
NORDES GIN BROUGHT TO THE INN BY OUR CUSTOMERS
Customers have come up trumps once more as Nordes Gin arrives via our gin at the inn!!! This is a Gin outside the boundaries of the traditional, unique character, rebellious, Atlantic. The Gin is a slow and quiet distillation of the Albariña grape, blended with traditional Galician wild aromatic botanics.
It is a100% Galician Gin. So a Northern Spanish Gin and made from a pomace base as opposed to a grain spirit base. This gin is superb with lots of ice, 1724 tonic and a squeezed slice of orange. This gin coupled with our arrivals via Tim our owner and more guests who brought gin to the inn pushes us through the 150 mark.
On the Bar blackboard are advertised our famous gin trays. For a total of £15 you can order three gins, two tonics and we garnish it all up, add ice and you share the tray with friends. It has to be done!!!

THIS BUNCH TAKES US THROUGH THE 150 MARK

OUR GIN TRAYS GIVE YOU THE CHANCE TO EXPERIMENT WITH VARYING GINS
After a very wet and cold winter our car park needed a lot of work to ensure our guests arriving at the Cholmondeley Arms and the Headmasters House Guest Rooms had a pleasant ‘landing’. Rick and Paul from Caddishome did a brilliant job building fencing and completely resurfacing the more countrified end of our car park. The works look outstanding so big thanks to Paul and Rick.
A beautiful warm Bank holiday Sunday morning….what could be better than getting your ‘pride and joy’ out of the garage, turning the key in the ignition and purring off to the newly re-surfaced Cholmondeley Arms car park where a coffee and a bacon sandwich were waiting!!! Bliss!! Then having the added bonus of another 30 or so ‘soon to be friends’ rock up in their pride and joys too!!!
Vintage met classic, old money met new money, sporty met power, British met Germans, Italians met Japanese and most of all it was all good fun. So the car club is launched and we want to thank the ‘Pistonhead’ enthusiasts for helping bring it all together with our Landlord Steve.
If you want to look at the cars in attendance please click on the gallery pictures below. We are now recruiting members to our elite car club so please click on “How to join” and we look forward to seeing you soon.
Look out for the next car club gathering!!

AT CHOLMONDELEY
Loyal customer and very keen cyclist Jonathon is the first of our cycling customers to complete the ‘Cheshire Cat Pub to Pub to Pub (Trio) Challenge’.
Setting out from near Knutsford in pretty cold and snowy conditions Jonathon headed first to our Cholmondeley Arms Pub out near Malpas on the A49 heading to Whitchurch!! The picture shows just how snowy Cholmondeley was compared to the rest of the county. Having taken on a warm hot chocolate for energy, Jonathon then headed to our next pub the Three Greyhounds Inn at Allostock. Conditions here were much better for a cycling enthusiast. After another picture outside this pub it was on for the final leg of the journey to a rather misty Bulls Head before heading home for a hot shower and an early night. Just over 70 miles later without any performance enhancing drugs or a Steak and Ale Pie even!!! The respective pub teams gave Jonathon a warm welcome as well as helping with photo taking and ensuring he was back on his bike for the next leg of this journey!!
Jonathon commented “I was at a loss as to where to go on my Sunday ride today. So thought I would tackle that well known ride ‘The Cheshire Cat Trio’!! Cholmondley is a little further down the A49 than I thought and there was also more snow than I anticipated when I got there but I am thrilled to be the first of many to hopefully tackle the challenge!!”
Well done Jonathon a great effort and there is a Pie waiting at a pub of your choice from the trio as and when you have recovered!!!
If you are a keen cyclist and want to be listed as a ‘Cheshire Cat Trio Cycling Challenge beater’ then set out and ensure your photo is taken with your trusty bike at each pub with the signs in the background of each picture and send them to info@cheshirecatpubsandbars.co.uk. You will get your photo in our ‘hall of fame’ and we will send you a ‘refreshment voucher’ as well as a pint on us at the final pub!!
Thanks again to Jonathon for taking on the challenge and beating it!!!

