Event: Glasgow Juniper Festival at SWG3

Glasgow juniper gin festival

Celebrating World Gin Day with Juniper Events

Yesterday evening (World Gin Day) we decided to skip the Scotland v England football match and head along to SWG3 for a gin festival!  We stopped in at Surfdogs first for some food then travelled West to SWG3.

With our Juniper Festival badges on we jumped into the world of gin.  If you haven’t been before, here’s how it works.  You buy a ticket and get a badge proving you are a bona fide attendee.   Pick a stall and you will receive a sample of gin.  You might think it’s a small sample but remember there are around 40 gins to try, so pace yourself! (She says!)

Glasgow juniper gin festival

What I like here is that there’s no pressure to buy at each stall.  If you like the gin, stalls will be able to sell you a G&T or cocktail, and if you want some for taking home head along to the Drinkmonger bottle shop to buy your spirits.  This means more time to chat about the gin and get the stories behind each brand.

Glasgow juniper gin festival Glasgow juniper gin festival

Even hardened gin lovers like me found a number of producers I hadn’t heard of before.  I especially liked the raspberry-infused Manchester Gin with Mr Foodie picking Quince Gin from Whitley Neill as his favourite.

Glasgow juniper gin festival

Whitley Neill also do an elderflower gin and nettle gin, the nettle was interesting – very grassy with a touch of earthiness.  We’ll be featuring some of the newer gins we discovered and the stories behind them soon.

Glasgow juniper gin festival

Avva gin have their own custom-made 250l copper still and hail from Speyside.

Glasgow juniper gin festival

Canada’s only (as far as we’re aware) commercially available gin, Ungava, is bright yellow due to the macerated rose hips added for flavour – the colour disappears when you add tonic. Magic!

Glasgow juniper gin festival

Ginerosity is a project supported by Pickering’s Gin in Edinburgh.  Money from each bottle sold goes to projects in Scotland and in Africa.

Glasgow juniper gin festival

If you’re a Star Wars fan then Ki No Bi might be a good one for your drinks cabinet. It isn’t named after Obi Wan of course, it actually means “The beauty of the seasons” in Japanese and is a rice-based spirit from Kyoto including botanicals such as yuzu, bamboo and gyokuro tea.

Glasgow juniper gin festival

Glasgow juniper gin festival Glasgow juniper gin festival

Glasgow juniper gin festival
Mr Foodie enjoying a Rhubarb Gimlet

Find out more about Solid Liquids who run Juniper Events here.

Emma

Emma

Hello!

I am Emma and with my husband Mark write Foodie Explorers, which is a food and travel website.

I am a member of the Guild of Food Writers and British Guild of Travel Writers.

We have a wide range of judging experience covering products, hotels and have judged, for example, for Great Taste Awards and Scottish Baker of the Year.

Along the way Mark gained WSET Level 2 in Wine and I have WSET Level 2 in Spirits as well as picking up an award with The Scotsman Food and Drink Awards.    

Usually I can be found sleeping beside a cat.

Recommended Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.