Mr & Ms Geneva

You might or might not know that between 1919 and 1932 prohibition was in place in Finland which meant that all alcohol had to be imported, sold and consumed in secret. In many restaurants, alcohol was served under the pseudonym “hard tea” but also a lot of secret bars existed at the time. 

Trillby & Chadwick, a bar in the city centre of Helsinki, aims to create an air of secrecy and mystery around the place even though alcohol is no longer illegal and the bar has its liquor license in order. This is done by not revealing the exact address of the place so if you, besides enjoying a nice cocktail, like a bit of detective work, this is the place for you. 

[unfortunately no photos this time since it was forbidden to take photos because of their aim to keep things secret]

Although, the mystery is not too difficult to solve, the street which the bar is on, Katariinankatu, is only about a 100 metres long, so you do not have to work too hard to earn your drink. Once you find the right door, you have to ring the bell in the hall and wait for a waiter to prepare a table for you before they actually let you in. You might wonder if its worth all this trouble and fuss (like I did when by partner suggested we try it out), but it definitely is. 

Besides the very good quality cocktails, the best thing about this place was the service: our bartender was very friendly and knowledgeable. I also got a gimlet even though it was not on their list. Plus he told us that many of the bartenders there are interested in gin as well and the aim is to introduce new gins every now and then - which is one more reason I definitely want to go there again. 

They had a lot of nice different kinds of cocktails but as they had two gins on their list which I had not tried, I first went for a g&t made with Geranium gin and Fever Tree’s Elderflower tonic and mint as a garnish. All the components went very well together and the g&t was fresh, delicate, and summery. My second drink was the already-mentioned gimlet made from Old English gin, the other one on their list which I had not tasted before. 

Happy WORLD GIN DAY to everyone!!!

I, Ms Geneva, am celebrating it by having a g&t made from Kyrö Distillery’s lovely Napue gin. As I browsing Fever-tree’s webpage I came across this video in which Jamie Oliver shows how to make a perfect gin and tonic in his opinion. I thought he had some nice pointers, such as the rolling of the lime, and I tried some of them as I made the drink above (although I did not have such a fancy “spoon” at hand as he did).

This Saturday, 13th of June, is WORLD GIN DAY, explained by the organisers:

“Founded by ginthusiast Yet Another Gin, and currently run by UK blogger and all round gin soak Gin Monkey, World Gin Day is a celebration of all things gin, giving us a legitimate excuse (not that we need one) to mix up a cocktail and learn about all of the exceptional gins that are currently on the market.”

The gin craze seems to be gaining pace also here in Finland (or at least in Helsinki). A little while back we wrote about the opening of a bar that aims to offer the widest selection of gins in the country. Yesterday Nyt.fi, a webpage focusing on popular culture, events, food culture etc. mostly in Helsinki, published an article (in Finnish) about the cocktail trends of summer 2015 and, according to bartenders in Helsinki, gin is the drink this year.