gin

Distillers featured on DrinkBritain.com collected a total of 93 medals, the overwhelming majority, 89, being Gold or Silver, at the recent International Wines & Spirits Competition 2011.

Glenmorangie, Glenlivet and Bowmore all won multiple awards, and Welsh distillers Penderyn scored with both its gin and whisky.

The full list of winners would run to several pages, so instead we've picked out the highlights and included a few of our personal favourites from the winners.

With the arrival of the second World Gin Day, an inspired initiative from Yet Another Gin, what better reason to take a look through GinandTales.com, the site from the lovely guys at Beefeater and Plymouth Gin designed to help us celebrate our favourite juniper-infused friend at home.

Hosted and curated by engaging mixologist, Dré Masso, this is like your very own live gin wiki-pedia. With several decades in the world’s finest bars, including stints at the legendary Atlantic Bar and Jamie’s Fifteen, plus the launch of his own award-winning tequila bar, Green & Red, Dré has obviously spent his time wisely.

Here at DrinkBritain.com we know that you can't always manage to get to the more far flung corners of the country to track down a rare bottle, so we are pleased to hear that a new specialist spirits store has opened its doors in Glasgow.

The Good Spirits Company was born of its three founders' frustration at the lack of rare, interesting, or simply unusual spirits available to buy. The trio have decades of combined experience in the drinks industry, and have brought this to bear in selecting a range of drinks where the emphasis is on taste over packaging.

Gin is leading the charge for British drinks at Imbibe 2010, the new show from the guys behind Square Meal and Imbibe on 13-14 July at Earls Court.

Targeted solely at those in the bar and restaurant industry and covering all drinks types, with 13,500 visitors already registered, it’s likely to be a busy couple of days.