Hendrick's Press Trip

One of the real perks of my newish career is the occasional press trip. This month they've done the London bus trick, so I'm feeling a bit tired. Not tired and emotional, just tired. Back this lunchtime from a two-day thing with Hendrick's Gin, as well run and enjoyable as the Glenfiddich event last week. As ever the tasting and distillery visit the core of the trip, but I loved the gin and literature presentation by Damien Barr who was also a very amusing dinner companion and turned out to be a fellow chicken keeper. Wodehouse, chickens, the horrors of the ortolan, delights of the bullshot, beef Kobe and Argentine and the culinary wonders of Lyon just some of the topics covered in my area while the table of journos PR people and Wm Grant personnel was getting outside excellent food.

I remain, however, less than convinced by the whole cocktail revolution (are we on part 5 now?). Best servings of the gin for me were in a simple G&T with a slice of cucumber to bring out its cucumber essence (one of its likeable quirks along with the rose essence and use of two different still types), though I must admit the White Lady and Martinez both more than passable. Hendricks is actually a gin that would repay I think chilling down to drink neat, an experiment I will try sometime soon. Right now, though, I'm not in a rush to sip any gin for several days. Well done to the company btw for using recycled glass in its bottles, smart move as they look stylish too. And well done for smoothly run and amusing trip.

Back to Blogging

I was so impressed by the blog of one of my former classmates at UCLAN's Magazine Journalism MA, the brilliant Johanna Derry, that I felt inspired to begin blogging again. Too many of the other blogs I have read previously have been semi-literate, self-indulgent and less than informative. So fired with new enthusiasm for the medium I will give it another go.

As a freelance there have to be compensations for (relative) lack of money, and the foremost of them for me is variety. Recently I spent one day of a trip to East Anglia on research for three separate pieces: in the morning I went to Potter Heigham to take new pix of the Wherry Albion, and chat to a few of the members of the trust keeping her afloat. The early afternoon was spent on a tour of the Adnams Distillery in Southwold, which proved throughly enjoyable though driving kept me from any real tasting. Following that I met John Miller, a former Reuters correspondent in Moscow (whose book All Them Cornfields and Ballet in the Evening I can heartily recommend) regarding a gardening feature about George Orwell that I hope will appear in Grow Your Own (the curse of the unconnected and even after five years unknown writer is the "write it and we'll see" offer). That is variety.

The Adnams visit was in response to an offer, at the time feeling more like a threat, after I had given a poor review to their First Rate Gin, and has generated a commisison for Harpers Wine and Spirit, and in turn another for them, which says something for getting out of the office.