Drinks World Middle East | Dubai #1

PR E

IS MIE SU RE E

DUBAI NO. 1

First Ever

DUBAI WINE WEEK Celebrating All Things Refined HOPFEST 2014

The Only True Beer Festival of Scale in the Middle East, Hopfest Offers Revelers the Ultimate Treat

JAN LISKA

2014 UAE World Class Bartender Winner

PENFOLDS

In a Class of Its Own One of Australia’s Iconic Wineries Celebrates 170th Year of Winemaking Heritage

Femmes Meet Dubai’s

Charismatiques

DARING, GLAMOROUS AND FREE

SPIRITED

These Female Bartenders Embody the Essence of Cointreau

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Welcome Welcome to the first edition of Drinks World Middle East magazine.

Having already made a solid imprint on the Hong Kong and Singapore markets with Drinks World Asia, it was more than apparent that the busy and emerging drinks culture of Dubai needed a magazine of its own. As the drinks market expands, so does the need for experts to engage with both the customers and suppliers, and the UAE is no different. Drinks World Middle East aims to be the platform for which you can have your own voice and develop a community of hospitality industry professionals.

Whether you work behind three feet of bar or patrol the tables, Drinks World Middle East will bring you up to date news and views on your profession – from the latest bar openings and the people that man them to classic cocktails and concoctions.

The drinks industry is one of the most dynamic and exciting industries to work in and the team behind Drinks World Middle East aim to play our part in helping you enjoy and take advantage of every opportunity available.

Also, if you’re behind the bar, on a boat or simply at the office, we want to make sure you can get your DWME fill no matter what your location. You can head to www.drinksworld.asia for all your online needs. Available on all platforms, including iPad and Android, DWME online will bring you quality, up to date news and views on your profession and industry, with the opportunity to engage with us online and through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Cheers, Ashley Pini – publishing editor

Drinks World Middle East is distributed to bars, restaurants and hotels in the UAE. If you would like to have your brand represented or would like to contribute or comment please contact: marc@hipmedia.com.au

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Introduction The UAE drinks industry in general is growing and has proved in the past that it can compete with the rest of the world. Unfortunately, the demand is not there yet; guests are not very much intrigued by the beauty of it and the relationship with bartenders is still lukewarm. The fact that several bars in town cannot display alcohol and the limited availability lowers the chances of Dubai catching up with other cities like London. Additionally, consumers are driven by brands that appear in style and fashion magazines; people like to be seen drinking certain brands whether they like them or not.

Santino Cicciari

I believe that what it requires to make Dubai one of the best drinking cities in the world is openness to new ideas. An example of this is the concept we did for Connaught Bar in London. We introduced the amuse bouche (welcome drink), cocktail recipe cards and martini trolley. Many viewed these ideas as a waste of time, but not our managers and our clients. They believed in the project and supported us every step of the way. And I am positive that we will see some notable changes in trends in Dubai’s bar scene sooner than we expect it.

Manager, Roberto Lounge

Over the past three years, the UAE drinks industry has seen a significant shift in the approach to mixology. It could quite, conceivably, be one of the most rapidly changing markets in terms of innovation. There is now an emphasis on the modernist approach to drinks taking hold that previously only a small selection of bartenders had been pushing boundaries.

Now, Dubai has a core concentration of bartenders mastering their craft due in a large part to the showcase competition – World Class. It is this friendly competition that drives each of them forward individually, something that can only be good for the market as a whole. This intricate detailed approach to bartending is a trend I predict will not only continue in the UAE, but one that could single it out as a world force in bartending.

Thomas Aske Director, Fluid Movement

Dubai’s drinks industry has changed incredibly over the past six years. I arrived in Dubai in 2008, tasked with opening Zuma Bar and to be honest, back then, the scene wasn’t that exciting. It was hard to find venues using basics such as fresh fruits – and, as a result, vodka red bull and long island ice teas were the only popular drinks.

Since then, the global bar scene has transformed, and along with it, Dubai’s. Great international brands have established themselves here, bringing in talents and created a real sense of community. Now, Dubai’s bar scene rivals that of other major global hubs and guests are open-minded enough to want to experience new flavours and trends, allowing drinks like the old fashioned, the sazerac or penicillin, a victory in itself.

Whilst this growth here and elsewhere is extremely exciting, we all need to remember to uphold the heart and soul of bartending – that of being a great host and offering a fun environment for our guests.

Jimmy Barrat

Bar Development Manager, Zuma Middle East

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Introduction The UAE drinks industry is an interesting but tough market. Cocktails are extremely popular and the way to go for now, as clearly seen in our restaurants and bars. In fact, superbly made cocktails by reputed bars in town are well-recognised and have their strong followers. We have also seen a rise in popularity of crafted drinks.

When it comes to other drinks, wine is gaining more and more popularity on the dining table – mostly white wines, driven by the warm weather. We are influenced by Italy and a strong Russian market so we work a lot with white burgundy. However, the strong Chinese market keeps our blood warm with the high demand for fine red wine. Cost of the wine and spirits is incomparably more expensive than Europe, Asia and the rest of the world, which poses a challenge to be competitive in the international scene. As always, champagne makes a big part of our sales.

Dimitar Dimitrov Head Sommelier, Burj Al Arab

Looking ahead, I don’t see Dubai getting its own trend. The local expat population is too small to significantly propel bigger tourist demand, which determines pretty much what are being offered in establishments. I believe that we will be following the trends and demands of our biggest markets to satisfy their tastes. We have seen an increase in demand for freshly produced drinks, which is driven by the desire for better and healthier lifestyle.

I think the Dubai bar scene has seen a rapid maturation over the past five years, which has been quite tough to those that fail to meet the industry standard. Fortunately, this challenge has given rise to some of the best bartenders in the world, and it’s these faces that continue to inspire the next generation to be more creative, professional and hardworking.

World Class has, undoubtedly, been a huge part of this through its celebration of the craft and promotion of the bartenders. The future of Dubai’s bar scene will certainly be a broader range of innovators, but it will be interesting to see how the city handles the concept of bartender-owned bars. Assuming that such a thing remains a challenge, the industry may give way to residencies and partnerships between hotels and bartenders, which could elevate the bartender to a position that hasn’t been seen anywhere else in the world.

Tristan Stephenson Director, Fluid Movement

My current four-year stint has been witness to some spectacular changes in Dubai. I have seen a raft of top end new openings and an explosion of brands into the market. However, that is not what sets Dubai apart, but the general seriousness of its bartending community.

In every city I have worked or visited, I have seen phenomenal bartenders and of course those that are just going to work. And, in my advantageous position going out and training here, the people I meet are keen to learn, eager to progress and passionate about the products. That desire that I witness on a daily basis is what sets Dubai apart and in the future, will have it sit on par with London or New York City.

Richard Cohen

Training Manager - PATH Marketing, African + Eastern

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ADvErTISInG FEATUrE

WELCOME TO THE CLUB For years, Scotland has held a hidden gem that has previously been denied the full appreciation it deserves: Single Grain Scotch Whisky. Now, that is all about to change.

This previously overlooked treasure is likely to become the next big global trend – and there is one brand in particular leading the way.

“FOrGET EvEryTHInG yOU THOUGHT yOU knEW ABOUT SCOTCH”

WELCOME TO HAIG CLUB™ HAIG CLUB is a new Single Grain Scotch Whisky with a character and style that sets it apart. It’s designed to be different – from the unique way in which it has been crafted, to the distinctive square, blue bottle it is presented in. This is a classic, reimagined.

HAIG CLUB has been developed in partnership with British entrepreneur Simon Fuller, and global icon David Beckham.

Crafted at Scotland’s oldest grain distillery – Cameronbridge – this new whisky is as much built on tradition and heritage as it is a Scotch Whisky designed for our modern world.

the oldest grain whisky dynasty in Scotland.

Known for their innovation, the Haig family are often credited with laying the foundations for the growth and success of the modern Scotch whisky industry.

At the heart of HAIG CLUB lies a clear message of responsible drinking. Simon Fuller comments on how this whisky should be enjoyed: “A balanced happy lifestyle is about enjoying the things you love in moderation.

HAIG CLUB is not about excess, it is about quality.” It is important, therefore, that those who enjoy HAIG CLUB do so responsibly and in moderation.

Today, Master Distiller and Blender Chris Clark has combined grain whisky from three cask types to create the fresh, clean style of HAIG CLUB, which showcases flavours of butterscotch and toffee for an ultra-smooth taste. The sophisticated subtlety of HAIG CLUB means that this whisky can easily be paired with food, continuing to break with traditional Scotch Whisky preconceptions.

Brand partner David Beckham notes that HAIG CLUB complements seafood, in particular.

The House of Haig is built on nearly 400 years of distilling heritage, and can trace its whisky producing roots as far back as the seventeenth century: making the Haig family P L E A S E D R I N K R E S P O N S I B LY

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D AV E B R O O M , WHISKY AUTHORIT Y

W W W. D R I N K I Q .C O M

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Scotch Whisky is here to change the game and show that Scotch Whisky has more to offer. Rooted in quality, style and substance, HAIG CLUB represents a new movement for Single Grain Scotch Whisky. It is more than a liquid – it’s an instinct and an understanding of what it takes to be different.

HAIG CLUB will be available in Duty Free outlets from October 2014. You are invited to discover how this versatile Single Grain Scotch Whisky can suit any style, be it your own or as a gift. Welcome to a new world of Scotch Whisky. Welcome to HAIG CLUB.

Until now, Single Malt and Blended Scotch Whiskies have been the mainstream trailblazers. But HAIG CLUB Single Grain JOHN HAIG & CO.

T H E H A I G C L U B W O R D A N D A S S O C I AT E D L O G O S A R E T R A D E M A R K S © D I A G E O

B R A N D S B .V. 2 0 1 4

5 L O C H S I D E W AY, E D I N B U R G H E H 1 2 9 D T

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Credits CREDITS Publisher Marc Rodrigues marc@hipmedia.com.au EDITORIAL Publishing Editor Ashley Pini Editor Miracielo Broñola DESIGN Senior Designer Ryan Andrew Salcedo ADVERTISING Advertising Manager Sasha Falloon SALES Sales Director Marc Rodrigues PHOTOGRAPHY Photographers Sarath​ Kumar, Karl Edwards CONTRIBUTORS Writers Hannah Lanfear, Gaz Regan, Naren Young, Karin Forsgren, Charles Humphreys

COVER STORY: Meet the Femmes Charismatiques: Dubai’s daring, glamorous and free-spirited female bartenders that embody the essence of Cointreau. Story on pages 82 to 84.

Produced and published by

Editorial Enquiries: If you, your bar, or your brand and company have news or events you would like to share with Drinks World Middle East please contact: ashley@hipmedia.com.au Although Hip Media Asia endeavours to ensure the accuracy and correctness of the information and drinks trade and drinkstrade.com.au, we do not accept any liability or responsibility for any inaccuracies or missions. The views expressed by authors of publications or event presentations, published drinks trade, do not necessarily represent the views of Hip Media Asia. Decisions or actions based on the information and publications provided by Hip Media Asia are at your own risk.

drinks-world-asia @drinksworldasia drinksworldasia

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Contents

39 20

27

Meet

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Jan Liska - UAE World Class Winner Derryn French & Sadettin Kaya Felix Hartmann & Sasha Milovanovic of UAEBS Clovis Taittinger

Madan Periyasamy

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52

Feature

92 100 101 102 104

Charles de Bournet

Ian McEvoy

Andrew Mullins

Mike Otieno Odongo UAE Stella Artois World Draught Master

Richard d’Offay

Meagan Sacher

Brent Henderson of Beer Academy Bram Vaerewyck

WSET Sake

12 16 24 27 32 39 52 54 82

World Class UAE Final

World Class Global Final

Hannah Lanfear

Hopfest 2014

87 97 108 115

New York Bar Scene

Stoli Masterclass

Wine Week

What He is Drinking

Guinness - Quest for Perfection FIFA World Cup Coverage Gaz Regan’s Mindful Bartending Ice Age

Meet Dubai’s Femme Charismatiques

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Contents

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58

61

Profiles

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Tanqueray No.10

Penfolds 170th Year

Drinks

61

De Toren Wine Tasting

69

94

Visit

Innovation

69

3 Years in Bourgognes

46 47

Carlsberg Draught Master Muddle Me

Hoegaarden

Peroni

Stoli The Birth of Quality

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° FEATURE °

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n June 8 and 9, UAE’s best bartenders from top bars, hotels and restaurants gathered at the Embassy in Grosvenor House to take part in one of the world’s prestigious mixology competitions. The 2014 UAE World Class Event saw the 13 finalists going head-to-head in a series of innovative challenges designed to test their skills and creativity in producing extraordinary cocktails.

In the end, it was Jan Liska from Grosvenor House who emerged the winner and went on to represent the region at the global final in the UK. He demonstrated incredible skills all throughout the competition and impressed not only the crowd but the judges as well during the speed challenge when he started shaking two mixers at the same time.

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Winner Jan Liska mixing up a cocktail during the World Class UAE Finals

Judges at the said heat included some of the world’s most renowned bartenders, who were also past competitors in the Diageo Reserve World Class. They were Thomas Aske (Director at Fluid Movement and co-owner of The Whistling Shop & Surf-Side), Angus Winchester (Global Ambassador for Tanqueray Gin), Hidetsugu Ueno (Japanese bartender renowned for his ice carving), and Justin Smyth (Ketel One European Ambassador). Apart from the actual competition, the two-day event also included seminars on the craft of bartending that ranged from ice carving to molecular mixology.

The first day of the competition saw bartenders preparing cocktails that paired well with specific dishes as well as reflected the five senses. Six bartenders continued on to the

CMY

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° FEATURE °

final round on the second day. These included Jan Liska (Grosvenor House Hotel), Angus McGregor (Hakkasan), Adam Carr (Qbara), Kirill Ledaschev (Zuma Abu Dhabi), Marco Corallo (Jumeirah Etihad Tower, Abu Dhabi), and Laura Duca (Buddha Bar).

In the finals, contestants were asked to create their signature cocktail and drink requested by the judge. Rounding it off was a speed challenge, in which bartenders were given 7 minutes to prepare as many premium cocktails as they can in that amount of time. This generated much excitement to the crowd as the finalists were shaking and mixing cocktails with incredible style and speed.

The event was made possible thanks to hosts Diageo, the world’s leading premium drinks business, and African + Eastern, the Middle East’s largest distributor of premium beverages.

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° FEATURE °

DIAGEO RESERVE WORLD CLASS ™

Bartender of the Year 2014 T

here can only be one winner. After a week of intense competition, incredible craftsmanship, unrivalled creativity and exceptional cocktails, Charles Joly from The Aviary in Chicago, USA was crowned the DIAGEO RESERVE WORLD CLASS™ Bartender of the Year 2014, beating 47 of the best mixologists from around the globe. Charles became the sixth bartender to be awarded the revered WORLD CLASS™ title, following in the footsteps of acclaimed mixologists who have gone on to influence cocktail culture worldwide, including David Rios, Tim Philips, Manabu Ohtake, Erik Lorincz and Aristotelis Papadopoulos.

Charles Joly, The Aviary USA Diageo Global World Class Winner 2014

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Charles with past winners (L-R): Aristotelis Papadopoulos (2009), Erik Lorincz (2010), Manabu Ohtake (2011), Tim Philips (2012), and David Rios (2013)

Charles impressed the judges from the very first cocktail he made, but it was his exceptional signature drink that helped him cement his name in cocktail history. His signature cocktail ‘Above the Clouds’, created for the final Punch and Glass challenge, blew the judges away.

Over the week-long finals, Charles consistently proved his winning credentials to the esteemed panel of judges that included legends and luminaries of the cocktail scene such as Dale DeGroff, Salvatore Calabrese, Julie Reiner, Steve Olsen and Gaz Regan.

“Wow, I just feel totally overawed by this. I know it sounds like a cliché but to be announced as the DIAGEO RESERVE WORLD CLASS™ Bartender of the Year 2014 is like a dream – I half expect to wake up at any moment. The other finalists really are the best bartenders in the world today so for the judges to pick me as the winner is incredible”, said Joly.

“This journey didn’t start today at the ceremony, this week at the finals, or even last year when I entered the heats – it started many years ago when I first started working in a local bar. The flavours, the smells, the sounds, the techniques, the history, the theatre – I realized I did not want to create just another drink. I make drinks with my heart and it makes me happy to see customers happy. The possibilities open to a bartender are limitless, not just in terms of your career but your creations – the only limit is your imagination.”

Matteo Fantacchiotti, Global Vice President Commercial, DIAGEO RESERVE, said: “Right from the beginning Charles’ passion, creativity and unrivalled mixology skills blew the judges away. His desire to create unique serves that combined sophisticated tastes with innovative modern twists never faltered at any stage of the competition. It’s a real honor to have Charles as

our 2014 DIAGEO RESERVE WORLD CLASS™ ambassador, and I look forward to working with him in the future. Together we hope to inspire a new generation of mixology talent across the world, helping raise the profile of bartenders to where chefs are today.”

As the winner, Charles Joly will now become a global ambassador for DIAGEO RESERVE WORLD CLASS™, a role which will see him travel the world, educating and inspiring new talent whilst developing his own skills and knowledge through the different tastes and techniques he experiences along the way.

The 2014 WORLD CLASS™ Finals consisted of a series of innovative challenges staged around Great Britain, kicking off in Scotland, before travelling via the iconic Orient Express to London. Discovery was at the heart of the competition, a theme brought to life by the various challenges that immersed the 48

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Diageo Reserve World Class™ Bartender of the Year 2014 finalists

finalists in Great British culture and inspired them to create premium serves, using the world’s finest spirits, that told stories of places, people and the local history of this year’s host nation – the birthplace of WORLD CLASS™ over six year ago.

Among the top six were: Grant Sceney (Fairmont Pacific Rim Vancouver, Canada), Charlie Ainsbury (Ananas Bar & Restaurant, Sydney, Australia), Ahmed Yahi “Mido” (Café Moderne, Paris, France), Claudio Perinelli (The Kiosk of Peschiera del Garda, Italy) and Peter Chua (28 Hong Kong St, Singapore), who made history by becoming the first Singaporean to make it to the top six.

This year, for the first time ever, consumers were also invited to participate in the event and discover a world of fine drinking culture at the WORLD CLASS™ House. Set over five floors of a beautiful townhouse, this exclusive pop-up experience was created to coincide with Finals week, providing hands-on mixology masterclasses run by world-renowned bartenders, unique cocktails and food tasting sessions that made the WORLD CLASS™ House the spiritual home of fine drinking experiences this summer.

In 2015, the World Class Global Final will travel to Africa and take place in Cape Town, 2014’s World Design Capital. Voted the World’s Top Travel Destination by The New York Times, this iconic city boasts an abundance of natural beauty and cultural diversity. With a vibrant and cosmopolitan mixology culture, as well as thriving creative sectors, Cape Town is set to provide all the inspiration the contenders will need to thrive in 2015’s Global Final.

Jan Liska, 2014 UAE World Class Representative

Peter Chua who made history by becoming the first Singaporean to make it to the top six.

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Jan Liska

2014 UAE World Class Winner

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° MEET °

T

he winner of the 2014 UAE World Class Bartender Competition, Jan started bartending at the hospitality school in his country. Moving to Sydney, Australia, he worked his way up to the top bars in town. When the opportunity came, he left Sydney and ended up in the Middle East where he influenced the bars at Grosvenor House as Beverage Manager. Currently, he is the Assistant Restaurant and Beverage Manager of Boca, overseeing the opening of the restaurant at DIFC. Drinks World Middle East: Tell us about yourself and your background in bars?

Jan Liska: I got my start in bartending at the hospitality school in my country, the Czech Republic. This gave me the foundation in classic bartending, but what was fun at that time was the flair. Moving to Sydney, Australia, I started again at the bottom, polishing glasses, emptying garbage bins and working my way up to the top bars in town. When the time came, I left Sydney for a new challenge and ended up in the Middle East where I influenced the bars at Grosvenor House as Beverage Manager. I am now the Assistant Restaurant and Beverage Manager of Boca, and currently overseeing the opening of its new restaurant and bar at DIFC. DWME: What is your philosophy of cocktails? What are your inspirations and motivators when working and creating drinks?

JL: When creating cocktails, I always draw inspiration from raw products.

It can be a fresh fruit, herb, spice or spirit. I believe that using top quality ingredients will always pay off, regardless of the time spent, or the techniques used.

It’s my philosophy to make everything with love. I am often asked about molecular ingredients and cocktails, and I only have one thing to say: if you can create something that tastes better than the original raw ingredients, then go for it. Creating something unusual may be fun, but I would rather create something with a gastronomical value to it.

DWME: Describe to us your World Class experience in Dubai this year.

JL: It was intense. Every year, the competition here is more and more tough. This year, the finals were spread into four challenges over the course of two days, which were similar to the global setup.

DWME: What was it like in the UK being with the world’s best in your field?

JL: It was an incredible week! Competing against the best, meeting the mentors and other important people in the industry, traveling and seeing all new places and bars – all these were just simply amazing and unbelievable. I was really honoured to be part of such an exciting competition.

DWME: Who did you meet that most impressed you at the final?

JL: From the mentors, Steven Olson and Dale DeGroff – two of the respected personalities in the hospitality industry. They just love what they do and give back a lot to the industry. From the competitors, there were too many interesting characters to mention here.

DWME: What’s your advice to those in the Middle East considering taking part in the World Class next year?

JL: Have a clear idea of what you want to achieve, know your stuff and spirits, and be prepared for everything.

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° PROFILE °

TANQUERAY

No.TEN H

and crafted in small batches using a unique quadruple distillation process.

The stylish bottle shape illustrates the streamlined glamour of the Art Deco era and cocktail culture embraced in The Golden Era to bring the perfect cocktail moment to life once more. The iconic Tanqueray scarlet seal, and founder Charles Tanqueray’s signature, serve as an eternal stamp of approval that boast the liquid’s superior quality. A man whose ambition and expertise knew no bounds, Charles Tanqueray’s legacy lives on with new verve with the stylish new Tanqueray No. TEN bottle.

The citrus squeezer at the base and lighter colour glass featured in the new bottle reflect the world-famous profile of Tanqueray No. TEN. A complex blend of fresh citrus notes and hand-selected botanicals, it is distilled in small batches by Master Distiller Tom Nichol, with whole fresh oranges, grapefruits and limes at its heart.

