Gin Master Class at Bassenthwaite Lake Station

Bassenthwaite Lake Station, Cumbria. Friday 02-August-2025.

It might be a bit of hyperbole to call it a Master Class but it was an opportunity to try three local gins with different tonic waters (all from Fever-Tree) and a variety of garnishes. 

Regular readers may remember that the first in my series of alternative CV was My life in ... Gin. When this tasting came up, we just had to book!

We went along with our friends Andrew and Sarah. Mary is not a great fan of gin and nobly volunteered to be designated driver. 

The set up was that for each gin in turn we were given a measure of gin, a bottle of tonic and a variety of orange, lemon, lime, etc to choose from. Mary took the tiniest sip of each of the gins. Once we had tasted each in combination with the tonic Mary and I would try a couple of different garnishes so we could compare-and-contrast, Mary then handed her G&T to one of the three of us.

This prompted me to outline what I consider proper gin and tonic etiquette sadly not always followed by waiters in bars.

• The ice should be modest in quantity. Two or three cubes. Not an entire tumbler full of ice cubes that freeze the gin making it harder to taste. We are not in America where they go overboard on the ice! Italy is also guilty of this. Also, as you get further down the drink, it gets weaker and weaker as the ice melts and you end up drinking cold water.
• The tonic should be delivered on the side. I hate it when they pour the whole bottle in and deliver it ready mixed. The customer should be able to taste the gin on its own before adding the tonic and the amount of tonic to be added is a matter of personal taste.
• I don’t need a straw. Seemingly in Italy every mixed drink comes with a plastic straw. Firstly, I am not a child, I can drink straight from the glass and secondly what a waste of plastic, entirely unnecessary.
• I have no problem with gin being used in all manner of cocktails but whenever I have tried flavoured gin, I have found it to be a dire concoction. I have tried berry flavoured gin and marmalade flavoured gin. Not for me. I ended up using the latter to pour on ice cream to make a kind of Dom Pedro.

The gins we tasted were: 

Hawk Hill - 40%, served  with Fever-Tree Original tonic.

A lock-down creation by the folk at Tractor Shed brewery who perfected the botanicals with inspiration and foraging from the field known as Hawk Hill, behind the farm. Look for rosehip and nettles. They advise us to try it with a slice of apple! 

• A very pleasant mild gin, even Mary liked it! I got pepper and liquorice on the palate. According to Rachel, the distiller sitting opposite me, it was in fact liquorice root that is one of their botanicals. I wasn’t able to detect rose hip or nettles, but they did admit that they were minor components. 
• We tried it with apple but I think it was too firm a fruit to contribute any flavour. We tried it with cucumber as well, but conversely that was a little too overpowering. Probably best to stick with one of the citrus fruits. 

Lakes Distillery - 46%, served with Fever-Tree Light tonic.

A classic English gin with vibrant notes of black pepper, juniper and orange resulting in an exceptionally smooth London Dry-style gin. Try it with a slice of pink grapefruit. 

• Very clean flavour with no single botanical dominating. It was the strongest of the set at 46%, but the extra proof wasn’t apparent on the palate. Normally it would come through as extra heat.
• It reminded me of Graveney gin which we met first met in Tooting Market, South London and was the first time I been recommended grapefruit with gin. It worked really well.
• We also tried Lakes gin with orange and both agreed that we actually preferred orange as the garnish. 

Pennington's Lakeland Moon, Ramblers gin - Batch 6 - 40%, served with Fever-Tree Mediterranean tonic.

Created in the Lake District, Pennington's forage for wild junipers and elderflowers from the lake district fells combined with bergamot and Sicilian mandarin peels to create this vibrant London Dry gin. The maker recommends Fever-Tree Mediterranean tonic, orange peel and rosemary to garnish.

• This one actually came across as a little more fiery despite it being a lesser ABV than the Lakes gin. 
• We tried it with lime plus rosemary and orange peel plus rosemary. We preferred the latter combination although I am not sure the rosemary contributed much.
• This was the favourite of all four of us.

I am a great fan of Fever-Tree tonic. When I discovered it, it became my tonic of choice. The choice of tonic does matter. A couple of years ago I bought a bottle of Shed 1 gin from a stall at Winter Droving and the distiller himself manning the stall said he had no particular recommendation apart from avoid Fentimans because the botanicals in Fentimans tonic clash with those in his gin. Interesting I thought.

An interesting and thought provoking tasting.