It's Gin o'clock

There is so much choice when going out to drink that it's sometimes forgotten the oldies are the goodies. Forget Sex on the Beach, the Screwdriver and the Singapore Sling, the one drink guaranteed to hit the spot every time is a good 'ole Gin and Tonic.

The name gin is derived from the Dutch word jenever which means "juniper". From its earliest beginnings in the Middle Ages, gin has evolved over the course of a millennium from originally a herbal medicine to an object of commerce in the spirits industry (similar to the story of Coke Cola). Today, gin is one of the most popular and widely distributed spirit.
Additions to gin often include citrus elements, such as lemon and bitter orange peel. Cucumber works particularly well with Hendricks gin. A combination of other spices include any Liquorice, cinnamon, almond, lime peel, grapefruit peel and coriander.

Gin based cocktails

• 20th Century

• Fallen Angel

• Gibson

• Giblet (as in the film, The Women)

• Gin and Tonic

• Negroni (The Roman Sring of Mrs Stone" film)

• Old Etonian c.1925

• Pimms' Cup

• Pink Gin

• Singapore Sling

• Tom Collins(as in the film, Meet the Parents)

• Vesper (Quantum of Solas film)

• White Lady

Notable English Gin Brands:

• Beefeater, first produced in 1820

• Bombay Sapphire, distilled with 10 botanicals

• Boodles British Gin

• Booth's Gin

• Broker's Gin

• Gibley's

• Gilpin's Westmorland Extra Dry Gin

• Greenail's

• Hayman's Old Tom 

• Plymouth

• Sacred Micro-distillery, distilled in a micro-distillery

• Whitley Neill

Other gin related blog posts:

- See how Gin is made in London
- Hogarth's Beer Lane and Gin Lane etchings

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See how Gin is made in London

"The history of London’s gin industry is peppered with tales of small-scale producers boiling up heady spirits in tiny sheds." THE INDEPENDENT

City of London Distillery

Tucked away behind Fleet Street in the historic Bride Lane, an area steeped with distilling history. Visitors can take a tour of the venue - the first working distillery to open in the City for over 200 years - or book in for a more in-depth master class.

Master Distiller Jamie Baxter crafts a a gin (City of London Dry Gin) in a copper still which is framed behind huge glass windows. Around 200 bottles of gin are produced per distillation run, with each bottle labelled with its batch number.

During the day, the distillery opens its doors for the Gin Experience which gives members of the public the rare opportunity to see stills up close, watch a working distillery in action, and visualise the process of making a spirit before sampling each of them.

Opening hours

Tours take place every weekday, hourly from 12 noon-3pm.
Bar open 12noon-late
Tours cost £8 per person, no booking required.
Bar is FREE entry.

Visit City of London Distillery website

The Ginstitute

Housed tthe first floor of The Portobello Star – a building which has served beverages on and off since possibly as long ago as 1740- The Ginstitute boasts: a small re-creation of a Victorian Gin Palace Bar- complete with a staggering selection of Gins, cabinets full of interesting historical Gin artifacts, including many antique bottles, vintage advertising pieces, archive materials from the most famous distillers of London Gin, adverts from the C19th and C20th.

The Ginstitute is an independent home for Gin in London, it plays host to master classes and tasting sessions by some of the greatest names in modern gin, it is a beautiful, intimate venue for a party for any Gin lover. It's perfect for a quick afternoon visit if you’re shopping on the historic markets of Portobello and fancy a little reviver.

Opening hours

Sunday - Thursday: 11am til 11:30pm
Friday & Saturday: 11am til 12:30am

Visit the Ginstitute website

No 3. Dry London Gin

The gin itself is distilled at one of Holland's oldest gin distillery's with over 300 years of experience.Berry Bros. & Rudd is Britain's oldest wine and spirit merchant; having traded from the same shop for over 300 years has changed little since it was opened. The shop is little changed and traces of its history, including important documents and artefacts, are on view. No.3 Gin stays true to the roots of London Dry Gin.  Put simply it is a ‘Taste of Tradition’.

Opening hours

Mon - Fri: 10am to 6pm
Sat: 10am to 5pm
Sun / Public Holidays: Closed

Visit No 3. Dry London Gin website

Sipsmith Independent Spirits

The “sip-smiths” to celebrate the craft of distillation and our artisanal methods. Spirits by hand in genuinely small batches – just a few hundred bottles a time. It is one of the only gins in the world made using the traditional 'one-shot' method, rather than as a concentrate. 

