Tucked on the towpath of the canal, you will find the Gin vault. Inside has a rough, unfinished feel, and a bit strip club-y. My drinks companion informed me that the joint used to be a legs eleven, which I didn't know (and I didn't ask how he did either). The toilets are shared with the restaurant next-door, which, sans chipboard feels a little more ex-gents club.
The tables are sat with candles, and the prettiest gin bottles from their extensive selection holding fresh flowers, not any tacky plastic ones, which makes a difference.
Now, the menu. To say it's long, would be an understatement. It's one of the only places in Birmingham that stocks Gin's that I haven't tried (yet). It's worth reading yourself, but recommendations are good too. When I approached the high bar, we'd picked. One of the things I asked for was a jawbox and ginger ale- the bestie had not long come back from Ireland, where in a random bar had met the creator of jawbone, who had told him to drink it with ginger- and the bar man looked quite taken aback and had never heard of it.
It's a rough and ready place, and the tables are nice, it isn't too noisy or anything- I think one of the things with it, is that they have loaded the place up with quantity, so many that it would be a high expectation for them to actually know properly about the products, and I do think that they don't know about all of them. Just because there's a large stock, doesn't mean that they know the most, so if you aren't a gin addict yourself, you might not be trying tat new variety of the tipple in the best possible way. However, if you do know what you want, I would be very surprised if they didn't have it in stock here! read more