Summerhall Distillery
There are times a great idea knocks your socks off and occasionally dents your confidence in taking public transport… I was recently treated to a gin cocktail and cheese pairing session at Summerhall Distillery, yes: gin and cheese, whoever would have thought? The brainchild of Summerhall’s Head of Visitor Experience Team, Marina Capaldi, she shrugged and said: “Well, I’m French!” No more explanation needed.
I’ve been to plenty a booze tasting session and at times they can be a bit of an over informative drag. Not in this case. Marina guides us through three astounding gin cocktails we make ourselves and explains why they go so well with her specially curated Iain Mellis cheese selections. Not only are the results delicious, Marina has a wealth of knowledge about not only the DNA of the three Summerhall’s Pickerings Gin’s we use, but also the history and manufacture of the spirit itself and cocktails in general.
We all remember our favourite teacher who could make learning effortless and Marina has an inspiring and entertaining style which makes our class fun and sociable. My favourite cocktail of the afternoon was the Indian Garden and I thoroughly recommend you dash out and purchase Pickering’s 1947 Gin and make it on the first sign of sunshine.
We muddled a couple of slices or fresh ginger with six mint leaves, added 25ml lemon juice, 10ml simple syrup, 50ml Pickering’s 1947 Gin, shook it up with ice, poured the lot into a highball glass and topped it up with Cloudy Apple Cider. A cucumber ribbon, mint and lemon garnish later and I was just about transported to heaven.
This potent concoction was paired with both Anster and Loch Arthur Cheddar. Sublime. From the way our cocktail making stations were set up to the relaxing lounge music playing in the background, this was a well thought through and most enjoyable event. Furthermore, the drinks are rather strong. My kind dad had offered to give me a lift home and independent woman I am, I had said no, I’ll get the bus. Second cocktail in I was texting him that I might be in need of a lift and would want the Taxi of Dad after all. My cocktail companions were rather bemused, but all I could do was shrug and say: “Only Child.”
Cocktail and Cheese experience costs £48 per person. Book at pickeringsgin.com
Holyrood Distillery
Holyrood Distillery have launched EH Evenings. Every Thursday Edinburgh residents can experience a complimentary distillery tour and spirit samples then have exclusive access to their bar where you can enjoy live music and cocktails. Holyrood is a cool little distillery and well worth a visit. To book a ticket visit holyrooddistillery.co.uk
Edinburgh Street Food
Sometimes I like to show my age by telling people I remember the days when there was one bar on George Street (Madogs, may it rest in peace) and the only street food in Edinburgh was the man who makes burgers in the Kirkgate Shopping Centre (still going strong).
Anyway, street food is all the rage these days and people go quite bonkers for it. Edinburgh Street Food has opened their doors with a vast indoor and outside seating space at Leith Street, taking over a large chunk of the Omni Centre. When I visited on an early Thursday evening the place was mobbed, but we managed to squeeze in on the end of one of their eight seater tables. With ten vendors to choose from the options might have seemed rather overwhelming but ordering through the app we quickly opted for a chicken Paella, £10, from The House of Tapas, a Detroit Style Margherita Pizza, £14 from Homies and a couple of glasses of wine at £7.50 each.
The food was great but with the paella arriving almost straight away and the pizza half an hour later we might have been wiser to all choose sharing dishes. I like the concept, as it allows smaller independent outfits to share a massive space that guarantees them a reliable and generous footfall of diners.
I’d definitely enjoy the experience more if I’d been with a big crowd taking over a table to ourselves rather than dining with strangers. but as you can’t book a table that might be a bit of a challenge. However, they have DJs and live events on and it’s all a bit of fun.
Edinburgh Street Food has been a very quick success, may they enjoy the longevity of the burger chap at the Kirkgate.