AT THE BULLS HEAD

AT THE THREE GREYHOUNDS
As summer approaches what could be better than a cool, long gin and tonic. As many of you will know the gin market has gone bonkers of late and new Gin is coming to market faster than vodka did some years ago.
Tim our owner is on a trip of Mallorca. The Spanish are, as a nation, one of the biggest consumers of gin in the world and there are always some new special gins and tonics to discover. Last time it was Mallorca’s very own Eleven Gin made from pomace as opposed to grain spirit.
Tim has discovered four new gins which he is ‘bringing back to the Inn’ firstly Goa Gin……. Goa’s exquisite taste stems from eight carefully selected botanical ingredients coupled with a unique distillation process controlled by experts who draw on over 300 years’ experience in London Distilled Gin.
The distillation process starts using a pair of uniquely crafted, small stainless steel stills, where the neutral grain spirit and the botanical ingredients are mixed in a unique process to ensure smoothness and a luxurious taste. Marie Brizard have come up with a gin called ‘Old Lady’s Gin’ another London Dry Gin with an air of tradition although the preferred garnish is grapefruit and coriander, the next two gins are both distilled in France and are both classified as London Dry Gins too. One is No.0 which is infused with quinine and it is advisable to have neat with ice and lemon zest.
Finally the next is ‘Blue Ribbon Essential’ it has nicely meshed aromas of anise and nutmeg with a layer of delicate juniper and minerals underneath follow through on a very soft, satiny entry to a vibrant, dryish medium body with wet grain, dried citrus and riverstone notes. Finishes with a layers of dried citrus, and flowers cinnamon and spice melange reminiscent of egg nogg or spiced cake. Try it in a martini.
So the Cholmondeley Arms welcomes four more gins as we head toward the magic 150 gins on the back bar. Tim also discovered a unique Tonic (pictured) which he will bring back for Gin Class teachers Struan and Steve to try!!
A GnT?
Came across a really interesting article on Gin by Brent Rose in Gizmodo’s weekly booze column. The Ancient Art of Perfect Gin: Our Visit to Beefeater and Plymouth – Learn more
The Cholmondeley Arms Saturday afternoon Gin tasting classes have got off to a great start!! As we reached the 140 gin mark (just 21 behind the Guinness book of records) Terry and his family, celebrating his birthday, were first off. As the picture shows Terry and his family wasted no time after their training to get home and mix some serious G’n’T’s!!
The class consists of tasting the six styles of Gin, tasting four different tonic waters, learning about botanicals, gin history and the perfect serves. You then get to order your favourite of the ones tested as a complete Gin and Tonic!! There is a warm up quiz and lots of fun and banter in the name of gin!! You can see our ‘Gin Champion’ Struan taking a class through their paces with our landlord Steve as the ‘assist’.
If you want to come and enjoy our gin tasting classes then book your party (maximum 12) in on a Saturday afternoon with Steve or Struan and become a gin expert!! Remember we also have 6 bedrooms if you want to stay and make a night of it!!

TERRY AND THE FAMILY BACK AT HOME AFTER TRAINING!!

Beefeaters

OUR GIN CHAMP STRUAN LEADS ANOTHER CLASS!!
With the arrival of four new gins the 140 Gin ‘barrier’ has been surpassed. It is hard to believe just under a year and a half ago we opened the doors to the new Cholmondeley Arms where we thought we had done well to have 40 gins on our bar. The Gin market has grown significantly since we decided gin was the thing at Cholmondeley. Now we have added 100 more gins which is fantastic. We are now 27 from the Guinness Book of records!! The new additions include two different gins from Gordon’s and Tanqueray!!!
Here at the Chum we have now agreed regular supply of 1724 tonic. This premium tonic is great as a non-alcoholic drink with lots of ice and a slice of orange or as recommended on our gin quarterly with Sloanes Gin and a slice of lemon and orange. We are now in search of our 10th and 11th tonics as the pictures show. Tim our owner discovered these Tonics in Mallorca and we are now searching them out to hopefully add to our portfolio. The world of Gin is growing as so too is the premium tonic market. So next time you are here at the Chum talk tonic when ordering your gin!!

