The week in pictures

In a show of commitment to both the drinks trade and animal welfare, a pub landlord in Edinburgh had to sleep on his floor on Tuesday night to look after a dog a drunk customer had left behind.

The dog was eventually “happily reunited with its owner” according to a post on the pub’s Facebook page. Sadly, when she came to review the Dreadnought, in Leith, after getting her pet back, she still only gave the boozer four stars. “Merlot was cold, apparently.”

Did you know that Kangaroos wreak havoc in vineyards? Well, that was the hot topic Down Under this week as wineries in Margaret River are struggling to mitigate damage from a “definite increase” in the local marsupial population.

According to Margaret River kangaroo control operator Peter Stonehouse (yes, that’s a real job), culling kangaroos is receiving higher demand among vineyard operators leading up to the new vintage, but the local producers are reluctant to speak out about the pest problem for fear of a backlash over public opinion and damaging the area’s wine tourism industry.

Knowing the threat that animals pose Australian wineries, Silence of the Lambs took on a whole new meaning on Tuesday as David Robertshaw, a social worker from McLaren Vale, invented a novel way to prevent sheep from destroying the local vineyards — the Wine Baa.

The muzzle flips upwards when a sheep is facing downwards, allowing it to eat grass freely, but remains in place should they try and reach upwards to grab a grape.

There’s something in here about a nice Chianti, too.

Earlier this month wine importer Ehrmanns held its annual portfolio tasting at the Royal Society of Chemistry, also celebrating the launch of its own #RoséRevolution campaign to champion rosé wines.

The RoséRevolution initiative, the first of its kind by the drinks distributor, showcased 12 pink wines from Ehrmanns portfolio its rosé portfolio paired with food in a bid to position the wine as “more than just a summer drink”.

Coming to a small screen near you, Jameson Irish Whiskey launched their latest global ATL campaign this week, named ‘Taste, That’s Why’, harnessing the consumer appeal of provenance to tout its new products.

The short films, directed by award winning Dutch filmmaker Matthijs van Heijningen, will be shown across Jameson’s US social media channels and on TV later this year.

The first film, called Scully was to Blame, charts a story of redemption in late 19th century Dublin where a character absentmindedly makes a mistake during the third distillation in the production of Jameson’s Whiskey – wasting gallons of precious distillate.

The second takes place in the modern-day Middleton distillery, and charts the “true story” of how the distillery came to create its new product Jameson Caskmates — a single malt whiskey finished in IPA casks.

Importer Flint Wines held its Portoflio Tasting on Tuesday at Oui 2 Rooms in Fitzrovia, where the focus was put squarely on the next generation of sommeliers and oenophiles with a roster of mastercalsses and training seminars.

That afternoon Tony Lécuroux from Northcote Manor, Blagoy Kuzmanski from 67 Pall Mall and Albert Blaize from the Mandrake Hotel took part in the grand finals of the Flint Wines Top Young Sommelier competition, with Blaize taking the top spot after an intense afternoon of tasting challenges.

Blaize will get the chance to blend his own wine at the family estate of Château Pesquié located in Ventoux in the southern Rhône later in March, which Flint Wines will then sell next year.

The new London Wine Fair team – headed up by Hannah Tovey – hosted an exhibitor party on Tuesday, at Victoria’s M Restaurant to launch this year’s show, with wine generously supplied by Copestick Murray.

From smoking carafes at Sakagura to smouldering new products, smokey flavours and scientific experimentation were tipped as big trends for the cocktail scene in 2018.

Now, Square Mile stalwart the Threadneedle Bar, housed in the Royal Exchange across the road from the BoE, has burnt the bandwagon too by adding a range of smoked cocktails to its drinks card.

New tipples include the Smoky Mandarin (Black Label whisky, Mandarin Napoleon liqueur, Talisker 10yo, cinnamon sugar), the Mexican Negroni (Mezcal, Campari, Martini Rosso), the White Lord (Tanqueray Gin, Suze, Martini Bianco), the Lumberjack (Woodford Reserve infused with bacon, maple syrup, orange and angostura bitters), and the Art of Rum (Ron Zacapa 23yo, cherry liqueur, banana syrup, orange bitters), all priced at £12.

Similar to smoke, molecular gastronomy is set to be a big talking point this year, which gave Team DB the perfect excuse to pop down to the MadLab molecular cocktail masterclass on Tuesday night at London’s Madison bar in St Paul’s.
The cocktail crafting sessions, which Madison is running for groups of between eight and 12 at £30 a head, offer a chance to don a lab coat and learn three cocktail techniques: carbonation, infusion, and foam.

Olmeca Tequila celebrated its 50th anniversary with a Noche Colosal (if you need that translated then I’m afraid there’s no hope for you) in its distillery in the region of Los Altos in Jalisco, Mexico.

Olmeca, owned by drinks giant Pernod Ricard, has been producing premium tequila in its distillery since 1967.

Back in Blightly, a pub in Merseyside was crowned Pub of the Year in the Campaign for Real Ale’s (CAMRA) annual competition on Wednesday, just five years after it was left to rot.

Pub-owners Andy and Denise Evans bought the dilapidated Cricketers Arms, now a community pub in St Helens, Merseyside, back in 2013. It hadn’t served cask ale since the 1890s, and was boarded up for closure.

Today, it has a selection of 13 locally sourced cask ales, and up to 20 ciders in the summer.

Christopher Hayman, Miranda Hayman and James Hayman.

Hayman’s Gin officially ‘moved house’ this week, opening its new distillery in Balham to members of the drinks trade, media and suppliers. Thanking guests for attending, Christopher Hayman, who is celebrating 50 years in the gin trade, explained that the move back to London was particularly important for the brand. Also unveiled last night was Hayman’s new packaging. Stay tuned to find out more. 

And finally… American rocker Jon Bon Jovi, his son Jesse Bongiovi and winemaker Gerard Bertrand kicked off the launch of their new Languedoc rosé brand – Diving into Hampton Water – at the Versace Mansion in Florida this week during the South Beach food and wine festival.

As part of the launch, 300 guests were treated to an acoustic performance of Livin’ on a Prayer and You Give Love a Bad Name by the silver fox.