You can join the real Lord and Lady of Downton Abbey for a virtual gin tasting - here's how

If you're a fan of gin and Downton Abbey, this online cocktail tasting is one for you.

Published 5th Jun 2020
Updated 18 th Sep 2023

Fans of the hit TV show, Downton Abbey, can now enjoy a gin cocktail and chat with the real life Lord and Lady of the manor.

Lord and Lady Carnarvon of Highclere Castle have thrown open the virtual doors to their famous stately home to host a Cocktails at the Castle Facebook Live series.

So far the online series has included a range of cocktails in the smoking room, music room and drawing room as online viewers get a peek inside the famous home, which is usually open to visitors.

Lord and Lady Carnarvon discuss their home and it's starring role in Downton Abbey as well as talking viewers through their chosen cocktails and their history for the live.

The next Cocktails at the Castle has a focus on father's day, which falls on Sunday 21 June, and is titled father's day, cars, cocktails and cigars.

Posting on their Facebook page, Lord and Lady Carnarvon wrote: "During next week’s “Cocktails at the Castle” episode, Lord Carnarvon will entertain guests with stories about his family, his famous 1936 Rolls Royce Phantom — first owned by his grandfather, the 6th Earl of Carnarvon and more.

"Additionally, Lord and Lady Carnarvon will sip on the Rolls Royce cocktail, as well as a refreshing blood orange and thyme gin cocktail."

The cocktails

downton abbey gin

Picture: Rolls Royce cocktail

If you'd like to make the same cocktails that the hosts will be enjoying on the night, the recipes are posted on the Highclere Castle Gin Facebook page.

The drinks use Highclere Castle gin, which is a classic London dry gin that uses botanicals grown in the garden of the estate.

Launched last summer, the gin was two years in the making and is distilled above an ancient underground water source, and produced in England’s oldest gin distillery in an antique copper still which dates back to the 1800s.

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This isn't the first time the famous house has inspired a gin. Ahead of the Downton Abbey film launch last year, craft distillery Harrogate Tipple created a Downton Abbey gin and a blended whisky - both inspired by the period drama.

How to join

The Cocktails at the Castle father's day Facebook live takes place on Friday 12 June at 9pm on the Highclere Castle gin page.

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Known for cake making, experimental jam recipes, Champagne, whisky and gin drinking (and the inability to cook Gnocchi), Rosalind is the Food and Drink Editor and whisky writer for The Scotsman, as well as hosting Scran, The Scotsman's food and drink podcast.
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