Yesterday I attended The Great British Gin festival in Chester as one of my gifts for my friends' birthday! Even though I didn't know anything about the festival or what it would be like I still thought it was something different and knew my friend would love it as she is an absolute gin obsess!
So after a rather hectic morning we arrived at Chester and at the festival which was right outside the station (thankfully as the heavens had just started to open).
It was held at the Carriage Shed, an outside venue which is partially covered with conservatory like windows which was needed for a day like yesterday.
Once we were inside and given our free 'Great British Gin' gin glass and programme with a list of 100 gins they had for us to taste (which included a chocolate flavoured gin which I am saddened to say I didn't try however, I can't imagine it being very nice anyway).
We were then directed to the merchandise stand where we deiced to get four gins between us for £20 so £5 for one big glass of gin and tonic is not too shabby in my opinion. And then of to the gin tasting we went!
After having a quick gander in the programme we quickly decided on what to get. I got Pink grapefruit with tonic which I wouldn't usually get as a mixer as I despise the stuff but I was an idiot and didn't realise that you could in fact get lemonade as an alternative but, it was actually still really enjoyable and tasty! My friend, Aimee decided to go for peach and hibiscus which was very aesthetically pleasing having a red/pink colouring to it and tasting very nice too!
We then walked around the venue which was rather small with very little seating so we ended up standing up the whole day trying to juggle holding a big gin glass, taking those pictures for the gram and reading through the list of gins, it was a struggle. But, besides that we had a bit of a boogie to the entertainment who sang acoustic songs of popular songs such as Bon Jovis - Livin' on a prayer which was in both of our heads for the rest of the day! We then had a search down the many rows of gins to see what our next and final gin choice of the day would be! But before we did this we decided to try a few of the gins that were out for samples. We firstly tried raspberry gin which was gorgeous! And then Aimee had a sip of her favourite gin, Rhubarb and ginger so she could feel at home still!
The last gin I decided to get was Blackcurrant and ginger and luckily this time I realised you could get it with lemonade so I did and it was really sweet but I love sweet things especially the parma violets gin so it was right up my street. Aimee decided to go for the strawberry gin which was probably my favourite gin of the day as I love strawberries, the taste, the smell everything, it wasn't too sweet as sometimes strawberry flavoured things can be and that can ruin it, but it was just right!
So, after about an hour of getting legless (not quite but) we decided to head into town, we didn't expect to be at the festival for much longer as it was starting to get rather crowded and other than drinking, which we had done enough of by this point, there wasn't much else to do so we decided to do something else we know and love which is eating food.
We went to this very cute and edgy tapas and Mexican restaurant called 'Fiesta Havana ' and decided to go all out and get a starter and a main! For starters we shared pork scratchings which if I'm honest weren't the best but we still devoured them as we were starving and then for mains we both got quesadilla, but I got chorizo filled ones and Aimee got chicken, which were much more pleasing than the starters!
Once our bellies were filled to the brim and we decided we could actually walk again we decided to head back to the station to head home after a long but very fun day!
The Great British Gin Festival is definitely something I would recommend to people, especially gin lovers as it is something different than an ordinary day out just going for a meal somewhere and can lose an hour or two from your day without having to spend too much money, so make sure to keep an eye out for when they're touring near you!
If you happen to be curious about my outfit and where things are from I have left details down below:
Camel Jacket - Topshop
Black chunky boots - BooHoo
Dress - Miss Selfridge
Black T-shirt - Matalan
Gold pendant necklace - New look
Black over the shoulder bag - TKMaxx
Thank you for reading,
see you soon.
Katie x
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