Gin is in! It’s that simple. It’s the drink of choice at the moment, and gin makers are popping up all over the UK. Eden Mill in St Andrews has a little more history to fall back on, being distillers since 1810, at that point it was whisky, and it still is, however, they have a gin business that is now iconic.

I am swept up in the whole gin extravaganza when I visit their newly opened Blend Works at The Links, in St Andrews. For those not familiar, that means you are looking out onto the 18th green of the Old Course. The current husband and I were offered the chance to take part in a workshop to blend our own gin. What a day.

First off, I’ve not been a fan of gin, but it turns out it’s the tonic I don’t like. That is easily remedied when I am given a delicious glass of Eden Mill ‘Love gin’ with a generous splash of rose lemonade, and a little raspberry or two. Oh my, it was delightful.

Onto the point of the workshop, and that is to blend your own gin to suit your own tastes. It’s like a chemistry lesson - if that entailed fun and alcohol.

Basically, you are given the history of gin, and how Eden Mill got involved with the distilling of the latest tipple. Then you are given instruction on how to blend your own. You are given a base alcohol, you can then add the juniper (essential), then you get to pick a base flavour, in my case I picked sweet, and the hubby picked floral, surprisingly. Then you are asked to smell and select up to three hero botanicals to create a taste sensation.

It doesn’t sound like a perfect combination but it worked for me, I picked lemon peel, Goji Berry and Sea Buckthorn berry. The hubby picked something far more earthy. His wasn’t as nice as mine, in my opinion – but he was saying the same about mine. It’s all about finding what suits your taste buds and awakens the senses. You then make up a large beaker of your gin, which is then bottled for you in three bottles to take home, along with two Eden Mill glasses.

It was an interesting, and fun afternoon, the workshop can cater for up to 12 people at a time. Take a tip, don’t take the car, get involved in all the tasting, you might as well. At £95 it sounds expensive, but you take home three bottles of your very own blend of gin and two glasses. It would be a perfect gift for the gin lover in your life, buy them a voucher.

In the end it has both my husband and I drinking gin, which is something we would never have drank previously. And the good news is that the company have plans to offer a service where you can reorder your own blend, which will be delivered to your door. Now, that’s a service!

www.edenmill.com/blendworks