The Gin Festival tours the UK this autumn

If you were in Birmingham this past weekend, you must have swung by the city’s first Gin Festival - if you could get a ticket. The two-day event sold out on Saturday, the 6th of September - its first day - and had few tickets left for the Sunday, a testament to the exploding popularity of what was once thought an outmoded spirit. 

If you missed the Birmingham event, don’t worry. The Gin Festival will keep the gin flowing throughout the Autumn with five additional events planned through December.

The Gin Festival, whose website slogan is “Life’s too short for single gins,” is the brainchild of a husband and wife team with a passion for gin, Jym and Marie Harris. Because they weren’t finding the tasting opportunities they sought elsewhere, they decided to organize their own events. After the success of their inaugural event in December 2013 at Leeds, they followed up in April 2014 in Manchester. 

This autumn, after Birmingham, the couple are bringing their event to Hull (13th September), Nelson (4th October), Sheffield (1st November), Newscastle (15th November), and Leeds (5th-6th December). 

The events feature over 50 of the top gins in the UK (70 were featured in Birmingham) as well as Masterclasses, food and entertainment. With tickets at £6 and full measures of excellent gin at £4, you can’t afford not to go! 

As a bonus, here are Jym's top five favourite gins reported in the Birmingham Post.