Bond Street Distillery

 

Last Saturday we entered the 'Gin-dom of Heaven', locally known as Bond Street Distillery. What an amazing location; dating back to the late 1800s the building has seen many occupants before becoming home to Bond Street Distillery (BSD). 

It began in 2018 when Sally Faulkner, founder and head distiller, purchased the building and began renovating it to become the distillery, bar, Gin-school and function bar it is today. On all three floors you can see carefully restored elements of the original hosiery building: old beams, sand blasted brick and original feature window all create a high class environment. 

Our visit began with Afternoon Tea served on a three tier copper stand in keeping with the copper surroundings relating to the gin still. A delicious selection of sandwiches with slices of quiche, vine tomatoes and pepper rings filled the top tier. The second tier served traditional scones, clotted cream and raspberry gin infused jam, whilst the lower tier held a selection of desserts. 

From top to bottom our Afternoon Tea was delicious, accompanied by tea, coffee or gin with mixer. My first gin choice was Bond Street Raspberry served over ice with Fever Tree Lemonade garnished with raspberry and mint. 

My husband opted for Bond Street Blood Orange served with Fever Tree Mediterranean Tonic and orange garnish. We both chose BSD Signature for our second gin; a 40% ABV with hints of orange blossom and high notes of pink peppercorn complimenting the pine and citrus of a traditional London dry. Our Signature Gins were served with Fever Tree Indian Tonic and garnished with orange and pink peppercorn.

A distillery tour followed, a step into the hub of the building to meet Claire, the gin still, standing tall and striking with her copper gleaming brightly. Sally gave an extensive insight into how ethanol is turned into gin using the distilling process. Separating the 'heads' 'heart' and 'tails' of the distilled liquid is such a precise moment in distilling, getting this wrong can easily result in a bitter taste to the finished gin, distilling is certainly a fine art.

Following our tour it was time to make our own gin, something we have not experienced before. Bond Street Distillery have a dedicated room on the first floor for their Gin-school in which there was extensive array of botanicals to choose from. We thought this would be an overwhelming task but soon found botanicals we both preferred. With careful measuring we blended them together until we had an aroma we both liked and which would, fingers crossed, produce an enjoyable gin. 

Within the Gin-school are eight mini stills, they looked amazing all shining in a row. Each still has it's own name; two that caught my eye were Sweet Caroline and The Engineer however our Gin was distilled on Baby Gary.

The whole experience felt very very special; beautiful surroundings with the copper stills and equipment. Our starter alcohol liquid, water and botanical blends were all added to Baby Gary and heated until evaporation occurred. The gas was then passed through copper pipes which were cooled with continuously flowing cold water to turn it back to liquid. It was amazing to watch especially when our gin began to drip out.

After a while we had to carefully check our liquid to ensure we did not get any of the bitter tails. Neither of us had any real idea of how it would taste compared to the fragrance of our mixed botanicals but to our delight it tasted really good and we could taste the various flavours we had chosen. 

Once the distilling was complete Sally checked the alcohol content and adjusted it by adding water to around 40%ABV. It was now time to bottle our unique 'Hearnden Dry'. It was amazing to not only learn about distilling but to make our own gin which we can now enjoy at home. The recipe is stored at Bond Street so another bottle can alway be distilled again in the future.

Bond Street Distillery is certainly a venue to visit if you like gin, however I would recommend a visit to anyone. The high finish venue is the perfect place to enjoy one of their cocktails, try the enomatic wine machine or enjoy a draught beer. Their Gin-school experience makes a perfect gift and is certainly a day to remember with your very own Gin!

Bond Street Distillery, 127 Upper Bond Street, Hinckley LE10 1RT 

A six week round up

Over the last six weeks life has begun to seem like my life again, a life Hubby and I are choosing instead of a life ruled by uncontrollable events. The turning point was our holiday to Berwick-upon-Tweed; a change of scene with the reassurance and confidence of better times to follow. 

On our way home we detoured inland to visit Chesters Roman Fort  the largest Roman settlement along Hadrian's Wall. What an amazing site, it was incredible to see the Romans' clever architectural layout of buildings with underfloor heating and running water. A great first visit with our new English Heritage membership. 

Whilst in Berwick I began to increase my walking, made easier with my walking boots. Once home I had hoped to keep up the walking but a slight ankle strain and the hot weather has restricted me. However we did manage a long walk across local fields, along the canal and back into town passing the famous telegraph pole that has no lines! 