As the first white spirit and the only gin in the Hall of Fame at the San Francisco World Competition, the flavours of Tanqueray No. TEN best shine through in a sophisticated martini cocktail – the perfect showpiece for a gin that is universally recognised by those in the know as the ultimate expression of quality. The citrus provides a delightful first impression both on the nose and on the palate and adds a refreshing brightness to the gin.

This is complemented by the herbal waves of chamomile which enhance the flavour. A considered and meticulous distillation process achieves a deliciously velvety mouth feel which lends Tanqueray No. Ten to be the ultimate spirit for the perfect martini cocktail.

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° FEATURE °

A DECADE LATER AND NO REGRETS WORDS ° Hannah Lanfear

A

s a bartender I am proud to say that London is the cradle of my career. Like many a bottle-slinger I dropped out of university and turned my hand to a trade that can satisfy even the most enquiring mind. Bartending provided a bottomless trove of study and knowledge, practical application and instant gratification that requires no diploma. Hitting the books taught me how the history of spirits is inextricable from the history of mankind itself. A decade later and I’ve no regrets, it’s a wonderful industry to be in.

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° FEATURE °

For cities it’s London I love the most: an incredibly evocative city, ceaseless innovation underpinned by boundless history. Most every day I cycle over Tower Bridge to work at Bermondsey Distillery taking in the breathtaking views of the Thames as it glisters with sun, refracted by ripples, and it always fills me up with a sense of belonging. Well, in summer at least. Opening a distillery in Bermondsey might be considered a new wave of gin distilling now, but in days gone past it would have been nothing remarkable; both Gordon’s and Tanqueray started life here. It’s mind blowing to consider the cyclical nature of the city, how fashions, tastes and industries flow, ebb and return.

Bermondsey itself was the place where the food produce landed from all over the world being where the wharfs on the Thames were, which explains the neat location of Borough Market. This was where the spices and botanicals would land so of course it made sense for the distilleries to be located, coupled with a good water source, although it wasn’t long before Clarkenwell became the preferred spot. The distillers of London were part of the parcel that brought us to our existing love of bars. Pubs always brought the community together, they held a role in the fabric of life.

When the winter set in and before the electric light, pubs were a warm and brighter place

where you could meet the community, it’s in our English culture to have the swift after-work half, and the weekend skinful, and it was the era of Dickens that we come very close to possibly inventing the cocktail, as he well documented in his books. We mixed our wines and ports with sugar, invented the flip, the Bishop, the sangaree, enjoyed bowlfuls of hot and cold punches, even our gin was lengthened with Earl Grey tea. It’s a fair claim to say that the fine art of mixing drinks perhaps wasn’t such an American invention, though it may cause controversy to say so.

Much later when America suffered under prohibition we took up the mantle of cocktail making. The hotel bars of early 20th century London sparkled with the glamorous American tourists on the original booze cruises, taking cocktail holidays and enjoying the fine libations denied them at home. We had Ada Coleman mixing drinks at the Savoy, you’d go to the Ritz if you were feeling, well, Ritzy. Not to mention it was hey day of gin making. As Nick Strangeway has shone a light on, we had the fine Café Royal, a crucible of cocktail making in London city. And for gin making, this was the Golden Era. Back when London Dry gin was really made in London by a number of distilleries kicking out great quality gin. A glorious time, until disaster struck: the war came and drinking was a frivolity few could afford. The war effort meant that

distilling fell by the wayside, the men had been drafted. Some distilleries didn’t survive it, and closed for good. Cocktails certainly didn’t make it through, the technically eloquent bartending of the roaring twenties fell into disrepair. The gin distilleries moved to Scotland where grain alcohol was plentiful. Vodka gradually crept into favor, people wouldn’t be seen drinking the fashions of former decades. The sixties, seventies and eighties were a derelict time for cocktails. Until Dick.

Until that moment a cocktail would have been an insipid nightmare of liqueurs, sour mix and carton juice, but Dick Bradsell changed all that. He created a revolution. He held court at Dick’s bar in the Atlantic, and sired a number of the cities best cocktail bars, many of them now just wonderful memories. Even now if you had a cocktail list that use only his signature drinks it would hardly have aged a day. Cocktails such as the Wibble, the Russian Spring Punch, the Treacle, the Bramble, the (sublime) Carol Channing, The Pharmaceutical Stimulant (known to most as the Vodka Espresso), I mean, these drinks changed the face of bartending, and I credit this man, along with Simon Difford and Class magazine, for inspiring thousands of bartenders to make this a profession. Had it not been for two publications by the Difford’s Guide (then called Sauce), Drink and Drinking, and Cocktails, I doubt I would have decided to

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pursue bartending. Thanks to them I became enthralled by what could be learned about the different flavours in spirits, and the intricacies of cocktail technique.

Looking at that curve of how far cocktails came between the eighties and Milk & Honey, where I first cut my teeth as a serious cocktail bartender, well that’s a very long way, and certainly the bastion of contemporary cocktails and the inspired work of Douglas Ankrah at Lab can’t go unmentioned. But even now the development of cocktails hasn’t stopped. The innovators and imitators are always on the march, with a developed common style of technical bartending constantly evolving. After the opening of Milk & Honey the speakeasies came thick and fast, a testament to the work of Sasha Petraske, and despite the fact ten years on we yawn at the opening of yet another speakeasy it was a gift to the bartending community to have the focus put so heavily on the classics. The blueprints of balance, they teach us everything we need to know. There’s nowhere to hide with a classic cocktail, your specs must be bang on to let your cocktail sing.

Using liqueurs and purees and all these strong flavours you could get away with a little give and take in the spec but not with a classic. You become aware of how to balance a liqueur over a syrup, of how to tender citrus when using a dry brown spirit versus a dry white. The next

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wave of bartending prowess came from that knowledge of classic cocktail structure, when we tinkered with what we learned to create new classics using the old as a template. In many ways this sorts the charlatans from the true craftsmen. You can’t fake classical bartender training. It’s an essential part of the job, much like a trainee chef needs to work harder for a while, chopping vegetables until gunshot fast.

This decade we’ve seen the graduate bartenders of such training schemes at Match and Lab go forth and pull the bars of the whole city up by its bootstraps. The days of cautiously having a solitary bartender make your martini are long behind, you get them match fit and all over the shop. The importance of fresh and quality ingredients is de rigueur. These bartenders have not only gone on to implement their own training programs in their future projects, they’ve now become owner operators themselves, each with progressive ideas about where bartending is going, iceless bartending anyone?

And distilling? Distilling London Dry gin in the city is back but with verve, passion and technical ability. With a nary a fanfare Sipsmith pulled at the lock gate until the waters rushed forth, claiming the first distillers license to be issued in the city for hundreds of years. And not long behind, Sacred, City Of London, Battersea, East London, and Bermondsey. Echoing the wave of

craft distillers in the US, the UK has bartenders enthralled by making the jump into distilling.

We’re not quite there yet, but with small stills showing up on back bars and kitchen tables, it can’t be long before bartenders start to make waves in the distilling world.

To predict what comes next is almost impossible, but we’ve seen a rise in the caliber of cocktails across the board, and the beginnings of an owner operator model. It’s such an expensive city that for most the dream of owning a bar is far beyond the possibilities of a bartender wage, but with the rise of the pop up bar – rudimentary set ups making simple but good quality drinks, the first rung of that ladder is a much easier step, and something that can built on over time into a first establishment. With bars like Happiness Forgets and White Lyan proving that you can turn a £30k investment into a world acclaimed bar, there’s surely more to come from bartenders making their dreams a reality. There’s never been a better time for it.

Hannah is currently the global ambassador at Bermondsey Distillery & Jensen’s Gin , and a freelance journalist. It can be said her fame started whilst she was Head Bartender at Milk & Honey London from 2002 -2006.

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° FEATURE °

2014

HOPFEST

I

WORDS ° Charles Humphreys

t’s not often you hear someone asking for a Fat Yak, a Raging Bitch, or a Scarecrow at an event in Dubai, and you could be forgiven for thinking the guy making the call might have taken temporary leave of his senses. It is, however, alternative beer brands such as these that have consistently set the Irish Village Hopfest apart as the only true beer festival of scale in the Middle East.

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° FEATURE °

Celebrating its 10th Anniversary in August this year, Dubai’s Hopfest has grown over the years to become one of the most loved and eagerly anticipated events in the City’s busy event calendar. With more than 110 different beers available at this year’s event covering a multitude of beer styles, the Hopfest yet again delivered on its unique position of offering a truly extensive and diverse range of beers worthy of a festival!

So what styles were a hit this year?

As with all good beer festivals seeking to showcase global brewing and beer brands, Dubai’s Hopfest was no different. The ‘capitals’ of brewing culture featured quite heavily – with Belgium, German, Czech, British and Irish bars making up the cornerstone of the offering.

The exclusively ale stocked British bar included Pedigree as its lead ale. It’s also home to two draught beers from the Wychwood Brewery,

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whose tagline – What’s the matter Lagerboy... afraid you might taste something? – famously challenges drinkers of light beers and lagers.

For starters, there was Hobgoblin making its second outing as a draught beer, having been trialled for the first time the previous year with great success. This full bodied ruby dark ale, delivers a chocolate/toffee malt flavour with a rounded fruity bitterness. Arguably the best ale on offer and quickly becoming an event favourite. In addition to that, Scarecrow Pale Ale made an appearance for the first time, quickly selling out by day two due to its easy drinking, sessionable style, light hoppy bitterness, and dry and clean taste. Other newcomers included Jennings Cocker Hoop and Ringwood Brewery’s Boondoggle, both of which were given the nod of approval from the burgeoning contingent of die-hard British ale lovers that loyally camp out at the British Bar every year.

The German offering was no less impressive with a strong range of crisp, perfectly brewed,

Pilsner styles from Löwenbräu, Spaten, Warsteiner and Becks. There were also wheatbased beers synonymous with Munich brewing – the German ‘Weiss’ style, which included the ever reliable Erdinger Weiss beer. This Weiss beer, now with global fame, has three variants from the same family. The Erdinger Kristall, a wheat beer that has been filtered, gives the illusion of being more like a Pilsner on appearance but is very different on the palate.

The Erdinger Pikantus – a ‘Weizen Bok’ beer – is a darker, stronger, fuller flavoured proposition.

Lastly, the Erdinger Dunkel – another dark beer, but smooth and highly sessionable in style.

In fact, the Dunkel style of beer might well have been the star of the German offering. This year saw Spaten Dunkel and Franziskaner Hefeweiss Dunkel (the darker version of the already superb Franziskaner Weiss beer) both on draught for the first time. Franziskaner Dunkel was a hit last year in bottle form, so it was an obvious move to launch the draught variant. Being a Dunkel (dark)

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Weiss beer, it is a full bodied yet easy drinking beer, bringing together tastes of bread, grain and caramel, as well as fruits and spices such as apricot, banana and clove. Prost!

Whilst over in Belgium, the 34 beers available were giving Hopfest festival goers the unenviable task of trying to decide what to try next! Too many to mention in full, the cornerstone of the Belgian range was the always good looking Stella Artois (she’s a thing of beauty!), quickly complemented by other stronger Belgian styles from Duvel Moortgat – the aptly named Delirium Tremens – and Monk brewed Trappist beers – Chimay & Westmalle.

The eight fruit beers available created a vast amount of interest. Belle-Vue Kriek (cherry) is a Belgian lambic beer which is brewed via spontaneous fermentation, giving it a sour and tart taste. It is then mellowed by the addition of cherries and aged in oak barrels over a number of months – all in all a feat of brewing harking back to the middle ages. Belle-Vue Kriek is a

Hopfest favourite, having been on draught now for the last six years.

Offering a broader appeal, yet still, in the fruit beer category were the Floris and Fruli ranges of beers – a collection of wheat-based fruit beers from Huyghe Brewery in Ghent. What’s clever about their fruit brews is the wheat base which gives the end product a very easy, flavoursome and fun beer experience. This year’s lineup included flavours such as Apple, Passion Fruit, Strawberry, Raspberry and even a Chocolate beer.

However, it was a new addition to this year’s event from the Hoegaarden Brewery that stole the show – a Raspberry variant of the increasingly popular Hoegaarden Original.

Served amidst the backdrop of the quaint respite of the Hoegaarden Garden, Hoegaarden Rosee offered a Belgian wheat beer cleverly infused with raspberry juice to make a wonderfully easy drinking 3% abv fruit beer.

It’s perfect for those of us who know how to

pace ourselves at a three-day beer party, or who are looking for something with a bit of a wow factor!

It wouldn’t have been a beer festival this year if there wasn’t an acknowledgment at least of the innovation and contribution craft brewers are beginning to make to this constantly changing world. Shouting loudest from this camp was a North American IPA, the Flying Dog Raging Bitch, which packed a powerful hop punch. True to US IPA form, it is the beer equivalent of a B52 Bomber laying wanton destruction to your taste buds for half an hour.

A more sensible hop example of American craft available came in the form of the superbly made Anchor Steam from San Francisco and the most famous California Common or Steam Beer, a truly masterful blend of pale and caramel malts and fermenting lager yeast at warmer ale temperatures. Sam Adams from Boston – a Hopfest favourite in years gone by – was also available again. This full bodied beer, with

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° FEATURE ° its robust and rich character, is respected worldwide and has been helping to lead the US beer revolution from the beginning.

‘Craft’ is by no means a US exclusive phenomenon though, as proven by brewers such as Matilda Bay and their superb range of beers, most notable of which is Fat Yak, a distinctive, hop driven, fruity/herbaceous beer with notes of passion fruit and melon. A hit amongst beer aficionados at Hopfest for the third year running, it is a truly impressive craft beer.

Interest in the Hopfest cider offering continues to grow every year, with 2014 being no exception. Magners’ original Apple variant remained one of the biggest sellers at the event. Aside from this much loved, crowd-pleasing cider, there’s also now a family of Magners flavours that have become big sellers in their own right, namely the increasingly loved Pear option and the newer Berry, mixed fruit cider. On the sweeter but by no means less sessionable side, Somersby offered a great cider alternative and brought along a family of its own, to include Somersby Blackcurrant and the Somersby Ginger & Lemon.

To continue the ginger theme, Ginger Joe, Hopfest’s only ginger beer option and a product that is dangerously easy to drink with a subtle zingy ginger kick, continued to impress customers looking for a less hop oriented liquid. And, if all this just seems too much to take in, you could have just had a Guinness – safe in the knowledge that it is the most amazing stout in the world, and always your reliable best friend.

The Hopfest is something truly special.

Where else can you see so many of Dubai’s different communities all under one roof with the same objectives of drinking great beers and having a good time? It’s heartening to look around and see the diverse crowd that this event pulls in. There’s the expat Brit ‘who has been here for years’, the plethora of Antipodean Rugby Teams showing the rest of us how a beer festival should be done, the increasing numbers of knowledgeable Indian expat beer lovers, and the rest of us who have had this weekend in the diary for months.

Another great Hopfest, enjoyed by all! See you next year for more great bands, fancy dresses, hotdogs and burgers, sawdust, and of course, a star lineup of some of the World’s Best Beers!

Cheers!

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° FEATURE °

Q

uality is the foundation of the Guinness brand. Our quest is to constantly exceed consumer expectations by ensuring great looking, great tasting Guinness every time, everywhere. This aim has led to the launch of the Quest for Perfection Programme to search for the Best Guinness Bartender in Dubai. Now in its 3rd year, the programme features a different mechanic every year but the same end goal of finding the Guinness Pint Master.

PINT MASTER 2014

This year, the programme took place between March to June. The African + Eastern Beer Specialist hosted Guinness brand passion sessions across the trade. Mystery shopper visits were also conducted. The Top 25 outlets took part in a ‘Passion & Pour’ competition held in the African + Eastern beer training room. This competition tested a bartender’s pouring skills, passion and knowledge of the brand.

Only the Top 10 took part in a Live Pour Off. Three Guinness judges visited each bar and took a video of each bartender pouring three pints of Guinness. Joseph of McGettigan’s DWTC emerged as the big winner, receiving an all-expense paid trip to Dublin to visit the Guinness Storehouse. The bar also received a reward. Second place went to Dima of Irish Village and third place to Phil of Girders Bar, Ocean View Hotel.

Congratulations to all!

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WINNERS: (L-R) 1st: Joseph, McGettigan’s, 2nd: Dima, Irish Village, 3rd: Phil, Girders Bar

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째 FEATURE 째

PINT MASTER 2015

For this coming year, the quest will not only be to find the Guinness Pint Master, but also to find the Best Guinness Bar Team in Dubai. African + Eastern is launching the new programme in November, which will initially focus on 20 bars in Dubai.

To help us in our Quest for Perfection, African + Eastern will recruit Guinness Chieftains chosen by the African + Eastern Beer Specialist. The Chieftains will act as the Guinness champion, upholding the Guinness quality in their bar. They will also need to ensure that all staff members attend the monthly staff trainings and know the 6-step Guinness Perfect Pour, which is to be followed at all times. They will essentially strive to achieve the best quality Guinness poured by the entire team.

A quarterly Perfect Pint leaderboard will culminate to a winning Bar, Bar Team and Guinness Chieftain, with amazing rewards and prizes on offer.

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Guinness® is distinctive, unique, rewarding and iconic.

Creating the perfect pint of Guinness® requires the 6-Step Pour:

1. THE GLASS

Choose a clean, dry Guinness® glass

2. THE ANGLE

Hold the glass at 45º angle

3. THE POUR

Pull the tap handle fully towards you, allowing the beer to flow. Stop when the glass is ¾ full.

4. THE SETTLE

Wait until the surge has finished

5. THE HEAD

Push the tap handle away from you and fill to the top

6. THE PERFECT PINT Enjoy!

Please enjoy Guinness® responsibly.

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° FEATURE °

F

our years of waiting has finally come to an end. The FIFA World Cup – the most anticipated and celebrated quadrennial sporting event – has returned once more to great fanfare.

Sports fans the world over were in a frenzy as the 2014 World Cup in Brazil opened to a colourful ceremony last June 12. In the Middle East, it was no different. Football being the most watched and most popular sport in the region, had majority of hotels and countless venues showing all the games live despite the timing of the matches – 8pm, 11pm and 2am. In the same way, enthusiasts and avid followers trooped to their favourite outlets to watch the game and cheer for their team.

But a game of football isn’t complete without – you guessed it – beer. And when it comes to beer brand, there’s one name that has had strong association with football: Carlsberg. For more than 20 years, Carlsberg has been sponsoring various major tournaments and clubs. Currently, the brand is the official beer of the Barclays Premier League, Liverpool Football Club and UEFA Euro 2016.

Here in Dubai, Carlsberg’s a major sponsor of fan zones at Barasti, Irish Village, McGettigan’s JLT and

XL Beach Club. Although half of the tournaments fell during Ramadan, which could impact on sales, the World Cup activations at these venues generated such a footfall record in excess of 200,000, with Barasti being the biggest at a staggering 110,000.

Beer was literally flowing and more than 72,000 pints of Carlsberg were consumed in the Barasti Beach Stadium alone.

A major advantage of the fan zones is that they provide a large-scale area in addition to an Outlet’s normal bar area. They are air-conditioned so guests won’t have to worry about the heat and humidity.

Nathan Forde, Trade Marketing Manager for Beer at African + Eastern said “Carlsberg partnered with a number of key customers across the Dubai On Trade to build football fan zones and create a great atmosphere to enjoy the football and Carlsberg. Our aim was to create a truly unique football experience that was secondary only to being in Brazil.”

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CARLSBERG EPL 2014 DIARY ADVERT 230x280mm.pdf 1 9/25/2014 11:28:19 AM

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° FEATURE °

BARASTI The activation in Barasti exceeded expectations when it scored a spot on Twitter’s top 10 global trending topics in the first week of the tournament. #BarastiWorldCup made it to 10th place on Twitter’s global list, just one place behind #FIFA2014WorldCup and six places behind pop superstar #Pitbull.

LMMS/Westin Marketing Director Derryn French remarked, “We were incredibly pleased about the activation in Barasti for the World Cup. The atmosphere was electric and it really felt like we had our own World Cup stadium in Dubai.” When asked about the role Carlsberg played in making it happen, she said “As our major sponsor, Carlsberg worked with us tirelessly in overseeing every aspect of the

event. It was a joint venture in every term, and everyone pitched in to make sure that we delivered a product that exceeded expectations.”

Sadettin Kaya, LMMS/Westin’s Executive Assistant Manager, added that “The very first reason our activation was so successful is because we love football and sports in general.

We couldn’t imagine any better place than Barasti to share the excitement of this great tournament.”

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° FEATURE °

IRISH VILLAGE Over at Irish Village, which is well known for hosting large-scale sporting events, the activation was a great success as well. “It was a brilliant event. It was well attended and the atmosphere was full and festive”, said David Cattanach, Irish Village’s General Manager. According to him “We kept the pricing reasonable and the show on big screen with loads of themes that appealed to our customers.”

Speaking of the role that Carlsberg played in bringing it into a reality, Cattanach added that “Carlsberg did not only help us financially, but also in all aspects of pulling the event together and making the event the success it was.” He further said that “Due to the fact that we put on regular big events with partners like Carlsberg, the activation was a well-oiled machine that just needed tweaking every now and then.”

Furthermore, he said that “Total transparency and trust that both partners are going to deliver for each other and their customers are the key to working on activities with a beer partner.”

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McGETTIGAN’S A frequent venue for live sports, music concerts and comedy shows, McGettigan’s provided just the right place for the World Cup activation. “We were very pleased with the World Cup activation at McGettigan’s this summer. From our own initial internal discussions, we had agreed that Carlsberg would be the ideal partner for us to work with. It is an ideal fit for both McGettigan’s customers and of course football as a sport”, said Nancy O’ Connor, McGettigan’s Assistant Marketing Manager.

“We were very excited to work on the summer sports stadium idea at our JLT branch as it allowed us to transform our summer beer tent into something completely new and colourful. Likewise, the locker rooms effect which was installed in our DWTC and Abu Dhabi branches provided an obvious football themed yet very tasteful fanzone area in both venues”, she added.

