With both World Gin Day, Oslo Gin Festival, World Martini Day, and spring turning to summer, June may be the best month of the year.
June is a good month if you like gin and Martini. It does not matter if you like your gin or Martini straight up, on the rocks, or in a cocktail. You will be guaranteed to find something right up your alley.
First up is World Gin Day. This always falls on the second Saturday of June. The date this year was 10. June. This day is widely celebrated all over the world with gin tastings, distillery tours, and other events. Read my blog post World Gin Day 2017 to know more.
World Martini Day 2017
World Martini Day is June 19. While it’s practical to have a fixed date, it makes it hard to celebrate if it falls outside of a weekend. To me, it seems like World Martini Day is more celebrated in the United States than anywhere else. This may be because the Martini cocktail is an American invention.
The Martini cocktail
A classic Martini is a vermouth mixed with either gin or vodka. A Dry Martini is made with gin. A Martini made with vodka is sometimes called a Vodkatini. The name Martini stems from the Italian company Martini&Rossi. Interested in learning more about vermouth? Read my blog post What is vermouth?
[stextbox id=”custom” bgcolor=”E8E8E8″ bgcolorto=”FFFFFF” image=”null”] Shaken or stirred? What is the difference? Find out here. [/stextbox]
Oslo Gin Festival 2017
Oslo Gin Festival opened its doors for the first time in 2016. Read my blog post about Oslo Gin Festival 2016. The first event managed to get around 300 visitors. This year, the number of visitors had tripled. Considering that the event is open for only four hours, this made it really crowded. Already, the people behind Oslo Gin Festival is considering making it a two-day event.
Oslo Håndverksdestilleri
Norway has got its share of unique small-batch distillers. This year, I think that Oslo Håndverksdestilleri (translates to Oslo Craft Distillery) was the one standing out in the crowd. Founded in 2015, the Oslo-based company has some really unique products. Their gin is called Vidda (translates to mountain-plain). Vidda is made using locally grown botanicals. For me, this was mountain hiking in a bottle.
“Close your eyes as you drink and you could be standing in the middle of a pine forest with wild flowers at your feet.”
– Gin Monkey
OHD offers a wide range of experiences from tastings to courses and the possibility to make your own gin. Check out oslodistillery.com.