After this insane evening I feel that Brockmans is topping the chart in my head as my favourite alcoholic brand. This event ticket ALL of my imaginary boxes and was so impressive and cleverly thought through and constructed that I now feel as though I am probably one of their biggest fans and am dying to go to every event they hold in the future. Also. I really do love gin.

​I wasn’t at all sure what to expect from this gin-fuelled event – all I had been told was the location, time and date and that the evening would include a gin dinner (whatever that means).

We arrived to a short queue outside Village underground (A Shoreditch based event space). But it wasn’t long before we were welcomed in and then 30 seconds later we found ourselves in a photo booth with a Brockmans cocktail in hand.

We then walked into the main dining area, it looked like a gothic feast fit for a king, all black and silver with a giant Brockmans bottle engulfed in ice at the head of the tables, quite spectacular.

​We had been told that this would be an evening we wouldn’t forget and at this point I realised that whoever said that was probably going to be right.

Canapes then began to circulate with all sorts of wacky creations for the wonderful Bubble food (Check out their Instagram here @BubbleFoodUK, they’ve catered for so many cool events and functions). Not only did it look impressive, it definitely tasted it too. A treat for both the eyes and the mouth.

The majority of people in the room (about 40-50 of us) seemed just as clueless as to what was about to unfold as us. Everyone was too wimpy to catch a glimpse of the menus placed on the tables to see if we were going to enjoy the food later on or whether we should fill up on the canapés.

After quite a few amazing nibbles (greedy guts) we found and took to our seats at the dinner party. I felt that my guest (Abbie) and I had prime seats in the centre of the middle table. Perfect. This was then I read and was excited by the menu:

Doesn’t that sound exquisite? Well, I’ll let you in on a secret. It was.

​Not long after we sat down and had some time to get chatting to the people around us the starter was served. It came complete with a party popper that you held over your food and popped onto the plate. It was filled with botanicals and helped to give flavour to the beautifully fresh trout – there was only one problem with this awesome idea. Me. I’m a very clumsy person and so when I popped my popper I did so over a white splodge of sauce on my plate and the force of the popper involuntarily caused this (delicious) white sauce to be sprayed all over my face and the entire top half of my body and the surrounding space. It looked a little suspect. How embarrassing.

I love a gin and tonic so the fact that the first course was paired with this was a delight, it was so smooth (and absolutely massive).

​In between courses there was a variety of entertainment. The first was a cross between some crazy mixology skills and magic, performed by Brendan Rodrigues (close up magician of the year) who I’ve met a few times at random events (and in spoons) and am always impressed by. After his short show he then proceeded to perform magic tricks to guests around the tables as we ate. After the mixology magic a man just fell from the ceiling – it was so unexpected but I soon realised it was the start of a beautiful aerial silk performance – just wondering if anyone’s ever seen a gin and tonic poured upside down? It’s madness.

​The main was served next and neither Abbie and I had ever tried venison and for some reason we were rather apprehensive. I basically had to force her to have a try, but boy was it worth it. It was probably the best meat I’ve ever tried, tender and juicy at the same time and filled with so many flavours. The whole plate was so well presented and each bite would provide unexpected but very welcome flavours, and there were so many different elements to the plate.

I’m not really a fan of anything ginger flavoured but I really enjoyed the paired cocktail, ‘When Ginger met Ruby’, it was filled with so many tasted and the botanicals from the gin meant that the ginger itself wasn’t too overpowering. It went down extremely well I must say.

​In the break between the main and desert the silk man returned along with a very talented guitarist/singer man. It all blended really well together and was very enjoyable to watch, singer man then continued for the rest of the night and even sang my request! It had to be Maggie May by Rod Stewart!

​It was desert time. I was presented with a chocolate mousse-looking ball but was told not to touch. Swiftly after this the waitresses and waiters arrived, armed with warm white sauce (not the same as the one I splashed everywhere). They made their way along the table and poured the sauce onto each person’s pudding. Each sphere then melted and collapsed in turn and revealed another little blackberry pudding inside. I’m sure you’ve all seen the videos of these deserts, it was just as good as the ones on Instagram and the little jelly caviar balls were super tasty too.

Before I knew it (after some dancing and a bit of drunken ‘networking’) the evening was over and it was hometime. I feel everyone left the venue feeling great and having thought they’d had a great and unexpected night. I’m gagging to attend another Brockmans event, it was awesome. So watch this space…Hopefully.

Check out the Brockmans Gin website HERE or follow them on social media for updates on upcoming events! The events are quite often listed on Time out offers too so be sure to keep an eye on that website!