Good news for gin lovers. If you love gin and boutique hotel stays with a difference, read on. Portobello Road Gin has announced that its much-anticipated venture, The Distillery – a new four-floor mecca for the discerning drinker will open its doors to the public on Friday 16th December. To mark the occasion, guests can enjoy 50% off* food throughout their soft launch period.

This gorgeous space has just leapfrogged onto my ‘must visit’ list (I’m checking diary as we speak). The first of its kind in the UK, The Distillery is a completely unique concept that will be home to a distillery, two bars, a museum, off-license shop, gin-making experience ‘The Ginstitute’, and three boutique guest rooms overlooking London’s bustling, iconic market street, Portobello Road.

What piqued my interest is their use of avocado and olive oil vodka (more on that later). On the ground floor of The Distillery is The Resting Room, a timeless bar that will serve an eclectic range of spirits created on-site by master distiller Jake Burger and an elite team of instructors. As proud purveyors of London spirit, not only will they serve unique gin blends, they will also be distilling other spirits including avocado and olive oil vodka – providing visitors with an experimental take on classic drinks and cocktails.

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Guests can also enjoy a diverse selection of international spirits that have been aged in hand-built barrels suspended above the bar from which they will be directly served. If you love unique, bespoke experiences, this will excite you Due to the spirit’s ongoing ageing process within the barrel, no two drinks will be the same.

Accompanying the innovative drinks selection, there will be a menu of quintessential British dishes all created with local ingredients, featuring a selection of small plates, plus a charred & roast section cooked in the Resting Room’s Josper oven.

Heading up the tiled stairs to the first floor, guests will enter GinTonica, a Spanish-inspired bar and kitchen that celebrates the country’s passion for design, food and the gin & tonic! In true Mediterranean style, guests can enjoy their G&Ts in a traditional Copa De Balón (balloon goblet glass), choosing from a carefully curated menu of the world’s finest gins.

The Distillery’s GinTonic Plus menu is another nod to Spain’s love affair with juniper and is guaranteed to set gin lovers’ hearts alight. Taking the traditional spirit and mixer serving to the next level, GinTonic Plus come with innovative garnishes, tinctures and bitters that flavour the drink. Tantalising examples include West Winds Sabre Gin, cold brew coffee & cocoa bitters served with 1724 tonic and garnished with orange, lavender & cocoa nibs; or G’Vine Nouaison Gin, Floc de Gascogne vin de liqueur and plum bitters served with Fever-Tree Mediterranean tonic and garnished with a dehydrated lemon, grapes and mint.

With décor inspired by a Spanish studio, GinTonica’s tapas food menu has been created by executive head chef Greg Lewis of renowned restaurant, Pintura Kitchen & Bar.

On the top floor, visitors can find The Boardroom, a private dining room, complete with its own bar. You will also be given the chance to awaken in The Distillery’s bespoke lodgings above the iconic Portobello Road street market in one of the three bespoke guest rooms. Each room has been individually designed by Portobello Road Gin’s founding directors and are inspired by the eclectic culture of the local area.

Naturally, guests can expect an exciting minibar in each room, packed with exclusive spirits made on-site. A bespoke handmade record player with a Rough Trade-curated vinyl playlist is one of the other individual features that makes staying at The Distillery a unique overnight experience.

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The fabled London gin-making experience, The Ginstitute, takes up residence in its new home in The Distillery, allowing visitors to make their own unique blend of gin. The Ginstitute’s entertaining and knowledgeable ginstructors will take guests on a historic journey, revisiting the miserable gin craze of London in the 1700s, taking curious guests right through the juniper spirits’ 300 years of heritage right up to the recent ‘ginaissance’.

A museum with artefacts, including the first-ever English cocktail book, is yet another attraction at The Distillery and an on-site, off-license shop will be filled with gin-related memorabilia and bottles to buy.

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Founder of Portobello Road Gin and The Distillery Ged Feltham said: “We’re extremely excited to reveal details of The Distillery ahead of its opening this December. The development was a natural progression for us as a company but it is also our most ambitious project to date by far!

“We already have bookings for The Distillery from across Europe and even as far afield as South Africa – and the positive response has been overwhelming! Not only does the new distillery mean we can continue to produce our product on Portobello Road, it has allowed us to expand our hugely successful gin-making experience, ‘The Ginstitute’, which had outgrown its original venue.

“The most exciting parts of the project are the new and unexpected opportunities that have come with a development of this size and scale. We are proud purveyors of London spirit and we look forward to exciting guests from around the globe with amazing gin and other wonderful new distillates and aged spirits.”

The Distillery opens to the public 16th December 2016. For more information, prices and latest news please visit www.the-distillery.london now.