A Church Service With A Difference !

Last weekend I took a couple of days away from my desk to stay with friends in Manchester. I don`t go to church very often, weddings, funerals, christenings and the like, but the reason for trip north was to go to Manchester Cathedral.

Now I`m a Gin & Tonic girl, which has nothing to do with Cathedrals normally, but last Saturday the Gin Society held their annual festival in Manchester Cathedral! It was really good and the most unusual place to be served a G&T and it doesn`t have to be Gordons!

The tickets were a Christmas present and, as well as admission to the event, a souvenir gin glass each was ours to keep.

There are over 600 gins in the world today and most of them were there to be tasted. Divided into Fruits Gins, World Gins and British Gins we set off to try as many as possible.

Gin began life as a purely medicinal drink originating from Italy using juniper and other herbs. In the 1650`s it was used as a cure for stomach and kidney disorders  and ” Genever “, the Dutch Gin, was born. Imported into England for troops returning from the Thirty Years War. Its effect lifted the troops spirits and this is where the saying ” Dutch Courage ” originates from. In 1714 the word Gin entered the Oxford English Dictionary being described as ” an infamous Liquor”.

Tonic didn`t make an appearance until the 19th century, and even Ian Fleming introduced his ” Vesper Cocktail ” in James bond films in the 1950`s

Today has become the most fashionable drink around with many small distilleries making had crafted gin with unusual ingredients and botanicals.

To be honest there were so many different gins to try we got a touch confused. Finally settling on a bottle of Manchester Pink Gin and a Bathtub Gin made from botanicals like juniper, coriander and orange. Bathtub was voted the ” World`s Best Compound Gin ” in 2014.

A great afternoon and also a chance to see the beautiful Cathedral too .