This was the first time the NMDCA had tried a Gin Night but it seemed to go down really well with the people who braved Storm Dennis to come out and join us for the evening. The proceedings were hosted by Clio and Malcolm of the Hiltingbury Still who gave us a fascinating insight into their introduction to Gin making. They told us about the history of Gin going back as far as Pliny the Elder in the first century through to the latest revival of localised craft gin production.
The Hiltingbury Still however, produce more than just Gin and use many local products to provide unique flavours to their drinks. These include honey from local bees and apples and crab pears from Hilliers Garden Centre for their Schnapps. They also make Hiltingbury Limoncello although the lemons for this are sourced from Italy.
Throughout the evening we were able to taste samples of different types of gin to illustrate the talk. We were encouraged to taste the Gin neat to get a real feel for the subtle flavours but then allowed to dilute it with tonic as required. Other Hiltingbury Still products could be tasted later. Doreen and Gillian laid on a spread of nibbles to soak up the alcohol and Charlie tested the remaining braincells with an alcohol themed quiz. Unfortunately the audio visual element of the quiz had to be cancelled due to an accident with an HDMI cable (this was before the drinking started) If you were at the evening and you wanted to see what you missed I have inserted it below.
The January Miller’s Tale should be dropping onto your doormat very soon, thanks to the efforts of Carole Mollon who eventually managed to tame the rogue printer that seemed determined to push our January issue into February. She and her husband Richard then gamely collated, folded and stapled the 400 copies by hand, a job normally done by the printing machine.
