So we decided this would be a damn good way to spend and evening and let me tell you it was! I am still amazed at how much fun we had! Got there right at the time our reservation was. We were directed into a bar with a total of 16 people and lo and behold we were given a Tom Collins!? A nice way to start our hour long history of Gin lesson! As we wound our way through London's Gin history we also had a Gin and Tonic and a Gin Paloma and more Tom Collins! The gin was plentiful and so good. Next we broke up into 2 groups of 8 and went to meet with our Master Distiller. There we learned more about Gin and the flavorings that make up the Sprit itself. Here we tasted each distilled spice, fruit, etc. as we tasted these we made our notes and built our Gin. They use a high profile Vodka (as do most Gin producers) and we added distilled flavorings that we chose based on nose, taste and finish. The Master distiller then took our choices and came up with the percentages needed to make out Personalized Gin. After all ours were made we tasted each other's concoctions and really had such a great time. Labels were added to our bottles that we got to name and then we were presented with a bottle of their Portobello Road Gin as well. Oh.....they keep your recipe on file so you can re-order whenever you want! My wife who isn't a Gin person.....had a blast and learned to appreciate a couple Gin Cocktails. WELL WORTH THE PRICE OF ADMISSION read more

The Ginstitute - Distilleries Near Me - London, XGL

Excellent! My husband and I visited London and were looking for an experience to break up the many restaurant reservations we had (foodies haha). I had heard about the Ginstitute before, and being that I'm a lover of gin, thought we'd give it a shot. I booked our reservations online through their website two days prior. The website asks for an address to send the vouchers, but being from the US, we opted to collect them at the venue (just put in their address instead - 186 Portobello Road). You can enter through The Distillery and just walk to the back. We were lead downstairs to the lecture room with maybe 20 other people, served our first drink (Tom Collins), and the lecture began! There were more tastings throughout the lecture. Next came the gin-making/mixing part. We were sat at a large table with various botanicals and educated on which to put in, what is generally used, etc. We tasted a few different flavors and came up with our own concoction of sorts, which was bottled and given to us to take home! We were also sent home with 2 bottles of tonic and a bottle of their Portobello Road Gin. The whole experience lasted around 3 hours, and it was definitely worth every penny of £120pp. The Ginstitute is located in Notting Hill (Notting Hill Gate tube station) where there are a ton of cute shops and cafes to browse through. Could easily spend a day or two there! I didn't have anything to eat or drink at The Distillery, but the staff was nice and customers looked happy; always a good thing. I wholeheartedly recommend The Ginstitute! Eat something beforehand though ;) read more

The Ginstitute - Distilleries Near Me - London, XGL

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First, gin is my jam. So naturally, I was excited to go to London and try out some bomb gins. When I looked for some cool places to try a glass of gin, I found the ginstitute. Immediately booked the experience and could not have been more pleased with it. There was a bar tender who made us three gin drinks and took us through the history of gin - there were even some artifacts on display in the small bar basement where they talked with us. We spent a good hour or so discussing gin, learned some pretty savvy things. Then, they took us through the small distillery they had in the basement and talked through the process there. FINALLY we got to the good stuff. They split us up into two groups and took us into the rooms where we'd be making the gins. After explaining how most gins are made, we got to sample a bunch of different pre-distilled herbs and spices. Even a surprising one - I won't ruin it for you here ;). They passed each of the spices/aromas around for us to smell and finally, we got to making our gins. We told them the combos we wanted on top of our 'base' gin and they filled our bottles up, then BAM! Your very own gin is created. We got to name it, then they handed us a gift bag with a bottle of their own gin, a special bottle of tonic water, and the gin we'd just created - fully crested and sealed with our names written on it and the distillers signature on the bottle. All in all, it was an incredibly awesome experience that I would HIGHLY recommend to anyone interested in the matter of gin. read more

We had an absolutely amazing time with Carmen and Sam as our hosts at the Ginstitute. The evening was informative, entertaining, and delicious! We learned a lot about gin and they were very generous in their offerings. We are so excited to try our own bottles of gin! Would highly recommend. read more

We did our class with James today! We had a few refreshing cocktails while he talked about the history of gin, including origin of Portobello Road. We then sampled a variety of distillates and chose our favorites in order to mix our very own gins to take home! Perfect tour/class for avid gin drinkers. read more