The week in pictures

Not content with creeping the living daylights out of the internet-using general public with that Centrum advert in China, Tom Hiddleston stared the paps down at the Olivier Awards on Sunday.

Champagne house Taittinger, naturally, supplied the fizz for the nominees’ celebration at London’s May Fair Hotel and post-Awards party at the Natural History Museum, as well as auctioning a Methuselah signed by nominees and top thesps, to raise money for The Society of London Theatre (SOLT) and UK Theatre campaign “Inspiring the Future of Theatre”.

In whisky news, Deeside Distillery welcomed Olympic snowboarder Ben Kilner to fill his cask of founders’ release future single malt whisky. The first cask of 88 available is owned by the Banchory athlete who now runs The Unit Gym and Fitness in the Deeside town.

Ben competed in two Winter Games – Vancouver in 2010 and Sochi in 2014 where he represented Britain in the Men’s Halfpipe.

Ben said: “It is incredibly exciting to own my first cask of future whisky from a local distillery. I have watched the Deeside Distillery team develop their products over the years so to be able to own one of the first casks produced is a huge privilege. I now just have a few years to wait until I can bottle it up in the future!”

Lady Alice Manners & Otis Ferry (photo: Getty)

On Tuesday, socialites and industry insiders hoofed it to Gymkhana on Mayfair’s Albemarle Street for a private, invite-only dinner to celebrate the launch of the new Attar of India Cocktail Collection at Gymkhana, created in partnership with fine perfumery Penhaligon’s.

Guests included British designer Patrick Grant, Lady Alice Manners (of the infamous Manners sisters), Brian Ferry’s son, Otis, artist Sabrina Percy, and model Charlie Newman.

(Photo: Warren Little/Getty Images)

Chapel Down saw their fizz sprayed royally by the men’s and women’s teams from Cambridge after their respective wins in this year’s Boat Race. This is the third year of Chapel Down’s sponsorship of the historic battle between Cambridge and Oxford universities.

The Obama Foundation hosts a town hall to engage emerging leaders from across Europe working in government, civil society, and the private sector in Berlin (Photo: Obama Foundation)

In Life Goals, a Scottish craft brewery owner working in Brewdog’s Aberdeenshire headquarters on a beer brand that fights water poverty, has been invited to a town hall with President Barack Obama.

Alan Mahon, founder of Brewgooder, was invited by the Obama Foundation to a reception in Berlin along with 300 other do-gooders from the fields of journalism, food security, entrepreneurship, anti-discrimination, integration issues, environmental sustainability, and technology. They were drawn from public, private, and non-profit sectors and came from a cross-section of backgrounds.

Alan Mahon, founder of Brewgooder, said: “I felt honoured being asked to help represent Scotland, social enterprises and the fight against water poverty at this prestigious event.

“I can recall being 18 years old when I stayed up all night to watch Barrack Obama become the US President in 2008. I remember having such a strong sense of hope in a better future then and that hope was renewed by attending the Obama Foundation Town Hall with so many inspiring young leaders from across Europe.”

Back in Blighty, an advert promoting Edrington-owned whisky brand The Macallan has been banned by the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for linking alcohol with risky and irresponsible behaviour.

It depicted a man jumping off a clip and falling towards the ground, only to sprout wings and start to fly. It was accompanied by the tagline ‘would you risk falling…for the chance to fly?’ It ended with text stating ‘The Macallan. Make the call.”

Whisky fans on Twitter said the implication of risky behaviour wasn’t the only distressing part of the advert.

I think it is a little silly to ban this ad for “promoting risky behaviour”… it should be banned for being completely tone-deaf and having nothing to do with Scotch Whisky! @teamdb “Macallan advert featuring ‘risky behaviour’ banned “https://t.co/hmV92Y0r2x#scotch #whisky pic.twitter.com/Qbf971SqOX

— Andrew Ferguson (@scotch_guy) April 10, 2019

The Macallan commercial deserves this. Not because it was “distressing”, “inappropriate” or “outrageous”. Because it was ad agency crap.https://t.co/rS7I32ygQd

— Jamie Thomson (@JamieTgamebooks) April 10, 2019

While we’re on Scotch, Johnnie Walker has submitted plans to enhance the “visitor experiences” at its Cardhu and Clynelish distilleries.

The plans are part of brand owner Diageo’s £150 million investment in the Johnnie Walker brand, which also include a visitor centre in Edinburgh.

And finally…

the drinks business and The Spirits Business are once again joining forces to host the Wine & Spirits Show this weekend, returning to One Whitehall Place today and Saturday.

Whether you’re a fan of gin, fine wines, beer, or whisky, we have a tipple for you.

We’ll be posting live from the Royal Horseguards Hotel on our Twitter and Instagram feeds all day, so stay tuned….

db’s editor, Lucy Shaw, felt like the cat that got the cream, having been invited to The Ledbury for the launch of Bollinger La Grande Année 2008.

Head chef Brett Graham worked with Bollinger’s cellar master, Gilles Descôtes, on a menu designed to highlight and complement the different flavours and aromas found in the fizz. Our feast kicked off with gargantuan 12-year-old Duchy Estate Hereford oysters with smoked butter and sea purslane, paired with La Grande Année in 75cl bottle.

During the lunch we were given the opportunity to observe the effect bottle size has on the wine inside. Many around the table enjoyed the magnum best, which seemed to bridge the divide between the open and expressive 75cl bottle and linear and tight Jeroboam.

To pair with the magnum, we enjoyed a decadent dish of creamy Cornish cod with toasted grains, Bollinger lees and Exmoor caviar.

During the lunch, Andrew Hawes, MD of Bollinger’s UK agent, Mentzendoff, told db that the company was “pressing pause” on the release of magnums and Jeroboams of the fizz due to unprecedented demand for the bottles and a desire to release the larger formats at the right moment.

The lavish, languorous lunch ended in style with a hunk of 36 month aged Bernard Antony Comté with dried apricot and macadamia nuts. which paired magnificently with the nutty notes in the Champagne.

Bollinger’s cellar master, Gilles Descôtes, was joined by the great and good of the wine writing world, including the inimitable Margaret Rand.

Introduced by Bollinger’s general manager, Charles-Armand de Belenet (right) and director of Bollinger UK, Victoria Carfantan, at the end of the lunch head chef Brett Graham talked us through the inspiration behind each dish, revealing how he managed to weave Bollinger lees and dried yeast into the menu, and how he used to pay just 60p each for the giant Duchy Estate Hereford oysters.