Celebrate Chinese New Year, year of the pig with a gin pig!

There are some beautiful craft gin bottles out there - we’ve sent many of them to our lovely club members! However, today is the beginning of Chinese New Year and instead of pouring from the bottle, we thought you might want to serve your gin in one of these adorable gin pigs!

In the early eighteenth century when the gin craze was in full swing in London, a lot of households had specially made jugs or decanters to serve their gin, known as gin pigs!

While many people will be familiar with claret jugs and glass whisky decanters, a ‘gin pig’ is perhaps lesser known. The pig is held by the tail and the gin is then poured from the snout. Not all the decanters resembled a pig, some were dogs and fish.

Scottish glass firm, Angels' Share Glass have recently created some modern day gin pigs, drawing inspiration from this quirky Victorian tradition.

The pigs are based on two beautifully preserved eighteenth century gin pigs that sit on display at Brodie castle in Moray and we think they are super cute! They are available to buy via the Angels’ Share Glass website priced at £29.95.

Or if you’re in the market for a more authentic gin pig, you can find antique, eighteenth century pigs online here.

What with it being the year of the pig this Chinese New Year, these would make a wonderfully quirky gift for the gin lover in your life, or for yourself!