1724 Tonic restyled and in stock



Farmers Gin is Inn!!
Sprock Caribanana Gin is the weirdest Gin to arrive so far. It is from the Caribbean! As part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, many citizens were accustomed to the “Jenever” of the Netherlands and enjoy this popular “Dry Gin”.
The Distillery House is located in Sharloo, an old and quaint section of the city of Willemstad Curaçao, which was nominated one of the Unesco World Heritage Cities in the Caribbean. The House was founded in July 1929 by the late Don Jaime Antonio Jose Sprock.
Out of the desire to exceed customer’s expectations by providing quality products at affordable prices, Don Jaime began the factory with bottling of its own brand of rum for local consumption; “Ron Superior” in a variation of sizes; In the next 10 years, he had also created his own Vodka and Gin. This is his Gin……… mmmmh we will let you decide!!
Also arrived is the Farmers Gin from the U.S.A as detailed below so see you soon to try a tot or two.
I stayed at the Cholmondeley Arms on Saturday with my husband Bob. It was our first visit and we thought it was out of this world. Really enjoyed the relaxed vibe and the food and drink was excellent. So big thanks to everyone for a great stay.
I loved my Greenalls Bloom and Fevertree with strawberries so much I have to have a bottle, so as usual I’ve been stalking the internet. Don’t know if you already know of it, but there is a brilliant website, Master of Malt.com. Obviously they specialise in single malts, but they have a decent selection of other spirits, liqueurs etc. They’ve got about 60-70 gins and genevers in stock and some of them look pretty special. I expect you’ve got most of them, but it might be worth a look. I like the look of the saffron gin, and the heather one.
Anyway, sure to see you again in the near future.
Cholmondeley ‘Bloody Mary’ Club
From 11am every Sunday. How do you like yours?
The best way to enjoy a Sunday Morning!!!
Yes it is true Jess and the team have introduced the Cholmondeley ‘Bloody Mary’ Club every Sunday at 11am, where you can enjoy a Traditional Bloody Mary with Manzanilla Sherry or the usual Bloody Mary with Chase Vodka, or there is The Red Snapper with Opihr Spiced Gin and boy does this work well, then there is the Bloody Maria with a hint of tequila or of course the Virgin Mary with not alcohol at all. All the ingrediants from celery salt to horseradish you can add yourself with two types of tomato juice!!
Bacon butties are the brunch munchies as Christian looks to develop the menu as the following builds. 25 BM’s were sold on the opening Sunday and we believe a tradition is building. So fancy a crispy bacon sandwich and mixing your own Bloody Mary??! Come on down to the ‘Chum’. See you Sunday!!

The Tomato Table is set up for everyone to mix their own Bloody Marys!!

Even Helicopters turned up for Cholmondeley Brunch. Bloody marvellous!!

Garnishes-galore
I just wanted to say a really big thank you to everyone at the Cholmondeley arms for a great weekend stay. We picked the pub completely out of the blue. We wanted to stay somewhere in Cheshire and we had no idea where to stay but we fancied a warm cosy pub with good food. We looked at various websites but we liked what we saw of the Cholmondeley Arms on the website. We were not disappointed. Great food (the best steak and kidney pie ever), great pub, friendly and helpful staff, great location particularly being so close to Chester and some great Sunday walks. Oh and a great gin selection.
We will definitely recommend the pub to others and we look forward to returning again.
Thank you and well done to everyone for providing first rate service.
Best wishes
J P and M P

OUR GIRLS ENJOY VALENTINE’S AT WORK.
to Tail’ week….celebrating all things Pig… the romantics turned up to celebrate cupids arrow here at the Chum. It was a record Valentine’s day and
Steve ensured chocolate roses were enjoyed by all the ladies present including our wonderful team of girls (pictured) who worked very hard to ensure a good time was had by all. They were rewarded by chocolate roses of their own…even Steve received a hamper of sweeties from his girlfriend as the night enjoyed a sweet note to say the least!!!
So if you want to impress a loved one…remember we have 6 bedrooms and there is nothing more romantic than dinner at the Chum in February!!