wine tasting

The Wine and Spirits Show

Like most people, here at The Amazing Blog, we love to unwind after a long day with a nice drink, and we’re so excited to expand our knowledge at The Wine and Spirits Show returning to London on the 3rd and 4th of April.

After two sold-out shows in 2019, attended by over 1500 people, The Wine and Spirits Show will be back at One Whitehall Palace this spring. The show will feature the best brands in wines and spirits as well as a beer zone, a gin and tonic bar and two free masterclasses on exciting topics, including champagne. Delicious food stands will also be featured at the event. We all know wine and cheese make an excellent pair, and Paxton & Whitfield, official cheese providers to the Queen, will be onsite to offer the perfect cheese pairing to your favourite wine or spirit.

The Wine Hall will highlight international producers, wine regions and wine merchants. The Wine Hall will also showcase award-winning wines judged by Masters of Wine in the prestigious Global Masters competitions. 

The other hall featured at the show, The Spirits Hall, will offer everything from gin and whiskey to tequila, rum and mezcal. Both halls include a New Products Zone showcasing popular wines and spirits launched within the last year, keeping attendees up to date with trends and new releases. Also included in the show is a Global Beer Zone where guests will have the chance to sample a wide variety of brews from every style produced all over the world.

Tickets can be purchased for £55.00 here. One Whitehall Palace is located at 1 Whitehall Ct, Westminster, London, SW1A 2EJ. Starting at 14.00 – 20.00 we’re looking forward to an afternoon of sipping some of the best vineyards and distilleries in the world!

Drinks in Tube

The drinks trolley trend has been on the rise for some time now, and when we at The Amazing Blog are hosting a dinner party or a get-together we love to have this as our centre piece. As any cocktail lovers will know, having a variety of spirits on tap can be quite pricey; and the last thing we want to do is break the bank, with all our inventive and one-off cocktails. So when we received both the Masons Gin Tasting Sets and The Spirit Adventure from the brilliant creators at Drinks In Tube, it certainly put our bartending skills to the test making new tantalising tipples. The Hampshire-based team at Drinks In Tube started to curate their own sets of wines and spirits in unique glass tubes in 2015. They wanted to share their passion, knowledge and love for the finest drinks that they could find, all at an affordable price. Discovering new and unique spirits and wines has never been easier, more affordable or quite such fun as this.

The first box we opened was the Masons Gin Tasting Set. This set comes with four 50ml tubes of various unique gins at 42% ABV and we simply couldn’t wait to get mixing. Masons Dry Yorkshire Gin was set up by the husband and wife team, Karl and Cathy Mason who have since won Gold Medals at The Gin Masters. The first gin up is their Classic Dry Gin, which boasts full fennel and green apple flavours that are perfectly balanced with a citrus infusion, which left our mouths simply watering for more. Next up is the Masons Tea Edition, which we felt calling our name from the beginning. We found that this gin balances the robust tea flavour with herbal, citrus and spice notes for a wonderfully full and aromatic gin that satisfies our daily dose of tea (and has to be our favourite). After this, we drank the Lavender Edition for a fun twist to our classic gin and tonic. The soft and sweet lavender notes really hit every spot as we quickly sipped away. Lastly, we mixed up some tonic with the Sloe Distilled Limited Edition. Rather than infused with the sloe berries, this gin has been distilled with them, which created quite an unexpected twist, especially when garnished with a touch of fresh strawberries and mint; our mouths water simply thinking about it. We think this set is the perfect gift for the gin lover in your life or even just as a little way to treat yourself. With each tube being 50ml it makes it very portable and also perfect for a quick 'snifter' at picnics or point-to-points!

The Spirit Adventure set definitely took us on a delectable journey. This one comes with three 50ml spirits: Butterscotch Vodka (37.5% abv), the Philippe de Castaigne Cognac (40% abv), and the Masons Yorkshire Gin from the last set. We took their recommendation to the next level with the Butterscotch vodka and added it to a milkshake and it was a hit with everyone. The creamy flavour of the vodka really took our milkshake to the next level (!) And last but not least, we treated ourselves to the Cognac. This one is carefully aged in oak barrels for at least 4 years and has wonderful notes of vanilla, walnut and hazelnut that warmed us right up on a chilly night. This one is perfect as a gift for those who like a little taste of everything.

And last but not least for all the wine lovers out there, Drinks In Tube have recently launched their wine tasting subscription service. In summary, this service will include five 100ml servings of wines from around the world, delivered to your door each month. The sleek box also comes with a tasting card to guide you on your journey each month. It is available for 3, 6 & 12 months here. The Masons Gin Tasting Set can be purchased here for £24.99 and The Spirit Adventure can be purchased here for £19.99. We say "Cheers" to discovering new favourites!