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Master of Malt Whisky Blog

Tag: Champagne

Ah Champagne, synonymous with celebration and good cheer. To find out what we get up to with Champagne, read on.

Tasting Pol Roger’s Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill 2008

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It’s been a great year for Churchill fans: Gary Oldman won an Oscar for Darkest Hour, Andrew Roberts released a Churchill biography, and best of all, Pol Roger have just launched a new vintage of their Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill.

Winston Churchill and Pol Roger go way back. I have seen an invoice from 1908 showing Churchill’s first purchase of Pol Roger Champagne, the 1895 vintage. The special relationship was cemented in 1944 (just after the liberation of Paris) at a lunch put on by the British ambassador to France where Churchill met with Odette Pol-Roger. They got on like a house on fire, no doubt helped by lots of the legendary 1928 vintage. Churchill became a great friend of the family and even named a racehorse after the house. In his last decade alone, he ordered 500 cases!

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Categories : We're drinking...
Tags : Champagne, Pol Roger
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The Nightcap: 14 September

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The Nightcap

Friday has arrived, meaning another edition of The Nightcap is in order, complete with all the booze news from the week that was. Surf’s up, folks.

Look at a calendar. Whether that calendar is made of paper or pixels, it’ll tell you that today is Friday. Unless you’re reading this on a day that isn’t Friday – then the calendar will tell you that it was once Friday. That’s generally how calendars work. Sometimes they give you the definition of interesting words or a picture of a small dog hanging around in a fishing village, but mostly they exist to tell you when Friday is. It’s today. Therefore, The Nightcap is a thing.

Firstly, let’s see what happened on the blog this week. Our Annie recapped the first leg of her visit to Piedmont with Cocchi, then showed us how to drink like a particularly famous British super spy. Kristy got the low-down on the final addition to Diageo’s 2018 Special Releases (they’re now available to pre-order, too!). Henry chatted to Cabby’s Rum founder Moses Odong about making rum in London and The Knowledge, then gave us a Macallan history lesson. Phew.

On to the rest of this week’s booze news!

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Categories : News
Tags : bars, Bruichladdich, Champagne, Cognac, Compass Box, Gin, Glenmorangie, Glenrothes, Irish whiskey, Jameson, news, scotch whisky, Teeling, The Balvenie, The Nightcap, wine
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The bank holiday boozes you need in your life

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With a precious bank holiday fast approaching (if you’re lucky enough to live somewhere that marks it) there is little time to waste. You need some delicious booze, but what should you choose? And where to find it? Don’t fret, dear reader. We have all the answers you need…

Bank holidays provide us with a well-earned break, a chance to catch-up with friends and/or family, and offer a seriously good excuse to indulge in a tasty tipple or two. So, what’ll it be this year? Maybe you’re one of the many going gaga for gin, or perhaps you’re on the lookout for a new go-to wine. Others will be searching for a superb single malt or are looking for some cocktail inspiration. With so many different styles and spirits around, the biggest challenge is finding the right booze to tickle your taste buds!
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Categories : We're drinking...
Tags : Auchentoshan, Champagne, cocktails, Gin, Glenmorangie, scotch whisky, That Boutique-y Gin Company, The Handmade Cocktail Company, whisky, wine
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Raise a glass of fizz and say Happy Birthday to Champagne!

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4 August marks the Birth of Champagne. Instead of celebrating this momentous day with a traditional birthday cake and candles (although you can partake if you wish), why not join us as we unpick the Birth of Champagne backstory – with a glass in hand, of course.

Fan of all things fizzy? Then you might be interested to know that 4 August is a pretty vital day when it comes to the history of sparkling wine. It’s the Birth of Champagne – so roll up and celebrate!

Not that I need an excuse to drink a glass of fizz, but what’s this Champagne Day all about?

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Categories : Features
Tags : Champagne, wine
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How to order wine at a restaurant

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Feel lost ordering a bottle in a restaurant? Want to impress a friend/partner/hot date and paralysed with The Fear? We can help! Read on for an actual sommelier’s top tips for tasty wine every time.

Picture the scene: you’re at a swanky restaurant. You’ve just been handed the wine list and everyone is looking you expectantly. The waiter glides over to take your order but just at that moment your mind goes blank, so you point to a name that looks vaguely familiar and when the wine comes, it’s a bit disappointing. We’ve all been there. But now help is at hand from Donald Edwards, the sommelier at hot new restaurant St Leonards in Shoreditch*, the brainchild of chefs Jackson Boxer and Andrew Clarke. It’s been described by Marina O’ Loughlin in the Sunday Times as “a classic in the making” – so you’ll want to pay attention. Here, Edwards gives us his top tips on how to get the most from a wine list.