According to her, key to the success of the activation was forward planning. “By working closely with the team at African + Eastern and their design agency weeks in advance of the start of the World Cup, we were able to bring our ideas to life across all our venues in a timely manner. Thus, we were able to pre-promote

McGettigan’s as a hub for watching the World Cup games in the UAE.” She further said that “In addition to the superb in-venue creative branding which undoubtedly enhanced the existing sporting atmosphere in McGettigan’s, we also ran a unique passport themed competition called ‘Destination Anywhere’. In this competition, we offered one of our customers the chance to win a holiday to whichever destination would go on to win the World Cup 2014. We found that our customers responded very well to this promotion.”

She added that “We would definitely look at activating this passport competition concept again in our outlets as well as our themed ‘takeover’ style of branding in our summer tent at JLT.” When asked about the key to working on activities with a beer partner, she replied “We would consider open and easy communication and the sharing of ideas between both parties to be hugely important factors in activations such as this.”

Culminating with Germany taking home the title, the FIFA World Cup’s truly an event to look forward to. Here’s to another great activation totally enjoyed by all! Until the next FIFA World Cup in Russia in 2018!

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° MEET °

DERRYN & SADETTIN talk about

The World Cup Activation in Barasti T

PHOTOS ° GlamourDubai.com/Sam Dee

he World Cup Activation in Barasti was a phenomenal success! We asked both Derryn French (Marketing Director) and Sadettin Kaya (Executive Assistant Manager) at Le Méridien Mina Seyahi Beach Resort & Marina / Westin Complex on what they think of this year’s activation.

Derryn French, Marketing Director, LMMS/Westin Complex Sadettin Kaya, Executive Asst Manager, LMMS/Westin Complex

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Drinks World Middle East: What are your general thoughts on this year’s World Cup Activation in Barasti?

Derryn French: We were incredibly pleased about the activation in Barasti for the World Cup. Together with our sponsors, we managed to provide an incredible experience for our patrons.

The atmosphere was electric and it really felt like we had our own WC stadium in Dubai.

Barasti was the most talked about venue in Dubai and we even managed to trend in terms of the most talked about venue in the world on Twitter.

of visitors we had. We had served over 80,000 bottles of water during the tournament; now you do the math and imagine how many bottles/ liters of beer were sold.

Sadettin Kaya: It was pure fun and incredibly successful. Barasti scored a place on Twitter’s top 10 trending topics worldwide in the first week of the tournament in Brazil. It was also massive – we could fill the stadium where the FIFA 2014 took place for twice with the number

SK: I honestly believe that the very first reason is because we at Barasti love football and sports in general. We couldn’t imagine any better place than Barasti to share the excitement of this great tournament. We understand what it takes to organise such a massive event, right in

DWME: Why is your football activation so successful?

DF: It’s due to a combination of knowing what our patrons want, a group of dedicated associates that are amazing at service and dealing with a very busy bar, and fantastic sponsors that shared our vision and helped us bring this activation to life.

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the middle of the summer. During the planning stage, we had long discussions on how the last Barasti Beach Stadium performed and what we could do better to surpass the previous event’s turnout.

We’re also privileged to work with a very passionate and motivated bunch of people which make it easy to execute such a big event. I don’t mean only the top management who have great experience on organising such events, but also our associates on every level.

DWME: How did Carlsberg assist in making it happen?

DF: As our major sponsor, they worked with us tirelessly in overseeing every aspect of the event. It was a joint venture in every term, and everyone pitched in to make sure that we delivered a product that exceeded expectations.

SK: Carlsberg’s team assisted us in sourcing the giant dome-shaped tent and coordinated with us on the set up. We were happy to have their experience on such events as the brand

is deeply associated with football. It was also a great help to use their contacts on every field to find the right companies to provide the right service. It was a fantastic partnership!

DWME: What did you learn from the activation this year that you can take into further activations?

DF: This is the 2nd time we have activated the Barasti Beach Stadium for the World Cup. There are always learnings, however, to be honest we learnt so much the first time that I would like to say that we feel that we did a great job. The only thing was that we could have made it double the size and still being full every night. The demand was amazing.

SK: We have learned that when it comes to sporting events, social media is a part of the game. People use it so actively during such tournament to a degree that you could follow a critical game only by screening your Twitter updates. You need to have your game plan ready to be within that social media crowd.

Understanding the market is another thing. We knew that it is more fun to be with thousands of other crazy fans and be part of the show than sitting in a VIP box. That’s why we created a stadium atmosphere without any seating arrangement.

Having partners who share the same vision and do the same long tiring hours to get things done on time is also vital to stage such an event. Equally important is also the team – you don’t need to have the best people but the right people to make it happen.

DWME: What is the key to working on activities with a beer partner?

DF: Teamwork and having the same vision for product delivery. Understanding the value for both partners and ensuring both parties’ needs are met in terms of brand exposure and delivery of product.

SK: Sharing the same market and target profile, having a beer brand that fits the event and long term partnership.

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& MOST INNOVATIVE ° INNOVATION °

The Smallest

DRAUGHT UNIT

AVAILABLE S

erving a draught beer has never been more convenient and hasslefree. Portable and easy to install, the DraughtMaster™ is a great alternative to traditional draught systems.

With Carlsberg’s proprietary technology platform DraughtMaster™, everything is simpler and no sweat at all! Some serious technology has gone into creating this unit. In addition to featuring a one-way PET keg, it does not use CO2 – providing mobility and perfect quality draught beer every time. Compact and small in size, it is packed with benefits that include: • 31-day open keg shelf life – there’s no need to worry that the beer will go stale once the barrel is opened. It will still remain fresh and drinkable after the first pour.

• Constant 2º temperature • No beer line cleaning necessary • Storage for two kegs – one on tap and one chilling • Fresh beer with perfect taste everytime With such outstanding features, DraughtMaster™ is just what bar and restaurant owners need. Carlsberg is the only brewery in the world offering this new technology and draught beer convenience – a system which is protected by worldwide patents.

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° INNOVATION °

Creative and innovative barmen tools/equipment available at

PERLINI COCKTAIL CARBONATING SYSTEM

SUPER ALADIN SMOKER AND AROMATIZER

YUKIWA BARON SHAKER WITH MATTE FINISH

Perlini is a revolutionary new product for producing highly carbonated cocktails in a matter of seconds, regardless of the ingredients.

It works exactly like a traditional cocktail shaker, but the shaker is a pressure vessel that is pressurized with carbon dioxide.

Super Aladin smoker and aromatizer is a commercial handheld food and beverage cold smoker system. It is heavy duty and features a dual chamber that allows users to aromatize the wood smoke with their favourite herbs or spices by heating them gently without burning them.

This three-piece Yukiwa Deluxe Cocktail Shaker is made unique by its gold band and matte finish. Yukiwa barware is known for its elegance, quality and durability. Ideal for the Japanese hard shake, the two-piece stainless steel top allows for easy straining and pouring.

PORTHOLE

MR. SLIM JIGGER

JETCHILL

Porthole is a simple, beautiful infusion vessel that can be used to create amazing beverages, oils, teas, or any other types of infusions.

Mr. Slim Jigger is a sleek and highly sophisticated stainless steel Japanese jigger.

It features a stylish gold band, graduated lines in each bowl, and it comes in three sizes.

JetChill is a drinks system that safely creates dry ice chilled smoking drinks. Its technology converts liquid CO2 into dry ice. The dry ice creates the smoking, bubbling and vibrating reaction without diluting the content – providing a different drinking experience.

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Penfolds Chief Winemaker, Peter Gago, Magill Estate Cellar

° PROFILE °

IN A CLASS OF ITS OWN

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he wine industry in Australia would not be the same without the presence of Penfolds. And, like a good wine that gets better with age, Penfolds has gone on from a provider of tonic wines to a producer of benchmark wines. Its evolution is marked by successes and difficulties, and mirrors Australia’s journey from a colony to a modern nation. Today, 17 decades from its introduction, Penfolds is one of the country’s most revered wine houses, and its name stands for excellence and innovation in winemaking.

WORDS ° Miracielo Broñola

THE ICONIC JOURNEY The Defining Moment Penfolds’ tradition and place in wine history began when Dr Christopher Rawson Penfold and his wife Mary arrived in Australia in 1844 – eight years after Adelaide was founded.

They purchased 500 acres of ‘the choicest land’ at Mackgill (Magill) Estate. Here, they built a cottage which they named the Grange, and planted the vine cuttings they brought with them from France. Initially, the vineyard was producing wines for medicinal purposes, especially for anemia treatment.

Twenty-six years later in 1870, Penfold died of a long illness and Mary assumed control

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of the business. By this time, Magill Vineyard comprised more than 60 acres with several different grape varieties, including Grenache, Verdelho, Mataro (Mourvèdre), Frontignac and Pedro Ximénez. Both sweet and dry red wines and white table wines were produced, with a growing market base in Victoria and New South Wales.

Mary passed away in 1895, at the age of 79, after making an impact and tremendous contribution to Australia’s wine industry and the world in general. Control of the family’s business went to her daughter, Georgina and husband, Thomas Hyland.

Time of Expansion By the time of Australia’s Federation in 1901, fortified wine production dominated the industry and Penfolds became its largest producer. It also saw Penfolds expanding its vineyards and becoming a household name. In 1943, Penfolds acquired the highly regarded Auldana Vineyard and Winery, which was just adjacent to the Magill Estate. Two years later, Penfolds obtained the Kalimna Vineyard in the Barossa Valley in 1945 – the largest vineyard in South Australia at this time. By the late 1940s, Penfolds had vineyards in McLaren Vale, Griffith, the Hunter Valley and Minchinbury.

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Era of Discovery In the latter part of 1949, Max Schubert, then a young winemaker at Penfolds, travelled to Europe on a study mission. His purpose was to learn about sherry production. But a side trip to Bordeaux paved the way to the development of Penfolds Grange.

In 1951, Dr Ray Beckwith introduced the use of pH metres to curb bacterial spoilage – a crucial advancement in the production of consistently high quality table wines. It was also in this year that Grange was born, which led to an exceptional collection of wines that earned Penfolds worldwide recognition for its signature style, consistency and longevity.

By the early 1960s, Schubert oversaw the creation of ‘a dynasty of wines which may differ in character from year to year, but all bear an unmistakable resemblance and relationship to each other’. Bin 128, Bin 389 and Bin 707 and St Henri were all commercialised during this period.

Period of Testing Max Schubert retired in 1975 and a new Chief Winemaker was appointed. Penfolds continued to flourish, and in 1983, created the first vintage of Magill Estate Shiraz. With the turn of the decade, Penfolds conducted intense winemaking trials. In 1995, Penfolds’ flagship white wine, Yattarna Chardonnay (Bin 144), was created and released later on in 1998.

Meanwhile, the red wine trials resulted in the unveiling of Penfolds’ first Barossa Shiraz.

The 1990s era also saw the introduction of Penfolds Re-corking Clinics, a unique and revolutionary after-sales service, where wine collectors can have their aged wines – particularly Grange – assessed, recorked, topped up and re-capsuled.

A New Phase The year 2001 was a milestone for Penfolds.

Grange celebrated its 50th anniversary and was listed as a heritage icon by the national Trust of South Australia. A year after, Penfolds appointed a new Chief Winemaker in the person of veteran oenologist Peter Gago. Since that time, Penfolds has reached into every major wine market across the globe.

In 2012, Penfolds introduced its highly ambitious, limited-release offering of 12 hand-blown glass Ampoules, containing the celebrated 2004 Block 42 Cabernet Sauvignon.

The launch was held at the Philippe Starckdesigned Cristal Room in the Baccarat showrooms in Moscow and attracted worldwide

attention.

By 2013, Penfolds has received countless accolades and recognitions for its benchmark quality. First off, the 2008 Penfolds Grange scored 100 points by two of the world’s most influential wine publications, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator Magazine.

At the inaugural James Halliday Australian Wine Companion Awards, Penfolds was named ‘Winery of the Year’, 2008 Grange as Best Shiraz, and 2010 Bin 169 Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon as Best Cabernet.

Penfolds was also named ‘Winery of the Year’

by Wine & Spirits Magazine, making Penfolds the recipient of the award 23 times, more than any winery in the world. Lastly, Wine Enthusiast Magazine also named Penfolds ‘2013 New World Winery of the Year’.

THE GRANGE STORY: FROM IMAGINATION TO AN ICON As Australia’s most famous wine, Penfolds Grange captures both a ‘sense of place’ and the essence of Australian agricultural ingenuity and innovation. The story of its creation by legendary winemaker Max Schubert is one of extraordinary vision and personal triumph, achieved through trial, error and persistence.

The tale began with Max Schubert’s return from Europe in 1951, in which he started making his first experimental wine. Combining traditional Australian techniques, new French ideas and Penfolds winemaking practices, he created the flagship wine Grange Hermitage, now known as Grange. The commercial release

of Grange in 1952 marked the beginning of a ‘dynasty of wines’ that would later change the course of Australian wines.

However, in 1957, there was a major setback.

The Grange experiment was disliked and yielded negative opinions. Max Schubert was instructed to stop producing Grange, but continued to do so in secret for three years with the help and consent of then Assistant General Manager Jeffrey Penfold-Hylands. Production of the experimental vintages went underground.

Then a second tasting was organised of the 1951 and 1955 vintages. It was greeted with enthusiasm, and the board at Penfolds ordered to restart production of Grange. During the 1960s, Grange established its position as Australia’s most distinguished wine.

Today, Grange’s iconic position in Australian wine history is undeniable. Besides being heritage-listed by the South Australian National Trust, Grange also heads up the highly influential and internationally recognised Langton’s Classification of Australian Wine. It has also been ranked as one of the most tradeable wines in the world by Liv-Ex, the London Wine Exchange. The Wall Street Journal has even published a Dow Jones Grange Index, with the accompanying text of ‘Wine lovers remember their first Grange the way they remember their first kiss!’

CENTURY-OLD PHILOSOPHY Throughout its 170 years of existence, Penfolds follows the same winemaking philosophy which is built on three distinct styles: single vineyard

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or single block, single region or sub-region, and multi-region or multi-varietal blending.

Single vineyard and single block wines are famous for their unique terroir and sense of place. These include Magill Estate Shiraz, Kalimna Block 42 Cabernet Sauvignon, Cellar Reserve Kalimna Block 25 Mataro, and 2010 Bin 170 Kalimna Shiraz.

Likewise, single region or sub-region wines embody the best of what that region or subregion can offer. These wines are highly valued by their optimised regional character and microclimate variants such as soil, drainage and aspect. RWT Barossa Valley Shiraz, Bin 128 Coonawarra Shiraz, Reserve Bin A Adelaide Hills Chardonnay, Bin 150 Marananga Shiraz and Bin 23 Adelaide Hills Pinot Noir are just a few examples of this style.

Both multi region and multi-varietal blending exemplify the ‘Penfolds house style’, for which Penfolds is known for. Grange is the ultimate expression of this blending philosophy, which results in a consistency of style and quality across vintages. Other examples include St Henri Shiraz, Yattarna, Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz and Grandfather Rare Tawny.

THE CHIEF WINEMAKERS BEHIND PENFOLDS WINES Penfolds doesn’t rest on its laurels. Key to its status and heritage is a cadre of visionary winemakers. In the entire history of Penfolds, there have only ever been four Chief Winemakers and custodians of a rich winemaking tradition – Max Schubert, Don Ditter, John Duval and Peter Gago.

Don Ditter started work with Penfolds as a laboratory assistant in 1942. Appointed as Chief Winemaker when Max Schubert retired in 1975, he was responsible for adding extra polish and finesse to Grange, and taking it into the modern era. Among the crucial changes he made included a major overhaul of vineyard management and fruit tracking. Under his supervision, the Grange style was refined and improved with fresher aromas, more richness and ripeness of fruit, and better oak selection.

The 1986 vintage – his last – is generally regarded as one of the greatest Grange vintages

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of all time.

John Duval, ‘understudy’ of both Don Ditter and Max Schubert, followed suit. Although he was appointed Penfolds Chief Winemaker at an exceptionally young age, his contribution to Grange’s evolution was vital. His leadership saw some of the greatest developments and innovations in viticulture and winemaking, including the ‘White Grange’ project and the groundbreaking launch of Yattarna and Reserve Bin Chardonnays. During his term, the 1955 Grange was named one of the top 12 wines of 20th century in 2000, while the 1990 vintage was named ‘Wine of the Year’ in 1995 by Wine Spectator Magazine. In 2002, after 16 years as chief winemaker, John Duval stepped down.

In 2002, Peter Gago was named Chiefwinemaker and became the fourth custodian of Grange in sixty years. He joined the Penfolds winemaking team in 1989 initially in the craftsmanship of sparkling wines, before

moving on to reds where he entered the role of a Penfolds Red Wine Oenologist. Described as a ‘perpetual-motion brilliant speaker, wine educator and winemaker’ and ‘Ambassador-inChief’, he brought the Grange story into the 21st century by ‘raising the bar of expectations’ and making it accessible and truly engaging. Under his watch, the 2008 Grange received a perfect score of 100 points by Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator Magazine in 2013.

PENFOLDS WINES TODAY Through the passing of time, Penfolds continues a tradition of innovation and experimentation.

Along with Grange, Penfolds has established an exceptional portfolio of wines that reflects its winemaking legacy. The signature Penfolds house style, developed and refined over the years, is distinctive and expressed across both red and white wines.

Penfolds wines are now widely acclaimed

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° PROFILE °

Peter Gago with Penfolds Winemaking Team

worldwide for their diversity and quality across many price-points. As Chief Winemaker Peter Gago says, ‘the wine always come first’. It is this enduring principle and generosity of spirit, handed down by generations of winemakers, in the vineyards, the wineries and the markets, that gives Penfolds wines a unique and timeless quality.

170TH ANNIVERSARY To mark its 170 years of winemaking heritage, Penfolds has proudly unveiled a remarkable collaboration. ‘LINLEY for Penfolds’ does not only honour the birthplace of Penfolds founder Dr Christopher Rawson Penfold, but is also the ultimate expression of artisan craftsmanship.

The endeavour brings together an extraordinary commission befitting an extraordinary wine – the 2010 Bin 170 Kalimna Shiraz – which was created only once before in 1973. To commemorate this fine wine’s limited edition

release, Penfolds commissioned British cabinet maker David Linley, through his luxury brand LINLEY, to create a number of custom-made signature cases.

The endeavour was inspired by Max Schubert’s ‘secret’ Grange vintages and celebrates the ‘secret craft’ of winemaking handed down from generation to generation. The result is a symbolic connection of two countries through history and materials – English oak from the birthplace of Dr Penfold and fumed eucalyptus reflecting his new home, Australia.

Only seven imperial bottle cases have been crafted for the collaboration, reflecting the attention to detail, ingenuity, creativity and sophistication that the LINLEY brand is renowned for. Opening the case is a delight. It features a customised compass marked with intricate detail and precision engraving. To unlock each imperial case, one must turn the precious jade inset dial to the longitude and latitude

coordinates of Magill Estate (-34, 138). Only then can the case be unlocked, to reveal the magnificent imperial bottle within.

Other features include a detailed, marquetry inlaid Penfolds crest on the box exterior.

A secret drawer built into the box, ‘’one of the most challenging features to include in a piece of furniture”, contains a stunning photographic journey of Kalimna Block 3C as well as a Certificate of Authenticity. The drawer lid will be customised by LINLEY with the purchaser’s name and bottle number, from one to seven. The imperial case also includes a synthetic hygrometer combined with a bimetal thermometer to measure the perfect room climate, a barrel inspired interior and a bespoke wine pourer.

To this end, Penfolds’ winemaking legacy flourishes throughout the world – and remains in a class of its own.

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° FEATURE °

Gaz Regan’s

Mindful Bartending A Series Over 4 Editions

T

here are thousands of mindful bartenders in the world, and you might be one of them, whether you know it, or not. Mindfulness, a Buddhist concept, though you don’t have to be a Buddhist to practice it, is, in the very simplest of terms, all about living in the present moment, and being completely aware of everything that’s going on around you.

Very few people ever achieve a state of complete mindfulness, so the most we can hope for is to understand the concept, and to bring ourselves back into a state of mindfulness whenever we realize that we’ve strayed from that path.

And mindfulness is an ideal practice for bartenders since there’s nothing quite as important to the man or woman behind the bar, than knowing exactly what’s going on around them at any given moment.

There’s a Taoist saying that instructs that there’s no need to leave your house in order to know what’s going

on in the world, and when we look at this concept from the point of view of the bartender, it easily translates into something like: There’s no need to turn your head to know that the idiot at the end of the bar is annoying everyone around them. Much of mindfulness is based on intuition.

Mindfulness also entails connecting with everyone around you, and this is another concept that’s so very important to bartenders. If we don’t connect fully with our guests, after all, how can we expect to be able to make them happy? And that’s the main reason we set foot behind the

bar in the first place, right? The most important aspect of the bartender’s craft is to be of service to others, and make people happy.

As this series continues, I’ll be telling you about specific ways in which you can apply mindfulness to your craft, and to your life in general, and I promise that, if you practice what I suggest, you’ll find that your job will become easier, you’ll get along better with your guests, and with your co-workers, and you’ll probably end up being a happier human being in general. What more could you ask for?

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The

ICE Age WORDS ° Naren Young

T

o many people, ice is just frozen water. A prehistoric compound that doesn’t require any degree of contemplation. In a bar, it’s just something that makes drinks cold, right? Not according to many of today’s mixologists, who have begun to treat ice with such reverence that it can form the very foundations of their bar program. The Violet Hour in Chicago made some serious noise when they opened in 2007 with seven different types of ice. Yes, seven. Man, I remember the days when I started bartending and there was only ever one type of ice machine. One.

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Another Chicago bar – The Aviary – went quite a few steps further when they opened their doors with almost 20 types of ice. Now, I hear you asking yourself, “How is that even possible? Do that many types of ice even exist?” Well, apparently yes, and they have a full time ‘ice guy’ whose sole task is to research and develop new and unique types and shapes of ice. Even their iced water comes with hand chiseled ice.

To be honest, I hadn’t really thought much about the use of ice until I moved to the US, where nowadays, no bar worth their ice pick would open without a quality ‘ice program’. At the sadly gone Bayswater Brasserie in Sydney, we had a very good Hoshizaki machine and were one of the few bars using crushed ice across a gamut of drinks. We used ice sphere moulds for some single malt service but that was about the extent of our own ice program.

