Gin...

With Christmas hurtling towards us (the Christmas Markets were being put up yesterday afternoon) I’ve been putting some thought into presents. I’ve been trying to track down a particular gin. Gin is big news in the UK at the moment. Gin is the new vodka I read. But it can’t be any old gin. Knocking back some mass produced gin from some multinational company won’t do. If you’re going to drink gin, it has to be an artisanal, local gin and I’d been on the track of a bottle of Thomas Dakin gin, a Manchester gin that has been made in the city since 1761. They make it is very small batches and is quite difficult to come by. It’s flavoured with juniper, orange peel, coriander, angelica, grapefruit and liquorice among other things. Harvey Nichols had run out and it wasn’t sure if any more could be obtained before Christmas. Yesterday,at Lunya, my eyes were drawn to a bottle on a high shelf in the Lunya delicatessen. It was the very gin. And here it is. Not cheap but it will be appreciated.