Bit of Bolly - Bollinger launches La Grande Année 2012

Originally appeared on Wallpaper*

The champagne house’s hotly-anticipated 2012 vintage delivers on its promise 

There aren’t many champagne houses with the legacy and prestige of Bollinger, and its most recent release will only enhance this reputation.

Those of us who enjoy a ‘bit of Bolly’ will rejoice at Bollinger’s latest UK release, the absolutely fabulous 2012 vintage of the Maison’s famed La Grande Année and its corresponding Rosé. The 2012 vintage is the premium vintage of the 21st century for Pinot Noir grapes, with a small but outstanding crop due to an almost perfect August and September. La Grande Année contains 65 per cent Pinot Noir, making for a depth and texture rarely seen, and its medium dosage contributes to a simultaneously creamy and delicately bitter champagne - an ideal partner for any budding gastronome.

Fitting, then, that La Grande Année 2012 and Rosé 2012 were launched at St. John Restaurant in Smithfield, with a bespoke pairing menu by Head Chef Steve Darou and founders Fergus Henderson and Trevor Gulliver. Fergus and Trevor were delighted at the opportunity to showcase the wines: ‘The 2012 vintage of La Grande Année and La Grande Année Rosé was an exceptional year and it has been an honour to create the dishes to pair with these great wines.

‘We have chosen the respective ingredients for each pairing after much careful consideration, with the aim of fully expressing the flavours of the dishes and the wines to their full potential.’

The event was the first stop on Bollinger’s ‘Le Grand Tour’, which will see chefs create menus celebrating single hero ingredients, expertly prepared to pair with each wine. At St. John, fresh poached langoustines from Dorset were served alongside La Grande Année 2012, the sharper elements of the champagne perfect for seafood. 

The main, a Guinea Fowl pie, was paired with La Grande Année Rosé 2012. The Rosé has been enhanced by the addition of Bollinger’s exceptional red wine from La Côte aux Enfants in Aÿ, reserved for only the greatest vintages. The region originally became famous for its red wine, and Bollinger’s special, tiny plot still employs a highly skilled Burgundy winemaking method, almost non-existent in the Champagne region. The hearty, technically challenging pie, a rich, indulgent main, was an apt accompaniment to the deeper Rosé.

After the successful launch at St. John, the second ever Grand Tour will now travel the world, giving top chefs the chance to celebrate these two cuvées alongside the very best in global cuisine. Not bad for a humble grape.

Smooth operator: Midleton releases the ‘rarest whiskey in the world’

Originally appeared on Wallpaper*

Old Midleton Distillery’s doors have been opened for one last collection, never to be seen – or tasted – again

There’s something very special coming out of Ireland. The doors of Old Midleton Distillery, closed in 1975, have been reopened by Master Distiller Brian Nation to celebrate the work of his predecessors in the now silent distillery, and to reflect on Irish whiskey’s deserved place at the industry’s top table.

The Midleton Very Rare Silent Collection will consist of six whiskeys aged between 45 and 50 years, forming Irish whiskey’s oldest collection, with a new release annually until 2025, Old Midleton Distillery’s 200th birthday. The Silent Collection is a reference to Old Midleton’s status as a silent distillery: one that has closed its doors, ceasing production. As time passes, the liquid left inside the walls of a silent distillery becomes highly sought after for its taste, prestige and rarity, with such spirits known as unicorn whiskeys. While other silent distilleries rise from the ashes and restart production, Old Midleton has been fully decommissioned. Its stills will lie empty: the Collection marks the last drops of the distillery’s finest innovations. 

The first in the Collection, released this month, is a rare beast indeed: a 45-year old peated Irish single malt. At the time, this was almost unheard of in the Irish whiskey world, and is still very much a rarity in the industry. Laid down in 1974, the spirit was the culmination of a series of trials by Master Distiller Emeritus Max Crockett, with his experimentation in peated spirits between 1964 and 1974 finally coming to light.

The whiskey is a family endeavour, with Max’s son, master distiller emeritus Barry Crockett, sourcing the peat for the 45-year-old expression while learning the trade off his father – who also happened to be the forefather of modern-day Irish whiskey. Now, current master distiller Brian Nation has had the privilege of caring for, sampling and bottling a spirit that has been waiting to be shared for five decades.

‘One of the most wondrous parts of my job is that I’m often responsible for safekeeping the legacy of another,’ Brian explains at a dinner to celebrate the release. ‘For many years now, my colleagues and I have been caring for the work of Max and Barry Crockett, to determine the optimum time to share it with the world.

