BUZZ BEAT MEDIA

All roads led to the Manila Gin Festival which salutes the inventiveness, variety, and spirit of craft gin culture.

The 2-day event last April 21 and 22 gathered gin lovers at the Bonifacio High Street in BGC to try, learn, and participate in a motley of gin-related events and activities. Over 25 brands participated showcasing 100 unique gins, which the participants may sample at their leisure while enjoying in the music by the live performers and DJs.

Teata Therapy is the official botanical sponsor of the festival, and a distinct product of the brand was its well-crafted Gin Botanical Spice Kits. That means one can get his or her gin mixture infused with cinnamon, juniper berries, rose petals, hibiscus, pink peppercorns, and other herbs that delight the senses.

Some of the participants include: Hendrick’s Gin, Enderun Food and Wine Society, Henry’s Liquor house, Cruxland Gin, Tanqueray, Sirena Gin, Suntory Gin, Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin, Scapegrace Gin, Windspiel Gin, and Roku Gin.

Non-drinkers who just wanted to have a foodgasm weren’t disappointed either, as there were also curated artisan pop-up food stalls. One of these was Supersam BGC, which had a booth there where one can purchase their comfort food like calamari, chicken wings, nacho feast, etc., and even get a chance to win gift certificates and appetizer vouchers via their “spin the wheel” game. 

Some highlights of the festival included Ginebra San Miguel Inc. (GSMI) finally unveiling its 1834 Premium Distilled Gin, a highly-anticipated product internationally, as well as Reen Barrera’s Artwork NFT Launch, which was held in cooperation with the GCash Gcrypto House of Ohlala.

Tickets were priced at 2000php per session, with the inclusion of 2 premium drink tokens. The three sessions were on Friday evening (6-11pm), Saturday afternoon (12-5pm), and evening (6-11pm). The first 500 tickets were just priced at 1,499php each.

Simon Cote, Manila Gin Festival’s managing director, anticipated the attendance of over 2,000 gin lovers domestically.

The event earned positive feedback from many gin aficionados who went to the event, citing that there was return of investment as they didn’t only get to sample artisanal gin mixtures, but also take home freebies like fans, tickers, wine glasses, miniature gin bottles with real liquor inside, etc.

*Cover Photo/Thumbnail Photo from Facebook (@The Manila Gin Festival)