Good times and G&Ts galore: What went down at Hong Kong’s five-day gin festival!

Hong Kong’s first ever East Imperial Gin Jubilee, the five-day festival of parties, tastings and tours devoted to the most bewitching and botanical of spirits, ended almost two weeks ago. We might still be recovering, if we’re honest.

As devoted gin drinkers and the Jubilee’s exclusive media partner here in HK, we had the privilege of taking part in all the festivities from beginning to end, so here’s a recap for all of you who missed out – or who have trouble remembering what happened after the third drink!


A refreshing-as-hell G&T made with grapefruit tonic water, with a slice of grapefruit thrown in for good measure. The thirst is real.

The Jubilee kicked off on Tuesday, Aug. 30, with the chilled out “Tunes & Tonic” party at Potato Head, where we filled our bellies with tasty canapes before getting down to business with some seriously delicious drinks.

East Imperial’s boutique tonics were paired with with Citadelle, a French craft gin made with 19 botanics, and Death’s Door (kickass name) from Washington Island, which features savourier notes of coriander and fennel. The kick-off also marked the beginning of the “Best G&T” competition, during which bartenders from all 18 participating bars across the city would be serving up their take on the classic drink.


The Best G&T entry from Mercedes Me, featuring The Botanist gin and Old World tonic water

The next evening, we teamed up with Proof & Co., a leading craft spirits distributor in the region, to co-host 10 Coconuts Hong Kong readers on our exclusive Gin Ramble tour. We visited four of the city’s best bars and sampled the cocktails each establishment was entering into the “Best G&T” competition, guided by Proof & Co.’s Spirits Evangelist and General Manager, Jeremy Moreau, who explained the history and flavour profiles of each gin on offer.


The Pontiac’s bartender Nastasia Vera preparing her take on the gin and tonic, called “The Martian”

First stop on the tour was The Pontiac, one of our favourite haunts in the city, where bartender Nastasia Vera whipped up “The Martian”, made with Aviation gin, a sweet Burma tonic from East Imperial, and a homemade cherry and rhubarb jam. The result was a sweet, slightly unorthodox G&T which, as Nastasia put it, “tastes like apple pie”. Yum.


Our lovely guests sippin’ their “Grizzly Berries” at The Woods

We then wandered down to The Woods on Wyndham Street, where Tina Gurung made us “Grizzly Berries”, a cocktail made with St. George Terroir gin, Burma tonic, blackberries, and a sprig of rosemary.


Smart.

Instead of chilling the drink with regular ice cubes, Tina had the novel idea of making ice cubes out of blackberry juice and whole berries, so our drinks wouldn’t be diluted as we learned about the history of St. George’s Spirits.

We were super lucky to then get a sneak peek at Ee Da Le, one of Harlan Goldstein’s four new restaurants that are being opened on 8 Lyndhurst Terrace. Since it hadn’t officially opened yet, we had the whole restaurant to ourselves as we listened to bartender Eddie Sung tell us about his pineapple and sage drink, made with Ford’s Gin.

Finally, we ended the tour at Foxglove, where the speakeasy’s dapper bartender, Binay Thapa, made us a classic gin and tonic with Citadelle gin, Burma tonic, and a hint of lemongrass.

All that drinking on an empty stomach made us feel a bit peckish, so we went along to masterclass led by Proof & Co.’s Portfolio Director David Cordoba the next day, where he taught us how to pair G&Ts with equally classy food – oysters!


David doin’ his thing

We sipped on some delightfully citrusy Ford’s gin in luxury British furniture shop Timothy Oulton… which, conveniently enough, comes with its own wall of oyster shells:

On Saturday, we headed down to Wo On Lane in Lan Kwai Fong with our bottles in hand and spades of optimism as we prepared our pop up bar for the Gin Lane street party.

Visitors got the chance to try all the different gin and tonics that had been vying for the title of “Best G&T” in one convenient location, at a flat rate of HKD50 each.

We got to meet loads of fantastic people, from longtime Coconuts readers to revellers who had simply popped by out of curiosity.


Photo: Jonathon Morton

A DJ spun track after track as a street artist painted some killer graffiti live… we think this is a masterpiece, but we may be biased.

As the street got a bit more crowded, some of the Proof & Co. and East Imperial guys took it upon themselves to cool everyone down… with a gin and tonic water gun fight! (Okay, we may have joined in.)

Towards the end of the night, it was announced that Tomi Ho from Urban Park won the “Best G&T” competition, with his “Salad Gin & Tonic” which was made of Hendrick’s Gin, yuzu tonic water, and fresh lemon juice, garnished with pickled pearl onion, cherry tomato, and cucumber.

He won a two-day trip to the Singapore Gin Jubilee in November, where he’ll compete with four other bartenders to have his drink crowned the best G&T in Asia.


Tomi Ho’s “Salad Gin & Tonic”, officially the best G&T in the city!

Good luck, Tomi! The Gin Jubilee will be making its way to Phnom Penh (Oct. 6-8) and Bangkok (Oct. 27-29) before the final iteration in its original city, Singapore (Nov. 20-26). We’re partnering up with these delightful folks again for the Bangkok leg, so be sure to check Coconuts Bangkok for more information next month!

 


Got a tip? Send it to us at hongkong@coconuts.co


 



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