We can’t think of a better way to spend a few hours on a Saturday sitting in a beautiful barn surrounded by botanicals, bottles of gin, more gin and fellow gin lovers.

Welcome to the Henley Distillery Gin Experience…and what an experience it is. Taking place in the hub of the distillery, it’s a full on tour & tasting during which, you learn about the history of gin and its distilling journey.

Before proceedings even start we are welcomed with a Henley Gin & tonic. Perfect way to start any afternoon. Our host, guide and tutor for the day was Alan Wilson, father of Jacob who is one of the youngest Master Distillers in the country and, as his Dad says, the brains & the palate behind the business.

The gin infused afternoon starts with a taste of The Henley Distillery gins – Classic, Rhubarb & Orange and Oriental Spiced.

It is a relaxed and chilled out vibe of inquisitive enthusiasts in the stunning converted barn. Alan takes us through a history of gin and why the purity of how they make their gin is so important, and this shows, boy does this show. All of their gins are so sublimely smooth that any one of them can be sipped neat over ice.

But we’re here not to just guzzle their superb gin but to have a go at making our own.

It’s a real family affair as Terry Wilson, Jacob’s Mum, an accomplished Chef, takes us through the flavour profiles and how to choose from the extraordinary number of botanicals (over 100) at our disposal. Giving us tips and guidance on how much of which botanical and flavours we pop into our own beautiful miniature copper stills.

You get to write your ingredients on your own recipe card, which the distillery keeps in case you want a bottle of your bespoke gin made for you, how brilliant is that!

Botanicals chosen they go in the copper, the heat is on and then we have to wait. Time to try another gin whilst waiting for ours to filter through.

What’s great is that there’s not just Henley Gin to choose from for a snifter or two whilst waiting for the magic to happen but a whole array of gins, including many that the distillery make for other brands, and collaborations making bespoke blends for shops like Pavilion Foods in Henley.

Our gins are ready to finish off and like excited school children we skip over to our individual stills and pour into our very own bottle and then to taste properly, over ice with tonic. Fantastic.

This really is a full on immersive experience where you get to learn, taste and get properly hands on.

To cap it off, our last treat of the day was tasting the distillery’s very first Spiced Rum…delicious. But you need to get in quick as only 420 been made, each numbered by hand, and are only available to buy via their website or by visiting the distillery.

We loved every minute, thoroughly enjoyable and highly recommend the experience for everyone, not just gin lovers, but that may help!

Included in The Henley Distillery Gin Experience:

• A tour of the distillery, learning about the history of gin from a Head Distiller
• A gin tasting including a variety of flavours produced on site including:
  • Raspberry & Black Pepper
  • Spiced Orange
  • Lemon & Chilli
  • Oriental Spiced
• 2x large G&Ts plus a gin cocktail
• The use of your own individual still to produce a full-size 70cl bottle of bespoke gin
• Advice and guidance on recipe development form our gin experts
• The choice of over 100 botanicals from our apothecary including tonquin beans, chilli & English rhubarb
• Your own recipe written on a personalised label and stored on file for the future

To book your experience or to find out more visit The Henley Distillery