EXPOSED
GIN TASTING AT THE OLD HOUSE Ahead of their August gin festival, the Old House invited us to pit our palates against their team of spirit specialists. Will we prove ourselves to be in a glass of our own, or will we be caught out sloe? Words & Pics: Joe Food
The staff at The Old House know their gin. No surprise either, as we were informed upon arrival that they had 77 different bottles of the stuff stacked behind the bar and that number was set to rise to 100 as their August gin festival got underway. The staff at Exposed, on the other hand, are not quite so knowledgeable on the subject. As early discussion about the impact of various botanicals on different types of gin ensued, I laboured to remember the specific tones and scents from the bottle of Bombay Sapphire I once blagged for myself at a friend’s barbecue, hoping that this would be enough to engage with the conversation. Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t – and I could sense a difficult afternoon ahead up against the Old House gin aficionados. Suffice to say, both teams were gasping for a win – and gin. Well, mostly gin. The Exposed contenders – Joshua, Kieran and Megan – quickly set about getting into the, ahem, spirit with a vital part of preparation for this feature: picking the team name. “How about Completely
Gin-capable?” suggested Kieran after a prolonged period of silence. We decided that Team Exposed would do. Over on the Old House team were Selina, James and Thom, who had already been told in no uncertain terms by their boss Katy that if they were beaten by a group of novices on home turf then there could well be a few p45s arriving in the post.
For more listings and reviews, head to exposedmagazine.co.uk | 19