The most common ice machine now used in New York is the Kold Draft, which makes almost perfect 1” x 1” cubes and they now have a new split bin machine, which can make these cubes as well as crushed ice with the simple flick of a lever. This is what I now use. The Hoshizaki that is prevalent all over Europe is not yet available here (although I’m told it’s on the way).

At Saxon + Parole and The Daily in New York, we would buy large blocks of ice on a weekly basis from a local company called Hundred Weight, which they can custom cut to anyone’s specifications. We would store these in a chest freezer in the basement and would typically go through 10” x 10” block on a busy night. We hack away at this with an ice pick and carve it – very quickly and roughly – into something that could fit into our crystal rocks glasses.

Typically we reserve these for classic ‘rocks’ drinks such as the Negroni, Old Fashioned and

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° FEATURE °

Manhattan and for any high end whiskies, such as single malts. For this level of ice service, we have to pay homage to Japan, where they’ve been using large format ice for decades. This, from my research over five trips to the country, stems from two main factors.

Firstly is the fact that due to congestion in the likes of Tokyo and Osaka, many bars don’t have ice machines. As a result, most of them use hand carved ice in their drinks, even at the most rudimentary, working class bars. They simply don’t view ice as something reserved for the most top tier craft cocktail bars, like most of us in the West do. If you ask for a simple whisky and soda highball, chances are, you’re going to get a long, crystal clear ice ‘spear’.

Secondly, Japan has had a very serious and progressive whisky-making tradition since the 1920s and specialist whisky bars are littered throughout their major cities. They are one of the biggest consumers of whisky in the world and as such, they hold the spirit in very high reverence. And with that level of respect comes a certain respect for serving it in the best ways.

And that means the highest quality ice. When someone is paying a premium for a single malt whisky, including my all time favorite – the Yamazaki 18 Year – then it deserves to be served on superior quality ice.

As more people in the bar industry began travelling to Japan, myself included, they began

to see what an impact using perfect ice could have on a guest’s experience. “Why hadn’t I thought of that?” seemed to be the common rhetoric as it all seemed so simple. After all, it’s just frozen water, right?

New York’s first modern speakeasy – Angel’s Share – was the first cocktail bar using such ice and when Milk & Honey opened in 2000, owner Sasha Petraske was widely quoted as saying he took many of his ideas from that venerable bar; one that is helmed – not surprisingly – by an all-Japanese team of bartenders. I highly recommend a trip here to anyone visiting New York and they have a killer list of Japanese whiskies.

At Saxon + Parole, our Japanese bar manager, Masahiro Urushido, is a master at carving perfect ice spheres from scratch and is flown around the country to teach people how to do so. Clearly, ice carving is in huge demand and many bartenders, cocktail geeks and home enthusiasts have indeed taught themselves to carve ice with the help from our friends on YouTube. At the very pinnacle of this is the ice diamond, perfected by the most famous Japanese bartender in the world right now: Hidetsugu Ueno.

One particular drink that is experiencing a huge comeback is the simple highball. In today’s ingredient-driven cocktail world, the joys of this classic family of drinks have been somewhat

forgotten, passed off perhaps as too easy, too boring. But for anyone that really appreciates the actual taste of the base spirit in a mixed drink, then the Highball is one of the best ways to accentuate this. High quality whiskies – such as those made by Suntory – when paired with good quality bottled soda and cold, hard, pristine ice, is a beautiful marriage.

Neyah White, who works as the West Coast ambassador for Suntory, is a huge proponent of this Highball renaissance.

“First of all, it is an authentic drink. The idea of a big glass of whisky with water (high ball = high bowl = tall cup) goes back hundreds of years to the beginning of whisky itself. Even more interestingly, New York barman Patrick Gavin Duffy, who was widely attributed to popularizing the highball in the late 1800s, claimed that this was the first Scotch cocktail to get any traction and was responsible for the first cases of Scotch to be imported into New York.

This is probably accurate as it coincides with the introduction of blended whisky after the phylloxera epidemic and the perfection of the column still”.

At the end of the day, all we’re collectively trying to do is make better drinks and make them quickly. Any bar can implement a few simple things to improve their ice program, while also paying homage to one of the world’s great simple mixed drinks: the Highball.

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° MEET °

PHOTOS: Felix Hartmann (left) and Sasha Milovanoic

UAEBS United Arab Emirates Beverage Society

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he United Arab Emirates Beverage Society (UAEBS) is an initiative launched by a group of 10 F&B experts, bartenders, beverage suppliers and training experts in the UAE in 2011. Among its founders are Felix Hartmann, F&B Manager at Media One Hotel, and Sasha Milovanovic, Beverage Brand Manager at Fresh Express LLC. UAEB’s mission is “to develop the UAE’s beverage industry by sharing knowledge to all members and strengthen the unity of our community by leading the trade of all beverage segments with passion and commitment for innovation and integrity.”

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This group aims to lead the way “towards a more prosperous future for the bar and beverage industry within our parts of the world”, said Felix Hartmann. He added that education in the bar industry would be a major focus.

The move to set up UAEBS was taken after a visit to Dubai by International Bartenders Association (IBA) Europe vice president Ron Busman. In this article, Hartmann and Milovanovic give us a look into the society’s vision and goals for the UAE bartending community as a whole.

Drinks World Middle East: As one of the founding members of the UAE Beverage Society (UAEBS), can you tell us briefly about the group? Why was the association set up?

Felix Hartmann / Sasha Milovanovic: UAEBS as an idea and some form of organization is almost four years old now. From the original team of 10 founding members, we are now down to two active – Felix Hartmann and myself – with others still supporting the association in various ways. Between the 10 of us, we have decades of UAE experience and therefore thorough understanding of what works well in this market and where improvement is needed.

Generally, there is little or no communication involved in addressing specific issues in the beverage market. More to the point, beverage professionals here face very low levels of appreciation – both financially and in terms of career prospects. This is where UAEBS comes in. “The idea is to promote bartending as a profession, connect bartenders, create a bridge between them and potential employees, and get the brands to communicate directly to the community.” Additionally, education in the bar industry would be a major focus of the organization.

DWME: What is the aim of UAEBS? What does it hope to achieve?

FH / SM: As our mission statement suggests – Scientia, Unitatem, Passionis – we aim to help the beverage segment of the UAE F&B market evolve to the next stage through Knowledge, Unity and Passion. It is time for beverage professionals to gain local recognition as some of our colleagues here have attained. UAEBS aims to unite beverage experts through an association that will help them to gain access to international competitions, seminars, industry shows and insights into the latest global beverage trends.

DWME: Who are eligible to join? What can members expect from the society? Why should bartenders consider joining it?

FH / SM: All beverage professionals from line staff to decision makers are eligible to join. Members can enjoy a number of benefits ranging from F&B discounts across selected venues in the country to access to first-hand information on new openings, launch of new brands and products, and participation in trainings conducted by leading global experts. Given the benefits, being a full time member will be a necessity rather than an obligation or a requirement.

DWME: What are the activities that UAEBS is initiating? How do you see its role develops in the bar industry in the UAE? FH / SM: UAEBS will bring at least one competition to the calendar of Beverage Events in the UAE. This competition will be supported by many and open to all, and therefore independent. We will also have quarterly visits by various internationally renowned mixologists, brand ambassadors, master distillers and brewers, among others. Not to mention monthly meetings as well, so we are talking about an action-packed calendar!

With the Expo 2020 approaching and new openings happening daily, we understand that there’s a lot of room for improvement when it comes to the quality of service and quality of offerings.

UAEBS aims to help tackle this issue. While operators and suppliers do offer various kinds of adequate trainings, these are specifically catered to look after brand needs and more often than not, fail to interact with trainees on elementary levels. UAEBS is different in a way of having a more holistic approach, that is, we aim to provide the tools for self-development and promote so to say “organically” grown bartenders and baristas.

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° PROFILE °

The Quintessential Belgian Wheat Beer

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ehind every great drink is a great tale. As far as Hoegaarden’s story goes, this is how it all started. The year was 1445. Belgium was still then a part of the Netherlands. And as true travelers, the Dutch often brought wonderful odd things over from their excursions abroad. So it came to pass that exotic spices became readily available. All to the benefit of the monks. They experimented with orange peel and coriander from Curaçao that led to the discovery of the world famous Hoegaarden recipe.

Faced with the prospect of their beloved beer lost forever, the villagers decided to take action to preserve the original recipe. In 1965, milkman Pierre Celis took it upon himself to revive the beer and started brewing up a batch in his milk shed using only a copper boiler. Successful, he quickly expanded his operation and moved into a bigger building. He named the new brewery ‘De Kluis’ or The Cloister, in recognition of the monks.

By 1985, Celis was making more than 75,000 hectoliters a year. Just as he was about to start exporting to the US, a fire destroyed the brewery and shattered his dreams. No banks were willing to finance the costs of rebuilding the brewery.

Hoegaarden’s impending demise was saved by the Artois Brewery.

Eventually, Interbrew – now known as AB InBev – took on the brewery management full time in 1987. Since then, AB InBev have looked after the production of Hoegaarden to the present day, making sure it can be enjoyed by future generations.

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Myth and Legend Medicine In the 17th and 18th century, wheat beer treatments were prescribed to people with a vitamin deficiency. The idea is that wheat beer is full of yeast and a source of vitamin B and chromium. So there’s a possibility that the doctors saw improvement in the health of sufferers drinking wheat beer.

Glass and Jar Legend has it that the hexagonal shape of the Hoegaarden glass is derived from jam jars. The story dates back to a

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° PROFILE °

fateful day when the village ran out of glasses. It was said that the villagers decided the beer tasted so good from the jars that they just kept on using them, and so the shape has remained to this day. Whether it’s true or not, a unique beer deserves a unique glass.

Serving Hoegaarden Hoegaarden is best served in its signature hexagonal glass, because the shape and extra thick cut helps keep the beer chilled against the warmth of a drinker’s hands. The large circumference of the glass also allows for more appreciation of the beer’s aroma and tasting.

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° DRINK °

First Ever

De Toren Vertical Tasting W

here can you get top sommeliers and wine buyers in Dubai in one place at the same time? Where else but at the renowned Michelin-starred Hakkasan Restaurant. This awardwinning haven of sophistication was the venue for the first ever De Toren Fusion V vertical tasting in the UAE. Held last June 4, the programme provided an opportunity for participants to taste and understand the development of the iconic wine over the years, see the youth it still exhibits and how much more it can still develop. Gracing the event was none other than Sean Coetzee, De Toren’s International Marketing Manager, and host on that day. Guests had a rare treat as they tasted 10 consecutive vintages of Fusion V – from 1999 to 2008. They also got a nice surprise with the appearance of the Black Lion and Book XVII, recently voted the number 1 and 3 Most Luxurious Red Wine in South Africa.

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De Toren’s inaugural wine, Fusion V 1999, scored 90 points from both Robert Parker and Wine Spectator, unheard of for a maiden vintage. It also received a Gold Medal at the International Wine and Spirits Competition. As South Africa’s first five varietal blend, Fusion V’s creation was a milestone in itself. Meanwhile, the Black Lion Shiraz was sold out on its release and Book XVII – an extreme winemaking project, highly limited production wine – has established itself as a cult wine and was voted South Africa’s top luxury wine.

Every bottle of wine produced at De Toren Private Cellar is made with passion and love. It’s no wonder De Toren is recognized as one of the best red wine producers in South Africa. In fact, it consistently receives 5-star ratings in the John Platter Wine Guide. It was also nominated for New World Winery in 2011 by Wine Enthusiast. And the fact that it has produced two site specific Bordeaux blends – Fusion V (Cabernet Sauvignon dominant) and De Toren Z (Merlot dominant) – is a testament to its significant contribution to the wine industry in the world.

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° MEET °

C

lovis Taittinger

Heir to a Champagne Dynasty

T

he 4th generation of the Taittinger family and heir to one of the most renowned champagne houses, Clovis is passionately involved in every aspect of the business. As Export Director of the company, he goes around the world representing his family and forging close relationships with Taittinger’s distributors and clients. In this interview, Clovis gives us some insights into the family’s journey to establishing its name in the champagne world.

Drinks World Middle East: We understand that Taittinger Champagne House has quite an interesting background. Can you give us a glimpse into the family’s rich history?

Clovis Taittinger: Taittinger was founded in the 30s by my great grandfather Pierre Taittinger and his son, Francois, who was 17 years old then. Shortly after the Second World War, we became very quickly one of the most hip brands as we were symbolizing a very dynamic and very entrepreneurial family. Also, our style of champagne was revolutionary: very light, very fresh, very feminine and made mostly of Chardonnay.

In parallel to this success, Francois and my grandfather Jean bought and created many companies in luxury, hotels and other various businesses such as banking. Companies such as Cristal Baccarat, Hotel Martinez in Cannes, Hotel de Crillon or Hotel Lutetia in Paris are striking examples. In essence, Francois and my grandfather Jean both established the family as one of the most successful in France in the 20th century.

Until 2005, the group had over 15,000 employees. For various reasons, family ones mostly, we sold our group to an investment fund company (Starwood Capital) in that same year.

When they put Taittinger on sale (like every other former companies of the group), my grandfather, my father and I decided to repurchase the

company as it was our roots, our name and our heritage.

Now, we are familial again. The company is totally rejuvenated, a fresh and passionate blood is flowing, and we are performing better every year.

In fact, we are back in the race for the top 5 international luxury brands of champagne.

DWME: Prior to joining the family business, you’ve worked in other fields and even managed your own company. What made you change your mind?

CT: The fact that we were about to sell the group and I did not see myself joining a group without a total vision of its future.

DWME: As the Export Director of Taittinger, what does your role entail? Does it require involvement in the winemaking aspect of the business as well? What are some of the joys that your job brings?

CT: As Export Director, I am mostly a plumber and/or tailor. One part is making sure that Taittinger champagne is flowing well “through all the pipes” in the world without too many leaks. This entails ensuring that products are well transported, well sold, well exposed, and well animated in every country of the world. This is mostly a distribution and an

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animation work towards the agents and customers.

The other part is to realize deals and partnerships. Taittinger is a boutique, and we are always designing tailor-made offers for groups and corporations as well as for individuals... There are no limits to dreams and pleasures.

Besides the creative and technical work of export and being M Taittinger, I am very much involved in the wine making as well. Taittinger being an eponymous brand means that everything is signed with our name and it is a sign of credibility, authenticity and faith for all our customers.

DWME: What’s the secret behind Taittinger’s success in the champagne market?

CT: Key to our success is top quality, reliability and consistency. Passion for family and team is another. Likewise, having passionate agents to represent and sell our wines as well as loyal customers are equally important.

DWME: If you had to describe Taittinger in one or two sentences, what would it be?

CT: Taittinger is a timeless brand; it’s independent and a beacon of elegance and reliability. It’s a family of champagne; a missionary of champagne life – bringing love, happiness and great art de vivre to all.

DWME: Can you tell us the wines that Taittinger produces? What makes them so unique and special?

CT: Taittinger has a large range of cuvées, and they are all made mostly from Chardonnay, without any makeup to let their purity stand out and which are aged long. The result are wines that are light, elegant and fresh.

One can actually drink them morning after morning as they give great pleasure and positive energy.

Our iconic wine, the Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs, is a symbol of the best wine in France. It’s super delicate and super refined.

As a whole, our wines are unique and special in the sense that it has family character and credibility.

DWME: For the first time in the history of FIFA they had chosen a Champagne House as their official champagne. What’s your first reaction on being selected? What was the partnership hope to achieve?

CT: By choosing Taittinger, FIFA made the choice of quality, the choice of an independent family who turned to innovation and wanted to make things new and different. We are extremely honoured to be their partner, as it is a great organization. The partnership shows that Taittinger is entering a phase of development. That we are not only a vibrant company, but that we are moving forward and ready to take on new challenges.

DWME: Where and how do you see Taittinger, say in the next five or 10 years?

CT: I see Taittinger as an established, top quality brand; full of life and ideas, growing and at the forefront of the champagne industry.

Competition is fierce and will always be. But we’ll just have to do our best to maintain our edge and take initiatives to make our brand known to everyone and to the whole world.

DWME: Lastly, what is the message you want to tell the readers of Drinks World Middle East about Champagne Taittinger?

CT: Be a champagne (champion!). Never compromise and never give up!

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GRANGE • BIN 707 • RWT • MAGILL ESTATE • YATTARNA • ST HENRI RESERVE BIN A • BIN 389 • BIN 407 • BIN 150 • BIN 28 • BIN 51 • BIN 8 • BIN 2

1844

THE PENFOLDS COLLECTION. A FAMILY OF FINE WINES, EACH WITH A DISTINCT CHARACTER, QUALITY AND PROVENANCE. A TESTAMENT TO THE ENDURING ‘HOUSE STYLE’ AND WINEMAKING PHILOSOPHY THAT PENFOLDS HAS PROUDLY UPHELD SINCE 1844.

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째 MEET 째

A

lthough Madan began his career as a waiter, he always had a keen interest on beverages. He completed a course on bartending and went on to work as a mixologist at Taj West End Hotel Bengaluru in India.

It was in Dubai that his affair with wine began, while starting on his Level 1 WSET Certification. Now, he is Head Sommelier at Radisson Blu, wherein he takes great pride in his job and continues to enhance his knowledge of wines.

Drinks World Middle East: Tell us a little bit about yourself and your journey into being a Sommelier.

Madan Periyasamy: I began my career as a waiter, but always had a keen interest on the beverage side of things. Hence, I completed my professional bartending course at the World Bartending Training Organization (WBTO). My journey into the drinks world started at the Taj West End Hotel Bengaluru in India as a mixologist, where I had the opportunity to work with international mixologists. Originally, I moved to Dubai to gain international exposure as a bartender. But when I was starting on my WSET Certification Level 1, I got hooked on wines. Now, I am preparing for Level 4 of WSET. DWME: When and how did your affair with wine start? What makes you passionate about wine?

MP: I started off on a small scale at Radisson Blu Hotel, Dubai Media City. In the beginning, I would just read the back label in order to explain to the guest about the wine. People always enjoyed my recommendations which encouraged me to pursue my interest in wines and study. At the start, there was so much to take in and learning is always a continuous process in this field. My first study travel was to South Africa where I took a 15-day internship in Simonsig Estate Stellenbosch.

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° MEET °

DWME: As a Sommelier, what has been your biggest satisfaction from your job? What’s the most challenging situation you’ve been in or request you’ve received?

MP: For me, there’s nothing more satisfying than when your guests appreciate your recommendations. When you create an unforgettable journey for the guest that leaves an impression, then it is truly a job well done.

Guests have different tastes though. Once, I encountered a very tricky client. I recommended a bottle of wine which he did not fancy. I then explained that once a wine bottle is opened, we need to allow time for the wine to breathe first before it is consumed. He was still not satisfied and asked for other options. I offered two other options which he still did not like. So then I asked him to try one of my personal favourites but as blind tasting.

When he tried the wine this time around, he loved it and claimed it was probably the best wine he ever had. When he asked which one it was, I told him the very one I offered and he tasted.

DWME: You are currently in charge of two outlets at Radisson. How do you manage your work?

MP: I manage my work with regular trainings on upcoming promotions, providing the team interesting information about the wines being served.

I have 10 WSET certified colleagues in my team and four more will be added this year.

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DWME: You travel around the world in search of quality wines. What was the last region you visited? Can you share with us some great wine personalities you’ve met in your trips?

MP: My last visit was to Italy. This place never seizes to surprise everyone with new native grapes. The entire experience was unforgettable, the best of which were Gaja in Piemonte and Banfi in Montelcino.

In my travels, I got the chance to meet the winemakers themselves.

While we see wine as just simply a bottle, to them, every wine is a bottle of love and their passion – which I find really inspiring.

DWME: You organize wine tastings regularly. What topics are usually covered in the event? What do you like most about entertaining and educating consumers about wine?

MP: In the regular wine tasting that we conduct, we normally bring in a wide selection from different regions. We always try to educate our guests about where the wine has come from. I believe that a fine cuisine should be enjoyed with the right wine, and it’s nice to know when guests learn something about the wine to go with their meal.

DWME: What do you love about Dubai bars and restaurants?

MP: When it comes to wine and food, Dubai’s charm and appeal lies in being one of the most diverse and cosmopolitan cities in the world.

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° VISIT °

3

years in

Bourgognes

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he years 2011 to 2013 were trying times for Bourgognes. Unusual weather conditions posed a great challenge to the winegrowers. Patience was required, and their pains and efforts paid off. 2011 resulted in a vintage characterized by some delicious aromas and flavors. And 2012 saw the fulfillment of the promise of the first tastings. Wines were revealing their personalities. And their wide range reflected the aromatic diversity that characterizes the wines of Bourgognes, small quantities but good quality. 2013 proved that experience can make the difference. Vintage revealed a real aromatic purity and unexpectedly color, and the balance in the wines was particularly satisfactory.

The 2011 Vintage:

Pleasure is the watchword Thanks to some unusual weather conditions - which could be becoming the norm, given what happened in 2012 - the 2011 vintage is characterized by some delicious aromas and flavors. These are wines to be enjoyed relatively young.

The weather for the 2011 vintage began spectacularly with a particularly warm and early spring, before giving way to a cool and rainy summer with periodic heavy storms. As is often the case, a sunny end to August “a fait le moût” or “made the juice”, as they say. For the third time in a decade, the harvests began in the last 10 days of August, with some very tricky logistics. Each plot had to be harvested as it reached perfect maturity, and the sunshine in early September and low rainfall meant patience was required. The grapes had to be painstakingly sorted but the high discard resulted in fruity, silky reds and whites that were bursting with energy.

White wines Chablis and Auxerrois Summer 2011 was changeable. June and August were particularly wet, and July and September saw little sunshine. Given these tricky conditions, winemakers had to be determined and extremely rigorous in order to produce such high-quality, seductive wines.

They are very aromatic wines with good minerality and offer balanced acidity on the tongue, a quality essential to Chablis. This acidity has a classic lemon twist without being tart. A touch of citrus and fresh, fruity notes of pear and apricot make these wines expressive and forthright.

They will be ripe for drinking fairly quickly.

Some of the wines from these regions, which have a wonderful complexity and perfect structure, can wait a few years.

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° VISIT ° and good keeping potential. This is most certainly an excellent vintage!

