Brews & Eats

The literary glitterati of Oxford spared an evening from their busy Oxford Literary Festival timetable on the first day of Spring (March 21) to attend a superb gin tasting hosted by The Oxford Artisan Distillery (TOAD) and Oxford Botanic Garden.

Simon Hiscock, Director of Oxford Botanic Garden and Arboretum joined Tom Nicolson, CEO of TOAD to tell the story of their recently launched Physic Gin - the first spirit to be created on behalf of the University of Oxford by the city’s first ever grain to glass distillery.  Described by Jeremy Smith, guest and official blogger for the Festival  as  ‘politely riotous, elegantly eccentric and perfectly balanced’, the talk covered the history of the oldest botanic garden in the country and the inspiration behind a gin which celebrates 400 years of medicinal cultivation. Tom Nicolson provided an entertaining and thought-provoking explanation of the ethos behind TOAD, the only distillery in the world to use diverse populations of ancient heritage grain, grown close to Oxford and farmed in ways which contribute to biodiversity.  He said, “TOAD’s spirits are bringing life back to the land - one field, one glass, one sip at a time.” Guests did their bit to join in the cause, enjoying samples of TOAD’s Oxford Rye Vodka - which recently won an award for best rye vodka in the UK - as well as Oxford Dry Gin and Physic Gin. For further information about TOAD, visit www.spiritoftoad.com