London Cocktail Week 2013

London Cocktail Week is an annual event which has quickly become a fixture in the UK drinks industry's calender.  The event sees almost 200 of London's bars taking part, plus numerous brand showcases and masterclasses taking place throughout the week.  The idea is to inspire, educate and unite cocktail lovers and new consumers across the capital.  It is organised by diffordsguide.com and sponsored by over 70 different drinks brands from around the world.  As we are based in London, we decided to get our wristbands and check out this year's event ...

London Cocktail Week 2010 > Four Roses bourbon dinner

Earlier this week, we were delighted to be invited to a Four Roses bourbon dinner - an exclusive event that formed part of the current London Cocktail Week. The guest of honour was Jim Rutledge, the Master Distiller at the Four Roses distillery. He has worked at the distillery for an amazing 44 years and is known as "Mr. Four Roses" as a result. He is also the man who is regarded as saving the brand when it was struggling under previous ownership a decade ago.

The event was held at Bodean's - an American themed grill house that is carnivore heaven (and Karen's vegetarian version of hell!), serving large American-sized portions of animal cooked in a charcoal pit - in London's Tower Hill area. In attendance were a mix of London's spirit and cocktail bloggers, as well as Dan Priesman - the UK's Four Roses Brand Ambassador. We thank Jim and Dan for making it such an informative and great night.

Four Roses is an American whiskey distillery that is located in the town of Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. The state of Kentucky is the famous home of the American whiskey industry with seven companies currently operating and producing numerous brands of whiskey and bourbon. Four Roses was first produced in 1888 and moved to the current Lawrenceburg site in 1910. The distillery is currently owned by the Kirin Brewery Company from Japan and is one of Kentucky's largest distilleries, producing eight million litres of whiskey a year. Much of this is released under the Four Roses name although, as with the other Kentucky distilleries, they also release whiskies and bourbons under different names. The most well known such example made at Four Roses is Bulleit bourbon.

Jim spoke to us and told us many stories and facts about the Four Roses distillery and his experiences there. Our favourite was the story of how Four Roses got its name. It is said to originate from a love story involving the distillery's founder Paul Jones Jnr. and a local woman. Jones Jnr. proposed to her and she stated that she needed time to decide and that she would give him the answer at a forthcoming ball. If she wore a corsage of red roses, then her answer would be 'yes'. At the ball, she turned up wearing a corsage of four red roses and they went on to be married. Jones Jnr. then decided to call his new bourbon 'Four Roses' in her honour and as a sign of his love for her.

In between these stories and facts, we sampled each of the Four Roses bourbons that are available on the UK market - the Yellow Label, Small Batch and Single Barrel. He explained in detail the difference between each of these bourbons. We learnt that Four Roses is unique amongst bourbon producers in that they use two different grain recipes (one with a recipe mix of 75% corn, 20% rye and 5% malted barley and the other with a mix of 60% corn, 35% rye and 5% malted barley) and five different strains of yeast for production. The result of this is that they end up with 10 different versions of Four Roses, as each grain recipe is exposed to one of the five yeast strains and each of the resulting 10 bourbons have differing characteristics from the next one. To make each final bourbon in the range, they use different combinations of the 10. The regular and best selling Yellow Label has some of all 10 included, the Small Batch uses just four of them and the Single Barrel uses just one which is specially selected for its supreme quality. Below are our basic tasting notes, with links to our full previous reviews.

Four Roses Yellow Label
This is the biggest selling whiskey in the Four Roses range and is approximately six years of age. The colour is yellow brown and the nose is light with a lovely delicate freshness. It has vanilla, oak, sweet cereal grains (think of corn/maize) and a lemon zest citrus note. On the palate, this offers heaps of vanilla and fresh coconut. It has a refreshing body that also has those cereal and citrus elements from the nose, plus delicate honey. The finish is short but balanced, having an interesting woody bitterness that counteracts the previous sweetness well. For our full review of the Yellow Label - click here.

