Meet the Gin Lord, a lover of all things Gin. With vast experience of talks, presentations, tasting evenings and even the odd gin supper, the Gin Lord is the man to talk to when it comes to our favourite spirit. He became the Gin Lord around 2015, firstly on Instagram and he quickly gained the attention of distilleries and companies who wanted his opinion. Hundreds of bottles and thousands of followers later he began tasting evenings, and it has all snowballed from there! Now he hosts events all over the county, educating people and directing them towards the current trends and flavours. He has over 13,000 followers (at the time of writing this) on his Instagram @theginlord 

He’s given you some top tips, staple items and three cocktails to get you ready for your summer parties! 

The Gin Lord’s staple items:
• Sugar syrup
(mix 1 part water 1 part sugar)
• Lemon juice (he always has this in the fridge) 
• A cocktail shaker 
• A cocktail stirrer 
• Honey
• Favourite summer fruits (raspberries, strawberries etc)
• Gin (of course)
• Soda water / Tonic

The Gin Lord’s top tips:
Use peels rather than full slices of fruit / citrus, this stops all the flesh from floating in the drink and to stop the drink being taken over by the citrus juice. 

Pomegranate seeds are an awesome accompliment to gin, try for a flavour sensation. Try drying fruit slices in the oven, only for a little to dry them out, this helps reducing the flavour overload. 

Lastly, EXPERIMENT with flavours and enjoy it 🙂 

You can follow the Gin Lord on social media: 

Instagram
Twitter

Below are 3 summer drinks that the Gin Lord thinks you will love this summer! 

Bramble
A perfect summer cocktail, goes best with Carpenter’s gin. The Gin Lord recommends using Creme de Cassis (a blackcurrant liquer) and fresh blackberries from the Food Hall. 

Simply just mix 50ml of Carpenter’s Gin with a little Creme de Cassis, a drop of syrup water and add some fresh blackberries and finish over ice.

Summer smash
The Gin Lord gives his own take on the Basil Smash. A beautiful fruit cocktail, and alternative to Pimms.   

Pulp some strawberries, add a tiny  bit of balsamic vinegar with some basil leaves, mix with 50ml of gin and 20ml of sugar syrup, ice and top with soda water. 

If you want a stronger twist, top with prosecco. 

Bees Knees
The bees knees, aptly named because one of the ingredients is honey! The Gin Lord recommends using 6 o’clock gin from the Food Hall.

Shake up 50ml 6 o’clock gin with some sugar syrup, some honey and a little lemon juice, serve over ice .