When your Dad and family friends absolutely rave about a gin tour and mention it all of the time, you know it's going to be good. As a gift, Elliot and I were given tickets to Tarquin's Gin Tour in Cornwall and I'd been looking forward to going for quite a while. Based on a farm near Padstow, the tour takes about an hour and a half and it was a brilliant way to spend a Saturday afternoon...
Tarquins Gin Tour Review
We were greeted on arrival by the very friendly tour manager and both given a double of their dry gin and tonic to start. There were about 12 of us on the tour, so we sipped our drinks and waited for everyone else to arrive. The gin tour started with a brief explanation of the company, it's history and who Tarquin is. (Yes, he's a real person)
Once we'd been brought up to speed with the story of Tarquin's Gin we were taken into their warehouse where they distill all of the spirits. All of their gins and rums are distilled at the site, and we saw the different stills used for each of the different products.
Up until January this year, all of the bottles were hand; poured, corked, labelled and waxed. They now have technology that does all of the above for them, bar the waxing, which is still all done by hand. What's crazy to see is how small the warehouse is, I was expecting a far bigger operation!
Once we'd seen where the gin is made and the group had asked any questions they had, we headed back to the tour room to 4 different gins waiting for us to try. Set out on a surfboard, we each had a single of; the Navy Strength Gin (57%), the Hell Bay Gin (which is a limited edition one made with seaweed), the Rhubarb and Raspberry Gin & the Blood Orange Gin. Each of the gins was paired with a bottle of Fever Tree Tonic and I have to say I loved 3 of the 4. No prizes for guessing which one didn't go down quite so well... (Ahem, seaweed). The Navy Strength one we initially tried straight and it certainly is strong enough to blow your socks off. But, as soon as you add the tonic, it's really smooth and goes down an absolute treat. Almost too well.
After we'd finished our initial tasting, the team then asked if there was anything else we wanted to try from the shelves and shelves of delicious looking bottles. We tried a small sample of the limited edition Black Cherry Gin, the Pastis (which was actually very tasty and nothing like Sambuka) and a couple of the rums.
Whilst all of the drinks were tasty, there was one stand out one for us; the Blood Orange Gin. Elliot and I bought a bottle of it and I can't wait to sip one (or three) in the sun. It's a fresh and fruity sunny drink.
As you can probably see from the pictures, all of the Tarquin's Gin bottles have their signature waxing. This is actually something you are able to have a go at as part of the tour at an additional £30 (but only on the Dry Gin). A bottle normally is £36, so if you're looking at buying a bottle anyway, it's an absolute no brainer.
The whole experience was truly brilliant and I'd highly recommend it to anyone who is a gin fan. It was interesting and educational but certainly wasn't stale or boring. The girls who did our tour were absolutely brilliant and, as expected, all of the gins were genuinely fantastic.
One thing to note, the distillery is in the middle of nowhere, so if you're planning on doing it, definitely pre-arrange your transport there and back. There were a couple of designated drivers in our tour group who were given plenty of soft drinks, but it definitely wasn't the same experience!
Have you done Tarquin's Gin Tour?
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