The luscious gardens at The Goring in London’s Belgravia have opened up for the summer and are featuring a living hill of heather and wildflowers surrounded by a mini forest of botanicals… all of which is really a gin bar in disguise.
Throughout the summer, Hepple Gin – (TV chef and food writer Valentine Warner’s new and impossibly complex creation alongside best friend Walter Riddell) – is hosting Gin masterclasses and sniffological botanical safaris in the hotel’s private garden.
“There are two ways to immerse yourself in gin,” says Jeremy Goring, chief executive at The Goring. “Fall into a still (difficult, dangerous, a glorious death), or come to the Goring Gin Safari and allow the aromas of juniper, Douglas fir, lovage, blackcurrant and bog myrtle to waft up your nose, while Hepple’s amazing creations are served to you in cocktail form in our lovely gardens.”
Made in Northumberland, Hepple Gin is the brainchild of Valentine Warner and his childhood friend Walter Riddell.Produced using complex, perfectionist processes not used by any other gin, Hepple recently won the gold medal at the World Spirits awards in San Francisco.It is arguably the most studied, faithfully-produced gin being made today.
Walter Riddell, MD of Hepple Gin says:“Hepple is a classic gin with veneers of tradition – but with a modern, iconoclastic flourish – just like The Goring. I am thrilled to be bringing a bit of the Hepple estate and the wild Northumberland moors to such a stylish spot.”
A menu of new cocktails has been specially created by the Hepple team to bring the flavours of Northumberland deliciously to The Goring:Hepple Martini; Northside Collins; Hepple 75; Cosmopolitan Daisy and a Summer Cup.
To complement the Hepple cocktails, a menu of gin-inspired light bites – such as pine and juniper cured salmon with black bread – has been curated by The Goring’s Chef Shay Cooper in collaboration with Valentine Warner.