The week in pictures
Edgerton Pink Gin brought a touch of romance to London ahead of Valentines Day by hosting a one-off street event. Models in James Bond-esque attire approached female passers-by with a pink rose and a taster of the unique gin while a film crew captured each reaction for a soon-to-be-released video.
Buffalo Trace held a masterclass this week at the Hilton, London Tower Bridge, comprising White Dog, Buffalo Trace, Eagle Rare and Stagg Junior. The masterclasses will run each Wednesday as of March, during which guests will also have the opportunity to enjoy cocktails and canapés.
On Thursday night, sb hotfooted it across the city to new Peruvian joint Pachamama to show our support for London’s first Pisco Sour Week. On hand to share his extensive knowledge of Peru and Chile’s national spirit was Tom Bartram, Speciality Brands’ business development manager for London and the South.
After tasting the delectable Pisco cocktail offerings and canapés on offer at Pachamama, guests were given the chance to infuse their own pot of Pisco, using teabags filled with ingredients such as pink peppercorns, coriander, coffee, liquorice, ginger and citrus fruits to name just a few.
Founder of 86 Co., Simon Ford, trekked to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro this week, an triumph he described as “the second hardest thing I have ever done in my life”. The first, if you were wondering, was starting a spirits company.
Bottled cocktails are all the rage right now and on Wednesday sb was lucky enough to be invited to Indian restaurant Dishoom’s most recent opening in King’s Cross for a special tasting of their cocktail range. After descending to the Permit Room – designed to emulate an eccentric 20th century bar in Bombay – the brains behind the cocktail range, Carl Brown, talked guests through his inspiration and process behind creating each tipple. Earning Brown the winning spot in the Young British Foodie’s drinks category, each cocktail is aged in bottles or barrels then served over chipped ice by the “chota peg” or “burra peg”, which are traditional Indian measurements. Signature serves include the Chai Paanch, a deliciously smoky drink made from lemon shrub with Johnnie Walker Black Label, house chai, Gosling’s dark rum, ginger and cocoa liqueurs.
It was with great pleasure we were able to announce the first winner of The Wenneker Swizzle Masters 2015 this week – Romanian bartender Mihai Fetcu. Fetcu blew judges away with his complex, beautifully balanced Botanic Gin creation using Whitley Neill, called Round of Applause.
The Beau Rivage Palace in Geneva, Switzerland, was treated to an introduction of Hedonist and HeeJoy – a new spiced rum – this week.
Diageo GTME launched the Johnnie Walker Blue Label 2015 Limited Edition design exclusively into travel retail this week, created to be a “visual celebration of the extraordinary whisky”.
Four Roses Bourbon visited The Henry Clay Center for Statemanship this week to add some of their whiskey to the “Bourbon Barrel of Compromise”, as dubbed by the Kentucky Distillers Association. Master distillers from different distilleries filled the giant barrel pictured above on Monday, which was then taken by police escort in a horse drawn carriage to the Clay Memorial before being shipped to Washington. It will be placed inside the InterContinental Willard Hotel in Washington as a nod to Henry Clay who used Bourbon to “get things done”.
