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Slideshow
The week in pictures
We couldn’t do the week in Pictures without a celebrity cameo, and this week it’s a doozy. Singers Ed Sheeran and Lionel Richie drank all night long at a restaurant in Cardiff last weekend, racking up a sizeable wine bill which included a £750 bottle of Penfolds Grange 1997.
Sheeran, who had been performing at the Principality Stadium on Saturday night as part of his Divide world tour, relaxed afterwards with Richie at the Park House Restaurant and Wine Bar in the Welsh capital city.
He had apparently done his homework beforehand, according to the restaurant’s spokesperson, Sian Gunney.
Speaking to The Sun, Gunney said: “Ed obviously knows his wine.
“He must have looked at the wine menu before he came because he knew exactly what he wanted. He went straight to the wine bar.”
Also inhaled on the night were an Eight Uncles Shiraz 2015 from Barossa producer Fox Gordon and The Menzies Cabernet Sauvignon (£16) from Yalumba in the Coonawarra. Sheeran, the report claims, didn’t actually order any food. If that’s not commitment to wine, we don’t know what is.
It’s coming home.
(Photo: Matt Alexander/PA Wire)
On Saturday 23 June, Wine Drinker owner Sultan Rashid and business development manager Matthew Edwards made the nation proud by breaking the world record for the Largest Alcoholic Drink EVER recorded. Ever.
This comes just weeks after Snoop Dog threw his weight around and mixed up the world’s largest gin and juice at a music festival in Napa Valley. Gin’s coming home, lads.
The Wine Drinker attempts to set a Guinness World Record Largest alcoholic mixed drink. (Photo: Matt Alexander/PA Wire)
Some 200 bottles of District Distilling’s WildJune gin were used in the attempt, with a grand total of 686 litres of G&T in total.
The record attempt went down at Shoreditch carpark-turned hipster hangout Urban Food Fest.
(Photo: Edith Hancock)
World Cup? Never heard of it, mate. the drinks business spent Thursday night at Asia House in Marylebone taking trade insiders and oenophiles on a tour of wines from France’s beautiful Pays d’Oc region.
The masterclass came courtesy of resident MW and editor-in-chief Patrick Schmitt, who wowed the crowds with his in-depth knowledge of the sex lives of medieval christians in southern France (it was relevant to wine production, honest).
We may have been otherwise engaged this week, but with all the drunken entertainment the World Cup has produced so far, big beer firms Carlsberg decided to celebrate in style.
Danish brewer Carlsberg has created a beer caviar which it claims has a practical purpose: it encourages fans to drink in moderation.
With the texture of fish eggs and (we hope) the taste of beer, the beer brand is paying tribute to the culinary traditions of host nation Russia.
Bollinger MD Charles Armand de Belnet. (Photo: Nicky J Sims/Getty Images for Champagne Bollinger )
Speaking of the finer things in life, Champagne Bollinger — official fizz partner to Ascot — enjoyed a spectacular week at the races.
(Photo: Nicky J Sims/Getty Images for Champagne Bollinger )
The royals have always had a slight affinity for Bollinger. The house was granted the first-ever Royal Warrant for Champagne in 1884, and has cropped up at royal weddings ever since, Prince Charles and Diana’s wedding, to name just one.
(Photo: Nicky J Sims/Getty Images for Champagne Bollinger )
And while we’re on the subject of royal weddings, there was one couple that stole the show this week — the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who tied the knot last month, but served Champagne by Pol Roger at the wedding breakfast. Oh well, can’t win ’em all, can you?
This week in bartending showdowns, congratulations toArron Grendon from Tropic City in Bangkok, Thailand, who was been crowned the 2018 Chivas Masters Global Champion on Thursday night.
The five-day final returned to Chivas’ roots at the Strathisla distillery in Speyside, the home of Chivas, before culminating at Oval Space in London.
Arron’s team created the winning bar — One Night in Bangkok — at the London finals.
“We wanted to bring Bangkok to London for just one night with our bar,” Aaron said.
“I love the community in the market in Bangkok that brings together people from all around the world through food and drink – and that’s what I wanted to recreate. My team spent five days together in the run-up to the global final, so I got to know what everyone was good at and how we could work best together. When you have a good team and a good connection, you can achieve anything.”
In other football news, UEFA lifted an alcohol ban that had been in place at all Champions League and Europa League matches on Tuesday, meaning that fans will be able to buy alcohol at stadiums from next season.
Previously, UEFA had forbidden the sale of any alcoholic drinks inside stadiums prior to and during Champions League and Europa League games.
*COCKTAIL PORN KLAXON* — the Artesian at The Langham, which has been voted the world’s best bar a record four times, has launched a new drinks menu, this time inspired by life’s key milestones.
Exploring the themes of identity, memory and metaphysics, Savage’s serves aim to evoke memories and experiences synonymous with different stages in our lives, including learning to walk, falling in love, leaving home and having a child.
Among the cocktails on the Moments menu are the ‘you went to big school’, made with Blanche de Normandie, almond lemonade, apple and meadowsweet, in a hat tip to the old tradition of giving an apple to your teacher in primary school.
This Tuesday, Bacardi Brown Forman Brands (BBFB) execs schlepped to Liverpool’s Moloko Milk and Honey to run a panel discussion dedicated to making drinks more sustainable.
Partnering with the Super Lyan team, guests learnt how to commercialise a zero-waste ethos alongside real-life drinks demonstrations that reflect sustainable practice, with a notabel appearance from cocktail author Simon Difford.
Ah the Rhône. Stunning landscape, gentle breezes and scorching in summer, who wouldn’t want to take a trip to France right now? Importer Flint Wines took 5 UK Wine Merchants & Sommeliers for a 3 day trip to the sunny Rhône region, having expanding his range significantly over the past years with now 11 domaines from the region. Starting in Chavanay with Pierre-Jean Villa, the trip included all the 11 domaines Flint is representing in the UK.