
Whenever people tell me they can't drink because they are on medication or because they are having a break from booze for health reasons, I always get in quick with the quip: “Can't you have gin? It's medicinal”. The red-nosed wrecks that emerged from Victorian gin palaces would probably have a word or two disagreeing with me on that but somehow I just don't see how a drink so perfumed and sweet-smelling can ever be bad for you? Especially when nine times out of ten it's drunk with tonic water, which is a) way healthier than sugary lemonade and b) called TONIC water. Think about it.
Whisky, vodka and even (white) rum just aren't a patch on the big G.I.N. In the past, people have scoffed at me when I've ordered it at a bar and it's still a tricky one to order at a gig but places like Calooh Callay, serving gin in teacups, have given the drink a new trendy lease of life. Gin connoisseurs will think of Bombay Sapphire as the glitzy gin to drink. It's sparkly blue bottles demand to be served at parties and glamorous occasions, not kept in the airing cupboard with the Christmas brandy, and so it was fitting that at the Victoria & Albert Museum's Summer Camp at the end of July, Bombay Sapphire provided the pop-up bar.

I could after all have popped back to Tesco and bought some party cups but I don't know if that would fit with Bombay Sapphire's design-led branding. It would also be a disservice to the designer and creator of the cardboard martini glass creations, Giles Miller. The artist works exclusively in cardboard and has worked with Stella McCartney and regularly designs cardboard displays for Selfridges homeware section.
"The manufacturing process is the same as egg boxes. There's no gluing, it's essentially cardboard packed together," he explained. Adding: "The martini glass is made in two parts then stacked together so the stem had to be thicker than a normal glass stem to allow this. It's totally waterproof but also biodegradable." Drinkers will be able to keep the brass tag that's hung around each glass with Bombay Sapphire's logo on it.

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