The week in pictures
On Monday, Chivas Brothers launched the new Longmorn portfolio of luxury whiskies at Claridge’s, Mayfair. Guests enjoyed Longmorn Distiller’s Choice cocktails before Trevor Buckley, Longmorn master distiller, led tastings of the new expressions Longmorn 16 Year Old and Longmorn 23 Year Old.
As part of London Restaurant Festival, Suntory are hosting the Japanese Journey – a restaurant-hopping tour of London’s finest Japanese restaurants. Guests will receive a passport to enjoy five dishes across five different restaurants (Bó Drake, Chisou, Kurobuta, Shoryu Soho, Tonkotsu), each paired with Suntory’s signature Hakushu Highball.
Over the weekend, Bulldog held its Bulldog Brompton Challenge which took place at The Bike Shed during London Cocktail Week. Six trade teams took part in the bike polo tournament on the Sunday, with Imbibe magazine coming out on top over team Campari. CEO and founder of Bulldog, Anshuman Vohra, presented the prize of 3x Bulldog-branded Brompton Bikes and cocktail kits to the winning team.
On Thursday, team SB went down to One Canada Square Restaurant and Bar in Canary Wharf for The Liqueurs Masters, Pre-mixed Masters and the Speciality Masters in a drive to find and reward the finest brands on the world stage. A panels of judges tasted more than 90 brands from a variety of categories such as cream liqueurs to bottled classic cocktails.
Many interesting flights of tea, ginger, herbal, mint and amaretto were among the liqueurs that judges tasted in The Liqueur Masters 2016.
An array of bottled ‘contemporary cocktails’ from Pina Coladas to Old Fashioneds were tasted next in the Pre-mixed Masters 2016.
Following the success of Chambord’s flamingo croquet pop-up ‘The Chapter Eight Games’, a new pop-up has launched during London Cocktail Week at South Palace Hotel’s Secret Garden bar. The garden has been transformed into ‘Le Jardin de Chambord’, serving guests an array of tantalising Chambord cocktails featuring concoctions such as the Chambord Royale, the classic French Martini as well as a new fruity Club Chambord creation.
Grant Murray from the UK has been named the winner of the 2016 Peter F. Heering Classics for his modern classic cocktail the ‘Brace Position’. Ten global bar star semi-finalists were flown to London, England and shook things up during London Cocktail Week last week with their own classic cocktail creation using Cherry Heering.
Birmingham Whisky Club is celebrating five years of bringing whisky to Birmingham with five new unique events. On 3 November, the club will be hosting a very special tasting to start the festivities. They will be working with The Electric Cinema and independent bottlers Douglas Laing for a ‘drink-along’ screening of Ken Loach’s ‘The Angel’s Share’. Throughout the celebrations, events will be held with Chivas, Highland Park and Glenfiddich and finishing with their 5th annual ‘Peat Freaks’ tasting at The Wellington.
Peter Nguyen from Mr Fogg’s Residence in London is heading for Paris to compete against mixologists from around the world, following a resounding victory at the Monin Cup UK Final during London Cocktail Week. Nguyen blew away the judges with his two Monin signature serves ‘Hootenanny’ and ‘Caramel and Popcorn’. He will now represent the UK at the International Monin Cup Final on 5 December in Paris, competing against more than 40 Monin Cup winners from across the globe.
Louis XIII has created a pop-up space at no 51 Burlington Arcade to celebrate Louis XIII’s L’Odyssée d’Un Roi, a unique creation with Hermes, St Louis, Puiforcat and Louis XIII, allowing visitors to learn about Cognac and the expression of time through their experience.