The best terroirs offer an intense golden color, notes of flint, vanilla and ripe grape and peach, topped off by an attractively exotic hint of ripe mango and pineapple. The palate treads a line between elegance and sophistication with a forthright, sometimes austere finish. These wines will age very well, but they can also be enjoyed now as an aperitif or with food.

Red wines Auxerrois The reds, mainly from Irancy, offer lovely notes of morello cherry and redcurrant. Fresh and delicious, they should be enjoyed in their youth.

Côte de Beaune Hard work paid off in 2011 on the Côte de Beaune. Despite rather tricky weather at the beginning of summer, the grape harvest took place in optimum conditions. The grapes were perfectly mature and healthy in the main, ensuring some quality wines.

The reds from the Côte de Beaune are very aromatic, dominated by elegant fruity notes, and are dense, full-bodied in the mouth with smooth, velvety tannins.

They are flavorful and delicate, and are among the best of the region.

Côte de Beaune Small yields resulting from the capricious spring weather meant the harvesting could wait until the grapes were perfectly ripe. With a more clement month of September and some strict sorting, the winemakers were graced with top quality grapes.

Overall, the wines are very aromatic, dominated by notes of both ripe and dried fruits. In the mouth, they are lively with perfect structure and offer breadth with consistency.

After a few months in the bottle, they will quickly soften up to reach a perfect balance. They offer very good keeping potential.

Côte Chalonnaise For the Côte Chalonnaise, 2011 will remain a gloomy year. The vines in the Montagny and Rully appellations were hit hard by hail. A few vines were, however, spared and went on to produce wines that are aromatic, smooth and fat, with perfect mouthfeel. The same goes for other appellations like Mercurey, Bouzeron and Givry, which were less hard hit and produced their usual yields.

These whites offer a fine balance between sugars and acidity which indicates good balance and liveliness on the nose. The aromas are expressive, with hints of almond, pear and toasted bread. The acidity is present but never unpleasant.

Mâconnais The Mâconnais enjoyed a mild winter and a hot, dry spring. Many storms during the summer and a heat wave during the second half of August meant the grapes matured very early. The winemakers, who used their skills to manage yields and preserve the balance of sugar and acidity, saw their efforts rewarded.

The wines have the smoothness of early vintages with that extra minerality of cool summers, a combination that guarantees excellence

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Côte Chalonnaise With such tricky weather, careful yield management was key to ensuring the maturity of the grapes. In the end, the red grapes offered thick skins which translated into forthright tannins and raspberry red colors with hints of violet.

Despite being hit by hail, Rully profited from the fine weather during the tail end of the season and the reds caught up with the rest, offering some desirable concentration.

The wines are aromatic with good structure. With a framework of smooth and silky tannins, they are perfect for enjoying in their youth.

Côte de Nuits The Côte de Nuits grapes were harvested in tip-top condition. Despite the dismal weather earlier in the summer, the grapes were ripe by the beginning of September.

Although there was a lot of discard from the harvest, the resulting wines were elegant and silky, with wonderful concentration.

They have a moderate degree of alcohol which makes them mouthwateringly appealing without heaviness. Rich ruby in color, these wines explore all the nuances of a classic, fruity year, between raspberry, blueberry and warm spices. They are remarkably fresh in the mouth and are perfectly balanced. They offer good structure, underpinned by tannins that are both closed yet silky.

Complex and full-bodied, the 2011 wines of the Côte de Nuits offer good keeping potential, but as with the 2007 vintage, they are also accessible in their youth, and are already generous and appealing.

Crémant de Bourgogne The 2011 Crémant de Bourgogne wines are smooth and expressive with a rounded mouthfeel.

The Chardonnay offer pure aromas of white peach and grapefruit. The Aligoté release light and discreet acidulated notes.

Despite low yields, the Pinot Noir have good structure and strong color.

The Gamay are bursting with intense aromas of red berries.

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The 2012 Vintage:

Precious Bourgogne wines One year after the harvests, the 2012 vintage is fulfilling the promise of the first tastings. The year was notable for its rollercoaster weather, with a mild winter, spring-like temperatures in March, followed by a sharp drop and some frosts, a sunny May, cold and rainy June, and an unstable summer with periods of heat wave, hail and storms…

Although the cold and damp during flowering led to shatter and millerandage, with an inevitable impact on volumes, the sunny and warm late summer allowed the grapes to attain good levels of ripeness and the harvest was relatively disease-free.

Today, the wines of the 2012 vintage are revealing more of their personalities. Their wide range reflects the aromatic diversity that characterizes the wines of Bourgogne. They also reflect the climatic conditions to which the vines were subjected, and the efforts of the winemakers and négociants to bring out the best in the fruit.

These wines all have two characteristics in common: small quantities, but good quality.

White wines Chablis and Auxerrois As in most regions of the Bourgogne, the changeable weather conditions had an impact on yields. In the earlier-ripening sectors, shatter and millerandage led to a drop in volumes, although the quality was unimpeachable. The wines are particularly expressive, developing intense aromas of ripe fruit, underscored with some wonderful floral notes. In the mouth, they are rounded and dense, with good structure. Those wines from more late-ripening plots are characterized by more subtle citrus scents and tangy fruits, well-defined and mineral in the mouth, where the acidity gives them a pleasant crispness.

Côte de Beaune The Côte de Beaune was hit by hail, resulting in a significant fall in volumes harvested, especially in the central and southern sectors. The wines are showing remarkable quality overall, with nice concentration and undeniable aromatic complexity. Spared the hail, the hill of Corton and the surrounding region produced some marvels. The wines, with notes of ripe and dried fruits, are powerful and vivacious in the mouth, revealing clear ageing potential. The very promising results lived up to expectations.

Côte Chalonnaise Not having suffered from hailstorms and having been less affected by bad weather, the Côte Chalonnaise provided an excellent 2012 vintage.

Made from very healthy fruit, which reached full maturity, the wines are rich and full-bodied. They exhibit excellent aromatic qualities, with odors of white fruits and apricot mingling with delicate floral notes (lime blossom, acacia, etc.). The mouth is full and fleshy, and superbly structured.

Mâconnais The Mâcon region bounced back well after the poor spring weather.

Although shatter and millerandage led to reduced volumes and in places, slowed ripening, the quality of the wines obtained is exemplary.

They are very expressive on the nose, with intense aromas of ripe fruits (pear, apple, apricot), accompanied by subtle hints of flowers. The mouth is both rounded and dense, fleshy and perfectly balanced.

The 2012 vintage here produced many spectacular successes.

Red wines Auxerrois Patient winemakers got their reward. Maturity was a long time coming, but was finally attained, thanks to the small volumes produced. Fruity and with a pleasant crispness, the wines are full in the mouth, with pronounced tannins.

Côte de Beaune The violent hailstorms that swept the Côte de Beaune left an indelible trace on the year’s output. Some plots in the communes of Pommard and its surroundings lost up to 80% of the harvest.

These difficult climatic conditions were responsible for the low volumes produced. The resulting wines benefited from the effect of concentration, which has become a qualitative advantage. They are fruity and spicy, with good breadth, and a crisp, pleasing acidity. Their body and tannin structure mean they have very good ageing potential.

Côte Chalonnaise Thanks to rather more clement weather conditions than in some neighboring regions, the Côte Chalonnaise produced a vintage that will go down in the annals. Outstanding maturity and peak condition grapes allowed for wines with exceptional aromatic and gustatory characteristics.

Côte de Nuits With 2012, the Côte de Nuits produced an excellent vintage. Having escaped the hail, but not the effect of shatter and millerandage, the grapes reached maturity in tip-top conditions.

The wines, with a deep color and aromas of small fruits and very ripe berries, are remarkably balanced. Both smooth and crisp, their roundedness is underscored by especially soft tannins. With a succulent finish and impressive length, they can without any doubt be considered wines for long ageing.

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The 2013 Vintage:

Prodigious Bourgogne wines After the challenges thrown at them in 2012, Bourgogne winemakers were hoping for a peaceful 2013. But capricious Mother Nature had other ideas. Defying all weather forecasts, she never let up. After a long winter, a gloomy spring and a fine, providential summer, for the most part, the pickers had to wait until the start of October to take up their secateurs.

The consequences of the weather’s whims – such as shatter and millerandage, hail damage, concentration and disease – all had an impact on the quantities harvested. Across the region, no winegrowing area was spared. Some had very low yields with volumes equal to or even less than those recorded in 2012 (1.26 million hectoliters ).

Fortunately, the first tastings suggest that 2013 is a very successful vintage. Once again, experience has made all the difference. It has been a challenging year but the winegrowers of Bourgogne have been rewarded for their pains.

The weather during flowering and fruit set was no better and by now, the growth cycle was set back by three weeks.

A hot, dry and sunny summer provided a welcome change and helped the quality of the grapes, enabling them to mature correctly. July was marked by a violent hailstorm on the Côte de Beaune with 1,350 hectares affected on 23 July.

September didn’t help the vines, with the ambient warmth and regular rain encouraging the development of the Botrytis fungus which rots the grapes. It was more limited on those bunches where the grapes were smaller and thus better aerated. The choice of harvest date was a tough one. Winegrowers had to be very reactive and work fast.

This demanding vintage required a lot of effort that, today, has been rewarded with success. The wines are revealing a real aromatic purity and unexpectedly color. The balance in the wines is particularly satisfactory.

White wines

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Fruity and balanced, the white wines are characterized by a nose marked with citrus.

This aromatic crispness is also felt in the mouth. The wines are well structured, fresh and lively, without the aggression some feared given the acidity measurements taken just before the harvest. Forthright and without flourishes, the whites of 2013 stand up convincingly to previous vintages.

Red wines With an intense, sparkling ruby color, these fruity wines are like a mouthful of freshly picked cherries, raspberries and redcurrants. The Pinot Noirs that were harvested later have more jammy aromas.

On tasting, the first acidulated notes give way to a good structure supported by sophisticated, pronounced tannins. Good length on the tongue prolongs the pleasure.

We feared the worst, but we were spared!

Crémant de Bourgogne

The winter lingered in Bourgogne. From January to July, the temperatures were cool. The sun was notably absent during the first half of the year, and the rain all too frequent. This gloomy weather affected the vines, setting back the growth cycle by around two weeks.

In early May, when the first buds had just appeared, torrential rainstorms hit the region. In some plots, the vines spent several days with their roots in water.

Good acidity and sugar levels meant that at the end of September, the grapes harvested were perfect for making Crémant de Bourgogne.

The lively and fruity white base wines reveal aromas of white peach and grapefruit. The Pinot Noirs are characterized by fine structure, while the Gamays offered very high quality with intense aromas of red fruit.

2013 offers producers the possibility to make vintage cuvées with good keeping potential.

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° MEET °

CHARLES DE BOURNET 7th Generation of the House of Marnier Lapostolle Drinks World Middle East: Tell us about Charles de Bournet and the history of Grand Marnier Lapostolle?

Charles de Bournet: I am the seventh generation of the Marnier Lapostolle family from France. We began our journey in the world of fine wine and spirits way back in 1827. In 1880, my great great-grandfather, Alexandre Marnier Lapostolle, created the Grand Marnier Liqueur. I have always been inspired by my ancestor’s hard work, dedication and entrepreneurship. My parents, Alexandra Marnier Lapostolle and Cyril de Bournet, both founded Lapostolle Winery in Chile in 1994, bringing French winemaking philosophy to Chile.

I came to Chile for work in 2006 as a Project Manager for a consulting firm. After that experience, I started in Lapostolle as Chief Performance Officer. It’s in Chile that I discovered Pisco, a Chilean brandy. Its similarities with cognac and the connection with wine intrigued me and we started trials seven years ago to see if our know-how from cognac could bring something to this category. Three years later, we founded KAPPA Pisco in Elqui Valley, the first ultra premium pisco from Chile. The national drink of the country, pisco is just becoming known in the United States, like tequila before it. We are taking the category to new heights with timehonoured distillation techniques, extraordinarily careful selection of the grapes used in its preparation and the attention to detail for which my family’s enterprises are well known.

After the KAPPA launch in the US and Chile, I was appointed as Commercial and Marketing Director for Lapostolle and finally last year, CEO and Member of the Board of Marnier Lapostolle Chile, taking under management all the activities in Chile, i.e. the wines, the pisco and our hotel boutique, Lapostolle Residence.

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he seventh generation of the Marnier Lapostolle family from France, Charles de Bournet is proud to bring a part of his French heritage to Chile and to the world. He started with the family business as Chief Performance Officer, then went on to become Commercial and Marketing Director and finally last year, CEO and Member of the Board of Marnier Lapostolle Chile.

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DWME: What are the key factors behind Lapostolle’s market success and Clos Apalta’s taking home various awards?

CB: Since Lapostolle’s foundation, an uncompromising approach to quality and a long-term commitment has been pursued by my family. My parents’ objective was simple: to create world-class wines using French expertise and the superb terroirs of Chile.

This commitment to excellence translates into hard work, innovation and strict quality control throughout all the production process. For Lapostolle, the quality is driven in the vineyards. The mission is to maintain the expression of the grapes in the wines and we work very hard to achieve that.

DWME: Tell us about KAPPA. What do you hope to achieve with its launch in the UK? Where do you plan next to launch the brand?

CB: My family decided to innovate in the spirits market with the creation of an ultra premium pisco produced in the Elqui Valley, Chile. I was able after living in Chile for a few years to see the potential of the spirit. Pisco has the soul of cognac, the versatility of vodka, the smoothness of tequila and the complexity of gin. It is the perfect base for cocktails!

London is an urban hub that leads the trends in food & drinks and without doubt, one of the most important cities in the world of mixology.

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We know that in the UK, KAPPA will be very well accepted by its versatility and for all that pisco can contribute to the cocktail bars.

Our next step is to launch KAPPA in Asia. Asia is a market that is growing fast and where they are very open to trying new things.

DWME: Why should bartenders consider having premium Chilean KAPPA pisco on their drinks selection and in their cocktails?

CB: As I mentioned before, KAPPA is so versatile that they will love it! It has the soul of cognac, the versatility of vodka, the smoothness of tequila and the complexity of gin. We want to deliver something really new to the world of mixology, not another flavour line extension. They should try to use KAPPA instead of another white spirits and they’ll see the difference it makes, especially against vodka. It brings depth, smoothness and flavours, but not as challenging as gin can be sometimes.

DWME: You have a long standing relationship with African + Eastern.

How is it working with them?

CB: We have been with African + Eastern for more than 10 years now and our relationship has always been good in every respect. They understand the subtleties of wine and how each winery fits into their extensive list.

The wine knowledge of their sales team is also second to none which is no mean feat. Over the years we have been with African + Eastern, our brand recognition and sales have increased substantially. Since Dubai is a shop window for brands, we have found that when tourists or businessmen who have stayed in a local 5-star hotel where we are listed return home, they contact us to enquire where they can buy Lapostolle in their home market. This is for us, the ultimate compliment to both what African + Eastern are doing in the market and what the winemakers are doing in our vineyards in Chile. We are of course very excited at what the next 10 years will bring us, especially with the opportunities offered by World Expo 2020.

DWME: With so many wines available at Dubai Duty Free, On Trade and African + Eastern retail stores, why should consumers choose Lapostolle?

CB: We have some good listings across the board in all three sectors of the market, and while we cannot be the wine of choice for everybody, we can be the wine of choice for every serious wine drinker. We have wines at different price points, allowing consumers to choose Lapostolle whether it is a Monday or a Friday. We offer varietal reserva wines, single estate organically and biodynamically farmed wines, all the way to the only

wine in South America to have been number 3, number 2 and number 1 in the Wine Spectator’s Top 100. We have also just launched a red blend called Lapostolle Canto de Apalta at the Dubai Duty Free which was the wine of the month in August. This is quite a departure from the usual varietals that Chile tends to produce, and it also plays nicely on our French heritage as we like to blend wines. So I would say for those consumers who would like a Chilean wine with a French twist, then they should choose Lapostolle. I would go further than that, and say “do as the French do and enjoy Lapostolle with your friends with a delicious meal!”

DWME: Lapostolle is committed to organic and biodynamic wine production. Can you tell us a bit about this process?

CB: Since the Lapostolle winery was established in 1994, caring for our environment has always been a main stone of our winemaking philosophy.

The first step came in the year 2001, when my mother Alexandra Marnier Lapostolle, decided to begin with some trials of organic management in some blocks of the vineyards. By 2006, we were 100% organically managed, and fully certified by 2011. Biodynamic came just a little bit after that in 2008, and we were by the 2011 vintage. The goal: to cultivate the vineyards in a healthy way for the environment, where soil, plants and people are part of a self sustained circle. Wine is a product that is strongly linked to their place of origin. Therefore, the organic cultivation of vines is reflected more explicitly in the final product. Moreover, to produce premium wines that can compete with the best in the world, one must be at the forefront in the field. And today, sustainability and respect for the environment is something highly valued in wines.

The environmental interest arises for Lapostolle as a logical development. Issues such as recycling, packaging, biodiversity, good use of resources (energy, water), organic vineyard management, responsible management of waste, as well as carbon footprint and climate change are areas in which we are working with different strategies. Today, we are certified by international companies: ISO 14001, CERES, DEMETER, The Carbon Neutral Company, among others.

DWME: Is there anything you would like to share to the readers of Drinks World Middle East about Lapostolle and KAPPA? CB: We are really enjoying to bring a part of the old world to the new world, so to speak. Bring part of my French heritage to Chile and then to the world. There is a refreshing mix of culture, heritage and adventure in all the Marnier Lapostolle products. We invite you to experience all this unique array of original flavours and tastes.

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Tennis & Country Club F U JA I RA H

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° MEET °

IAN

McEVOY

Jumeirah’s Resident Sommelier and Beverage Director

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lthough it’s a massive step from managing the beverage portfolio of one hotel to overseeing beverage strategy for the entire hotel, Ian is happy in his current role as Director of Beverage for Jumeirah. He was recently named Sommelier of the Year at the Caterer Middle East Awards. To him, the art of a good Sommelier is the ability to listen to customers, ask the right questions and make recommendations accordingly.

In this interview, Ian tells us how he got his start in the hospitality industry in general and what are the things he loves about working at Jumeirah.

He also shares with us some of the initiatives the group is undertaking to ‘stay different’ in the hospitality industry in the Middle East.

Drinks World Middle East: Tell us a bit about yourself. At what point did you know you were going to be involved in the F&B industry?

Ian McEvoy: Honestly, hospitality is something that kind of sneaked up on me. My parents owned a small hotel on the West coast of Scotland and if you’d have asked me at the age of 15/16 if I wanted to follow them into the industry, I would most probably have laughed at you.

Fast forward a few years, whilst at university, studying Marketing, I got a summer job tending bar in the departure lounge at Prestwick Airport.

One of the guys fancied himself as a bit of a flair bartender and mixologist and never being one to be outdone, I started to study bartending, cocktails and alcohol in general. Part of my studies brought me into wine and I was pretty much hooked from there.

Growing up, wine had always been a constant in our house. My parents were and still are real wine enthusiasts, and there’s always something

different in the house at meal times. I have vivid memories of my mother passing me her glass and encouraging me to describe the aromas; it helped develop my palate and has served me very well through the years.

Moving on from the airport, I was fortunate to get another summer job at the famous 5-star golf resort, Turnberry Hotel (now owned by Donald Trump and part of Starwoods Luxury Collection), as a commis waiter in Room Service.

Turnberry in those days was still very old school, with a large number of staff who had been part of the golden age of Scottish hospitality when the hotel, along with Gleneagles and the Old Course in St. Andrews had been part of the British Transport Hotels.

There was a massive emphasis on training and attention to detail. I spent the first 4 weeks of my new job cleaning and setting trays, and was not allowed anywhere near the guest floors until I had passed all of the internal assessments. When my first actual room service came, I was sent to one of the suites to serve afternoon tea. I nervously knocked the door to be greeted by Clint Eastwood.

I think that was the point when I made the mental note that a life in hospitality may not be so bad after all.

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° MEET ° DWME: From a beverage manager, you went on to become director of beverage at Jumeirah Group. Where do you see your career is heading? What are your objectives? What would you like to achieve for Jumeirah in general?

IM: I am incredibly proud to have been appointed Group Director of Beverage for Jumeirah. The first in the history of this great company, at a time of tremendous growth and opportunity. In all honesty, I’m happy where I am and in the role of Group Director of Beverage. It’s a massive step from managing the beverage portfolio of one hotel, to overseeing beverage strategy for the entire company. The beverage industry is a constant challenge. The market changes very quickly and you have to be on top of your game to keep your offering fresh, exciting and on the cutting edge of the industry.

Recently, we were awarded a Wine Spectator Magazine Award of Excellence for our Burj al Arab wine list as well as a Best of Award of Excellence (the first for Jumeirah) for my wine list at Etihad Towers in Abu Dhabi. These awards are internationally recognized and give real credibility to the wine programs in our hotels and restaurants. I’ve set a personal goal of attaining 5 Wine Spectator Awards next year.

Ultimately though, I want the name Jumeirah to be synonymous with our beverage offering. I want to build a program that consistently provides our customers with impeccable service, a program that demonstrates warmth, graciousness, and efficiency, along with the knowledge, professionalism and integrity of our colleagues. I want every customer who comes through our doors to leave impressed by the experience and excited to return.

DWME: You were recently named Sommelier of the Year at the Caterer Middle East Awards. How was the experience for you?

IM: It was a great night for Jumeirah. We won 4 awards in total. From my own perspective, it was a bit of a surprise. These awards tend to be quite Dubai centric, so an award for an Abu Dhabi beverage program was not what I expected. Having said that, it’s a great honour and I’m incredibly gratified to receive the award, and of course, to have my efforts recognized by my peers within the industry is very special.

DWME: If you could impart something to aspiring Sommeliers out there, what would it be?

IM: For me, it’s all about attitude. Obviously, you need to have the knowledge, but if you have the wrong attitude, you’ll never be able to make the all-important connection with your customer that all the great Sommeliers have.

The art of a good sommelier is the ability to give the customer the right selection every time. You need to listen to the customer, ask the right questions and make recommendations accordingly. It’s about establishing trust between yourself and the client. Build that relationship and give the customer a reason to come back to your restaurant.

One of the very best and my “wine hero” is the great Gerard Basset.

Gerard is one of very few to have earned the titles of Master of Wine and Master Sommelier. He has also been both European and World Champion Sommelier in his time. One of the most knowledgeable people on the planet, he is also one of the most unassuming and humble guys you could ever wish to meet.

