The week in pictures

Carlsberg collaborated with football funnyman Chris Kamara, who this week went undercover on the tube kitted out in full prosthetics disguised as an old man. Kamara substituted anyone who gave up their seat on the tube for seats at the Euros this summer!

Earlier this week, Aurélie Panhelleux from Copperbay bar, Paris, defeated her opponents to win the French national final of the Chivas Regal Masters cocktail making competition. 

Meantime Craftsmen Project: Brewer Ciaran Giblin at the Greenwich Brewery (© Mikael Buck)

Meantime launched its ‘Make Time For It’ campaign this week – a national campaign that aims to celebrate “‘time’ as the unique fifth ingredient in all of Meantime’s beers.”

With Meantime maturing its beers for up to six weeks minimum, Make Time For It will see Meantime collaborate with six expert craftsmen across six major UK cities; Manchester, Glasgow, Leeds, Bristol, Brighton and London, to promote the message.

the drinks business hosted our 13th annual db Awards ceremony at the London Wine Fair this week, and you can read about the full list of winners here. We’ll soon be publishing a full selection of photos from the ceremony, so keep your eyes peeled!

Bevy has announced the signing of Made in Chelsea stars Jamie Laing and Alex Mytton as brand ambassadors for the alcohol and convenience delivery app.

In their official role for Bevy, the stars will be making appearances at company events, helping market the brand through stunts and promotions, and may even be spotted doing surprise deliveries to customers of the app.

Diageo Reserve has announced the last competitors through to the GB World Class final. The latest round was held at London’s Oriole Bar, and due to a tie for the fifth place, a sixth name was revealed. This now completes the final line up of eleven of the UK’s finest in bartending talent.

Lorenzo Antinori of Dandelyan, Aidan Bowie of Dandelyan, Dominic Whisson of The American Bar at The Savoy, James Bowker of The Edgbaston Boutique Hotel & Cocktail Lounge, Jerome Allaguillemette of Sexy Fish and Gordon Purnell of Panda & Sons (all pictured above) will join the final five selected in December to battle it out to become the Diageo Reserve GB Bartender of the Year 2016 at next month’s final event.

A PR stunt for beer brand Kronenbourg 1664 is taking place today, in which “Bar D’Alsace-tian” will be tended by a team of trained Alsatian dogs, or “bark-tenders”, who will deliver bottles of beer to thirsty patrons via kegs strapped to harness around their necks.

The stunt has been timed to coincide with the launch of Kronenbourg’s new advert, which stars Eric Cantona and a pair of Alsatian dogs.

(Photographer: Aran Jefferies)

Orchard Pig literally launched its new cans of craft cider using the UK’s biggest homemade catapult this week. The 2.3 metre tall catapult was specially designed to launch the new Orchard Pig Reveller cans to cider fans at speeds of over 70mph!

English wine producers Bolney, Digby Fine English, Hattingley Valley and Hush Heath enjoyed a high profile at a showcase of British drinks hosted by the British Embassy in Toyko to coincide with this month’s G7 Agriculture Ministers’ Meeting in Japan.

The exclusive guest list included sommeliers and bartenders from some of Tokyo’s top hotels, Japanese press and George Eustice MP, UK minister of state at the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA). This portfolio of English wine was introduced to Japan at the end of last year through specialist drinks importer Mottox, working in partnership with export firm The British Bottle Company.

Ahead of the final of the 15th Concours du Meilleur Sommelier du Monde in Argentina, Trapiche welcomed all 61 sommeliers for an event at its winery in Mendoza.The competition saw sommeliers from more than 58 countries compete for the title of World’s Best Sommelier, who were whittled down to just three finalists. The title was eventually handed to Swedish sommelier Jon Arvid Rosengren, with Argentine sommelier Paz Levinson finishing in fourth place.

Argentine master silversmith Juan Carlos Pallarols was the special guest of the night at the event held at Trapiche, inviting each of the candidates to help engrave the Gold and Silver Cup, crafted by himself, that would later be handed by Trapiche to the winning sommelier, later named as Jon Arvid Rosengren of Sweden.

Gerard Bassett MW MS with Carla Castorina, corporate PR manager at Gruppo Penaflor, which owns Trapiche.

Hendrick’s Gin took to the streets last week in a curious cucumber contraption as part of its latest stunt to support its on-trade clients. A team of ambassadors hurtled around the UK in sidecars dressed up to resemble a cucumber, visiting up to 100 bars nationwide to raise awareness of the “peculiar” way to serve Hendrick’s & Tonic – garnished with cucumber.

Hendrick’s Gin launches curious ‘Cucumber Couriers’ campaign, with ambassadors touring the UK riding in sidecars of vintage motorbikes raising awareness of the perfect serve – Hendrick’s & Tonic garnished with cucumber

Stopping by venues in London, Leeds, Notingham, Lesicester and Loughborough, surprised patrons were given free Hendrick’s gin and tonics and entertained by the brand’s dapperly-dressed cucumber couriers.

“The Cucumber Couriers service, is a most unique initiative offering the noblest of green fruits to bartenders, with a reminder that no bar is fully stocked unless it has sliced cucumber at its helm,” said Sam Bovill, senior brand manager for Hendrick’s UK. “It’s a great way to engage with our bartender friends and envelope them into the wonderfully odd world of Hendrick’s.”

British heavy metal band Motörhead has launched its first new drink since the death of frontman Lemmy last December – a cider named Snaggletooth.

Described by guitarist Phil Campbel as “kick ass”, the 5.5% ABV cider is made in Worcestershire from a blend of Dabinet, Michelin and dessert apple varieties, and will go on sale at Morrison’s nationwide on 16 May.

db was delighted to be invited to Alyn Williams at The Westbury hotel in Mayfair this week to try out its new spring tasting menu with matching wine pairings. After an array of divine amuse bouche, the feast kicked off with a fresh and floral Torrontés from Terrazas paired with a pretty Orkney scallop served in its shell with carrot, kumquat and bonito, the aromatic notes in the wine complementing the saline flavours in the dish.

Next up we were poured a textured Marsanne/Roussanne blend from Saint-Joseph, whose rich, citrus and stone fruit notes married well with a sliver of Cornish lemon sole with Italian bitter greens, toasted linseeds and creamy hollandaise.

Moving things up a gear, our next wine was a 2009 Kanta Riesling from Egon Müller, which displayed the variety’s signature notes of lime and kerosine, cutting through the fat in a rich broth of foie gras, smoked eel and mushroom.

Our next wine pit stop took us to the mountains of northern Italy with this pretty, perfumed Pinot Noir that stood up to the iodine flavours in this miniature steak tartare with morcilla (Spanish black pudding), grilled onions and creamed egg yolks.

Staying in Italy, our fantastic female sommelier paired the main meat dish – an ambitious medley involving lamb, a lamb sweetbread, pickled aubergine, feta and cucumber with a bright, juicy Chianti Classico from Querciabella alive with notes of sour cherries and forest floor flavours.

Ending on a sweet note, we were treated to a glass of the 2005 vintage from Sauternes estate Suduiraut’s second wine Castelnau, which hummed with notes of honey, marmalade and dried apricot, adding zest and lift to a decadent mocha mousse with milk chocolate.