The Top Floor Flat

The Spoonfed team has a lot of fun. We all get along well in the office, we get to write about the amazing events going on in London, we even get to review those events on occasion. In fact, we pride ourselves on being really quite good at having a good time in London. But it was certainly beyond my wildest expectations that we would ever have a weekday afternoon quite like the one we had last Friday at the Bibulous Drinks Experience event.

Like a group of children on a school trip, the whole office was ushered onto the bus that would take us straight to the venue, a place called (appropriately) Vinopolis, City of Wine which usually offers wine tasting events and tours. On the 27th, however, it was transformed into a smorgasbord of displays that would make the most reformed 12-stepper jump off the bandwagon. There’s tequila courtesy of Green & Red Bar, beers from around the world, real absynthe by Alan Moss, GinTime with Geraldine Coates and a range of ports, wines and sherries from Gonzales Byass – all of which we as the Spoonfed team were encourage to smell, learn about and taste. As a group, we all sat through the Gin tasting session only to discover that the vast majority of us didn’t like gin.

We then split up, our directors opting for the absinthe tasting session, our culture editor beelining for the port, us girls aiming for daiquiris… I even found a stall of American beers which had a rather lovely pumpkin ale.

Although we had been prepped as to what exactly this was we were attending, I have to admit, I’m not entirely sure I understood. Was it a trade show? In some senses – there were displays of various alcohol producers who were trying to promote their goods. A tasting event? That too – but while some stalls (such as the man with the funny moustache and the £2,000 bottle of tequila) encouraged everyone to try everything on the table, others were just showcasing. An alcohol class? That definitely factored in as we learned about gin and how to make the perfect mojito. Overall it was an incredible afternoon where the Spoonfed team got to sample some of the best alcohol in the city at one of its greatest venues. As far as team building activities go, we think this might have been perfect.