DWME: What are the initiatives that Jumeirah is undertaking to ‘stay different’ in the hospitality industry in the Middle East?

IM: I suppose the biggest thing right now would be our new restaurant

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openings. Our iconic restaurant Pierchic will reopen towards the end of this year with a whole new look and feel. We’ve enlisted 3-star Michelin Chef Laurent Gras to head up the operation, and I’ve written a wine list to match his stunning seafood creations.

In the future, we’ll be investing heavily in our wines by the glass programs. The new Pierchic list has more than 30 wines from around the world and features an “Icon range” of top quality wines as well as our Sommelier Selection of handpicked wines designed to match the new menu.

We’ve also introduced a half glass measure alongside our standard pour, the idea being that it allows our clients to experiment and try something new, or even “drink up” to our Icon range.

One of the best things about life at Jumeirah is the company’s focus on developing our own people. One of our guiding principles is promoting the continuous growth of our colleagues. Part of this has resulted in the creation of an in-house Sommelier apprenticeship, something that has been in operation at Burj al Arab for close to 10 years.

DWME: How do you see the F&B market developing in the coming years? What are the trends that we can expect to see in the future?

IM: In beverage, the next big thing to hit our market will be the reemergence of Riesling. All across Europe and the US this summer has seen promotional events around The Summer of Riesling.

We at Jumeirah will soon be running our own “Rieslings to be Cheerful” promotion, highlighting the versatility and range of wines available from this wonderfully undervalued grape variety.

In the wider market, the rise of the standalone restaurant continues at pace. This year has seen standalone restaurants eclipse the rest of the market as the number one consumer of alcohol in the Dubai market.

This comes as part of 180% growth in alcohol consumption over the last five years. Contrast that to 14% growth in consumption across all other segments of the market in the same five-year period.

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° PROFILE °

ITALIAN STYLE IN A BOTTLE S

tyle says a lot about one’s character. With its sleek design from label to bottle and distinct crisp and refreshing taste, Peroni captures the essence of Italian style – impeccable, sophisticated and of utmost quality.

Made with the same passion, flair and creativity, attention to detail and craftsmanship of renowned Italian icons, Peroni is the ultimate expression of Italian style.

Peroni’s story began in 1864 when Francesco Peroni founded Birra Peroni, the biggest Italian brewery of its time. Since its international launch, Peroni Nastro Azzurro has been breaking the established rules of the beer industry by acting like a style brand, not a beer brand. Peroni Nastro Azzurro exemplifies the values and tradition of Italian craftsmanship: passion and attention to detail. Created to reflect the emergence of Italian luxury in fashion and design in 1963, Peroni Nastro Azzurro often collaborates with great names of Italian fashion; developing fashion exhibitions and events and becoming an icon of Italian style in

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its own right.

Today, Peroni is the world’s number one Italian premium beer brand and one of the fastest growing beer brands in Dubai. It is featured in top end venues such as Armani Hotel, Cavalli Club, Jetty Lounge, 360, Embassy, Meydan Beach Club and Burj Al Arab.

Peroni Nastro Azzurro – Una Birra Superiore Italians are extremely conscientious about quality, especially when it comes to food and drink, which fuel their inspirational zest and enjoyment of life. This is reflected in the taste profile of Peroni Nastro Azzurro:

a refreshing premium lager, with an intense crisp character and unmistakable touch of Italian style.

As the number one premium Italian beer, Peroni Nastro Azzurro, uses nothing less than the finest hops, purest Italian water, best Italian maize and malted barley, and the most rigorous, quality assured brewing process. It is this unique Italian blend of ingredients that helps make Peroni Nastro Azzurro crisp and refreshingly elegant – ‘UNA BIRRA SUPERIORE’.

Club Uno Di Peroni – A Celebration of the Italian Lifestyle What better way to celebrate La

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Dolce Vita than to experience the Italian lifestyle. Club Uno Di Peroni offers discerning consumers the opportunity to immerse themselves in Italian style, culture and cuisine through private dinners, VIP events and social media.

Club Uno Di Peroni – Privato Dinners An initiative aimed to drive brand advocacy amongst Dubai’s key influencers and opinion leaders, Club Uno Di Peroni Privato are exclusive dinner gatherings celebrating the Italian lifestyle.

These invite-only events are hosted by carefully selected individuals such as artists, fashion designers,

stylists and renowned chefs in unique and private locations.

Last season, three dinners were hosted and continuing its success, an additional three dinners will be hosted this year. Stay tuned and watch out for upcoming events and activities on Facebook/ clubunodubai.

Club Uno Di Peroni – Icons of Style Italy is the essence of style. Peroni perfectly embodies the essence of Italy – passionate, sophisticated and iconic. To bring this style to Dubai, Peroni is launching Icons of Style, a new campaign to find the Local Style Icons. The three-month

campaign will run for two Seasons, each culminating in a Final Event.

Gents will be from October to mid December 2014, and Ladies will be from mid January to mid March 2015.

Targeting select top-tier Peroni venues, the activity will run each Thursday and Friday, with Style Icons being nominated by the Peroni Ambassadors and invited to the VIP Finale. Amazing prizes, including a designer item, photoshoot and Peroni gifts, await the lucky winner. Have you been spotted?

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° FEATURE °

An Evening with Dubai’s

Femmes

Charismatiques O

n a Sunday evening in August, we meet up with six of Dubai’s top female bartenders over Cointreaupolitans and dinner at French eatery La Serre in the heart of downtown Dubai. By coincidence, they are all dressed in black – some with white matching details – and looking notably stylish and chic. These women have all lived and worked in Dubai ranging from between 10 months to four years back and originated from countries such as Latvia, Switzerland, the Philippines, Romania and France.

WORDS ° Karin Forsgren

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Although this is a well deserved night off for the girls, who are usually found mixing drinks behind some of the most exclusive clubs, bars and restaurants in Dubai, this is also the beginning of a new initiative by Cointreau. It started in 2012 when Cointreau launched the “La Maison” cocktail competition in New York, followed by Singapore in its second year. The invite-only challenge brought together a number of the best and most creative mixologists from each city who were tasked with creating intriguing and titillating cocktails using the original triple sec brand.

With the La Maison final being held in Bangkok in January 2015, Cointreau’s Dubaibased marketing team decided to approach six of the leading female bartenders in the city and through local challenges, select one of them to represent the region in the upcoming final.

The team handpicked bartenders who they felt would embody the core traits of a typical Cointreau consumer, thereby relating to them – daring, glamorous and free spirited. All in all, Dubai’s very own “Femmes Charismatiques”!

Celine Tonna, one of the handpicked bartenders and bar manager of the very venue hosting this intimate soirée, is a true Parisian mademoiselle and a mixology veteran. She has spent eight years of her career at some of the most well-established bars and members-only nightclubs in London’s prestigious Knightsbridge district. She proudly nods towards the bar as she explains how she will influence the local cocktail culture in the coming months. “I am working on redesigning the cocktail menu and being a huge fan of the classics, I will be focusing mainly on old school drinks such as the Manhattan and Aviation”, she said.

Despite her impressive resumé and vast experience in the cocktail industry, Celine doesn’t take the upcoming competition for granted and admits that she is still unsure how her skills and talent will compare to that of her opponents’. And with all the bartenders around the dinner table having been selected for representing the core values of Cointreau so accurately, it’s obvious that this competition is not considered a walk in the park by any one of them.

Bartender Laura Duca says, ‘all the girls have been chosen because they possess similar qualities and have the same passion for the craft. We need to stand out more than in any other cocktail competition’. Kate Magday, winner of the Dubai leg of the Monin Cup 2014 and bartender at Mint Leaf Restaurant and Bar

agrees, saying ‘Everything will be a challenge.

I have entered plenty of cocktail competitions but never competed with an all-female lineup.

Usually, the majority of the competitors are guys’.

Like many of her new sorority sisters, Kate didn’t plan to become a bartender. It was thanks to a suggestion from a college teacher that she decided to take up flair as part of a school-based project.

It is not the first time Cointreau specifically seeks out talented female bartenders for its competitions around the globe. In May this year, the brand initiated a female-only competition in Canada as a tribute to the creator of the brand, Édouard Cointreau’s passion for his beloved muse Louisa. Inspired by Édouard’s love story, Cointreau decided to explore the country to find

its next muse: Mademoiselle Cointreau!

With the numbers of female bartenders and bar managers on the rise across the UAE region, Cointreau in Dubai now wants to provide a local, dedicated platform to engage directly with these female bar professionals. This approach has never before been implemented by any other brand in Dubai and by doing so, the brand hopes that La Maison, together with the participating Femmes Charismatiques, can further inspire others in the industry.

Kavitha Kumar, Trade Marketing Manager of Cointreau Dubai, emphasizes that the lifestyle of Cointreau women is so much more than just the element of bartending and creating great cocktails. ‘It’s not only about mixing a cocktail, it’s about embracing the lifestyle of the brand, such as being and feeling glamorous’.

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° FEATURE °

Laura, who will be joining the new DIFC establishment Boca in September, shares her secret to being glamorous in spite of the industry’s long hours and late nights. ‘It lies in the small details that we have time for each day, like putting on a nice red lipstick or wearing your hair differently. People will notice those feminine touches, including the guest sitting across the bar’, she says.

Somehow, they all seem to have captured the essence of the brand so well in this sense.

Raissa Natali Giger, bartender at Qbara explains, ‘Glamour is a personality thing, I mean, how do you find time to do your laundry?’ We both stop for a swift giggle before she continues, saying ‘the key is being organized and knowing how to manage your time.’

She epitomizes the core values of the La Maison competition with her effortless sense of style and free spirited attitude so well that it’s hard to believe that she initially scouted out a job as a bar back many years ago in a quest to overcome her shyness.

Szendi Lorincz of Cavalli Club, on the other hand, was driven by the passion of her mentor, Romanian mixologist Marius Gogoasa, when she chose to pursue a career behind the bar.

Today, she thank the beverage manager of local

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nightlife operator Pragma Group for mentoring her as she aims to win every upcoming cocktail competition in Dubai over the coming twelve months.

Martial arts fanatic and bar manager of exclusive nightclub VIP Rooms Kristiana Smilktina adopts a far more laid-back approach towards competing against her peers. Instead of being ‘in it to win it’ she is driven by the element of fun in getting together with fellow industry professionals, admitting that she will be just as pleased to see another talented bartender win in her place. Having said that, Kristiana certainly doesn’t lack determination.

She explains to us how in the coming year she aims to educate club goers in Dubai in the art of cocktails, seeing as ‘most people order mixed drinks’.

So what can this group of female bartenders expect ahead of the La Maison Bangkok final in January? The initiative will first be implemented in three key stages, starting with covering the unique 160 years of heritage and history of the Cointreau brand, including the integral use of Cointreau in classic cocktail recipes such as White Lady, Sidecar and Margarita. Then, fueled with the brand knowledge and historical inspiration, these Femmes Charismatiques

will enter the next stage where they will be encouraged to show off their creative skills in developing two bespoke Cointreau cocktails locally in Dubai. The winner of this challenge moves on to the third stage where she will take part in the prestigious La Maison Cointreau final in Bangkok. Joe Fenton of Cointreau says, “We want other bartenders to look up to these six women, thinking ‘I want to be a part of that’.”

Whilst the priority of the initiative is to provide the current crop of participants with all the vital tools necessary to successfully represent Dubai at the La Maison final, there are also exciting plans for the future development of a female bartender sorority locally. A bartender sorority that will offer unique opportunities and experiences, including interaction with high-end fashion brands catering to identical consumers as Cointreau, while being one hundred percent dedicated to the daring, glamorous and free spirited female bartenders living and working in this region.

Realizing that the purpose of this group is to inspire other female bartenders, one of the girls offers one last advice to aspiring bartenders: “Be yourself and leave a fingerprint with your name, character and personality with every cocktail you make.”

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° MEET °

A

ndrew is the founder and director of Fling Bar Services. Through Fling, he is Beverage Manager for JAS Hospitality, in whose stable currently lie Qbara Restaurant, Lounge & Bar and Fumé Neighbourhood Eatery.

Drinks World Middle East: Tell us about your background and your career journey to the UAE. Andrew Mullins: My journey into bartending happened by chance, so to speak. A week or two before heading off to university to study journalism, a friend asked if I would lend her some moral support at an interview for a bar job. In the end I got hired as a glass collector, after which, I reinvented myself and offered to work the bar at the American-style, rock & roll cocktail bar.

Fast forward a couple of years and I staggered to the end of university with a drinking man’s degree (that’s a 2:2 for those that don’t know).

However, three years of learning about court reporting with summers spent inputting the winners at country shows made the easy decision that cocktail bartending was far more rewarding than working as a local junior press reporter.

Several years of bartending followed suit.

At 22, I had my eyes opened to the world of international hospitality through an agency that sent me to work in St Petersburg, Russia.

This led to further experiences in Egypt, China and the Middle East before a full time training position brought me back to the UK to set up and open bars across the country for Greenall’s Pubs and Restaurants division.

At the turn of the new century, I was yearning once more for the excitement of foreign lands.

I again attempted to move away from the bar industry and into the field I studied at university.

After two years travelling through Southeast Asia, Japan and Australasia, I returned to the UK and founded Fling Bar Services, a bar development, training and consultancy company.

I first worked in Dubai in 2002 as a guest bartender in the Intercontinental Hotel (now

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° MEET °

Radisson Blu) and have been a regular visitor ever since. Since we set up Fling, we have worked with numerous hotels and resorts in the city. We decided to develop a permanent base here to work with JAS Hospitality on Qbara and Fumé; both of which have opened in the past year to critical and commercial acclaim.

DWME: What are the key principles you have learned along the way that you now use here in the UAE? AM: Your operation is only ever as good as your team. If you want your guests to be treated well, then you need to treat your staff well.

There is little point spending millions on the design of an outlet if you are then going to spend pennies on recruiting and training the staff.

Attention to detail. In all aspects of the service industry, the details are what sell your points of difference to the guest. This can come through in the authenticity of the design, the coherence of the concept, the wording in the menu, the relevance of the uniforms or the thorough training of the staff. The depth at which you invest in each aspect of your product will pay dividends in how it is received by your guests.

Listen to your guests. It doesn’t matter how passionate you are about the style of bar you want to open, the success of your business will be determined by your guests. This entails having a vision that’s exactly what the guests want and the openness to evolve to suit the market.

DWME: How have you seen the bar scene develop in Dubai since you’ve been here?

AM: Since I first worked in Dubai back in 2002, the development has been huge. The

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advent of free zones has expanded the reach of licensed premises beyond the traditional confines of the hotels. This has been followed by the rise of independent bars and restaurants, increasing exponentially in the past few years with an influx of international brands and celebrity driven concepts. The success of these independent and brand driven concepts has led to an awareness within the luxury hotel market. In order to compete with independently run operations, they need to change their approach, and so are trying to bridge the gap by supplementing their in-house F&B operation with outsourced or franchised outlets.

DWME: What is good, bad and exciting about the current scene?

AM: One good thing is that our patrons are always open to new experiences and ideas, and are happy to try something that is recommended. The Camel Spider we developed at Qbara to combat the Bullfrog, the quintessential Dubai party cocktail, is a perfect example of this.

In addition, there is a seemingly never ending list of new bars and restaurants opening up. So much so that the growth in this area appears greater than the market required to sustain it. While this makes it very difficult from an operator’s point of view, I find the challenge of developing cocktails and beverage concepts that are contemporary and that can remain relevant – as well as competitive and profitable – genuinely exciting.

DWME: What is the next big development you foresee for the Dubai bar scene?

AM: The next big development is the growth of the mid-range bar. With the rising cost of living

in Dubai, I believe we will see a slowdown in the number of luxury lifestyle venues entering the market and an increase in operations with a focus on personality and affordability rather than extravagance and sophistication. The commercial success of Fumé is testament to this. The reaction to the concept has been thoroughly positive and we have quickly inspired a following from our guests.

DWME: Whose drinks are you enjoying at the moment and why?

AM: I am very much enjoying the drinks at both Qbara and Fumé. We were given creative license with both venues, which allowed us to experiment with ideas and ingredients. At Qbara we have invested heavily in technology, giving us access to equipment that has enabled us to create some truly unique and inimitable drinks. Fumé, on the other hand, is a completely different concept with much bolder, less nuanced flavours. Here, we invest in personality, playfulness and imagination rather than complexity and technological precision.

DWME: What does the Dubai bar scene need more of?

AM: People! It doesn’t leave too many to sustain the ever growing F&B industry. The bar industry is still young in Dubai and with a small drinking population, there is a lot of strategic positioning for the same audience. As the city grows, hopefully the market will grow with it and there will be room to expand the product range available.The variety has come on leaps and bounds since I first worked here 12 years ago, but there is still a way to go if Dubai wants to emulate the social scene of some of the world’s other great cities.

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° VISIT °

new york’s What’s hot & happening in

BAR SCENE

Drinks World Middle East takes a look at one of the world’s best bar scenes

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n this ongoing series, I’ll highlight the very best of what’s happening in the Big Apple. Expect a snapshot of the top places to drink right now, of which bartenders you should keep an eye out for and of some of the very best libations every visitor should seek out. Enjoy!

WORDS ° Naren Young There are an increasing number of great drinking cities around the globe and while some are well-publicised beacons for visitors looking for a world-class beverage, others fly a little more under the radar. I’ve been to most, if not all, of these places and i still believe New York is the winner when it comes to delivering the best service as well as the greatest cocktail design, variety and, of course, quality.

Bar openings (and closings) are never a shortage in New York City. Many of the world’s cocktail buzz words: bottled cocktails, barrel aged cocktails, cocktails on tap – gained traction in Gotham City, even if they weren’t ‘invented’ here. Check out this little window into what is happening in the world’s cocktail epicenter right now, from the best new bars, the great old bars, to the bartenders that people will soon be watching.

BARTENDERS ON FIRE: JOAQUIN SIMO – POURING RIBBONS When people talk of the ‘nice guys’ in the industry, compliments fly thick and fast for Joaquin Simo.

Like many others, he originally began bartending at a student bar in his native Massachusetts. But it’s in New York City that he’s made his name and done so with a modest, humble and unassuming approach. He hasn’t worked at a lot of venues across Gotham – a

rarity these days – manning the bar at the highly lauded Death & Co. for over six years. It was at this tiny neo-speakeasy in the East Village that he developed a loyal following and national recognition, which culminated in him being crowned American Bartender of the Year at the annual Tales of the Cocktail Awards in 2012.

While at D&C, he developed a friendship and a business relationship with one of New York’s most recognised bar identities: Toby Maloney.

They partnered with a few others in Alchemy Consulting and went onto open Pouring Ribbons in Alphabet City.

Simo remains a consistent figure behind his own bar, making perfect drinks with the jovial demeanor and encyclopedic knowledge that have garnered him the utmost respect from the highest echelons of the industry.

225 Avenue B (near 14th St), New York, 10009.

Ph: +1 917 656 6788 www.pouringribbons.com

MAXIME BELFAND – SAXON + PAROLE A French native, Maxime spent a few years working at some of London’s top bars including Ronnie Scott’s and Novokov before moving to New York in 2011. Since then, he has worked at the highly acclaimed The Daily bar and has been an integral part of the team that took home the

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award for ‘World’s Best Restaurant Bar’ at the 2013 Tales of the Cocktail Awards.

“I will always remember the day I arrived at Saxon + Parole to do my training as it was my first time working in New York City after coming from London. The vibe from the place and the people working there was both amazing and overwhelming, I’m only 27 year old but I have been working and traveling in few places in the world, but I had never seen anything like this before. The attention to detail and the level of focus behind that bar was beyond anything I had experienced in my career.

I knew that day it was a place and a team that I wanted to be part of. It’s been almost two years now that I’ve been working for the company but only feels like a few days. I always come to work with a smile because I know how lucky I have been to get an opportunity to work in Manhattan in this very special place.”

as bottled cocktails are awful. But there are several bartenders who have been leading a renaissance, such as Portland’s Jeffrey Morgenthaler who has had a carbonated and bottled Americano cocktail on his menu for several years now.

At Manhattan’s Saxon + Parole, the Champagne Negroni (also served by the bucket) is one of the biggest selling drinks on the menu, especially when the mercury starts climbing and people realise that sitting on the bustling Bowery provides some of the best people watching in the city.

316 Bowery (cnr. Bleecker St).

Ph: +1 212 254 0350 www.saxonandparole.com

To the unadventurous drinker, the idea of imbibing a spirit that has been fat washed might be a little too left field - especially in today’s increasingly health-conscious world, where ‘fat’ has become a dirty word. Despite this, the technique is now being employed in bars all over the world and while it was brought to the fore by veteran New York bartender Eben Freeman, it is at the award winning PDT bar that fat washing has gained serious traction.

The technique is all about adding a rich, buttery texture to the drink without actually adding any of the fat content. In this remarkable drink, bacon (from the famous Benton’s farm in Tennessee) is fried in a pan with the leftover

SO HOT RIGHT NOW: BOTTLED COCKTAILS Bottled cocktails are one of the biggest trends doing the rounds across America right now.

They’re being made in dozens of venues and while everyone seems to think they’re onto a new concept, bottled cocktails actually have a long and storied history. When saloons were closed on Sundays, people would buy bottled cocktails to serve at home. Sadly, almost all of today’s commercial examples masquerading

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316 Bowery (cnr. Bleecker St).

Ph: +1 212 254 0350 www.saxonandparole.com

JOAQUIN SIMO Photo by Eric Medsker

WHAT’S HOT: BENTON’S OLD FASHIONED AT PDT

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° VISIT ° juices poured into a container with several bottles of bourbon. This is stored in the fridge overnight and the fat solidifies on the surface.

The fat is then scraped away and discarded and what remains is a spirit with just the slightest suggestion of swine and an unctuous texture.

This is then stirred into an Old Fashioned with bitters and maple syrup in what is one of the most complex, original and sublime cocktails in all of New York.

113 St Mark’s Place (near Ave A), New York, 10009.

Ph: +1 212 614 0386 www.pdtnyc.com

COCKTAILS ON TAP – EMPELLON TAQUERIA During my time at the award winning Saxon + Parole restaurant on The Bowery, we were one of the first bars in Amereica to offer a cocktail on tap. The idea piqued my curiosity when I noticed that a lot of bars and restaurants were beginning to offer wines by the glass, poured from a beer tap. It seemed like a revelation and had me thinking that this was not just a cool idea, but one that could actually translate to greater profits. Why couldn’t this be applied to pouring cocktails in this way? Turns out it was, and is, very easy to do.

