Yesterday marked the final challenge on the road to Ginternship; The Ginterview!
ILoveGin.com had pulled out all the stops in arranging this final stage and revealed the location of the interviews to be The Distillery at Portobello Road, home of Portobello Road Gin.
I have to be honest, my arrival in London was far from graceful, having woken at 4.30am to leave home by car at 5.30, I foolishly assumed that 4.5 hours to make a 2.5 hour journey would suffice, how wrong I was. Murphy's Law 'aint got nothing on yesterday morning, lets just say that! I burst, sweating and panting, through the door of The Distillery in the nick of time, having run across what felt like the majority of London...to be greeted by the team at ILoveGin and the other finalists (all looking decidedly less sweaty and stressed than myself). Not the best start I grant you.
Stage One:
So for this stage we had been asked to prepare a pitch, including questions, for the team at Portobello Road Gin. Selling them on the idea of signing on with ILoveGin and at the same time, ascertaining their suitability as a prospective brand partnership. I'd prepared a few notes and dutifully met with the Brand Ambassador - Paul Gillan - to chat....made somewhat more nerve wracking by the presence of one of the ILG team, quietly note-taking in the corner. Selling someone on a company partnership - no problem! Selling someone on a company partnership whilst representative from said company is in the room assessing you....whole different story!
Stage Two:
The cocktail/signature serve round!
A couple of weeks prior to yesterday, we had been asked to prepare a signature serve to present on the day, with some semblance of reasoning as to why...a back story or basis to the serve we were presenting, if you will.
I wont go into the umming and ahhhing which preceded my eventual decision, but needless to say it involved a fair amount of research based G&T's! (I'd like to take a moment to thank my good friend James here, who selflessly joined me on my quest to find the perfect pairing, despite nearing death-by-man-flu)...I toyed with the idea of a salt and seaweed based G&T on the basis that I am from a coastal part of the UK. However, I eventually settled on one of my original ideas which was to involve tea. Now, after a couple of (rather delicious) attempts with Earl Grey, I headed on to the spicier notes of Chai, which paired beautifully with the botanicals of Portobello Road. My reasoning behind the involvement of tea, is as a nod to my incredible Grandfather who unfortunately passed away only two weeks ago. I have wonderfully fond memories of his love of tea, and his kitchen filled with beautifully decorative tins of loose leaf tea in a multitude of flavours. So, thank you Grandpa David, you're my inspiration in so many different ways. Sleep well old man.
I will follow this blog post up with a recipe post detailing my final cocktail so definitely check that out if you're intrigued (or bored) enough to find out what I presented. But for now, here's a sneak peek.
I have to take a second to raise a glass to my fellow competitors who seriously wowed me with their Gin creations. Everything from chilli G&T's to magical colour changing cocktails!
Interview and signature serve completed, the awesome team at ILoveGin had a little treat for us up their metaphorical sleeves.
Not only a complete gin-crafting lesson from the folk at Portobello Road Gin, including nosing and tasting of botanicals at their incredible 'Ginstitute' .... but the opportunity to then use this information, and create our very own 70cl bottle of gin infused with our very own unique blend of botanicals.
I feel so privileged and grateful to have been part of this entire experience. Thank you so much to the team at ILoveGin.Com, Paul and the team at Portobello Road Gin, and of course, my fellow finalists.
Win or lose, its been one hell of a ride.
For more information on the 'Ginstitute' at Portobello Road, click HERE
For more information on ILoveGin click HERE
No comments
Post a Comment