Liverpool Gin Distillery

Head to Liverpool Gin Distillery to drink gin, make gin, learn about gin and talk about gin. Food is something of a side hustle here, eating a necessity to aid and abet the drinking, line the stomach. Nonetheless, it’s a not-half-bad side hustle, and the menu is still being developed.

For now, there is a choice of small plates and sharing platters, with a selection of cured meats and cheeses, and cured meats or cheeses. There are also grilled flatbreads, with various choices of fillings, from the unusual anchovies, shallots and parsley to various vegetarian offerings, including Stilton rarebit. Nibbles, or “picking”, range from nuts and olives to dishes that won’t look out of place if you decide to go down the tapas route – salt and pepper squid, fried whitebait with tartare sauce and ham croquettes have spread of Spanish snacks written all over them. Add in a plate of air-dried ham from Woodall’s in Cumbria, the grilled prawns with garlic mayo, and one of the three choices of chips, and you might fancy yourself downstairs in a Mallorcan or Marbellan gin bar, not a basement lounge on Castle Street. Then again, the “plates” section is pretty varied in inspiration, and the first listing is traditional Scouse with red cabbage and bread and butter. There’s also a ham and cheese brioche toastie and a black pudding sausage roll – all of which will serve perfectly as ballast before hitting the gins.

Talking of gins, Liverpool Gin Distillery produces its very own premier-branded Liverpool Organic Gin on site in a custom-built 600-litre copper still on the ground floor, where you can watch the distillers in action. Aside from the plain version, there are also currently three flavoured gins: rose petal, Valencian orange, and lemongrass and ginger.

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