We began serving a Manhattan Cocktail (of course) and it remains the biggest selling cocktail to this day. Since we began serving this in 2011, I’ve since seen Negronis and Americanos served on draught, as well as Fernet Branca, vermouth, gin & tonics and dozens of other options. Several bars now even have up to a dozen cocktails on tap. At

Empellon Taqueria – my new digs in the West Village – we have a Negroni Pequeño (meaning ‘little Negroni) on tap, served in a cute little half portion, hence the name. Expect to see this new wave of draught cocktails pop up in all corners of the globe in the years ahead.

105 1st Avenue (at 6th St), New York, 10003.

Ph: +1 212 780 0999 www.empellon.com

BARS TO WATCH: THE DEAD RABBIT Named after a notorious gang of 1850’s New York, this bar in the New York’s financial district is the most hyped venue we’ve seen for a long time. Perhaps this is because its opening date was put back for what ended up being almost two years. Yes, you read that correctly.

The Dead Rabbit is the brainchild of Sean Muldoon and Jack McGarry, two natives of Northern Ireland who made a big name for themselves at Belfast’s The Merchant Hotel for discreet, well-informed service and an outstanding cocktail menu. At their new digs in Manhattan – a split level tavern with a rustic public house downstairs and a parlour with reserved seating upstairs – the cocktail list is more impressive than anything this scribe has seen.

It’s a surprisingly diminutive venue where one can enjoy a pint of Guinness, a cup of punch or a dram from the city’s biggest selection of Irish whiskey in a downstairs saloon they’re calling the ‘Grog & Grocery’. Here, you can also buy a plethora of small goods to take home.

McGarry heads up the parlour bar and watching him work is a lesson in grace

and dexterity. He’s one of the finest young bartenders in the world today and his obscenely large 72-odd cocktail menu is the result of some exhaustive research, as he’s ensured each one is as historically correct as possible.

30 Water St (near Broad St), New York, 10004.

Ph: +1 646 422 7906 www.deadrabbitnyc.com

BUTTERFLY Eben Freeman is one of the most high profile names in the bartending world today. Having carved out a name for himself at the molecularfocused WD-50 restaurant on the Lower East Side, he is now the group beverage director for the Altamarea Group, helmed by the celebrated chef Michael White. The latest bar in their growing empire takes its name from The Butterfly Club in Wisconsin, where the chef grew up.

Some of the drinks are favorites of that state – such as the Wisconsin Old Fashioned – where brandy stands in for the typical whiskey base – while others are some of Freeman’s greatest hits, such as his often imitated bourbon and smoked coca cola, which he created at the nowshuttered Tailor. Each drink is accompanied by its own illustration and an insight into some of the modernist techniques they’re employing in their execution.

There’s definitely a focus on kitsch on the menu as can be seen in such drinks as the Grasshopper, although here it’s made with a clarified milk punch and a new, artisanal and delicious versions of crème de menthe and crème de cacao. There’s also a mezcal-spiked

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° VISIT ° Rusty Nail variation, a Mai Tai made without any superfluous ingredients, a textbook Whiskey Sour and a very cool Martini using a vodka infused with slate.

Located in the hip and affluent downtown neighborhood of Tribeca, the area continues to attract a growing number of high profile bar owners and restaurareurs, looking to capitalize on a huge cross section of clientele – from wandering tourists to young families and moneyed Wall St types. The room itself is not so warm or exciting, but what Freeman is putting out across the bar always keeps people’s curiosity alive.

225 West Broadway, New York, 10013.

Ph: +1 646 692 4943 www.thebutterflynyc.com

CLASSIC BAR OLD TOWN BAR There are few better cities in the world to drink in solitude than in New York, especially in the winter. In Gotham, there is literally a bar for everyone, no matter what you’re into. I enjoy a finely made cocktail at one of the city’s myriad neo-speakeasies as much as the next guy. But I also love what New York does best, and that’s classic. Whether you’re sidled up at one of the opulent hotel bars in Midtown or a saloon from the turn of the century Downtown, you will be drinking in a piece of local history.

The drinks are secondary to the atmosphere and it is the characters you meet that you’ll most remember, long after you’ve savored those last drops from your dirty pint glass. For me, one of those venerable joints is the Old Town Bar; a moniker that could not be any more appropriate.

For a start it was built in 1892 and traded right through the dark days of Prohibition. I like to come here during the late afternoon – just after the lunch rush and just before the happy hour crowd and tourists swarm the place.

The back bar is littered with a kaleidoscope of colorful bottles that most human beings shouldn’t be forced to ingest (Smirnoff Cinnamon, anyone?). Order a cocktail at your peril. Rather, pull up a rickety stool at the behemoth 60 feet bar, wave down a bartender for a pint of Guiiness and a shot of Old Grandad, pull out a good book and revel in the fact that nobody might bother you for hours.

45 East 18th St (at Broadway), New York, 10003. Ph: +1 212 529 6732 www.oldtownbar.com

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° MEET °

2014 UAE Stella Artois World Draught Masters Winner

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riginally from Nairobi, Kenya, Mike started his career in the UAE as a waiter at Crown Plaza Dubai’s Zaytoun Restaurant. After one year, he moved to Belgian Beer Café in the same position and in the same hotel. Six months later, he joined the bar team as a bartender where he got his training and went on to win the 2014 UAE Stella Artois World Draught Masters title.

Drinks World Middle East: Tell us about yourself and your background in bars.

Mike Otieno Odongo: I was born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya where I held jobs with several companies prior to coming to the UAE. My journey into the hospitality industry started at Crown Plaza Dubai’s Zaytoun Restaurant, where I worked as a waiter. One year later, I moved to Belgian Beer Café in the same position and in the same hotel. After six months, I joined the bar team as a bartender. It was a struggle at first; running almost 310 guests a single night proved to be a challenge. But my determination and ability to learn fast gave me a good boost.

DWME: What is your philosophy of bar service and where did you develop it?

MOO: Working in bars entails meeting different kinds of people from different parts of the world, with different reasons of coming to the bar every night. As a bartender, I believe that speed and product knowledge are key to ensure that guests are satisfied with the service.

DWME: Describe to us your Stella Artois World Draught Masters experience this year.

MOO: The Stella Artois World Draught Masters was my first ever competition and one of the most challenging I have ever experienced. It was not easy being in the ranks of the competitors who were already pros at this kind of event.

Out of the 36 competitors in the semifinals, only six had to make it through to the Middle East Regional Finals. This was really a challenge, but I guess that’s what a competition should be like. Making it to the regional finals required me to give all my time polishing my skills and enhancing my knowledge.

My efforts eventually paid off when I won the Stella Artois World Draught Masters title. It was such a great achievement for me, and I couldn’t do it without the support of my trainer and people who believe in me.

DWME: What is your advice to those in the Middle East considering taking part in the competition next year?

MOO: Do what you do best. As with any other competition, the Stella Artois World Draught Masters requires the highest level of excellence, commitment and dedication.

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° MEET °

he Trois Freres Distillery – producer of Takamaka Bay Rum – was built by brothers Richard and Bernard d’Offay back in 2002. Their vision was driven by a desire to provide Seychelles with high quality rum based on their grandfather’s original recipe. Richard, Takamaka’s Managing Director, tells us about the brand and the initiatives they have undertaken to remain competitive.

Takamaka Bay Spirit of the Seychelles

Drinks World Middle East: You and your brother, Bernard, founded Trois Freres Distillery. Can you tell us briefly the history of Takamaka Bay rum?

Richard d’Offay: Almost 13 years ago, we moved back to Seychelles after spending most of our childhood in South Africa. We always knew that we would return, but we wanted to come back doing something we loved – for us, this was Rum distilling. Our grandfather, who was a well-known doctor in Seychelles, loved rum and produced some of his own blends. We took this inspiration and created our Dark Rum. Vanilla and caramel (two key components) was how rum was consumed in Seychelles. We like to think that we have improved on the original recipe but have stayed true to our roots. There are now 5 Rums in our portfolio along with our awardwinning St Andre 8 year old, and each one is special in its own way.

Richard d’Offay (left) with brother and Takamaka Bay Rum co-founder Bernard

DWME: Takamaka Bay is being distributed in Dubai, the UK, Germany and France. What are some of the factors behind the brand’s success in the international market?

RO: I think today’s consumers are looking for products that are personal in nature. Takamaka Bay is still run by its founders, and we are obsessed with the quality of our rum. I believe this resonates with our followers, however, this is only half of the story. Fortunately, we also have distributors who are as passionate about Takamaka Bay. We are able to grow our brand in these markets on a small marketing budget because of our connection to our customers. As a small rum brand with big ambitions, nothing can substitute for “walking the streets” doing tastings, meeting buyers and telling our story.

In Dubai, Takamaka Bay is currently being poured at Zuma. I met Jimmy

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Barrat, Zuma’s Bar Development Manager, on my last day of visit in Dubai.

Both Bernard and I stopped by at their bar for a drink because we heard that it was an awesome place and we were not disappointed. That’s when we introduced Takamaka Bay to them, and the rest is history.

Quoting Jimmy Barrat “At Zuma, we are always looking for niche products that suit the flavour profile of the cocktails we make. After I was introduced to Takamaka Bay and sampling the rum itself, I was blown away. We decided to take it further and worked together with Trois Freres Distillery to create a special Takamaka blend for Zuma Dubai, which we look into extending to our branch in Abu Dhabi next year. Japanese El Presidente is our signature cocktail using Takamaka rum blended with sugarcane shochu, our Zuma vermouth and a few secret ingredients aged using a solera system.”

DWME: How do you see the next five years panning out for Takamaka Bay? RO: Five years is a long time in our industry, so we prefer to keep it a little closer to home. 2015 and 2016 will be very important for us as we continue to grow Takamaka Bay internationally. We need to ensure that we do not lose our connection with our customers while continuing to produce our rum in a sustainable way. We also need to make certain that our production can keep up with demands without compromising on our quality. Most of all, we need to make sure that we keep on enjoying what

we do. I believe if we do this, the future is bright for us and we’ll continue to carve out a niche for ourselves in a highly competitive marketplace.

DWME: What are the challenges that the UAE market poses? How do you see the drinks industry developing in the coming years?

RO: It’s a good question. There is no doubt that alcohol brands in the UAE see the region as being an integral part of their global strategy. Dubai is one of the fastest growing, most interesting cities in the world with discerning consumers, and for us, is also an important market. Fortunately, African + Eastern – who plays an important role in the region – gives us great support and allows us to build the brand with an eye on the future.

DWME: Takamaka Bay aims to promote local arts and culture through sponsorship of events. What are the initiatives that the company is undertaking to continue this campaign?

RO: This is an area we are very excited about. Seychelles has very talented artists and musicians, and it’s a worthy cause. At the same time, we are able to connect with our customers, sharing something that all Seychellois people are passionate about. Our local Creole Festival as well as various charity events give us the perfect platform to develop this further and see how our involvement can further positively influence art and music in Seychelles. Who knows, we may even be able to bring some of our best to Dubai soon!

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° PROFILE °

THE BIRTH OF QUALITY S

ince the dawn of the 20th Century (no exact birth date has ever been traced), Stolichnaya has been present at life’s greatest moments. It has bound men together in oaths of allegiance and honoured their triumphs. Stoli has been the toast to old friends and the celebration of new love. It has travelled across the world and even journeyed to the stars.

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Far though it has travelled, Stolichnaya has kept close to its origins. Its roots are in the fertile black soil of Russia’s Tambov region where to this day, the company own several farms. It is here the finest wheat is the treasured reward for a year’s hard work and the key to Stoli’s gentle and grainy taste.

Many shape the progress from grain to vodka. In Tambov, amidst the company farms, a dedicated family oversee the ultra-modern distillery, Talvis. They are thorough, distilling just three times to retain the bold character of Russian wheat. The family famously rejects the volatile ‘heads’ and oily ‘tails’ of the wheat, allowing only the highest quality Alpha spirit to leave the distillery gates.

The spirit is filtered four times in the magnificent Latvijas Balzams, a cathedral to vodka built by order of the Tsar in 1901, first through quartz sand and then through the charcoal of Russian birch wood. Finally, it is blended with pure, natural spring water from the Balzams’ artesian well.

Only then can this perfectly balanced spirit with 40%ABV and the subtle taste of fine wheat, crafted into a uniquely smooth mouth sensation be called Stolichnaya.

Stolichnaya is the original premium vodka and its home is with the most original people. Tonight, Stoli is here with you.

elit Story Elevating centuries of vodka tradition to hi-tech art, elit is the inception of ultra-luxury vodka. A spirit of breathtaking clarity and flawless molecular composition, it is born from an obsession with accuracy.

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° PROFILE ° The process begins in Tambov, at the heart of Russia’s fertile black earth region. Here, the master technicians select the optimal blend of grains (winter wheat, spring wheat and rye), balance the mineral content of our water and calibrate the exact temperature and time for fermentation. Their precise efforts and three separate distillations produce a grade of Alpha spirit that far exceeds the highest Russian standards on every measure.

Before it can become elit, the Alpha spirit must journey to the Baltic city of Riga to continue its transformation. After balancing the alpha spirit with water from our artesian well, it cascades through columns of quartz sand and Russian birch-wood charcoal. Pulled by gravity and purified by carbon, it emerges bright and clear.

The final stage of creating elit is the freeze-out filtration.

Inspired by the Russian tradition of leaving casks outside in plummeting winter conditions, we chill the liquid to exactly -18˚C. At this temperature the liquid densifies and moves through ion-charged carbon filters at an extremely slowed velocity. This ensures the finest impurities are captured and removed, leaving an exquisitely pure liquid charged with character.

After the rigor comes rest. The liquid is given time and space to return to ambient temperature. Unhurried, it acquires the hallmarks of molecular perfection: flawless clarity and density.

From its visible luminosity in the glass to its weighty, rolling mouth-feel, elit exerts a presence unlike any other vodka.

Consistently commended as the highest rated vodka in the world elit elevates the vodka experience. For those who know better, elit is vodka pleasure at its most precise.

Key Historical Dates Its origins, history and iconic reputation have been seen as early as 1938 and throughout the 1940s, but there is no definitive reference to the year Stolichnaya came to be.

1944

1989

1945 1948 1958 1962

2003

A “technical improvement relating to a new method of production of high quality Stolichnaya vodka” is registered.

The “certificate of technical improvement” registered in 1944, is granted.

The historic Latvijas Balzams located in Riga commence bottling of Stolichnaya vodka

Stolichnaya wins a gold medal at the Brussels World Fair & International Exhibition.

sees the launch of Stolichnaya Cristall, now Stolichnaya Gold, creating the super-premium category of vodka.

The creation of elit by Stolichnaya, the first ultraluxury vodka. The highest rated vodka in the world, elit set a new benchmark for product excellence.

2010

Russian legislative changes make it illegal to export bulk vodka from Russia, directly impacting Stolichnaya which has been bottled in Riga since 1948. Stolichnaya now export the highest grade of raw alcohol, called Alpha spirit, rather than finished Russian vodka. The Alpha spirit is now meticulously filtered and blended with artesian well water to become vodka and then bottled at the historic Latvijas Balzams facility in Riga.

Stolichnaya pioneers the first commercially produced flavoured vodkas. A pepper vodka called Pertzsovka and a honey and herb flavour called Okhotnichya.

1972 1975

PepsiCo is given exclusive US importation rights for Stolichnaya vodka.

Stolichnaya is the first vodka brand in space.

Stolichnaya labels were used to mock up aluminium tubes used to celebrate Soyuz and Apollo astronauts meeting in space.

1986

Stolichnaya launch Limonnaya, the first lemon flavoured vodka, used in popular cocktails of the time such as the cosmopolitan.

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2011

Stolichnaya redefines the sweet and indulgent segment with the launch of Stoli Chocolat Razberi flavoured vodka.

2012

sees the launch of the Most Original Moments Deserve the Most Original Vodka campaign – what makes you original?

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° FEATURE °

STOLI

From Russia to Markets Worldwide S

tolichnaya – or more popularly “Stoli” – is the world’s original premium vodka with a history and heritage that spans 80 years. The brand is respected as a leader in the vodka category and is at the heart of major vodka developments. Today, Stoli ranks 5th in the list of global vodka brands and is the 24th largest global spirit brand worldwide. Available in more than 174 territories, it has sold more than 3.5 million 9L cases in 2013 alone.

A Vodka Pioneer As a pioneer in vodka, Stoli is responsible for so many firsts and has set many of the trends we see today. It was the first premium vodka to be exported from Russia, the first flavoured vodka (1962), the first vodka in space (1970) and the world’s first super premium vodka (1989).

Elit – The Luxury Expression of Vodka Born from an obsession with accuracy, Elit is the first ultra-luxury and most high-rated white spirit in the world. As the luxury expression of vodka, Elit is going to be the main sponsor at Flash VIP lounge during F1 concerts.

Start with the Original Lemonade This drinking strategy reflects perfectly the Stoli Brand Attitude. The

Lemonade concept is a simple, authentic cocktail that will allow barmen to create several twists on it.

Stoli – The Difference Stoli is as Russian as it gets; it is an alpha spirit. It is bold and boasts a rich portfolio of flavoured vodka (10 flavour sku).

Stoli in the UAE Thanks to African + Eastern relaunch, Stoli is going to be positioned as a groundbreaking and original pouring vodka choice across the region.

Following the success the brand has been having in the US, Australia and Europe, the Stoli brand equity will be revitalized in the UAE. The main brand platform association will be with fashion, arts and any type of funky original events.

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° FEATURE °

STOLI MASTERCLASS The first major event of the season, Stoli’s masterclass proved to be an overwhelming success. Turnout was spectacular – 206 bartenders from across the city attended the said event. Stoli Global Brand Ambassador Meagan Sacher started off the session with a brand history presentation and then in smaller groups, did straight vodka tasting.

The event was made even more interesting with the presence of chefs from Muddle Me who prepared cocktails using liquid nitrogen.

Tim Greening, for instance, used dry ice to make his Stoli Ice Cream.

Meanwhile, Jack Rackham prepared a variety of Classic Stoli martinis, showing the dry essence of the drink. The masterclass was just a preview of the many events that bartenders can look forward to from Stoli in the future.

Meagan Sacher during a brand history presentation

Jack Rackham mixing up a cocktail

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STOLI ICE CREAM

by Tim Greening

Passion Fruit and Almond Sour Ingredients: 50ml Stoli Citron 10ml Amaretto Lazzaroni 20ml Fresh Lemon Juice 1 Fresh Passion Fruit 15ml Sugar Syrup Method: Blend all ingredients in a bowl with dry ice (roughly 100 grams to create a sorbet by cooking off dry ice at very cold temperature). The trapped CO2 actually helps to create a very silky texture for the sorbet. *Fresh fruit adds another textural layer to it.

Tim Greening mixing the Stoli Ice Cream

A Twist on a French Martini Ingredients: 50ml Stoli Blueberry 10ml Cassis 10ml Lime Juice 4 Blueberries 30ml Pineapple Juice Method: Blend all ingredients in a bowl with dry ice (roughly 100 grams to create a sorbet by cooking off dry ice at very cold temperature). *Blueberries add a textural element to the sorbet and sweetness. *Note: Make the cocktail a little stronger in alcohol as it tends to get lost with the sorbet.

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° MEET °

Meagan Sacher shares with us her Dubai experience

A

s the Stoli Global Brand Ambassador, Meagan travels pretty much all over the world to promote the Stoli product portfolio and form relationships with different countries and different bartending communities. In this interview, she shared with us her Dubai experience and the fantastic turnout of the Stoli workshop.

Drinks World Middle East: Tell us about Dubai.

What was the aim of your visit?

Meagan Sacher: As Global Ambassador, my role is to travel to all sorts of markets – some developed (in terms of Stoli brand exposure and popularity) and some undeveloped. The purpose of the Dubai trip was three-fold: firstly, I was there to educate and train our new distributor partners, African + Eastern (A+E), on brand history, key selling points, and how Stoli ranks against the competition. Secondly, as a spin-off from the distributor training, A+E organized a trade-focused seminar and tasting experience at GQ Bar, where I had the opportunity not only to speak with top bartenders about Stoli, but also to learn from them about current bar trends in their market.

DWME: What were you expecting to see from the Dubai bar scene? How did it surprise you?

MS: I had done some research ahead of time, so I expected to see a varied range of bartending influences, styles, and backgrounds.

Dubai is a beautiful melting pot of cultures and inspirations, so it is only natural to see this translated in the bar scene. Yet Dubai is also regarded internationally as a place of extravagance, with a variety of over-the-top venues. I was happily surprised to be greeted with genuine interest in the Stoli brand and a sense of unpretentiousness among the bartenders that I had the pleasure of spending some time with.

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DWME: You had a fantastic turnout from your workshop (more than 200). How was that achieved?

MS: It was quite a turnout! In fact, Dubai holds the record for the highest attendance at a Stoli brand event worldwide! I must give credit where credit is due – and Richard Cohen of A+E was really the one responsible for organizing the workshop and achieving such a high turnout. He understands that bartenders are often pulled in many different directions from competing brands, so he organized a workshop that extended beyond just a brand training. He engaged top bartenders to participate and gave them a chance to showcase their expertise by creating signature Stoli cocktails for the attendees to enjoy.

GQ Bar was a perfect venue because we were able to hold the brand session in the downstairs bar (although it was standing room only – with some overflow to the adjoining lobby). Then, we moved upstairs where I gave smaller groups a private tasting on the Stoli Premium, Stoli Gold, and elit by Stolichnaya, which is a fantastic way to experience the nuances in the Stoli portfolio.

Our guest bartenders each had a station where they created their own signature cocktails for smaller groups of guests. We also had a guest chef who prepared food items utilizing Stoli products. It was an interactive, lively session and the first 100 bartenders who showed up took home a commemorative shaker to remember the occasion.

DWME: What did you learn from the Dubai bar scene?

