The week in pictures

The drinks business was in Islay this week for a visit to the Bunnahabain distillery, which claims this 15-tonne mash tun is the largest on the island.

Cask finishes and age statements may excite consumers but Kirsty McCallum, global brands ambassador for Burn Stewart Distilleries insisted: “Stills massively impact on the flavour of the spirit. Every distillery has a different-shaped still and the shape is what makes whiskies so different.” For reference, Bunnahabhain describes its wash still (left) as an “onion”, while the spirit still (right) is a “pear”.

No, this isn’t Jerez. Since the 1960s Bunnahabain has stood out from other Islay distilleries for its distinctive non-peated style, which is matured primarily in old Sherry casks. Four years ago the brand launched Toiteach, a peated expression, for which it uses mainly old Bourbon casks. “A lot of people think if you use a lot of Sherry cask on a peaty style it takes away some of the peaty flavour,” explains McCallum.

The Islay weather made no concessions for db‘s visit, but it was still possible to appreciate Bunnahabhain’s beautiful setting, just across the channel from Jura, seen in the background.

How it ended up at Bunnahabhain remains a mystery, but this bell is believed to have come from a boat that sunk in Loch Indaal during the 19th century. The total number of shipwrecks around Islay alone is estimated at around 200.

The Islay weather behaved itself long enough for db to escape on this dinky 36-seater plane for the short hop back to the mainland.

Singer/songwriter Emeli Sandé performs at the Moët & Chandon 270th anniversary celebration at Chelsea Piers in New York. The evening was hosted by Moët global brand ambassador Roger Federer.

The Hendrick’s Carnival of Knowledge took place at One Royal Circus in Edinburgh, during this year’s Edinburgh Fringe. The Carnival featured a “packed programme of interesting diversions and entertainments”, including the chance to hold a snake.

A barman pours the drinks at the Belvedere Yacht Club during the Secret Garden Party, which was part of the vodka’s UK festivals campaign.

db was lucky enough to scale The Shard this week for dinner at Rainer Becker’s Oblix, which began with in the restaurant’s lounge bar with its signature cocktail, the Betsy Theory. Made with Bulleit Bourbon, tobacco liqueur, cacao liqueur, mint, and peach bitters, the cocktail was originally served with a blood read feather (or cock’s tail) in ode to the origins of the cocktail, but as customers kept pinching them they are now served featherless in silver goblets dotted with Napoleon’s favourite emblem: the bee.

Moving on to the main restaurant, db was left in the capable hands of Oblix’s charming southern French sommelier, Nicolas Vielleville, pictured here modelling a magnum of Loimer Kamptal Riesling 2012 to pair with our lobster and scallop ceviche.

The decadence continued later this week at Gloucester Road Michelin-starred restaurant Launceston Place, said to be Princess Diana’s favourite haunt, where db was treated to this fine duo – Lopez de Heredia Viña Tondonia 1995 to pair with a salty hunk of Ibérico pork and Dujac Gevrey-Chambertin 2008 to glug with veal in three guises: loin, cheek and sweetbread.

db went behind the scenes at The Stafford hotel in St James’s this week, where we were given a tour of its 10,000-bottle, 380-year-old cellar by the hotel’s charming Master Sommelier Gino Nardella. Full of fascinating tales of visiting royals past and present, among the gems resting within its walls were Port bottled the year the Second World War ended, half bottles of Château Lafite ’61 and 30-year-old Australian Chardonnay.

In addition to gallons of fine wine, the cellar at The Stafford is also home to a treasure trove of war memorabilia, such as this Daily Telegraph news board left behind by Second World War soldiers that stopped by the hotel while serving their country.

Among the treasure trove of wines at The Stafford were Château Mouton Rothschild 1982, Château Haut-Brion 1995 and Château d’Yquem 1989, which, try as we might, we couldn’t convince Gino to open and pretend he’d dropped it en route to the restaurant.