Four Roses Small Batch
The colour is deep golden amber and the nose is expressive and fragrant. There are prominent aromas of vanilla, coconut, slightly bitter cereal grains (imagine rye bread) and candied orange peel, with subtle nutmeg and cinnamon wood spices and nuts in the background. On the palate the vanilla, cereal grains and the almond-like nuttiness give a creamy mouth coating feeling , with a lovely combination of coconut, honey, cinnamon and nutmeg spice and bitter oranges. The finish has initial sweetness before turning drier and spicier (that cinnamon again). For our full review of Small Batch - click here.

Four Roses Single Barrel
The colour is golden amber and the nose is very intense. A warm spiciness hits first, before plenty of woody and vanilla notes kick in - think of fresh oak shavings, sandalwood and coconut. It is fresh and vibrant with other aromas coming through like caramel and orange oil. On the palate, this is intense - there are plenty of fresh oak and coconut husks. This has a pleasant bitter edge before softer, sweeter notes appear - caramel, brown sugar, cereal grains and vanilla. Additional spices (imagine nutmeg, cinnamon) combine to give depth. The finish is very long and warm with spiciness and woodiness, in addition to a burnt orange note. For our full review of Single Barrel - click here.

What was our favourite? Well, when tasted side by side you really get to feel the quality of the three products - the Yellow Label is soft, light and fresh, the Small Batch is richer and sweeter and the Single Barrel is richer still with plenty of lovely wood spices. On the night, the Single Barrel was our (and most other people's) favourite, however that could all change next time!

London Cocktail Week 2010 > Fitzrovia bars

Now, both of us at Whisky for Everyone love a good cocktail so when the London Cocktail Week was launched yesterday, we decided to join in and see what we could learn and which nice bars we could find! The event runs until Sunday 17 October, culminating in the annual RumFest show which is this year being held at Kensington Olympia.

London Cocktail Week seems to have something for everyone who is interested in cocktails and spirits - branded seminars and tastings covering all genres of spirits, the chance to meet some of the producers and top mixologists, evening social events, tutored classes for beginners and professionals alike and the chance to savour special cocktails in some of London's finest bars, some of which are opening their doors to non-members for the first time. Approximately 75 of the capital's bars are producing special themed cocktails and these are being charged at £4 each for the duration of the Cocktail Week. However, to qualify for this price, you must have one of the event's special pre-ordered wristbands. So, last night we went off and collected our wristbands and went in search of some good cocktails ... as we did so, we said to each other "this is going to be a long week!"

We decided to begin the week by trying some previously unvisited bars in the Fitzrovia area to the north of Oxford Street - we limited ourselves to three bars, as it was a Monday night after all! First up was Market Place which is a stone's throw from Oxford Circus. This is a compact bar with wooden planks on the walls and plenty of outside space. They also have a basement bar that has DJs on most nights. Their regular cocktail list is concise and interesting, but we were there for their £4 London Cocktail Week special - the Louisiana Jam. This was made with an intriguing mix of Southern Comfort whiskey liqueur, lemon and apple juice, apricot jam and mint leaves, mixed with crushed ice in a mojito style. After initially thinking that this would be too sweet, it turned out to be delicious and refreshing with the jam adding great fruitiness.

Next, we moved on to La Perla, a Mexican style tequila bar and restaurant in Charlotte Street. The ground floor houses the main restaurant area and the main bar is in the basement. La Perla has won many awards for their large tequila selection and cocktails, so we were looking forward to this one having previously been to the Covent Garden branch. They had two tequila based cocktails, created for London Cocktail Week - the Puro Mexico and the Mexican Passion Mojito. The Puro Mexico was made using Ocho blanco 2010 vintage tequila, lime juice, agave nectar and topped up with a sparkling white Mexican wine, served in a champagne style flute. The Mexican Passion Mojito contained Tapatio blanco tequila, fresh passion fruit, mint and agave nectar and was served over crushed ice in a tumbler. Our preference was the mojito, with the sharpness of the passion fruit really working well with the other ingredients.