Tour Times

Every Wednesday 6.30-8pm.
Visit Sipsmith Distillery website

Other gin related posts:
- It's Gin O'clock
- Hogarth's Beer Lane and Gin Lane engravings
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Visit All Hallows by the Tower Church, London

If you are intending to visit the Tower of London or Tower Bridge this Easter then make some time to visit All Hallows by the Tower, the oldest church in London. It houses a C7th Saxon stone arch with recycled Roman tiles, the oldest surviving piece of church fabric in the city. The church has been battered and bruised and has benefited from periodic restoration throughout the years. It is a time capsule of history of the church itself and the City of London. 

All Hallows by the Tower, the oldest church in London

Buried at the Church

Both John Fisher and the noble Thomas More were both beheaded at the Tower of London in 1535 before being temporarily buried here. 

Archbishop William Laud was found guilty of "endeavouring to subvert the laws, to overthrow the Protestant religion" and was beheaded on Tower Hill in 1645 before being buried here.

The Great Fire of London, 1666

The church narrowly survived the Great Fire of London and owes its survival to Admiral William Penn, father of William Penn of Pensylvania fame who had been christened at the church some 22 yrs earlier. The Admiral had his men from a nearby naval yard demolish the surrounding buildings to create firebreaks. Samuel Pepys is known to have climbed the church's spire to watch the progress of the blaze and what he described as "the saddest sight of desolation".

Font History

One of the most beautiful and important artefacts in the church is the wonderfully font cover carved from limewood. Grinling Gibbons was a master sculptor and wood carver who had worked for Christopher Wren on the choir stalls in St Paul's Cathedral. He was later appointed as master wood carver to George I. For this intricate font cover Grinling Gibbons received the sum of £12. The font itself was carved by hand by a Sicilian prisoner-of-war named Tulipani, and is a memorial to the tunnellers of the Royal Engineers.

The Crypt Museum

The church was built on the site of a former C2nd Roman domestic house which was discovered in 1929. The crypt museum houses a collection of both Roman and Saxon artefacts, church plate and ancient registers dating back to the C16th.

Visit the All Hallows by the Tower website for a virtual tour and opening times.

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Easy recipes, great for Easter

Easter Bank Holidays are a perfect excuse to make some time to see friends and family and to cook some amazing food for all to enjoy. I resent the idea of good food which takes an age to prepare, especially when it takes you away from spending time with your loved ones. 

Family Favourite Cakes

Carrot Cake Recipe
Lemon Chiffon Cake Recipe
Top tip for cakes: bake them a day or two in advance in an airtight container before decorating and devouring.

Delicious Desserts

Pink Pavlova
Fruit PavlovaBaby Raspberry and Lime CheesecakesNo bake Chocolate Cheesecake
The Pavlovas in particular are quick to make. Prepare the cream, fruit and meringues first and compile when you are ready to eat.

Meat and veg with a twist

Boneless Leg of Lamb Stuffed with Feta Cheese, Pine Nuts, Fennel, Olives, and Herbs



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Visit the National Portrait Gallery

National Portrait Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London

One of my favourite things about London are the free museums and galleries. It's usually a weekly occurrence for me to pop into one for a cultural top-up. I am a regular at The National Portrait Gallery. It aims to be the foremost centre for the study of and research into portraiture. Founded in 1856, its original remit was to collect art taken of people who were born or who had lived and worked their entire life in England and who had been dead for at least ten years. When the 32yr old Roy Stone became the Director of the Gallery in 1967 he changed that to include portraits of the living, introduced photography into the gallery as well as forming innovative exhibitions such as Beaton Portraits (1968) and Samuel Pepys (1970).

Those visiting the NPG and aware of it's uniqueness expect to see something a little different from any other gallery. They expect to see something of the sitter's soul; what were they thinking? what are they doing? Different people have different reasons for having a portrait made. Historically, portrait paintings have primarily memorialised the rich and powerful and it's some of those I want to challenge with these three portraits:

King Henry VIII; King Henry VII, Hans Holbein the Younger c.1536

The image is of an overpowering figure more suited to a mythical figure than a political one. Henry VIII was a master of Public image; creating a regal image of a Renaissance man with his court being a centre of scholarly and artistic innovation and glamorous excess. Holbein the Younger became the King's painter in 1535. He produced portraits, festive decorations and unusually designs for jewellery and other precious objects. His portraits of the royal family and nobles are a record of the court in the years when Henry was asserting his supremacy over the English Church. Many people in England still couldn't read and so visual methods were the strongest way to communicate ones wealth, strength and divinity.

This cartoon is all that is left of what the mural looked like in The Whitehall Palace which burnt down in 1698. It is made of several joined sheets of paper, the figures of the kings and their faces are cut-out and pasted on to backing paper. It's the same size as the finished version and would have been used to transfer the design onto the wall, much like tracing paper. A technique called 'pouncing' was used to transfer Holbein's design onto the intended wall, charcoal dust would have been brushed into the holes made from pricking. Read more about the King Henry VIII; King Henry VII cartoon.