In May we visited our daughter who lives in South Wales. We hadn't seen her since Christmas with all the various restrictions in both countries. On our way down we had a great visit to White Castle Vineyard where we have an adopted vine. 

We also visited Goodrich Castle; a few years ago we stayed nearby but didn't get the chance to visit. It isn't far from our route on the motorway and we were amazed how big it was, although ruins there were still some rooms intacted. 

It was so nice to be able to be out and about in Cardiff. We enjoyed breakfast at quiet restaurants, had a lovely meal in the city centre and visited Tiny Rebel brewery. They have a great outdoor terrace with covers and large tables, there were quite a few families with dogs. It was so nice to sit together to enjoy a pulled beer instead of beer from cans or bottles. 

Over the last year we have enjoyed wine and beer at home. My drinks were mainly non alcoholic so it's great to be able to start to enjoy beer and wine again. After we'd been home a few days we received a lovely surprised, Cellier des Dauphins sent us a bottle of their red and white wine. They are our favourite French wine producers, we have met many times in the UK and in France. The wine was a gift for their Art of Sharing and as their letter said we hope to be able to share a glass together in person sometime soon, thank you Cellier des  Dauphins. 

One thing I have really missed is having friends round for dinner; I love the planning, the cooking and the company. As restrictions lifted we invited our friends round for a meal, just the four of us. We had some lovely wines including one from Sicily that I have wanted to open for a while (before it is too old). It was lovely to lay the table and I really enjoyed making the Lemoncello Tiramisus. 

We've had a lovely few weeks doing many things we did before. There are still some restrictions, we all have to play our part regarding Covid and I think I will be cautious for a while yet but we have days out and holidays booked so I'll have plenty more to blog about soon. 

The Cecchi Challenge

Last Thursday I was invited by Brad (@winetimelondon) to take part in the Cecchi Challenge: a zoom event with other wine enthusiasts to learn more about Tuscan wine. The event included a quiz with the chance to win a case of  Cecchi wine. 

Hubby and I know a little but not much about Italian wine, especially wine from Tuscany and using Zoom is a very new experience for us, so we were excited but a touch apprehensive. This was added to as the quiz was using a totally new app to us, Kahoot. 

Our sample wines arrived for Ellen (@freerunpr) in a long thin cardboard box. I was so excited to open it hoping for some information, however it was just the wines .... this was certainly going to be a Challenge! 

Hubby and I set up my tablet for Zoom and I had my phone ready with Kahoot. It was lovely to see everyone online, some wine friends we have not seen for a while and Robb who we met last week at White Castle Vineyard. 

However we could only see four people at a time and had to keep scrolling. I now know that this is a feature of using an android tablet and had we used the laptop we would have seen everyone together; next time! 

Brad and Hannah (@the.british.bouchon) co-hosted the event along with Ben (@freerunpr). We had a fab presentation about Tuscany; the location, the vineyards, the wines. Hubby and I made notes, as I always do at a tasting, and learnt so much. 

The slides showing the vineyards locations, the map of Italy and especially the aerial photo of the vines were so informative. It was amazing to see how each, at times adjacent, field had vines planted in various directions depending on variety. We've added Tuscany to our holiday list, it looks amazing. 

We had set up four glasses each so we knew which was which. I do miss the wine tastings we used to attend and those we hosted, not only to see our wine friends again but now my tastebuds have returned it is great to start enjoying wine again.

And so to the quiz, Kahoot is a great app that was fun to use, the quicker you answer the better so fast fingers were a must. Of course you can't answer quickly if you don't know the answer hee hee. All the questions were mulitple choice based on Tuscany and the four wines. 

Some of the questions were quite tricky, we'd remembered (looked at on our notes) some answers from the presentation but had few wrong (guesses hee hee). Some took us a while to work out and answer, it was such fun.

The wines were lovely; white Litorale Vermentino, the first red was Maremma Toscana, followed by Chianti Reserva and finally Primocolle Chianti Classico. One thing I love about a tasting is trying a wine, trying another and seeing the differences. Our glass per wine meany we could go back to taste each one again, they were all delicious. 

To our absolute amazement when the final score was revealed we won .... we were so surprised. Our prize is a case of these lovely wines so we'll be able to taste them again and learn even more. 

There is nothing better than people together enjoying good wine, hopefully it will not be long before this can again be in person.

Thank you so much Brad, Hannah, Ben, Ellen and especially Famiglia Cecchi for a super time learning about Tuscany wines - saluti ! 

White Castle Vineyard

An absolute delight .... I don't really need to say more but here's how our visit came about and our super afternoon at White Castle Vineyard.

