The week in pictures

Winner of MIXLDN, Timothy Ching was invited to the Beefeater distillery to work with master distiller, Desmond Payne. Timothy was named the victor on 9 February with his ‘Please Sir I Want Some More’ cocktail.

Luxardo is set to plant 2,000 new maraschino cherry trees, following the purchase of new land. The orchard is known as Campo Tramonte, located in the Torreglian hills, near Padua in Northern Italy.

Viña Errazuriz are proud sponsors of the annual Wine Photographer of the Year prize, which is part of the annual Pink Lady Food Photography Awards. This week they teamed up with Hedonism Wines to provide an evening of wine and art with Maria Eugenia Chadwick, of Errazuriz, and Caroline Kenyon, of Pink Lady, imparting their wine and art knowledge respectively.

db headed to the newly opened Tamarind Kitchen in London’s Soho last night. Highlights were a sweet mango and chilli spiced cocktail, a delightfully sweet and tangy fish curry with tamarind, mustard and curry leaves and a chicken tikka masala with a fantastic depth of flavour.

Also on offer at the Tamarind Kitchen was a light and zingy corn and vegetable salad with chat-honey masala dressing, lentil crisps with an assortment of sauces (the standout was an intense, smokey tomato and nigella seed chutney), delicately spiced butterflied king prawns with a fruity bell pepper sauce and spiced lamb cutlets with fresh mint and a baby radish salad.

(Photo: Alexander Strommer, Instagram)

It looks beautiful, but frost is wreaking havoc this week in certain areas across Europe, with Champagne reportedly one of the worst affected regions. Winegrowers and viticultural teams are lighting small fires in vineyards to help raise temperatures, as well as using sprinklers that, through controlled freezing, encase new buds in a protective film of ice. Alexander Strommer’s photo above shows winegrowers in Burgenland, Austria trying to save their vines.

Blind Tiger Inns taking its eleventh site with Star, The Talbot in Euxton where work starts this week on a £320k refurbishment. The pub is due to reopen in late May.

Chris Tulloch of Blind Tiger Inns.

Silvano Brescianini, vice president of the Franciacorta consorzio, was joined by man about town Tom Harrow, a UK ambassador for the northern Italian region, at a lunch held at Massimo in London celebrating the traditional method sparkler. During the lunch Brescianini spoke of how Prosecco has ‘paved the way’ for Franciacorta in the UK by introducing a new generation to the sparkling wine category.

The lunch kicked off with Brescianini’s own Franciacorta brand, Barone Pizzini, which whetted the appetite for the liquid treasures that followed.

Among them was Ferghettina Brut 2013, housed in a triangular bottle. Unlike Champagne, the rules on bottle shape are more relaxed in Franciacorta.

The City has an adorable new Sherry bar in the form of Sack on Christopher Street, which brings a sunny slice of Jerez to the capital’s financial heart. The bar is the brainchild of Tom Aske and Tristan Stephenson, who run whisky bar Black Rock beneath, the Worship Street Whistling Shop nearby and classic cocktail bar The Devil’s Darling above.

The ever ebullient Antonio Flores, Sherry maestro for González Byass, was in town celebrating the eighth launch of his bespoke Tio Pepe En Rama bottling, which he described as “wild and alive”. db remembers the first launch like it was yesterday, and is rather perturbed by how quickly time seems to be flying.

Like other En Rama bottlings, the fino tastes like a turbo charged version of its original sibling, offering a salty tang and notes of nuts and sea air.

We also found time to check out Matt Whiley’s (aka Talented Mr Fox) new Chef’s Notebook cocktail menu at Peg + Patriot at the Town Hall Hotel in Bethnal Green this week. Inspired by some of the world’s best chef’s signature dishes, among our favourite sips was the Peanut (top left).

Based on a duck brine dish devised by Grant Achatz of the three Michelin star Alinea in Chicago, the cocktail blends a peanut distillate with Aylesbury Duck vodka, clarified banana syrup, lime juice and a banana leaf tincture.

Also ringing our bell was the Jam Tart (bottom left) Inspired by the Queen of Hearts playing card given to guests in the Fat Duck sweet shop goodie bag. This sweet twist on an Old Fashioned marries white chocolate Bourbon with waxed raspberry and a shortbread distillate.

We ended the week in style at new drinking den Swift in Soho, which boasts a sleek Martini bar at street level and an Art Deco-inspired speakeasy in the basement. Run by Bobby Hiddleston (pictured) and Mia Johansson of Milk & Honey fame, Swift shines a light on whisky in all its glorious guises.

In the White Water (far left) Great King Street Glasgow blend shares a glass with coconut falernum and banana. Our sip of the evening was The Prestige (centre) a twist on a flip made with Clos Martin VSOP, pistachio orgeat, lemon, Rosalio and egg white.