If you weren’t lucky enough to venture to the wacky venue, Hendrick’s Carnival of Knowledge was situated in a gentleman’s beautiful seafront home – straddling the border between Brighton and Hove. The workshop took place in his well-stocked kitchen where around 10 of us squeezed in and nursed through the production of four delicious twists on the classic ‘gin and tonic’. There were staff members milling around and giggling which could have made the whole thing feel slapdash, but in fact added to the homeliness and comfort of the experience.
The first beverage was a quite simple gin, lemon and sugar syrup concoction, but we promptly moved on to more complex and strange ingredients, such as jam, elderflower cordial, mint and raspberry puree. And each of these drinks was quite delectable. Even my gin-skeptical companion was thoroughly impressed and kept exclaiming about having never drunk gin that tasted so good.
One of the nicest aspects of the workshop was that the ingredients and tools that we used weren’t too fancy at all – in fact, as the couple next to us commented, the jam jars, bowls and cups we used to measure out and contain our ingredients could be found in pretty much any kitchen. It really did cater to the cocktail novices of the world!
To wrap the whole experience off, we took our cocktail-filled teapots out of the kitchen, down a spiral staircase, and into a cosy but decadent garden area. We all sat around and had an enjoyably inebriated chat whilst sipping on the fruits of our labour; a lovely garnish to the cocktail of pleasantries.
Jim: the man who ran the whole show, and guided us through the trials, tribulations and joys of cocktail preparation – was a thoroughly interesting and enjoyable character. He was somewhat flustered to begin with because there were more participants than he expected, but he dealt with the situation admirably. He was clear and self-assured, which was crossed with a somewhat enigmatic reserve – the perfect gentleman for the job.
