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Feeling CoLD

In Bride Lane, a narrow street off Fleet Street, you’ll find the City’s only gin distillery. Walk down the steps and it seems you’re entering a smart gentlemen’s club, with leather sofas and dimmed lighting. A quick glance to the right, however, and you’ll spot a still, all gleaming copper and twisted pipework. In recent years gin has enjoyed a bit of a renaissance. It was only a few years ago that Beefeater was the sole London maker but now a whole load of boutique businesses have cropped up: Sipsmith, Portobello Road and Bloom. It seems the thirst for a G & T is unquenchable! The City of London distillery was founded in November...

The Royal Queens of Hammersmith

...ig whisky distillery. Before that it was the site of Brandenburgh House and the home of the Margrave of Brandenburgh-Anspach and Bayreuth. This grandly-titled German noble let his house out to the estranged wife of George IV, Caroline of Brunswick (1768-1821). George and Caroline had a disastrous marriage, from day one. He took an instant dislike to her, demanding a large brandy from his servant. Caroline had made no effort in making her appearance look good: it was commented that she had ‘not properly attended to her toilette de propreté’, that is to say, washed. When the wedding took place the groom was famously drunk and spent most of the wedding night p...