Photo: White Castle Vineyard 

Last year I was very lucky to win a competition for two bottles of Welsh wine. I had no idea which part of Wales the vineyard was in and was utterly amazed to discover White Castle is by Abergavenny and we must have passed nearby many many times as we travelled to South Wales to visit our daughter. 

The two wines we received were Regent and Siegerrebe, both new unknown grape varieties to us. We opened the Regent with our Christmas dinner, an absolutely superb red wine with rich cherries, soft tannins and a delicate long finish. Our white Siegerrebe is awaiting the summer sun to be enjoyed in the garden, it will be interesting to try this new grape variety.

Our daughter added to our Welsh wine discovery by gifting us an Adopt a Vine from White Castle for our Christmas gift. This means for 2021 we are the proud owners of a Phoenix vine. The perfect choice of grape name, quite symbolic as life begins to return to normality. 

Our adoption includes a tour of the vineyard and being as we were passing by, and as restrictions have lifted, we arranged a visit with Robb. We certainly chose the right day as the skies were blue and the sun shone across the fields. 

Robb and Nicola's story of how they became vignerons is amazing. They both grew up in the local area, Robb being a Postie and Nicola working in the NHS. They bought the ex-council tennanted farm in 1995, converting the cow shed into a lovely bungalow. The dream of planting vines began in 2008 when they purchased the perfect 5 acre sloping field behind the farm buildings.

Their original 4000 vines were Regent, Rondo, Seyval Blanc, Phoenix and Pinot Noir, added to in 2010 with Siegerrebe. It's quite a gradient up to the top of the field, passing the rows of evenly spaced vines, with it is most certainly a sun trap; there's a surprisingly noticeable increase in warmth as you walk higher. The surrounding views are just stunning; it was a joy to be amongst the vines in the peace and quiet of the Welsh countryside.

With 2019 being Robb and Nicola's tenth anniversary since their first planting they have added an additional 2000 vines; Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc, the first of this grape in Great Britain. These vines are in one of the original fields of the farm and face the main vineyard, the two fields are separated by the farm buildings which include a magnificent restored 16th century barn. 

The 16th Century Grade 2 listed Croft Barn is a work of art: the beams, the floor, the wattle panels have all been beautifully restored. The Village Alive Trust working with Robb and Nicola received a grant from Cadw to restore the Croft Barn. It's an amazing story using traditional methods to bring the building back to life. The full details, along with photos, can be read on White Castle's web page following the Croft Barn link.

The final part of our tour of the vines was to see our adopted Phoenix vine. We were very touched to see each adopted vine has it's own label with the adoptees' name engraved on; a lovely souvenir for when the year is complete. 

Our Phoenix is looking very healthy and ready to be tied to the wires, a mammoth job this time of year. I would have loved to have stayed and helped, although with the weather turning very wet and windy the days after our visit it's perhaps best I couldn't.

It really was a super afternoon walking the vines and chatting with Robb, concluding with a glass of Gwin gwyn wine. This 2019 white wine is made from Phoenix and Seyval Blanc and has soft floral aromas of elderflower. It's a dry wine giving full citrussy flavour without harsh acidity. It was such a clear, clean wine, so enjoyable in the spring sun whilst looking across the Welsh countryside. 

We also tasted White Castle's Pinot Noir Reserve 2018 which was full of red fruit, vanilla and a hint of oak. In all honesty I've not had a Pinot Noir that has won me over but this did, it really was delicious. This was the nicest Pinot Noir wine I have ever tasted and it's no surprise that it has been awarded International Wine Challenge Silver Wine Winner 2021.

There was never any doubt that our car would be leaving White Castle Vineyard without any wine. We're looking forward to enjoying Gwin gwyn in our garden this summer, sharing a bottle of Regent with our friends and most importantly enjoying our bottle of award winning Pinot Noir. Our bottle was the first to be awarded it's silver sticker, I have the perfect place for our special bottle once we've enjoyed our wine.

Thank you Robb and Nicola for such a warm welcome and great time learning so much about Welsh wine. We will be back, hopefully when our Phoenix is ready for harvest to help with picking. We're looking forward too to our bottle of Gwin gwyn made from this year's grapes. 

It's Welsh Wine Week 4-13 June 2021 - we will certainly be opening a bottle of wine from Wales! 

Northumberland videos

Three videos from our time in Northumberland - they really do show the expanse of the views and I was so lucky to catch the heron even if it's shaky/blurred due to zooming in.