The week in pictures

This week Scottish brewer, Innis & Gunn, launched its most daring project so far, as it attempts to hitchhike cans of its new IPA from Edinburgh to India in just six weeks.

To accomplish the ambitious task, Innis & Gunn has enlisted the help of seasoned hitchhiker, Emmanuel  “Manny” Marshall, to complete the 5,000 mile journey from Edinburgh to Delhi, India. Manny set off from the historic Princes Street in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle and travel across mainland Europe and Central Asia. Armed simply with cans of Innis & Gunn IPA as his currency, he will rely solely on the generosity of strangers to give him a lift, or a bed for the night.  An experienced globetrotter, Manny has been travelling almost constantly over the last ten years. He is the author of Travel Hackers Handbook, a book aimed at inspiring readers to work less, travel more and stretch their budgets.

Beer-loving friends Richard Servranckx and Dan Quille, from Leith in Edinburgh, announced this week that they plan to share their passion for quality brews and revolutionise the Scottish beer scene with a new ‘Craft Beer Revolution Festival’ at Assembly Roxy in Edinburgh 24 to 26 November 2016.
The three-day festival will be held at Assembly Roxy in Edinburgh and will showcase craft beers from 13 of the best breweries from Scotland, the UK and Europe. Over 60 beers will be on offer in the Beer Hall, from pale ales to hoppy 10% brews, appealing to both beer connoisseurs and novices who can try new flavours, meet the brewers and discover a new favourite beer. A Craft Beer Revolution beer will also be available, brewed in collaboration with Edinburgh-based microbrewery Ushers, and festival goers can vote for their favourite beer to win the ‘Craft Beer Revolution Beer of the Year’ award.

On 25 August the results for the 42BELOW Cocktail World Cup were announced and though Australia bagged the overall bragging rights, with the highest score across their five teams, James Millar and Cameron Attfield from The Gin Room in Auckland, New Zealand were crowned the 42BELOW® Cocktail Earth Cup 2016 champions.
The ‘up-cycled’ Sherwood Hotel was home-base for the event that comprised of challenges and activities to test the five Australian and five New Zealand teams’ cocktail-making, showmanship and dedication to sustainable bar practices.

However, it would not be a true visit to New Zealand without an adrenaline spiking bungy-jump off Kawarau Bridge. After which the teams competed in a mystery box challenge calling for a twist on a classic tiki cocktail. No power was necessary as the cocktails were blended via foot pedalling with a specially equipped ‘blender push-bike’.

This week LA-based artist and winemaker Gavin Chanin unveiled the new hand=painted labels for his 2015 vintages in Santa Barbara, California.
Most of Gavin’s highly sought after paintings have been sold to private collectors and prices range from $3.000 to $6.000 per painting, though Gavin also does photography which sells for $300 to $500.
Sam Clarke, Flint Wines’ buyer for American wines adds “Gavin’s talent in the cellar was apparent to me from the moment I tasted his wines the first time. As an art lover I also take a lot of pleasure and appreciation from his labels.  They even add to the experience of enjoying his wines.”

Last Friday the UK Gin Festival pulled into London’s Tobacco Dock to treat revellers to over 100 different gins on a sultry summer evening down by the river. Tastings and masterclasses were provided as well as some tantalising street food to help soak it all up. Here, team db‘s online editor Steven Green enjoys a cold glass of Pinkster gin.

Made with a big scoop of Raspberries, it is deliciously dry and the juniper comes through clearly with only 5 botanicals, but it is neither strong nor overpowering. Instead, the raspberries counteract its sharpness with a gentle fruity flavour. Ends with a wonderfully smooth finish.

Paired with a Fever Tree tonic water, Pinkster certainly won Steven’s approval as the gin of the night.

Marking the 100th anniversary of the German grape crossing not quite on everyone’s lips, Sheurebe, Wines of Germany hosted a one-off tasting of varietal Scheurebes from some of Germany’s top producers at the German Gymnasium this week.

Scheurebe is sometimes regarded as Germany’s answer to Sauvignon Blanc and while it’s yet to gain much traction beyond Germany, interest is growing as consumers come to recognise its potential for producing high-quality aromatic wines. You can view db‘s top 10 Scheurebe wines feature here.

Nick Buck of the prestigious Hawke’s Bay estate Te Mata was in town this week to treat guests to a vertical tasting of the estate’s top-end Coleraine wine at the Northall Restaurant in the Corinthia Hotel.

The tasting presented back vintages of Te Mata’s top-end Bordeaux blend from 1995, 2000, 2005 and 2013, as well as the current 2014 release. The 2005, containing an unusually high proportion of Cabernet Franc (nearly 20% rather than the usual 10% or thereabouts), showed particularly well with its elegant floral character, fine-grained tannins and still-rich fruit, while the 2013, which Buck believes will the the most long-lived Coleraine Te Mata has ever produced, was pretty much perfect. 

Ornellaia sent in this beautiful picture of its Tuscan vineyard capturing the start of the 2016 harvest – one of its earliest on record. Picking of the estate’s Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier began on Monday 22 August, with the harvest of all of its white grapes due to come to an end this week. Picking of Merlot began earlier this week. Axel Heinz, director and winemaker of Ornellaia, said 2016 vintage was shaping up to be on par with some of the producer’s great vintages of the past, including 2001, 2006, 2011, and 2012. All of these vintages were characterised by “hot, dry summers and yet gave us wines of great concentration, structure, and richness”, said Heinz.