Tuesday 9th March, 7pm
Champagne Ayala
Ayala very
kindly provide our most regular, and our most popular tastings.
Unsurprisingly, this tasting of a wide range of fantastic Champagne
from Bollinger's second house is always booked up a way in advance.
As well as the
fantastic Brut Majeur that we use for our house Champagne (and in our
Champagne cocktails if you wondered), Ayala produce some delicious
zero-dosage fizz (i.e. unlike most Champagne, no 'dose' of sugar is
added - also known as Ultra-Brut). This stuff goes brilliantly with
seafood, or is a great aperitif.
At the other
end of the range, Ayala has an incredible vintage Champagne, Perle
d'Ayala, which is a treat not to be missed.
We hope you can
join us to learn a little more about the blends that go into the
different Cuvées, and taste them side-by-side - the best way of
working out what suits your palate.
Tuesday 23rd March, 7pm
History of the martini with
Beefeater 24
Beefeater 24 is
so called because of the 24 hours that the botanicals are steeped in
alcohol to impart the flavour. Apparently it also relates to London's
reputation as a 24 hour city. Try telling that to anyone that has to
get a tube home past midnight...
As well as the
steeping process, Beefeater 24 is unique in using Japanese Sencha and
Chinese green teas in the mix of botanicals. Whilst these don't give a
strong tea-ness, they do add some wonderfully fresh and grassy notes
that work a treat.
Given it's a
pretty good gin, we recommend drinking it without too much extra fuss.
Beefeater clearly agree, and are coming along to talk a little bit
about the history of gin, the martini as the best way of drinking the
stuff and Beefeater itself (they're just down the road in Oval after
all).
