If you like gin in your martinis, gimlets, or—like Snoop Dogg—juice, you’re going to love a new hotel that’s slated to open in London next week.
According to a recent article from Cosmopolitan UK, the three-story facility, located on Portobello Road in the Notting Hill neighborhood, will be dedicated to gin and other spirits from around the world. Aptly named, The Distillery opens December 16.
All told, the place will have three hotel rooms—each with a minibar and a record player. But the rooms are secondary to other components of the hotel.
The ground floor will operate as a “Resting Room” with gin barrels suspended from the ceiling and spirits from around the world available for purchase as ingredients in various cocktails. The first floor—technically, it’s the second floor—will feature a restaurant and Spanish-style bar designed to celebrate the classic bowl-shaped gin glass, the Copa de Balon, as well as the gin and tonic.
An article on Metro UK, a local website, indicated that guests of this bar can choose from a variety of more than 200 gins. One combo the bar is pushing already: West Winds Sabre Gin and 1724 tonic garnished with orange, lavender, and cocoa nibs.
The third and top floor will house a private dining room and the three hotel rooms. Room rates start at £125 per night, and 50 percent discounts were available to people who signed up through the hotel’s social media channels.
Other highlights of the gin-lover’s paradise will include The Ginstitute (we love the name!), a sort of laboratory where guests can learn how to make their own gin; and a gin museum with a 30-liter alembic copper still and exhibits that educate visitors about the history of the juniper-based spirit that first appeared in England in the 17th century.
There also will be an off-license shop, where owner Ged Feltham will sell his own label: Portobello Road Gin.
Brits certainly are going nuts for gin these days. Earlier this year, London’s Gatwick Airport opened the first-ever airport gin distillery in the north terminal. It remains one of the few places people can see Nicholas Culpeper gin being made. The gin is flavored with lemongrass, cassia bark, cloves, cardamom, and angelica root.
Matt Villano is a freelance writer and editor based in Healdsburg, California. In nearly 20 years as a full-time freelancer, he has covered travel for publications including TIME, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Sunset, Backpacker, Entrepreneur, and more. He contributes to the Expedia Viewfinder blog and writes a monthly food column for Islands magazine. Villano also serves on the board of the Family Travel Association and blogs about family travel at Wandering Pod. Learn more about him at Whalehead.com.
