Vera, Drink Up! – Shepreth, Cambridgeshire (UK)

UPDATE: This pub is temporarily closed.

On 9 July 2016 Vera, Drink Up!, a collaboration between Vera’s Gin Club and Cambridge Eat Up!, took place at The Plough in Shepreth, near Cambridge. It was presented by “Vera” (gin expert Lyndsey Spellman) who took us through the history and horticulture of three gins. Lyndsey’s presentation was entertaining and interactive and she had everyone laughing and having fun from the very beginning.

The Plough Shepreth Vera Drink Up Tables

Vera Drink Up Lyndsey Spellman

The Plough Shepreth

Lyndsey leads a monthly Vera’s Gin Club at The Plough (I wrote about it here). As a member of Cambridge Eat Up!, the Facebook group for foodies, I wanted to include Vera in a foodie event so Lyndsey and I organised Vera, Drink Up!, a food and drink extravaganza featuring 3 premium gins + Fever-Tree tonic, Vera’s fun and informative gin presentation and a plateful of exquisite food by Romano’s.

Romano's Collage

Vera Drink Up Collage

We held Vera, Drink Up! from 5pm to 7pm so we could include a hearty dinner. The monthly Vera’s Gin Club features more gin (5 gins) and less food (The Plough’s nibbles) but for this special occasion we were fortunate to have a tasty menu created by Romano’s. The Plough were kind enough to lend us the space and have Romano’s as guest kitchen for the event. We also had The Foraging Fox on board, who supplied us with bottles of their delicious beetroot ketchup.

Photo courtesy of The Plough

Photo courtesy of The Plough

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Love Food 2016 – Barton, Cambridge (UK)

Burwash Manor in Barton, Cambridge was the place for lovers of food and drink over Valentine’s weekend, 13 and 14 February 2016. Love Food, the annual fabulous festival of food, was hosted by Burwash Food Hall, which includes The Larder and Leech & Sons Master Butchers. It was a great way to showcase local independent producers, some of which were already firm favourites, but I also discovered new ones too. It was good to meet the people behind the products they are so dedicated to making. These independent producers really put their heart and soul into their food or drink products and it shows. The proof is in the taste!

Burwash Manor Love Food

I celebrated all weekend and enjoyed tastings and demonstrations by The Larder’s suppliers. They were held in The Secret Garden marquee, a lovely space with lots of room to explore the various stalls.

Love Food 16 Marquee

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Grub Club Cambridge British Food Fortnight at The Larder at Burwash Manor – Barton, Cambridge (UK)

Grub Club Cambridge celebrated British Food Fortnight at Burwash Manor’s The Larder on 22 September, 2015. British Food Fornight, organised by Love British Food, is the annual national celebration of British food and drink.

“Since its beginnings in 2002, British Food Fortnight has become THE opportunity for those who work in any aspect of food and drink, to come together and promote the benefits of buying and eating from our home produced British larder.” (Official Website)

However, it wasn’t the only celebration that evening… founders Kelly Molson and Vhari Russell marked Grub Club Cambridge’s first birthday. I wish them many more years of success!

Grub Club Cambridge Kelly Vhari

Grub Club Cambridge is a networking club for people in or supplying the food and drink industry. For the past year, Kelly and Vhari have been running their increasingly popular social networking events for food and drink professionals, giving them the opportunity to chat and discuss future collaborations, with some fabulous dinners at the centre of it all. Kelly and Vhari certainly know their stuff. Their respective companies, Rubber Cheese and The Food Marketing Expert, focus on marketing for food and drink businesses among other services.

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