The week in pictures
On Tuesday, SB‘s Amy Hopkins headed to east London to the excellent speakeasy-style bar Worship Street Whistling shop to attend the Gordon’s Flavour Masters event – a tasting of Gordon’s With a Spot of Elderflower which was expertly led by the brand’s master distiller Tom Nichol, and gin historian, Jo McKerchar (pictured back centre). Covering the gin brand’s extensive history and current innovations, Nichol demonstrated its consistent flavour profile and production methods.
Worship Street Whistling Shop co-founder and renowned bartender Tom Aske created a number of cocktails to suit Gordon’s With a Spot of Elderflower and Gordon’s Cucumber Crisp. These included the Southwark Sour and the Summer Blossom, as well as a number of “at home” serves.
The creative Robin Collective also treated guests to a series of activities to learn more about the science and taste of Gordon’s. First there was a test to see if participants were “supertasters”, “inbetweenies” or “mild tasters” by judging their reactions to licking paper coated with a bitter chemical. One this was established, guests tried a “dew drop” of Gordon’s Elderflower while touching different materials and listening to different sounds, to judge the affect on their palates. Finally, participants indulged in some light “gin smoking” – that is, sucking Gordon’s Elderflower vapour through a straw.
Monkey Shoulder’s new UK Brand Ambassador, Grant Neave, often travels the country hosting DIY cocktail bootcamps teaching people the art of Scotch cocktails and how recreate them at home. On Wednesday night, Neave held a masterclass at London’s Central & Co which included a tasting of Monkey Shoulder, a short talk on the brand’s history and three signature Monkey Shoulder serves for 20 consumers to try their hand at.
Ballantine’s has released the latest instalment of its extended series from around the world, which will feature artists, creators and innovators who define Ballantine’s mantra “Stay True”. The film, called The Art of Drumming, features London drummer, Ben Mead, who also starred in Ballantine’s recent commercial The Drummer, as he uses LED “light trails” on the end of his drumsticks to demonstrate the shapes, patterns and skills that make up his talent.
Bunga Bunga has swapped its seasonal menu for its new Primavera Menu and celebrated with a launch dinner served in true Silvio style with signature cocktail, The BungaBunga – 12,000L, a blend of Tanqueray gin, Martini Fiero, crushed peppercorns and sparkling grapefruit juice served over crushed ice.
The Spirits Business was proud to announce this week its collaboration with Vinexpo Asia-Pacific to put the vibrant world of spirits under the spotlight with a new concept bar for this year’s show. Spiritual, as the bar has been named, will enable brand owners to showcase their products through an array of cocktails, mixed by an expert team of mixologists.
Numerous dummy press releases landed in team SB’s inbox on April Fools’ Day trying to trick us with their tomfoolery. Among the day’s best jokers was Master of Malt with the Joculus Snift – a headset that allows the user to digitally browse, download and virtually taste any whisky. Nice try, guys.
A collection of rare whisky and contemporary art is to be displayed at Harrods until 12 April as a result of an exclusive partnership deal between McLean’s Artist Malts and the famous department store.
Our panel of judges were overwhelmingly impressed by the standard of drinks presented in the latest Swizzle Masters round, all mixed to perfection by Mews of Mayfair’s Erik Giarratana. Congratulations were in order this week as we announced bartender Mihai Fetcu as the winner of the Simplistic Vodka round of The Wenneker Swizzle Masters 2014. He will join the existing two semi-finalists, Sid Chen and Adriana Soley, in the semi-finals in October.
