A festive treat for the senses at The Secret Herb Garden

It was the gin launch that wasn’t actually a gin launch.

We were invited to The Secret Herb Garden – home of the Old Curiosity Distillery – to celebrate the launch of their Christmas Gin. However, sadly (or happily) the stock had completely sold out from its release in Harrods last month.

Not to let a little detail like that spoil the party, Hamish and his team rebranded the evening as the opening of their new event room – as yet to be named, but called ‘the gin shed’ on the evening – as well as the launch of a new range of perfumes from Kingdom Scotland.

Kingdom Scotland has produced a range of 3 fragrances that tell the story of Scotland in scent. Imogen Russon-Taylor has founded Scotland’s very first perfume house and the unisex perfumes – Portal, Metamorphic and Albaura – were the inspiration behind the evening’s menu, wonderfully produced by the Edinburgh School of Food and Wine.

The Gin Shed was exactly that – a shed – until the very day of the event when it was transformed into a warm, cosy lounge with its own bar and window looking into the still room, where the range of Secret Garden Gins are created. It will be available to hire as an event space and it would be hard to imagine a better location for a party.

Perfumes, food and setting were all wonderful, as was the host, Hamish, who made sure every guest felt at home and shared his amazing passion for what he and the team do at The Secret Herb Garden.

However, naturally, for us, it was the amazing gin cocktails that stole the evening – created using the range of Old Curiosity Gins, Bees Knees, Winter Wonderland and China Rose.

Fuelled by the gin cocktails, great food and festive cheer, there was a chorus of Christmas songs on the bus back to Edinburgh!

Hamish assures us that next year he’ll increase his harvest to ensure there is more of the Christmas Gin to go around.