The week in pictures

Calum Fraser, UK Brand Ambassador, representing Drambuie

Hipsters were treated to the hospitality industry’s answer to Takeshi’s Castle over the weekend when 300 bartenders and brand ambassadors battled it out in east London for the chance to win a trip to Greece.

WG&S’ Highland Festival, which took place at Haggerston Park on Sunday (11 August), saw bartenders competing in a series of challenges including an obstacle course and ‘tug of war’ finale.

Team Hendrick’s Gin, led by Brand Ambassador Sasha Filimonov, was crowned this year’s champions and included bartenders from Lyaness, Fitz’s Bar, Happiness Forgets and Bar Swift. The team have won an all-expenses paid trip to the Athens Bar Show in November.

The rest of the working world is quietly panicking over whether their jobs will become automated in the future, but at least bartenders can rest easy for now.

Human bartenders triumphed over machines at the Barbican last week (Wednesday 7 August), in an unusual cocktail comp as part of the institution’s ‘AI: More than Human’ exhibition.

The Makr Shakr, a company that producers automated cocktail makers, went head to head with some of London’s best real life bartenders.

Felix Cohen from Every Cloud Bar wowed the judges in the first round with his classic Negroni, while Mikey Pendergast from East London Liquor Company won the signature round, with his take on a ‘More than Human’ cocktail, using the recently launched Barbican Gin – a collaboration between the Barbican and East London Liquor Company, crème de pêche, lemon juice and gomme.

Human participants could choose their own glasses and garnishes but were restricted to the ingredients available to the Makr Shakr, which can manage more than 150 bottles of different spirits hanging from the ceiling of the bar structure to create an infinite number of combinations.

The Makr Shakr is currently installed on the Barbican’s Level G, serving a variety of classic cocktails and mocktails, including the ‘More than Human’ created especially for the Barbican’s major summer exhibition.

Launched in April 2019, ‘Toni’ – the latest model from Makr Shakr is modelled on the gestures of Italian dancer and choreographer Marco Pelle from New York Theatre Ballet

In new signings, Aston Villa F.C. has named Warwickshire’s Purity Brewing as its official ale supplier.

Purity will have its own stand within the stadium serving up its range of ales, and has commissioned a new 4.2% pale ale for the new season “designed to pair perfectly with Premier League football,” according to a statement from the brewery. The ale will be served exclusively at Villa Park for match days and events.

(Photo: SailGP)

In more athletic drinks news, Taittinger corks were popped on Sunday after Tom Slingsby skippered his Australian crew to victory at the British leg of the SailGP world championships at Cowes on the Isle of Wight.

Australia’s crew became the first in history to break the 50-knot barrier on a sailboat during the contest, which pits America’s Cup winners, Olympic medallists and world champions against each other in identical F50 catamarans.

Bottles of Champagne Taittinger were sprayed from the podium as the crowd at the SailGP Race Village at Egypt Point cheered Slingsby’s victory, with Nathan Outteridge’s Japanese team coming in second and Phil Robertson’s Chinese crew chalking up third spot.

Sporting a rye smile (you have R&R’s Rupert Ponsonby to thank for that one), sales director of Copper Rivet Distillery in Kent, Nick Leonard, helped gather the grain for this year’s base spirit.

Setting sail to reach the nearby Isle of Sheppey to collect wheat, barley and rye of the 2019-2020 gins, the team took a three-hour journey up the Medway River on a 100-year-old grain barge.

The Hendrick’s Gin team have certainly been busy this week, with another entry in this week’s picture round-up. Not content with making the London Underground smell like cucumber and roses, the quirky gin brand has set up a pop-up gin portal (whatever that is) in a Shoreditch laundrette.

In a nod to its Master Distiller Lesley Gracie, the experience will take attendees to a “spectacular moment of whimsical oddity infused with rose and cucumber”.

Guests can book a slot on EventBrite with the experience lasting 45 minutes, with each visitor given two drinks.

Lesley’s Laundrette will be open from 15-18 August.

Kiwi entrepreneur and front-runner for the coolest woman in wine award, Mel Brown, is to open a modern bistro, wine bar and shop called The Laundry in Brixton this autumn.

Housed in Walton Lodge, an Edwardian building on Coldharbour Lane just outside Brixton Village, The Laundry will be open all day, every day.

Details of the menu are being kept under wraps, but the venue will serve pastries in the morning, brunch at weekends, and lunch and dinner every day, paired with a broad selection of wines by the glass and craft cocktails.

Brown began her career in London at Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen, Raymond Blanc’s Le Petit Blanc and Vinoteca. She then went on to work as a chef at Peter Gordon’s The Providores in Marylebone, and went on to become head sommelier at the venue, which, before it closed this year, boasted the capital’s only all-New Zealand wine list.

This week, it was reported that rock band Guns N’ Roses had agreed to drop the lawsuit it filed against Colorado’s Oskar Blues Brewery for trademark infringement earlier this year.

According to a document filed at the US District Court for the Central District of California on 12 August, the two parties had agreed to settle on 31 July.

Both sides are now working on a written settlement that would lead to the lawsuit’s dismissal.

Celia Welch, the winemaker responsible for cult California Cabernet Scarecrow, is to sell her Corra label in the UK for the first time through James Hocking Wine, it was announced this week.

Welch founded Corra Wines, named after the Celtic goddess of prophecy, in 2004. She produces three Cabernets under the label, including two single vineyard expressions.

They will be available on allocation in three bottle cases through boutique California wine specialist James Hocking Wine. The 2016 vintage has an RRP of £123 a bottle.