Finally, we moved on to Bam-Bou - a south east Asian restaurant and bar set across four floors of a splendid looking Georgian townhouse on Percy Street. We made our way up the winding flights of stairs to The Red Bar on the top floor and made ourselves comfortable on the leather chairs. Out of the window, we saw the famous BT Tower lit up and we thought "we have saved the best until last haven't we?" The three £4 cocktails on offer were the most original of the night by far, had been created especially for London Cocktail Week and all had an Oriental theme.

The three cocktails were the Rose of the Orient (an inventive combination of Grey Goose vodka, green tea, flower petals and agave syrup), the Naughty Kaffir (Bombay Sapphire gin, coconut water, lemon, kaffir lime and a maraschino cherry) and the Birdy (Grey Goose vodka, smoked Rooibos red tea and fresh black cherries). We opted for one Naughty Kaffir (pictured in the foreground) and one Birdy (pictured in the background). They were served in a chilled martini glass. Both were divine. Both were expertly made. Both were unlike any other cocktail we had ever tried. The combinations of flavours were so unusual but worked superbly well in both cases.

We then spotted an interesting whisky cocktail on their innovative cocktail list - the Tiramisu Martini. It combined two of our favourite words in one glass, so we just had to try it! It was made using Whyte & Mackay blended whisky, Maker's Mark bourbon, Baileys, a shot of espresso coffee, cream and a dusting of cocoa and cinnamon. This cocktail was rich but very good, although we both preferred the two lighter, fresher original choices. We thank Alberto, the Restaurant Manager and Pawel, the maker of these excellent cocktails, for taking the time to talk with us and for giving us such an enjoyable experience. We will definitely be visiting Bam-Bou again.

Inbox - October 8, 2010

Inbox is a weekly round up of whisky news and PR type material that has found its way in to our email inbox. Sadly, we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece that we receive, so Inbox has been born! It will feature items from around the world of whisky and will be published by us each Friday. Within Inbox we will write a couple of lines about each press release/piece of news/PR event that we have received and provide links, where possible, for you to find out further information if you want to. So grab a dram and we hope that you enjoy ...
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Bruichladdich – Organic whisky released
The self proclaimed 'Progressive Hebridean Distillers' have announced a full scale release of an organic single malt. This follows on from a limited edition organic release last year. This new version will retail at £35.99, has an alcohol strength of 46% ABV, contains organic barley from three different Scottish farms and is certified as 'organic' by the Biodynamic Agricultural Association. Bruichladdich's Managing Director Mark Reynier describes it as "one of a kind". For more details and to buy, go to www.bruichladdich.com.

Johnnie Walker - Double Black gets full launch
Diageo, the multi national drinks company that own the Johnnie walker brand, have announced plans to launch the Double Black worldwide. Previously, it was only available in selected travel retail/Duty Free markets. The Double Black is a smokier version of the best selling regular Black Label that also contains some older whiskies than the regular version. A Diageo spokesman said that the launch was "to counter some of the growing interest in smoky Islay single malts such as Ardbeg, Laphroaig and Lagavulin".

London Cocktail Week – starts next week
The 2010 version kicks off on Monday 11 October and runs until Sunday 17 October. There are a multitude of events and masterclasses being offered, covering most genre of spirits, as well as a wristband scheme which allows you cocktails for £4 each at participating venues! Whisky names involved include Diageo, who are holding various Johnnie walker based events, Pernod Ricard, who are doing likewise with Chivas Regal, and Four Roses. For further information, go to www.londoncocktailweek.com.

Monkey Shoulder - The Legend of the Blind Monkey
Those innovative, creative types that do the marketing for the Monkey Shoulder vatted whisky have come up trumps again! They have launched 'The Legend of the Blind Monkey' - an interactive game that allows you to win prizes along the way and to ultimately be entered in to a prize draw for the chance to win tickets to the 'Mobster's Ball'. This event is the culmination of the campaign and 400 players will be guests of honour at a secret London location on 4 December. The 'Ball' offers a night of music, Monkey Shoulder based cocktails and the chance to win further prizes. To start play, go to www.blindmonkey.co.uk.