed that gin is good for you. So last week started with a delivery of some unusual mixers and i shall be reviewing as i go. But for now my contribution to all the fab gin-in-snow pictures, @londonessenceco grapefruit and rosemary. Looking forward to trying this with @opihrgin. @doubledutchdrinks cucumber and watermelon this could either be amazing or super sickly, i've heard good things so fingerscrossed. I am thinking it should be paired with @hendricksgin? And finally @lambandwatt hibiscus tonic not sure where to go with this first but im sure something will come up. Its a toigh life keeping yourself fit and healthy for your family but we all have to make sacrifices. #ginandtonic #beastfromtheeast #snowpictures #gnt #gin #ginmixers #ginmixer #tonic #doubledutch #lambandwatt #londonessence #gintonica

[gintabica]

When its threatening the white stuff outside, the local shops run out of milk and bread as people panic buy and the children are delirious with anticipation, then it is probably a good idea to start a new gin adventure. What better place to start than with a recommendation from a friend? @whitleyneillgin takes its inspiration and ingredients from Africa; baobab and cape gooseberries make for a sweet and dry gin and a taste i wasn't expecting. After a bit of research it seemed that orange was a good pairing so a twist of blood orange peel, a few juniper berries and @fevertree_uk indian tonic. This was a drink that was never going to last long at the end of a day in which i took 15000 steps, fed my youngest 3 dinners and explained what, why, where and how snow happens about a few hundred times. It was so smooth and delicious with a hint of exotic fruit perfect for both warm days and -4 days. Mr GinTabica said it made him think of meaty bbqs and roasts! So back to the weather Glastonbury has a smug bubble that protects it from dragons, wizard attack and snow and its been years since we had problems with either but the weather man has promised snow and my girls have their sled at the ready! I personally think that we have more chance of a dragon attack than seeing the kind of snow chaos that has been predicted. What ever comes my new addition to the gin cupboard will be keeping me warm and sane! #gin #beastfromtheeast #whitleyneillgin #baobab #capegooseberry #ginandtonictime #ginandtonic #gintonica #gintonicaddicted #thatsmygin #ginlove #gincollecting #gincollection #ginlife