Bicycles and gin

Today was another event that I had organised for the arts society - it was a cycle tour around the alleyways and backstreets of London on British built Pashley bicycles, including two visits to two very different gin distilleries!  I was amazed how in such a busy city like London our guide managed to find quiet roads where you could hardly even hear the traffic let alone see it. It was a glorious summer's day, a tad too hot at 27C - we could not have had better weather to be out cycling.

We met near Waterloo Station and he led us towards Vauxhall where we stopped at Beefeaters Gin Distillery. We had a very interesting tour of the small distillery and were told about the vital ingredients required to make gin (ethanol and juniper), including all the 'botanicals' that are added like lemon peel, orange peel, liquorice powder, angelica and orris root among others. We finished off with a glass of gin and tonic - which I don't usually drink and at 11.30am was a bit early for me! We then cycled through Lambeth and finally made our way to Southwark, near the Shard where we visited a very different gin distillery - a tiny distillery in the basement of a pub where the distiller is making award winning gin from a very small setup. These bottles are some of the botanicals that they add to their gin, which is branded as Victory. Here we had another tasting and this time he taught us how to taste it properly.

We finally stopped for lunch at one of the oldest pubs in London - by the time the food came it was close to 3pm and we were all rather hungry.

It was a very enjoyable day, the areas we cycled were so interesting and we had many informative stops along the way. The guides were excellent and I would love to do another of their cycle tours. If you are interested they are Tally Ho Cycle Tours 

After that long day I am now heading out to book club tonight - will catch up tomorrow