Hendrick's Gin - Mobile Masterclass at The Wicked Lady Wheathampstead

One for the road as they say, shaken and not stirred!  The traditional Martini and favourite of the legendary character James Bond 007 is a drink featuring gin and vermouth and garnished with a couple of pimento stuffed olives on a cocktail stick.

Gin is made from vodka and must have juniper berries as one of the ingredients (51% of the world's juniper harvest goes into gin making)

Hendrick's Gin is distilled and bottled in Scotland and is unbelievably only 16 years old.  The concept was created at the home of a family of Scottish distillers for generations when a chance conversation revolved around an old still they found in the attic and what they could do with it that was different.  Let's make a gin! 

Gin itself has been around for centuries, at one time being better to drink than the local water!  It was possible for anyone to make gin but without any regulations some of it was indeed a dark drink and often responsible for injury and death amongst the drinkers.  Gin was used in the Dutch wars when the soldiers full of gin would just go head long into battle - Dutch Courage!

Regulations requiring a licence to distill gin helped to clean up the product and to create four main categories of gin:
1. London Dry (a particular process that denotes how it is made not that it needs to be made in London)
2. Gin (can have different herbs and spices as long as juniper is involved - Hendrick's is in this category)
3. Batched (M&S and Sainsburys have a good example of batched gin)
4. Location (Plymouth Gin - must be made inside the walls of Plymouth and with water from a local reservoir).

The tasting and masterclass were held in Hendrick's mobile and converted bus in the grounds of The Wicked Lady Pub and fine dining on the main road from St Albans to Wheathampstead.

Mr R, myself and two other bloggers that attended were treated to a lovely lunch afterwards sitting in the spacious and child friendly garden of The Wicked Lady on a beautiful summer afternoon.  The pub had some live music, face painting and Pimm's special bar along with a unique seating place for a bit of peace and quiet - an extra large teepee which will stay up all trough to the end of the decent weather.

We feasted on a variety of starters and main courses which included:-
A slice of brie covered in a pumpkin seed crust and deep fried with a sticky chutney and pea shoot garnish

I ordered a House Burger with added bacon and Stilton cheese. I don't often have a burger in a restaurant as it often falls short of expectation but this was a really lovely, fresh lean meat burger with a lot of garnish and fresh bun.  I had to deconstruct it to eat it, even my mouth wasn't big enough to take a bite!!

The was no choice in the matter of drinks on such a lovely hot summer day - Pimms!

By the way Hendrick's recipe for a Hendrick's Martini is:-

60ml Hendrick's Gin
10ml Dry Vermouth
Dash of Orange Bitters

Add all ingredients to a mixing glass and stir until the desired dilution and temperature is reached.  Garnish with a lemon twist. Enjoy!

I was a guest of Hendrick's Gin and The Wicked Lady Pub. All photos and opinions are my own.