MS: That you can never stop learning! The Dubai bar scene has a distinct advantage over many other markets, and that is that it attracts bartenders with very diverse backgrounds – both in terms of experience and influence from their home countries. This creates an extremely cosmopolitan city full of worldly influence and stimulus. I see opportunity in Dubai for even the most experienced bartenders to become inspired and learn from their surrounding community of bar professionals. I wouldn’t be surprised to see an entirely new bartending style emerge in Dubai as a result.

DWME: What was your key message to the bartenders from Stoli?

MS: Vodka often gets a bad rap in the bartending community. With the Stoli workshop at GQ Bar, I think we were able to show that vodka can be just as interesting and dynamic as all of the other spirits found behind a bar.

In fact, I would argue that it takes an even more sophisticated palate to understand and appreciate the subtleties and nuances between vodkas. Stoli offers bartenders an extensive line of products that has numerous applications behind the bar (and, as we saw in GQ, in the kitchen!). It also provides bartenders with a base on which to build an endless array of cocktail recipes to complement any bar venue, or most importantly, to reflect their own personalities.

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° MEET °

BEER ACADEMY Brent Henderson talks about Beer Academy in Dubai

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he Beer Academy was established in 2003 as an independent educational trust. It became an operating arm of the Institute of Brewing & Distilling (IBD), the global professional body for brewers and distillers, in 2007. Its mission is to enlighten, educate and enthuse candidates about all aspects of beer.

The Academy offers a series of courses, all of which can be tailored and delivered by a team of experienced and knowledgeable tutors. Courses range from 90-minute tastings and beer & food matchings, to one-day foundation course, two-day advance course and half-day how to judge beer course. The Beer Academy Sommelier scheme, on the other hand, has immediately proved to be highly popular and offers recognition of a depth of knowledge of beer styles as well as beer and food matchings to successful candidates.

Brent Henderson, trainer at African + Eastern, talks about the Beer Academy here in Dubai and the advantages of having such a program in the region.

Drinks World Middle East: From London, what made you decide to take the Beer Academy message to Dubai?

Brent Henderson: Dubai is a very vibrant market and with the ever increasing range of beers – from delicious lagers to more complex Belgian brews – being brought into the city, it’s just fitting to bring the Beer Academy here. The course will offer a great understanding of how beer is created and how to better recommend it to consumers.

DWME: What are the courses currently offered?

BH: The courses offered at the moment are IBD Level 1, which include the basics of beer styles and how to taste and explore the beer empire.

Meanwhile, the beer and food pairing program is designed to guide the consumer into a liquid and gastronomical experience. The new addition to the family is the IBD Level 2, which will be available soon.

DWME: Who are eligible to study? What are the requirements? And what can students expect to get out of the program?

BH: Everyone is welcome to enroll in the program – from bartenders to waiters. There are no requirements for the course except the desire to learn. Students will get a full day course tutored by Dubai’s very own beer sommelier.

DWME: Upon completion of the course, will students get a certificate that is recognised by the industry?

BH: Yes. Upon passing the exam at the end of the course, students can receive full accreditation from the Institute of Brewing & Distilling (IBD), which is recognised by the industry and many other countries.

DWME: Where will those interested go to enlist? When are the classes starting?

BH: All interested individuals can apply through www.Pathbarschool.com.

Classes are held every month for two to three days.

DWME: What makes the Beer Academy Sommelier scheme so popular? How is it different from the regular courses being offered?

BH: The IBD Beer Sommelier course is one of the most recognised accreditations in the market at the moment. Most other programs offer only one type of course, whereas IBD provides a vast array of courses to cover every individual’s needs.

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° MEET °

Bram

Vaerewyck T

he Export Director of Duvel Moortgat, Bram Vaerewyck is passionate about international business.

He joined Duvel nine years ago to help build and launch the company’s specialty beers and brands throughout the world.

Drinks World Middle East: Tell us about yourself and your history with the company.

Bram Vaerewyck: I had the pleasure of joining Duvel Moortgat nine years ago to establish an export department focused on launching and building our high quality specialty beers and brands in 60 countries worldwide.

During my market visits, I am proud that through our network of carefully selected strong independent partner importers-distributors, we can be global ambassadors of high quality products from a small country as Belgium.

DWME: What are some of the interesting points from the Duvel history that our audience may not be aware of?

BV: Duvel Moortgat is the third largest brewery in Belgium and specialises in top fermented ales, with a second fermentation in the bottle. The company is still 100% family owned and has seven breweries in three countries – Belgium, the United States and the Czech Republic – each focusing on its own range of top quality specialty beers. We really place quality above quantity, but that does not mean that we are not ambitious.

In fact, we constantly strive to consistently brew excellent, unique and accessible drinkable specialty beers and further grow our brands worldwide.

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DWME: Duvel Moortgat is one of the largest independent brewing groups in Belgium. How does it differentiate itself from its competitors?

BV: In the huge global beer market dominated by lager, Duvel Moortgat sets itself apart from the competition by focusing on the niche segment of specialty beers. In that niche, Duvel aims to occupy a leading position by investing in high quality beers and strong brands, both in Belgium and in specific export markets. To do so, the various generations of shareholders have consistently cultivated four core values: Quality, Passion, Entrepreneurship and Integrity.

DWME: Duvel Moortgat intends to continue its expansion. What does that look like globally?

BV: In 1999, the fourth generation of the Moortgat family started their ambitious expansion plan based on three pillars. The first was geographical expansion by transforming the company focused on brewing and distributing the Duvel beer to an international organisation. Subsidiary companies were set up in the priority export markets France, the Netherlands, the UK, the US and China, with dedicated teams ensuring strong distribution, sales and marketing activities for the Duvel Moortgat beers. In emerging beer markets, our export department established a

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Liefmans fruit beers, the 100% natural Vedett Extra White wheat beer, the Benedictine abbey beers of Maredsous, the amber coloured De Koninck in its “Bolleke” glass, the Czech premium lagers and specialty beers of Bernard Brewery, and the interesting selection of US craft beers from Ommegang and Boulevard breweries.

network of 60 independent importers and distributors around the world with whom they built the brand awareness and sales volumes of selective Duvel Moortgat beers.

Secondly, through various specific acquisitions, the one single brewing facility in Breendonk was accompanied by six smaller craft breweries; three more in Belgium, two in the US and one in the Czech Republic. The four breweries in Belgium are located centrally in Breendonk mainly for the Duvel and Vedett beers, in Oudenaarde the Liefmans fruit beers are blended with fresh Belgian cherries, in Antwerp we brew the De Koninck beers, and in Achouffe in the Ardennes, the Chouffe family of “gnome” beers are crafted.

In the US, Duvel Moortgat is the proud owner of Brewery Ommegang in Cooperstown (NY) and Boulevard Brewing Company in Kansas City (MI), both highly respected breweries with a large variety of award-winning craft beers. Over in the Czech Republic, Duvel Moortgat is 50% owner of the Bernard Brewery located in Humpolec and an expert in top quality specialty beers.

Consequently, the third expansion was in the portfolio of beers. To the company’s star product, the Belgian golden ale, a variety of specialty beers were added in each of the main beer style segments. These included the artisanal Belgian craft beers of Achouffe, the uniquely blended

DWME: Growth through acquisition has been publicly stated by the business. What is the strategy behind that and how may it look?

BV: Duvel Moortgat realised that to have a chance on becoming the leader in specialty beers, it needed a strong distribution in each priority market and a local dedicated sales and marketing team focused on educating consumers about the local beers and imported brands. Hence, the establishment of subsidiary companies, the participation in national distribution platforms and the acquisition of local micro breweries.

However, in other countries we realised that it was more plausible to form a strong partnership with an established local brewery-importerdistributor. These partners must share our passion for high quality products and our philosophy of excellent client service. They must also realise that the Duvel Moortgat specialty beers form a great addition to their existing beer portfolio, and treat our brands as long-term strategic brands within their organisation. Moreover, they must co-invest to build brand awareness first in the on trade channel, and then have the power to ensure national retail distribution as well.

DWME: What is the company’s view of the UAE market on how it is perceived?

BV: The beer market in the UAE is a duopoly as only two companies are licensed to import and distribute alcoholic beverages. Over the last 10 years Duvel Moortgat has built a strong partnership with African + Eastern. Their highly trained personnel understand the unique qualities of the Duvel Moortgat beers and brands and realise they are key to complete their Belgian beer portfolio offering in the UAE. As the UAE market develops, I am glad to see that more and more independent bars and restaurants list our beers to offer their discerning consumers what they seek: the best beers money can buy.

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° MEET °

WSET

SAKE Antony Moss gives an overview of the WSET program

F

ounded in 1969, the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) provides high quality education and training in wines and spirits. Since its inception, WSET has grown into the foremost international body in the field of wines and spirits (and now sake) education, with a suite of sought-after qualifications.

Antony Moss, Director of Strategic Planning at WSET, gives us an overview of the WSET program and the advantages it provides to the bartending community in Dubai.

Drinks World Middle East: The WSET course is well known in Europe and as far afield as Australia. Why are you launching in Dubai now and how does the course compare to that on offer elsewhere?

Antony Moss: Dubai is already a good market for us. In fact, WSET has been active in the UAE for around 10 years now, steadily growing its presence. We have well-established Approved Program Providers, such as African + Eastern, which has been allowed to run WSET courses since 2004.

Since Dubai is a vibrant market for premium sake, it makes sense to offer WSET’s new sake qualification here in the UAE. WSET’s qualifications are globally transferrable. The learning outcomes and assessment are identical, wherever the exams are sat. However, we encourage educators to adapt their teaching to meet the different backgrounds of the students they teach. This means the classroom experience will be adapted to candidates in the UAE, but the end goal will be the same as for candidates studying in Hong Kong, London, New York and elsewhere.

DWME: What will the WSET course offer to those that participate? What can students expect to get out of the course?

AM: The classic wine and spirits qualifications offer a structured ladder of learning and are available in four levels: Level 1: is basically an introduction to wines or spirits, how to store them, and how to describe their differences to customers.

Level 2: is about understanding label terms that indicate style or quality. For wines, these are mainly regions and grape varieties, but include French, German, Italian and Spanish words describing production methods.

Level 3: is essentially understanding the different choices producers make when creating wine or spirits, how these link to the style, quality and price of the final product.

Level 4: is putting everything in the wider business context, as well as expanding the detailed understanding of production introduced at level 3.

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Our new offering is the WSET Level 3 Award in Sake. Most previously available sake training outside Japan is limited to an overview of the steps in standard sake production and learning the meaning of the main label terms. The new WSET sake qualification goes a long way to examine every step in sake production, from the selection of ingredients through to bottling and shipping. It also explains the options available to a producer at each stage, linking these choices to the style, quality and price of the final product. We also make considerable use of illustrative sake samples to demonstrate the effects of e.g. different fermentation yeast strains, different rice polishing and different finishing methods. In short, students can expect to gain a truly in-depth understanding of the sake category.

Spirits would require students to register with a provider in London or Hong Kong (or one of the other markets where this is available) in order to sit their exams. However, there are wellsupported blended learning programs available – structured, guided online learning for most of the theory content, supplemented by course days focusing on developing practical tasting skills, timed to follow exams.

DWME: Is the course recognised by the Dubai government? What regulation is required? Will the students get a certificate that is recognised by the trade?

AM: Our qualifications at WSET are regulated by the UK government regulator (OfQual) and are recognised globally by the wine and spirits industries. We have no separate formal recognition by the Dubai government. Students receive a certificate if they pass the rigorous exam.

DWME: When are the courses starting?

AM: Wine and spirits courses have been running for 10 years now. We ran the first sake pilot earlier in September, at Hakkasan Dubai. The next one’s late November. Assuming success, the Sake qualification will be available shortly afterwards.

DWME: Of the course itself, what levels are being offered here in Dubai?

AM: For wines and spirits, levels 1, 2 and 3 are available. Our Level 4 Diploma in Wines and

DWME: How much is involved? How long is each course and where will those interested go to study, and how much will it cost?

AM: Our Approved Program Providers are free to set their own course programs, subject to the minimum requirements we set for student support and tasting samples. They are also free to set their own prices.

DWME: Will the course help those who enroll get a job? And how can they see if they are eligible to study? What prerequisites are there?

AM: Success in the wine and spirits industries requires a wide range of knowledge and skills, many of which are particular to each job role – winemaker, supply-chain manager, sommelier,

writer, etc. Our qualifications at WSET cover the core product knowledge that is required across the industry, so it certainly makes our graduates more employable and from the employers’ point of view, makes them more skilled and effective staff. Passing an exam cannot guarantee that a job will exist, but it will make that candidate more likely to be selected for the jobs that are available.

For Levels 1 and 2, there no prerequisites as the course programs are designed to work for people with no prior knowledge of wines or spirits. In Dubai, we require our Approved Program Providers to comply with local laws.

Level 3 assumes that the candidate has Level 2 knowledge. For the Sake qualification, we have developed an online course that registered candidates can work through to acquire this knowledge, before they arrive on day 1 of a very challenging course.

DWME: Is this course more relevant to bartenders or sommeliers?

AM: It is very relevant to people working in both these roles, as well as those in import and retail roles, and even the media. We’ve had candidates from all these sectors. The Sake qualification’s core – understanding style and quality – will help bartenders and sommeliers guide customers between the differences that sake products show, thus helping them make a choice that suits them. The course also covers sake service, i.e traditions and ways to adapt to diverse modern settings.

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A+E Licence Ad 230 x 280.indd 1 DWME DUBAI 1 2014 pp106-114 WINE WEEK.indd 106

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Celebrating All Things Refined T

here is nothing more sublime than enjoying a glass of wine – whether the occasion calls for it or not. Lovers of the fine drink had the ultimate treat when wine took the spotlight at the inaugural Dubai Wine Week. Held from September 7 to 13, the week-long event was marked by a series of activities toasting all things refined. Wine connoisseurs, critics, producers and consumers from different parts of the world descended on the City to take part in this fine occasion. This placed Dubai on the international path alongside initiatives such as London Wine Week and National Wine Week.

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° FEATURE ° Reds, whites, rosés and champagne – you name it and there was absolutely an overflowing of wine from France, Australia, South America and other regions. Several hundred bottles were opened for tasting, providing buyers and sommeliers alike the opportunity to taste an extensive range of wines from the African + Eastern portfolio, which proved helpful when it comes to updating their wine lists. This also gave buyers the chance to discuss listing opportunities with the sales team at African + Eastern.

One of the event’s highlights was the fine wine blind tasting. Held each day, the activity allowed attendees to test their skills and taste a unique selection of some of the world’s finest wines. Guest winemakers were also present on each day, and hosted masterclasses

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as well as showcased their wines to buyers.

Among them were Bruce Tyrrell from Tyrrell’s Wines of Australia, Marco Fantinel from the Fantinel Winery and Charles de Bournet Marnier Lapostolle from the House of Lapostolle.

Of course, an event such as this would not be complete without consumer participation.

During the week-long affair, numerous outlets signed up to provide bespoke wine experiences to guests and have the chance to take part in a Dubai wide initiative designed to encourage consumers to try different wines. Activities

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initiated were varied; from dinners with food and wine pairing to special ranges of wines by the glass at DWW prices to Friday brunch package upgrades at the standard price. There was also the opening of a special 27-liter bottle of Lapostolle Clos Apalta at the Grosvenor House Hotel. All these geared toward providing consumers with an extraordinary wine experience.

Cheers. Salute. Salud. Santé. However you say it, here’s to a fantastic wine week!

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° FEATURE °

Wine Week

Masterclass D

rinking wine is one thing. Understanding wine varieties and characteristics is another thing. Who better to give us an in-depth insight into the wine brand than the winemakers themselves.

Tyrrell’s Masterclass Two distinct sessions were conducted. The first focused on Vat 1 Hunter Semillon, which was produced in 1962. The grapes for this wine come from two vineyards by a creek just outside the winery. All the grapes are hand harvested and aged before release, with 2009 being the current vintage release.

The tasting thus provided the opportunity to see the stylistic development of Semillon and a sneak peak at a future vintage. Meanwhile, the second part focused on single vineyard semillons, all from the current vintage release of 2009.

WINEMAKERS SELECTION VAT 1 HUNTER SEMILLON 2005

WINEMAKERS SELECTION VAT 1 HUNTER SEMILLON 2008

WINEMAKERS SELECTION VAT 1 HUNTER SEMILLON 2009

Tasting Notes

Tasting Notes

Tasting Notes

An iconic Australian wine from what is a classic vintage for Hunter Valley semillon. It shows a tightly structured palate with considerable length and breadth of citrus fruit flavours. This wine is only just beginning to evolve and shows a hint of toasty, bottle aged complexity.

Pale in colour which is slightly lighter than the previous three years. The nose is quite aromatic which is due to the cooler ripening conditions.

The palate is dominated by the typical citrus characters with crisp acid, which leaves the wine with a clean finish.

A special wine from two amazing blocks, the 2009 is fuller and softer in style than the 2008 with an abundance of powerful citrus fruit flavours. The palate is impeccably balanced with its strong citrus characters and a crisp acid structure, which leaves the wine with a clean finish.

Awards

Awards

14 trophies, 35 gold, 9 silver and 7 bronze medals

2 gold and 3 bronze medals

Halliday Rating 97 Points & Outstanding (2012 Edition), 1 silver medallion, 2 Top 40 awards

Awards 1 trophy, 2 gold, 5 silver and 13 bronze medals, Wine of Provenance Award at the Hunter Valley Wine Show and Outstanding in the Langtons Classification

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° FEATURE °

WINEMAKERS SELECTION VAT 1 HUNTER SEMILLON 2013

SINGLE VINEYARD BELFORD HUNTER SEMILLON 2009

Tasting Notes

Tasting Notes

A very fine semillon vintage in the Hunter Valley. Lifted lime citrus aromas, the palate is seamless showing the typical powerful fruit core which is balanced by the wine’s texture and soft acid profile. The length and power of fruit on the palate is what sets this year’s Vat 1 apart from the other recent vintages.

The last of the semillon picked, this wine has the fuller palate that is commonly associated with the Belford vineyard with good fruit characters and a soft, clean acid finish. All of the 2009 semillon’s are showing a wonderful balance of fruit power and the elegance of a softer acid profile.

Awards

1 gold, 9 silver and 11 bronze medals

Awards

2 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze medals

SINGLE VINEYARD HVD HUNTER SEMILLON 2009 Tasting Notes

Tasting Notes

Classic HVD semillon showing lifted floral aromatics and tightly structured palate with considerable length and a great balance with its clean, soft acid structure.

Nose shows fresh citrus and floral characters associated with this vineyard. The palate is dominated by citrusy lime characters with a great length of fruit and a soft, approachable acid structure.

Awards 3 gold, 3 silver and 14 bronze medals

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SINGLE VINEYARD STEVENS HUNTER SEMILLON 2009

Awards 1 gold, 14 silver and 6 bronze medals

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Fantinel Masterclass The session focused on five different vintages of La Roncaia Refosco, a red wine made exclusively from grapes of a native vine, Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso. La Roncaia is a 22HA property owned by Fantinel. The first vintage of Refosco was in 1999. Grapes are handpicked, placed in boxes and naturally dried for approximately 30 days before fermentation commences. The grape itself is a spicy varietal, described as being between Sangiovese and Shiraz in terms of flavour and characteristics.

REFOSCO LA RONCAIA 2005

REFOSCO LA RONCAIA 2007

REFOSCO LA RONCAIA 2009

Tasting Notes

Tasting Notes

Tasting Notes

Intense ruby red. The nose is elegant and clean.

With a balanced structure and appropriately tannic and fruity palate, this wine is excellent with game or grilled meat.

Intense ruby colour. Enveloping and evolved aroma, with hints of black cherry preserved in alcohol, liquorice, leather, black tobacco and cacao. Composted and balanced to the taste, very warm, soft, but also savoury and slightly tannic, with a very long and persistent finish.

Excellent with game or grilled meat.

Compact ruby colour, intense and lively, with scent of peonies, ripe fruit and preserved in alcohol, milk chocolate, pepper, herbs and liquorice. Warm, it has a thick and balance flow which is fruity and long. Excellent with game or grilled meat.

REFOSCO LA RONCAIA 2010

REFOSCO LA RONCAIA 2011

Tasting Notes

Tasting Notes

Deep garnet red with a slightly purple rim.

Evolved, vibrant nose with hints of wild berries.

The palate is powerful, velvety and warm.

Excellent with game or grilled meat.

Ruby red with purple tinges. Very intense, powerful and velvety. Warm, with an excellent balance of tannins, acidity and structure.

Excellent with game or grilled meat.

Award Best Italian Regional Red Wine by Decanter

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° FEATURE °

Unveils

CLOS APALTA GOLIATH BOTTLE

I

conic Winery Lapostolle has unveiled the first ever super-sized 27-litre bottle at the legendary Toro Toro, Grosvenor House. Toro Toro was chosen for the launch as it is the leading South American themed restaurant in the Middle East. Charles de Bournet Marnier Lapostolle, the 7th generation of the Marnier Lapostolle family, opened the 27-litre bottle of the iconic Lapostolle Clos Apalta 2012.

The bottle was named Goliath, which was appropriate for Clos Apalta – a new world wine – having fought its way to the top of the wine world. This bottle is an extremely limited release, and was bottled by hand to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Lapostolle winery in Chile. The regular sized bottles will be only released at the end of 2015. The 2012 Clos Apalta is a blend of 66% Carmenere, 19% Merlot and 16% Cabernet Sauvignon which was aged for 23 months in new French oak barrels.

Also available on the night, with the special matched menu, were two very special back vintages of Clos Apalta from Double Magnum.

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O R E T O I D R O J Beverage Manager, Pragma Lifestyle

What he is drinking “I am currently enjoying the Banker’s Martini, a concoction of cardamom infused vodka, lemon juice, and homemade ginger syrup.

When it comes to drink trends in Dubai, vodka and champagne are still on top. But there is definitely a change coming, and I would have to say that most probably gin will be the next trend. Not in clubs of course, but most likely in lounges or cocktail bars. The market is ready for it, and so are the brands of gin and tonic water. Most important of all, the bartender community is begging for a change.

Cocktail wise, I am convinced that finally we are moving forward and leaving the sweet back. Probably to something more sour or even bitter, which I think is great because that means our bars and guests are growing together in a good direction.”

BANKER’S MARTINI Ingredients • 40ml Green Cardamom Infused Vodka • 80ml Lemon Juice • 40ml Homemade Ginger Syrup (2:1) Method Shake hard and fine strain into a chilled martini glass

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