The week in pictures

In foodie news, bakers, cooks and foodie types gathered on Saturday for the 7th annual Galvin Tarte Tatin Competition.

Michelin-starred chefs, Chris and Jeff Galvin, are famed for their mouth-watering tarte tatin and each year invite food enthusiasts to perfect their own tarte tatin creation, submitting their entry for judging by Chris, Jeff and a panel of high-profile foodie judges who this year included Sunday Brunch presenter Simon Rimmer, influencer Clerkenwell Boy, food critic Richard Vines, pastry chef Graham Hornigold and food writer Felicity Spector.

Jonathan Barton from Maidenhead was crowned Galvin Tarte Tatin 2019 champion, winning a trophy, his name engraved on a traditional copper tarte tatin dish displayed in Galvin La Chapelle, a £100 Galvin gift voucher, a Magnum of Galvin Champagne, the Galvin’s cookbook, ‘Galvin a Cookbook de Luxe’, and a lifetime’s supply of tarte tatin.

Yes, really.

The annual Beaujolais tasting took place at the ICA in Carlton Terrace on Monday. As well as Beaujolais from very cru, AOC and style, there were two masterclasses given by Natasha Hughes MW and Joe Wadsack.

In upcycling news, beer giant MillerCoors has incorporated a 10-button games console into a 12-ounce can of Miller Lite as part of its campaign to appeal to the “fast-growing population of gamers”.

The Cantrollers have rechargeable batteries that last for three hours and the cans (which are full of beer, by the way) are able to be refrigerated.

Miller Lite, which has claimed this is the “first controller you can drink”, recommends not drinking the beer for the “optimal user experience”.

We’re just as confused as you.

Also in upcycling, cereal maker Kellogg’s has teamed up with Salford brewery Seven Bro7hers to turn its rejected Rice Krispies and Coco Pops into craft beer.

Keen not to waste the grains that don’t make it into cereal boxes, the ‘Sling it out Stout’ and ‘Cast off Pale Ale’ are made from flakes that fail to pass Kellogg’s’ strict quality control checks due to being overcooked, uncoated or discoloured.

The Sling it Out Stout uses 80kg of Coco Pops instead of malted barley during the mash process, giving the beer its chocolate taste.

A similar process is used for the ‘Cast off Pale Ale’, using 80kg of Rice Krispies in place of malted barley, creating sweet notes in the beer.

The new beers follow on from the success of ‘Throw Away IPA’ made from surplus Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, which launched in the UK last November.

In Money > Sense, Ibiza-based restaurant STK has staked its claim (sorry) to creating the island’s most expensive cocktail, which features a magnum of Luc Belaire’s luminescent bottle: Belaire Rosé Fantome.

The Belaire Pornstar Martini is the “perfect hedonistic sharing cocktail for groups of girls and guys searching for a taste of luxury,” according to a spokesperson from Belaire-owner Sovereign Brands.

The cocktail includes half a bottle of vodka, passion fruit purée and vanilla liqueur, shaken over ice and poured into a massive martini glass, served alongside a magnum of Fantome: a luminescent version of Belaire’s sparkling Rosé, with a label that lights up at the touch of the button.

If the glowing label isn’t enough, they’ll even add fireworks.

This classy serve is on STK’s drinks menu at US$334 (€296.56, or £264.17).

The Scarfe’s team work their magic in Manhattan.

In other cocktail news, two behemoths of the on-trade world collided on Thursday when a crew from Scarfes Bar at London’s Rosewood Hotel flew across the Atlantic for an exclusive pop-up at award-winning New York City bar Dead Rabbit.

When two behemoths collide…Head Bartender, Scarfes Bar, Yann Bouvignies and Director of Bars at Rosewood London – Martin Siska.

Dead Rabbit patrons were able to try Scarfes Bar’s 2019 menu, which this year is inspired by musical legends including Aretha Franklin, The Spice Girls, Pavarotti and Prince.

