Soak up the atmosphere and enjoy some delicious gins at The Isle of Wight Gin Festival, which will be taking place at Ryde Castle on Sunday 16th September. With about 20 different micro-distilled small batch gins on the tasting tables, the festival aims to support those distillers who are passionate about gin and who produce their bottles with love and hard work. The creators of the Island’s very own Mermaid Gin, Isle of Wight Distillery, are big supporters of the boutique festival as are Fever Tree, the mixers of choice. Pickerings Gin based in Edinburgh; Sacred Gin, hand distilled in North London; Daffy’s and Isle of Harris gin (distilled using sea-kelp in in the Outer Hebrides) are firm festival favourites and will be on the tasting tables again this year. The festival began in 2016 when gin-thusiasts Helen and Suzy decided to bring a boutique element of the larger mainland Gin Festivals back to the Island. It is a free event with customers purchasing tokens to try as many gins as they wish – all are served with ice, tonic and the gorgeous garnish recommended by the distiller. For 2018 there will be live music from The Alberts as well as a group of young musicians who form part of the Island Youth Jazz Band. There will also be a gin-tastic charity raffle at the end of the afternoon which supports our The Wight Brainy Bunch. More information can be found on the event’s Facebook Page at https://www.facebook.com/iwginfestival/.