A few weekends back, we headed over to Paintworks in Bristol for the Gin Festival – I’m sure if you’re a regular reader you’ll be well aware that my love for gin runs deep so this was well and truly up my street. I went to the Gin Festival last year in Leicester and loved it so I was really excited to see what was new, different or the same this year in a new city. The good news is that all the great things were still there.
Gin Festival Bristol 2016 signage
We arrived slightly late but the atmosphere was still buzzing with lots of people at the stands and bars chatting and sampling all the amazing gins on offer. Your ticket includes a cute badge, copa glass and a little guide which tells you everything you need to know about the gins on offer. You then buy tokens which can be exchanged for gins at any of the four bars. The bars are themed with British, international and unusual or fruity gins. This year too, I loved the selfie booth! In polaroid style, it prints out your best shot. We’ve got it on the fridge! Lots of fun.
#GinFestival selfie booth Gingey Bites
Enjoying gin in our branded copa glasses gingey bites

We tried some really interesting gins including Adnams Copper House – a London Dry gin with big pine flavours and a real citrus hit. Perfect with orange as a garnish. My favourite on the day though was probably the Blue Bottle, made in Guernsey and reminiscent of gorse, peppers and nutmeg. The grapefruit garnish really cut through the spiciness. Dave (at my recommendation) loved the Sikkim Bilberry. Made in Spain this gin is totally different and really fruity because it’s distilled with fresh blueberries and blackberries. Yum!

Drinking Gin in the sunshine at the Gin Festival 2016

The Gin Festival is the brain child of couple Jym and Marie and began life back in 2012. Since then it’s grown exponentially with festivals all over the country and loads of new destinations for 2016. I love the vintage styling and touches making it feel really unique.

Fancy trying the festival for yourself? Next up at the end of this month is Hull, followed by Gloucester then Leeds. Later in the summer they’ll be heading to Birmingham, for the first time too! To check out all the locations coming up, see the website here. Oh, and give their instagram a look over too – if you love gin (which you should do, because its great), there’s plenty to see!

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