A peek into the Hendrick's Cabinet of Curiosities

For four nights throughout August and September, The Exchequer and Ben Curtis, the Irish Brand Ambassador for Hendrick's Gin, hosted a series of three-course meals paired with some delicious and refreshing cocktails.

The experience was part of the Ambassador Residency Club, a platform created by Danil Nevsky of Indie Bartender and Oisin Davis of Great Irish Beverages, to encourage brands to get their ambassadors behind the bar again, and to give bars a helping hand as they return to normal life after lockdown.

An intimate experience hosted in one of the smaller dining areas at The Exchequer, the mouth-watering three-course menu had been chosen to perfectly complement the three delicious, Hendrick's-based cocktails served to all on the night. It included a number of dishes from The Exchequer's regular menu, such as their Roasted Cauliflower starter, and the Roast Butternut Squash Salad and Angus Beef & Bone Marrow Burger for the main course. A personal highlight for this lucky writer was the Chocolate Salted Miso Brownie for dessert.

To accompany the starters, there was a refreshing Gimlet; lime, sugar syrup and Hedrick's Original Gin - a classic cocktail suited to a smooth and distinctly classic gin. The main courses were served with a wonderful Clover Club, created using Hendrick's Lunar Gin, its floral and richly aromatic notes perfectly working with the fresh raspberries adding to the zesty cocktail. It's vegan friendly too, with a few drops of a foaming agent, Foamee, substituting for the usual egg whites.

The dinner finished in style with a decadent Hendrick's Espresso Martini to accompany the sumptuous desserts from the Exchequer. Traditionally made with vodka rather than gin, our wonderful bartender Ben was using Hendrick's Orbium Gin, a reimagining of the classic Hendrick's Gin instilled with additional extracts of Quinine, Wormwood and Blue Lotus Blossom (ingredients ordinarily found in gin accompaniments like tonic and vermouth). These additions are a perfect complement to the coffee and liqueur in an Espresso Martini, creating an almost dark-chocolate flavour, and taking this cocktail - so well suited to dessert already - to a whole new level.

You can find the limited release Hedrick's Lunar Gin at Tesco, Supervalu and O'Brien's. To ensure you don't miss out on any future Hendrick's Gin experiences, be sure to follow Ben Curtis on Instagram, to see where he pops up next.

Bookings for The Exchequer D2 can be found on opentable.ie