The week in pictures

This year’s Outstanding Alumni Award winner, Caro Maurer MW, with Jancis Robinson MW and Steven Spurrier. (Photo: WSET)

The Wine and Spirits Education Trust celebrated a record turn-out for its diploma graduation on Monday.

More than 500 global wine and spirits professionals gathered at the City of London’s Guildhall o celebrate the annual Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) Awards & Graduation Ceremony, in what is its 50th year.

There were 532 new WSET Diploma graduates this year,  a 21% increase over 2018. Graduates came from over 40 countries ranging from Chile to South Korea and Croatia.

On Tuesday, London’s mixologists piled into Oriole for a daytime workshop led by the Bacardi Brown-Forman advocacy team, with Ryan Chetiyawardana (aka Mr Lyan) and his team at Super Lyan. Drinks author Simon Difford was on-hand to lead a talk discussing sustainability in high-end hospitality, our understanding of it, and the small steps bartenders can take to cut down waste at their own sites.

Called Cut the Crap, the event was organised by BBF’s Jigger Beaker Glass (JBG) on-trade advocacy programme, which launched last year, and focused on making sustainability something you can actively sell to customers, rather than an afterthought.

Speaking of saintly trends, UK beer brand Lucky Saint unveiled a new advertising campaign this week, filled with nuns drinking beer.

Produced in partnership with creative agency Karmarama, the images feature nuns holding a bottle of Lucky Saint beer, above a reference to a bible passage, specifically 1 Peter 5:8.

It states: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”

On the other end of the drinking spectrum….It’s the most wonderful time of the year for the industry.

Glass of scotch whiskey served with ice

The wider world is cutting down on their alcohol intake this month through a combination of Dry January and existential guilt leftover from the festive season. Thankfully, this means there’s more to go round for the rest of us, and with Burns Night coming to a head on Friday evening, the drinks trade has been awash with whiskey-soaked dinners, tastings, parties and shows this week.

First up, Thourso-based Scotch distillery Thurso held a tasting at Adam Handling’s east London cocktail bar Iron Stag on Tuesday. The great and good of the whisky business came out in force for a dram or seven, including The Three Drinkers presenter Colin Hampden-White. The trio recently launched their own documentary series on Amazon Prime all about the wonderful world of Scotch. For those who really want to get into the spirit of the season, you can watch download it here.

And speaking of The Three Drinkers, it sounds like it’s been a very big week for them. Aidy, Colin and Helena were out again on Wednesday night. This time, they were at the Dorchester Hotel the launch of the 4th episode of The Three Drinkers do Scotch Whisky. Presumably, whisky fatigue has yet to sink in.

On Thursday night, the drinks business headed to Leicester Square Theatre to celebrate the launch of the Glasgow International Comedy Festival, sponsored by Dalmore and Jura-maker Whyte & Mackay.

The night offered a snapshot of the acts one can expect to see at the festival proper when it runs in March.

The line-up included Canadian surrealist and panel show regular Tony Law, Glaswegian Matt Winning (aka “the most positive name in comedy”), avant-garde chess enthusiast Simon Munnery, Seattle-borne Dave Fulton, self-assured New Yorker Abigoliah Schamaun, Scottish rising star Christopher MacArthur-Boyd, and regular writer and performer on BBC Radio 4’s The Now Show Mitch Ben, all compered by the very, very enthusiastic BBC Radio Scotland host Ashley Storrie. When it came to the drinks reception, whiskey mixers were, of course, the order of the night.

Back on the wine, Dudley Craig wines held a tasting on Monday night dedicated to the wonderful world of biodynamics.

The Vignerons de Nature tasting saw Saturday Kitchen and This Morning regular Joe Wadsack sampling sustainable serves with Richard Dudley Craig, MD of Dudley Craig Wines and UK Brand Ambassador, Vignerons de Nature.

Bernard Duseigneur, the winemaker at Rhône Valley estate Domaine Duseigneur, Mike Turner of pleasebringmemywine, and Gabriele Galuppo, head sommelier Theo Randall’s Intercontinental Hotel restaurant, also came along to learn about the fast-growing organic wine trend.

In culinary news, a chef who publicly withdrew his restaurant from the Michelin guide has been re-entered into this year’s listings, despite relinquishing his three stars.

Sebastien Bras said he no longer wanted his restaurant, Le Suquet in south central France, to be included in the guide in 2017, having held three Michelin stars for the past 18 years, due to the “huge pressure” of being judged by inspectors. It marked the first time that Michelin had allowed a chef to formally withdraw their restaurant without it closing.

I’m still looking for Mr pimpernel who walked into the London fog with out paying before Christmas 1000corrigan eating pounds , if anyone knows him . pic.twitter.com/t6X6BWqQ3x

— Richard Corrigan (@CorrigansFood) January 18, 2019

Back in London, chef Richard Corrigan is offering a £1,000 meal tab to anyone who can identify a customer who racked up a bill of £1,500 at his Mayfair restaurant and left without paying.

The man racked up a hefty bill at Corrigan’s Mayfair on the 18 December before doing a runner.

Corrigan said that he was still looking for “Mr Pimpernel” and would offer “1,000 Corrigan eating pounds if anyone knows him”.

(Photo by Richard Young/REX/Shutterstock (10067067ah)
Montana Brown, Nicola Roberts and Ashley James
Farzi Cafe launch party, London)

Girls Aloud singer Nicola Roberts (centre) was the guest of honour at the opening party for Farzi Café, in London’s Haymarket. She was joined by Love Island star Montana Brown (left) and TV celebrity Ashley James (right). The London outpost of the New Delhi-founded restaurant and bar empire serves up Indian and global dishes with a focus on molecular gastronomy.

db‘s Phoebe French headed to London’s Caledonian Club for an early Burns Night supper, courtesy of John Crabbie whisky. The brand, which is owned by Halewood Wines and Spirits, is based in Edinburgh and housed in the city’s first distillery in almost 100 years. Inspired by the drams created by Scotch blending pioneer John Crabbie, which are recorded in the company’s rich archives, the brand is now producing its own whisky with the aim to create the flavour profiles once favoured by the Scotch icon. In the meantime, it has released a number of different limited-edition bottlings sourced from undisclosed distilleries.

It was also revealed on the night that John Crabbie would be releasing a gin, inspired by recipes found in the archives dating to the 1850s. While head distiller Marc Watson said that the ingredients were incredibly modern, the addition of salt set it apart. Watson said they had distilled samples with and without the salt, finding that when included, it “cleaned” the spirit and improved the overall balance.