The Potting Shed

Guides, gift ideas and honest answers from the people who hand-pack every kit.

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Two labelled swing top bottles of homemade gin and spiced rum on a kitchen shelf beside small dishes of juniper berries and whole spices.
Do you need a licence to make gin or spiced rum at home?
No licence or HMRC approval is needed to steep botanicals in a spirit you have bought. Producing alcohol and selling it are the two things that do need permission.
Two bottles of home spiced rum with handwritten kraft tags beside a small bowl of dried spices on a kitchen table.
Gifts for a step dad: thoughtful without being too much
How to pitch a step dad gift, and three make-your-own kits that are specific enough to feel considered but easy enough to share round the table.
A demijohn of fruit wine, a jar of rum infusing with spices and a gold-repaired bowl on a rustic wooden table in winter light.
Winter projects to start in December: wine, rum and a golden repair
Three makes worth starting in December: country wine that lands in spring, spiced rum ready inside a week, and a kintsugi repair that fills one dark evening.
A glass of blue gin turning pink as tonic is poured, beside wrapped parcels and a bottle of spiced rum on a wooden table.
Office Christmas party gifts and raffle prizes people actually want
The five tests a good office gift passes, what makes a raffle prize the room competes for, and how to handle colleagues who do not drink.
A jar of dark rum infusing with cinnamon, star anise and ginger beside a tasting glass on a wooden table.
Gifts for rum lovers: beyond another bottle
Glasses, mixers, ice and a spiced rum kit: what actually lands with rum drinkers who already own more bottles than shelf space.
A wooden crate Christmas Eve box holding folded socks, a candle, a jar of spices and a bottle, on a table beside fir sprigs.
A Christmas Eve box for adults: gin, spiced rum and something to make
The four-item formula for a grown-up Christmas Eve box, and why a gin or spiced rum kit is the piece that keeps working after the evening ends.
A bottle of homemade spiced rum beside whole cassia bark, cloves, nutmeg and dried hibiscus on a dark wooden table.
How long does a spiced rum kit keep? Spices, best before and the bottled rum
Whole spices keep for a long time, so a spiced rum kit runs to 18 months from packing. Storing it between batches, and how long your bottled rum will last.
A steaming hot toddy in a heatproof glass with a cinnamon stick and lemon slice, beside a bottle of homemade spiced rum on a rustic wooden table.
Spiced rum hot toddy and other warm winter drinks
How to build a spiced rum hot toddy properly, which homemade rum to use, five more warm winter drinks and how to batch them for a crowd.
Strips of homemade beef jerky and a bottle of spiced rum on a wooden table with a bonfire burning in the background.
Bonfire night food and drink: spiced rum, hot sauce and homemade jerky
Bonfire night food should be one-handed and made in advance. Homemade jerky, a bottle of spiced rum and a timing plan that has it all ready by the fifth.
Bottles of homemade hot sauce and dark spiced rum on a wooden table lit by candles beside a fire.
Halloween night in for adults: hot sauce, dark rum and a fire
A Halloween evening in that needs no costume: spiced rum started a week ahead, a range of homemade hot sauces on the table, and a fire to sit beside.
A bottle of dark spiced rum beside a jar of steeping spices, cinnamon sticks and star anise on a wooden table.
Rum vs spiced rum: what spicing actually changes
Spiced rum is rum with spices steeped in it, nothing more. What that changes, why shop bottles taste sweeter, and how spicing your own puts you in charge.
A kintsugi-repaired bowl with golden seams and a bottle of homemade spiced rum on a wooden table in low autumn light.
New hobby ideas for autumn evenings: makes you can finish in a weekend
Two autumn hobbies with a visible finish line: a golden kintsugi repair done in an evening, and a bottle of spiced rum ready inside a week.
A tall glass of spiced rum and ginger beer over ice with a lime wedge, beside a bottle of homemade spiced rum.
Spiced rum cocktails: six drinks to make with your own bottle
Six cocktails for homemade spiced rum, from a dark and stormy to a warm mulled rum, plus which blend suits which drink and what to keep in.
A jar of dark rum infusing with cinnamon bark, star anise, cloves and strips of orange peel on a farmhouse kitchen table.
What goes into spiced rum? The spices, explained one by one
Vanilla, cassia, clove, nutmeg, allspice, star anise, ginger and citrus peel: what each spice contributes to spiced rum and how fast each one infuses.
Spiced rum kit with two spice blends, cotton filter and tasting pipette beside a bottle of homemade spiced rum
Spiced Rum Kits: Turn a Cheap Bottle into Something Special in 72 Hours
What's inside a spiced rum kit, which rum to buy, the full 72 hour method step by step, and how to fix cloudy or over-spiced batches.

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Chilli sauce making kit with two bottles of homemade sauceFood Kits Hedgerow wine making kit with three bottles of homemade wineDrink Kits Kintsugi repair kit box with gold-repaired bowlsCraft Kits Ultimate gin making kit with two homemade pink ginsGift Kits