Manchester Three Rivers Gin Experience: TripAdvisor’s No.1 ‘Thing To Do in Manchester’

Last night I had the pleasure of trying out probably the best Christmas gift experience in the Northwest Right Now, Manchester Three Rivers Gin Experience – which is now ranked by reviewers as TripAdvisor’s No.1 ‘Thing To Do in Manchester’! This is Manchester’s first ever city centre gin distillery, and this was a night is to showcase their new expanded Gin Experience and to let us in on their new “Gin Experience Gift Vouchers” just in time for Christmas. And, spoiler alert, they would make the perfect gift for any gin lover!

Arriving at Manchester Three Rivers last night, it was super easy to find and really convinient to get to from the centre of town. Situated right in the city of Manchester, the Three Rivers Distillery is located in the railway arches in the Green Quarter, making for a rustic and industrial looking environment. Of course, we were greeted with a refreshing glass of Three Rivers Gin served with tonic water to whet the appetite – and this turned out to be the first of many more glasses!

Due to increased demand, Manchester Three Rivers Gin Experience has recently increased their capacity from 12 to 30 people on Friday-Sunday tours allowing more people to enjoy and take part in the Gin Experience. Consisting of a 3-hour immersive experience, the evening started with a shot of gin and our G&T (that’s two drinks so far) as we learnt about the fascinating history of gin in the UK. The presentation, by Joe, was really engaging and funny and hilarious to think how gin was drank so widely and daily (like water!) all across the country only a couple of hundred years ago!

After learning the history of gin, we were taken to the basement of the Manchester Three Rivers unit and given a tour of their small distillery. We then had our third drink, a violet and cherry gin cocktail which tasted like palma violets sweeties, and sat down to learn about how gin is made. Joe talked us through the whole process of how gin is made, what the key ingredients are and the history of Manchester Three Rivers, which was founded in 2016 by Dave Rigby, and is created from a blend of 11 key botanicals. At this point we also had our fourth drink, a taste of Manchester Three Rivers Gin neat, to taste exactly how smooth the blend is.

At this point, we were taken upstairs and into another unit which was specially set up with 30 stations ready for us to start creating out own gin. Here, we had our fifth drink(!) another G&T to keep us going as we learnt how to distil our own gin. Here we used these beautiful looking mini-copper stills to create our own full bottle of gin.

Joe was with us the whole way to guide us along making our gin, but we also had the use of iPads that took us through each of the over 50 ingredients available for us to flavour our gin with. The iPads guided us through what each of the ingredients tasted like, were good for and how much to put in. We meticulously measured out our ingredients using our scales, measuring to the gram, and inputted what we had chosen into our iPad. Each of our personal recipes were then saved down should we wish to repurchase our blends at a later date, which was a lovely touch.

I blended my gin using Carab (for a chocolate-y taste), nutmeg (for a spicy festive taste), hazelnut (I was going for that chocolate praline type flavour) and oats (to give a smooth blend). Whilst we waited a few minutes for this to distil, we were treated to another round of G&Ts – yes this was number six – and I can confirm that one of the party may have smashed a glass at this point… The perils of distilling gin when fully topped up on the stuff!

At this point, I had to make a swift exit due to work commitments the next morning and getting transport home, but I believe the rest of the party headed back to the other unit to enjoy a glass of their own gins (drink number 7!) as a final night cap.

I have to say, I had an absolutely fabulous time and I cannot think of a better Christmas present for a gin lover this year. And, let’s be honest, who isn’t a gin lover right now? Since its huge revival, gin has taken over as one of the most popular drinks in the UK and I am proud that Manchester, and Three Rivers, is at the forefront of this. At £95, the Manchester Three Rivers Gin Experience is not a cheap one, but considering it is a three hour immersive experience with free flowing drinks (I counted 7 myself!) and your own full sized bottle of personalised gin to take home (at an RRP of £55), it is great value for money.