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Categories : Wine
Tags : Champagne, Sparkling wine
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Imbibe 2018: What goes on at the UK’s biggest booze trade show

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Imbibe Live: You might have heard of it. You may even have been along to it. It’s one of Europe’s top drinks trade shows where trends are spotted and ideas shared. Want to know what you’ll be drinking next? Our Henry headed to Imbibe 2018 to find out…

There’s always a moment when I first arrive at a trade show where I feel like a rabbit in the headlights. I am sure this would happen to me at Photocopier Expo but at Imbibe Live, one of Europe’s largest on trade shows, I was particularly overwhelmed with the bibulous possibilities on offer. Thank heavens then for Pol Roger, which had a quiet tent offering bacon sandwiches and its vintage 1999 Champagne – just the thing at 10 in the morning. While I nibbled, chairman of Pol UK, James Simpson, told me about a stash of ancient bottles that they had just discovered in a cellar that collapsed 118 years ago. Apparently they are in great condition. I am now waiting for an invite out to Epernay to try one. Watch this space.
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Categories : Gin, Irish Whiskey, Vermouth, Whisky, Wine
Tags : Champagne
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CO2 shortage: What’s going on with my fizzy drinks?!

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All week there have been doom and gloom reports of CO2 (carbon dioxide) shortages affecting everything from our beloved summer pints and G&Ts to soft drinks and beyond. But what’s actually going on, and should we be stockpiling all things fizzy? We investigate…

The CO2 shortage just got real yesterday as in a statement Coca-Cola announced it will be “temporarily pausing” some of its fizzy drinks production. This is a problem that has been bubbling up (sorry!) all week, with all kinds of stories and rumours that without carbon dioxide there might be no beer, which combined with the hot weather and some sort of football tournament going on in Russia, could lead to anarchy on Britain’s streets and, possibly, the end of civilisation as we know it.

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Categories : Beer, News
Tags : Champagne, Gin and Tonic, Sparkling wine
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The Importance of Light Strike Awareness Day

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Have you heard of Light Strike Awareness Day? If not, Henry is here to give you the low-down…

Today, the 21st June, the longest and potentially sunniest day of the year, is Light Strike Awareness Day. What, you didn’t know? Well, I’ll grant you it doesn’t have quite the same level of recognition as Movember or British Sausage Week, but if you’re a rosé drinker in particular (and these days who isn’t) then you should be paying attention.

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Categories : Wine
Tags : Champagne, English wine, Sparkling wine
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The Nightcap: 8 June

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Jack Daniel’s-maker Brown-Forman lines up a new CEO, World Gin Day hype aplenty, and fizz in space? It can only be The Nightcap!

It’s Friday and the world’s most eclectic round-up of booze newses is back for another week! We’ve got a whole host of hot-off-the-press product launches, bar happenings galore and incoming CEOs up our sleeves. But first, let’s look back on the week that was…

While we were all recovering from the mega week-and-a-bit of Fèis Ìle 2018, Annie was bar flying-it-up at Artesian as the renowned bar team unveiled a new menu. Then, on Tuesday, she hightailed it over to The Zetter Townhouse to check out its partnership with cocktail maestro Tony Conigliaro… It’s a hard life.

On Wednesday, we had a look at your top 10 gins across Master of Malt to make what we think is a cracking list of must-tries ahead of World Gin Day (it’s tomorrow, team! Perhaps there’s just enough time to sneak in a next-day delivery…). Sticking with a theme, yesterday Adam caught up with Alex Kammerling, who just happens to have released a Kamm & Sons gin! Good timing, right?!
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Categories : American Whiskey, Cocktails, Gin, News, Scotch Whisky, Tequila, Whisky, Wine
Tags : bars, Bourbon, Brown-Forman, Champagne, Douglas Laing, Jack Daniels, Sipsmith, Tanqueray, The Nightcap
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The Nightcap: 11 May

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Folks, it’s Friday! And it’s been another busy one in the world of drinks. Thank goodness then for The Nightcap, a handy round-up of boozy goings on in one easily sippable digestif!

This week we have news of a rather exciting Game of Thrones/whisky tie-up, awards galore from Spirit of Speyside, a bold new bottle design and a Tabasco sauce update. Oh yes!

But first, we must recap the week that was, and for us on the UK it was a short one after the Early May Bank Holiday! So after a Monday snooze, on Tuesday we caught up with Cara Laing, director of whisky at independent bottler Douglas Laing, as the family-owned company marks its 70th anniversary. Then it was all about The Glenlivet on Wednesday, as the Speyside distillery revealed the results of a dabbling in Cognac cask finishing. We also checked in with the team at Scarfes Bar, London – the new recent history-inspired menu is sure to be a hit.
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Categories : American Whiskey, Beer, Cocktails, Irish Whiskey, News, Scotch Whisky, Whisky, Wine
Tags : Champagne, Glen Moray, Johnnie Walker, Port Charlotte, Redbreast, The Nightcap, Welsh Whisky
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