Last year the team at Scarfes gave us a rundown of their eccentric serves, which at the time were inspired by British national treasures. The drinks menu is illustrated by legendary cartoonist Gerald Scarfe (hence the name of the bar), while the serves themselves are made using bitters, plum wines and elixirs the staff make in their own “drinks lab” – a repurposed broom cupboard in the back of the hotel.

Yann Bouvignies became Scarfe’s head bartender in August last year.

It’s been a busy week in db‘s diary.

Last weekend we headed to the Hurlingham Club in west London for lunch with Lanson at Chestertons Polo in the Park.

db with MIC’s Ollie Locke and Gareth Locke (Photo: Champagne Lanson)

We caught up with managing director Paul Beavis, who was particularly pleased to celebrate the Champagne house’s fifth year sponsoring the annual event.

db also had a chinwag with Made in Chelsea star Ollie Locke, who was keen to talk about the new film he’s starring in called Greed, set for release later this year.

He said he spent over a month filming in Mykonos alongside celebs Isla Fisher, Stephen Fry and Steve Coogan.

“It was brilliant,” he said, “pretty much five weeks drinking on the beach with Isla Fisher.”

We’ve all got that one friend who brings red wine to every party regardless of the atmosphere. Gareth Locke also told us he and Ollie recently tried to take comedian David Mitchel on a big night out clubbing. However, when they asked what he wanted to drink he ordered a glass of red “and then sulked in the corner,” which, if memory serves, sounds like a recreation of Peep Show episode 5, season 3.

Campo Eliseo Verdejo vines in Rueda (Photo credit: Campo Eliseo)

On Tuesday this week, members of the drinks trade in London were introduced to the wide range of wines from Spain’s best-selling white-wine-producing region: Rueda.

Editor in chief Patrick Schmitt MW led industry insiders though a masterclass at Asia House, which included youthful, aromatic whites made from Sauvignon Blanc and Verdejo, as well as richer, barrel-aged examples from the latter grape, which is native to the region.

What is a lunch without a Prosecco tasting, a glass of red, a snifter of grappa and a shot of neat gin? Wasted, that’s what.

And so it was on Thursday that db met Italian fizz mogul Sandro Bottega for lunch following a vertical tasting of his Prosecco brand’s bottles from the past five years.

Bottega was on fine form, and very pleased with the latest wine in the company’s pipeline, a “natural” bone dry Prosecco with a slightly hazy hue.

“It is an ancestral Prosecco”, Bottega told db, “we want to celebrate the region’s heritage.” The wine is partially tank fermented before going through secondary fermentation in-bottle on its lees. “It doesn’t need any sulphites and it’s zero-sugar” he said. The new product could be aged for “decades” he said, making it somewhat unusual in the world of Prosecco.

Bottega told db they finished developing the hazy fizz in January, and a launch date is yet to be confirmed. watch this space.

Chelsea is having something of a moment at, uh, the moment. Earlier this month db celebrated the opening of its latest drinking spot, The Bar at Sloane Place. In the basement of the Sloane Place boutique hotel, just off Sloane Square, guests were treated to glasses of Marie Demets Champagne, as well as cocktails, and canapés from the kitchen of chef Bernhard Meyer, including some seriously moreish deep-fried chilli penne

Sparkling wine company Henkell has launched a global social media campaign for its 20cl bottle, Piccolo.

The campaign will see Henkell asking consumers to post photos of the baby bottle on their own Twitter and Instagram accounts with the hashtag “#PiccoloOnTour”, as well as a series of promotional activities such as influencer partnerships in Germany, Montenegro, Canada, Brazil and Australia, from now until January 2020.

Staff at Glasgow spirits company Edrington had a surprise visit from ITV Breakfast programmes Lorraine and Good Morning Britain‘s showbiz correspondent Ross King to offer thanks for their fundraising efforts for Children’s Hospices Across Scotland.