William Shakespeare, attributed to John Taylor c.1600s

The collection number NPG1 shows the portrait was the first in the National Portrait Gallery's collection, acquired in 1856. John Taylor was considered to be an 'ok' painter and an important member of the Painter-Stainers' Company. But it is the subject of the painting that is of English importance as it's the only one known to have been taken of the world famous bard in his lifetime. This is the only chance to set your eyes on the same portrait the bard would have seen too. Read more about the first portrait of the National Portrait Gallery.

Warren Hastings, Sir Joshua Reynolds, c.1767

The subject of this painting is the Governor of India, Warren Hastings who is acknowledged to have completed the transformation of the East India Company into a great military and naval power.  However, it is not the subject of the painting which is of the most importance. Sir Joshua Reynolds founded the Royal Academy in the same year as this portrait was painted and so is very much a painting of the time. Joshua Reynolds created the idea of celebrity, people wanted to be seen with him. He was a classical master, a devotee of the grand style (neoclassical). He practised the crib of Rafael believing new techniques had every chance to fail. Sticking to a tried and tested template was sure to benefit from political and critical success.

Blake and Turner studied directly under Reynolds. At some point, as with every teacher/pupil relationship the pupils rebel, seeking something less restrictive. Read more about this portrait.You should follow me on twitter here

Holy Week in Rome

Holy Week in Rome

Holy Week began with Palm Sunday for Christians, while the Jewish community is observing Passover. These are among the most important days of the year for their respective religions. Passover marks the end of Jewish slavery under the Egyptian Pharaoh  Ramses II, more than 3,300 years ago, while Holy Week celebrates the final days of Jesus’ life, with his crucifixion and subsequent resurrection among the central tenets of the Christian faith.

Rome is connected to Christianity in many ways: it’s the official residence of Pope Frances, has over 900 cathedrals, churches and chapels, and is the reputed resting place of St Peter, one of Jesus’ apostles. As such, there are few places on Earth that celebrate Easter with the same gusto this Italian city. Here, there are many special services to mark the most important Christian festival, and in Holy Week the city is flooded with religious tourists.

The Vatican City

Situated within Rome is the Vatican City which is home to the Head of the Catholic Church, the Pope. The most popular place to visit at Easter time is St Peter’s Square (Piazza San Pietro) and St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, where many services are delivered by the Pope himself. The main event is Easter Sunday Mass, where huge crowds gather in the square to hear the Pope’s “Urbi et Orbi” message from the balcony of the papal apartments.

The Colosseum

The Colosseum also has a very strong connection to Christianity, with particular reference to the early Christians that were said to have been persecuted for their faith in God, by being thrown to the lions. On Good Friday an evening vigil called the ‘Stations of the Cross’ is presided over by the Pope in the Colosseum.

Scala Santa

A more unusual but no less popular destination for pilgrims is the Scala Santa (Holy Stairs), reportedly the steps that led up to the official residence of Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem. It is believed that they were transported to Rome in the 4th Century AD by St Helena, and are now encased by protective walnut boards to guard against damage.

Visiting Rome and the Vatican City Rome is a gorgeous city to visit the whole year round, but it is particularly attractive during holy week.

Rome Best European City for Hostels

Marilyn Monroe - a British Love Affair

Jack Cardiff, British cinematographer, director and photographer

Sunday 24th March saw the end of a boutique exhibition of Marilyn Monroe - a British Love Affair at the National Portrait Gallery. The NPG has a very specific aim; "‘to promote through the medium of portraits the appreciation and understanding of the men and women who have made and are making British history and culture, and ... to promote the appreciation and understanding of portraiture in all media.’" One icon who made a significant impact on the world's media was was Marilyn Monroe. 

The exhibition focused on the time when Monroe visited Britain at the height  of her glittering career in 1956 to film The Prince and the Showgirl, a Laurence Olivier film.

Celebrating the life of Marilyn Monroe through her connections with Great Britain, the small exhibition covered her journey from pin-up to renowned Hollywood actress. This was shown mainly through photos by British photographers Antony Beauchamp, Baron, Cecil Beaton, Larry Barrows and Jack Cardiff (pictured above). A few magazines from a private collection provided a rare snippet of publishing in context.


If you missed the chance to see this gem of an exhibition then perhaps the film My week with Marilyn, 2011 will give you an idea of how us Brits fell in love with the most famous woman on Earth on her first trip to our island. Watch the trailer for a taster.  

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