The week in pictures
This week, SB’s senior staff writer Melita Kiely travelled to Riga, Latvia, for the inaugural Rigal Black Balsam Global Cocktail Challenge. A total of 48 bartenders from 11 different countries went head-to-head at the city’s Crystal Club, and scooping first place and cash prize of €3,000 was Estonian bartender Angelika Larkina. Larkina impressed the judges with her cocktail creation, 6 Elements, made using Riga Balzam Currant, Riga Balzam Elements, Chambord, Sandeman Fino Sherry, Cido Cherry Juice and orange peel oil.
While in Riga, Latvia, this week, Valters Kaze, chief marketing officer of Amber Beverage Group, gave guests a tour of the Latvijas Balzams distillery to learn about the firm’s rich history and how they make three of the Riga Black Balzams expressions – Riga Black Balzams, Riga Black Balzams Currant and Riga Black Balzams Elements.
On Thursday, the International Wine and Spirit Competition (IWSC) announced the winners of 2015 at its Annual Awards Banquet which took place at the Guildhall, London. The Annual IWSC Awards Banquet gathers influential figures from across the industry to celebrate the best brands and personalities of the wine and spirit world. The evening included a five course banquet with winner’s wine pairings, speeches and the official presentation of its 2015 winners. It was also the culmination of the year for 2015 President, CEO of Australian Vintage, Neil McGuigan.
This week Beefeater Gin continued its national trials in a bid to to uncover the world’s best bartenders and champion them at the Beefeater MIXLDN Global Bartender Cocktail Competition. The 2015 contest invites entrants to take a classic gin recipe created no later than 1950, and using either Beefeater Dry or Beefeater 24, take that drink and rework it using modern London as inspiration. The latest winner from the local heats – held in Antwerp, Belgium – is Maya Van Damme, of the Old Fashioned Cocktail Bar in Ghent.
What is thought to be the world’s oldest Cognac sold at auction was opened in Poland recently to inaugurate a business partnership. The bottle of Gautier Cognac, above, dates back to 1762, and was opened during a ceremony to mark the partnership between Wealth Solutions and Armin Strom, a Swiss watchmaker. It was purchased by Wealth Solutions in 2014 during an auction of rare wines and liquors organised by Bonhams Fine Art Auctioneers & Valuers in New York.
The Spirits Summit – a one-day conference designed to bring the industry together to discuss the European spirits sector – was hosted in Soho last week. The summit gathers together key figures, policy-makers and other stakeholders to consider the outlook for the years ahead and the state of play of the sector at present. This year, the focus of the Spirits Summit was “premiumisation” as a source of growth and jobs for Europe – but attendees also considered challenges, opportunities for growth, and responsibilities of the sector towards harm reduction on a wider level.
The focus of the day was a panel discussion, which was moderated by Dave Keating, multimedia journalist, and attended by Peter Power, head of cabinet for Phil Hogan’s team of the European Commission; Frits Thissen, agricultural counsellor and permanent representation of the Netherlands to the EU; Thomas Hinrichs, president of Europe, North Asia and ANZSEA for Brown Forman; Benjamin Kuentz, director of CGA Nielsen France; Paul Skehan, director general of spiritsEUROPE.
This week, a member of team SB headed down to printworks-turned-public house Harrild & Sons in Farringdon for a cocktail and some nibbles with LDR Creative. Tucked away beneath the main bar lies 5CC cocktail club, which offers an inventive menu of both contemporary and classic delights. We enjoyed the Butterscotch Old Fashioned – Butterscotch-infused Evan Williams Extra Aged Bourbon, sugar, orange, and Angustora Bitters.
A fan-run Star Wars convention in Manchester, UK, is to open The Mos Eisley Cantina Tavern, a venue inspired by the film series and its famous locations. As part of For The Love of the Force, which takes place next month, The Cantina will feature blue “bantha milk” cocktails, as drunk by Luke Skywalker in Star Wars Episode IV. For the purposes of the bar, the bantha milk cocktail is made from Irish Meadow Country Cream, Red Square Vodka and a dash of blue food colouring. Image credit: Gary Louth
This week SB’s editor Kristiane Sherry visited the La Martiniquaise Bardinet-owned Glen Moray Distillery. Master distiller Graham Coull revealed the annual output for the distillery had already increased from 2.2m litres to 3.3m in 2015, and he expects that next year’s volumes will hit 5m litres. “We could squeeze almost 6m out,” Coull added, explaining that he has a “future vision” for a combined capacity of the existing and new facilities of 9m litres per year.
Patrón Tequila hosted the final of its Perfectionist competition at The London Edition hotel this week, challenging bartenders to create a cocktail with “the same passion and care as Patrón do when creating their handcrafted Tequila”. Dean Shury from Chiltern Firehouse was crowned the winner for his aperitif, ‘Providence’. Shury will receive an all-expenses paid, luxury trip to the Hacienda Patrón – Patrón Tequila’s plush distillery in the highlands of Jalisco, Mexico, and his cocktail will also feature as a limited-edition special serve at Chiltern Firehouse.
A new “luxury” British gin brand has launched with the aim of holding the same appeal in the gin category as Chanel holds in perfume. Created in Cambridgeshire, Givinity is a London dry gin distilled in small batches. It is bottled in a Cognac-style decanter printed with 11-carat gold and featuring a neck label wrapped with gold aluminium and finished with a gold plated bottle closure.
Described as the ‘FA Cup of Gin’, the Graphic Gin-Off was launched in June, featuring eight gin brands, aimed at educating, engaging and involving the general consumer and drinks experts alike. After five exciting rounds, Martin Miller’s Gin has beaten Elephant Gin, East London Liquor Company, Whitley Neill Gin, Hayman’s, Ophir, Sipsmith and Jensen’s Gin, winning Soho’s battle of the booze. Martin Miller’s brand ambassador and expert mixologist Aidan Bowie created the winning cocktail: the Cucumber Nettle Gimlet, served in a cucumber that could then be enjoyed along with the homemade Martin Miller’s Gin botanical hummus. Guests were given a polling card upon arrival, which they used to vote after trying the two bespoke cocktails, provided by Martin Miller’s and Jensen’s. After a night of drinking and dancing, Martin Miller’s Gin was awarded a specially made Copper Still Trophy, with the victorious cocktail being allocated a place on Graphic’s 2016 menu.
Our/London, the London-based footprint of Pernod Ricard’s global network of micro-distilleries, has now opened its doors. The launch event, held earlier this week, was described as a “huge success” with more than 250 guests celebrating the opening of the Hackney-based micro-distillery. Led by local entrepreneurs Clive Watson and Neil Chivers, who have backgrounds in hospitality and music respectively, Our/Vodka has already launched in Berlin, Amsterdam, Detroit and Seattle, with Los Angeles, New York, Miami and Houston set to launch imminently.
The Hong Kong branch of The Drinks Business, SB’s sister publication, hosted its first Baijiu masterclass in the city’s China Club. The proceedings started with a masterclass involving 12 members of Hong Kong’s key wine trade, most of whom by their own admission had never used Baijiu as an ingredient in their work. Between each tasting, guests also had the chance to sample a plate of fermented and pickled foods, to off-set the umami notes of the Baijiu. The event was sponsored by Googut Wines and Spirits, a Beijing-based auction house and a specialist in aged Baijiu.
The Guardian’s Martin Chulov scooped the Journalist of the Year award at the Foreign Press Association Media Awards 2015 at the Park Lane Hotel in London. Chulov was awarded the honour for an insightful piece into the current situation in the Middle East. Chivas Brothers sponsors the FPA Media Awards in support of the organisation’s goals of honouring excellence in journalism.
