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.
Benriach - Floor maltings to re-open
Inbox is our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our email inbox. It was created as we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece that we receive. It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday.
Tweet of the week
The latest edition of The Whisky Round Table is now available for all to read. For those of you that may have just discovered us, The Whisky Round Table is the brainchild of Jason Johnston-Yellin - the author of the 'must read' whisky blog Guid Scotch Drink. His idea was to gather together 12 whisky bloggers from around the world and get them to discuss a whisky topic once a month. The hosting of The Round Table is passed around the 12 members, with each host setting the question for each month - the subjects have been wide and varied to date. Links to the previous editions of Whisky Round Table articles can be found by clicking here.
Iconic American producer Jim Beam, the world's best selling bourbon, have launched a new product on to the UK market called Red Stag - a version of the famous Jim Beam White Label bourbon which has been slowly infused with natural black cherries. Bottled at 40% ABV, Red Stag will retail at £21.75 a bottle and is currently available from the Tesco and Asda supermarket chains. It is recommended to be consumed straight, chilled or as part of a cocktail. We were delighted to be invited to the UK launch party recently - footage of which can be seen in the video clip below.
The Macallan launched the second in their Masters of Photography series late last year. World renowned photographer Albert Watson was commissioned and has produced a stunning series of images, such as the one pictured, left (title - Chris in Mini). To read more about the concept - click here to read our full article about the Masters of Photography. There is a photographic competition running alongside the series and anyone can enter! All you need to do is to send them one of your own photographs – the theme is ‘Great Journeys’ – and the top 10 entries will then be voted for by the general public. Albert Watson will pick the his top three from these and choose the winner. The prizes include a 10 day photographic trip to Scotland, a selection of Nikon cameras and subscriptions to Digital Camera magazine. Visit www.themastersofphotography.com to enter and vote on your favourites - the closing date is 30 June 2011.
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.
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.
On Wednesday 30th September, we were lucky enough to be invited to the launch night of the newly refurbished Albannach restuarant and whisky bar in London. Albannach (pronounced al-ban-nack) translates as 'Scotsman' from the Gaelic language and the bar is located right on London's famous Trafalgar Square. It was originally opened in early 2005 and was a pioneer for delivering contemporary Scottish cuisine and an extensive whisky collection to a wider public in the capital. Albannach has won many awards and much acclaim for the quality of its food, spirits and service.
Albannach Blended 10 years old
We also had the opportunity to try a whisky cocktail that the bar team at Albannach had created. It is named 'Mosquito' and is a whisky based version of the famous Mojito cocktail. The 'Mosquito' contains a dram of Chival Regal 12 years old, fresh mint leaves, a dash of bitters, creme de peche (a peach liqueur), sugar syrup and peach juice, all poured over freshly crushed ice. This was very drinkable, with the sweetness balanced by the bitters and mint. This cocktail is definitely worth a try. 