‘Having monitored and sampled the liquid over the years, we’ve found that it’s the ultimate tribute to the dedication, precision and craftsmanship at Old Midleton Distillery. It’s among the very last remaining whiskey distilled through the largest pot still in the world. This makes it one of the world’s rarest whiskeys by its very nature. With notes of ripe honeydew melon, red berries and sweet spices of toasted oak, it would be a shame not to share this expression with the world.’

Barry Crockett, too, is pleased with the results: ‘It’s remarkable that 45 years on we could even be speaking about a whiskey which was distilled in the very final period of the Old Midleton Distillery. It is the ultimate heirloom and memento of the dedication to precise malt preparation, brewing and distillation skills of generations of distillers at Midleton.’

There are only 48 bottles of the expression, with 44 for sale, making this the rarest whiskey in the collection. It’s only fair, then, that the spirit gets the very best treatment, with Midleton staying true to Irish heritage and craftsmanship: the decanter has been designed by Waterford Crystal, each example a hand-blown, etched, unique work of art, and comes displayed in a wooden cabinet handcrafted by Irish designer John Galvin, using wood from reclaimed whiskey vats up to 200 years old. 

87 per cent of the cask’s contents have disappeared, taken as the angel’s share over the years. Tasting the whiskey, you can’t help but be jealous of those angels having all the fun. The nose is full of richness, an oak base layered by deep, dark spices and the comforting scent of fresh peat. Having lay dormant in third-fill sherry casks for 45 years, a punch of red berries comes through, along with a touch of honeydew melon. When you finally get to the taste, you’re enveloped by pepper and spice that softens as the malted barley brings forward barley sugar and honey notes, built on that foundation of toasted oak. The finish lingers, the pepper and sweetness combining to coat the mouth long after you’ve finished the dram.

Stood before his lucky guests and the Waterford Crystal decanter, Brian put it best: ‘The glass in front of you contains 25ml of the rarest Irish whiskey in existence. To be able to release this when Irish whiskey is in such a buoyant state is truly an honour and a privilege. It is the pinnacle of Irish whiskey.’ Having had three legends of Irish whiskey working on it for more than five decades, it’s hard to argue.

GPHG 2019: The Watch World's Big Winners

Originally appeared on Euronews Living

“Be alive, be audacious, do beautiful things together”

The 19th edition of the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) announced its winners last night during a glamorous awards ceremony in Geneva’s Théâtre du Léman. The main prize, the Aiguille d’Or Grand Prix, was won by Audemars Piguet and its groundbreaking and almost unfathomably-slender Royal Oak Self-winding Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin watch. Outspoken CEO François-Henry Bennahmias also picked up the Men’s Complication Watch and Iconic Watch Prizes for the brand, on what will be a memorable night for even as storied and respected a watchmaker as Audemars Piguet.

Arguably the most opulent category, the Jewellery Watch Prize, was won by Bulgari’s sumptuous Serpenti Misteriosi Romani. Jean-Christophe Babin, Bulgari CEO, commented on the timepiece’s ultra-lavish nature while addressing the crowd of watchmakers, collectors and journalists, but concluded on a defiant tone: “We all respect each other, but we all want to win. Be daring, audacious, break the rules. Break the mould.”

The small, the new and the brave were also rewarded. Kari Voutilainen’s eponymous brand went home with two prizes, his 28ti winning best men’s watch and the stunning Starry Night Vine winning the Artistic Crafts Watch Prize by bringing together the design traditions of the East and West in one unique timepiece. The Mechanical Watch Exception Prize was won by Genus with its GNS1.2, a coup for a home-grown company in its infancy, and one that is proof of Geneva’s continued importance in elite watchmaking.

A popular winner was Urwerk and the AMC, which snapped up the refreshingly-titled Audacity Prize. The AMC uses a 35kg atomic master clock to rewind the wristwatch, set it to the correct time and, if necessary, adjust its rate. The watch rests in a cradle within the atomic clock itself, a symbol of watchmaking’s dedication - bordering on obsession - to the pursuit of the new. The Urwerk team embodied this better than most with a speech-finishing rallying cry of “long live the insanity of the modern watchmaking world!”

During the ceremony, and on the eve of its 20th birthday, GPHG announced the upcoming creation of a watchmaking academy, set to open in Spring 2020. Supported by the City and Canton of Geneva, the academy will be made up of a wide network of ambassadors, each taking part in the various stages of watch selection in order to promote the art of watchmaking worldwide.

Read More | GPHG reaches Geneva for the main event

Finally, the night’s Special Jury Prize was awarded to Luc Pettavino, founder and organiser of Only Watch, a biennial auction of 50 one-off timepieces made by the finest manufacturers. Pattavino founded Only Watch in 2004, inspired by his son, Paul, who had been diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. In collaboration with Prince Albert II of Monaco, all proceeds from the auction (the eighth edition is this Saturday, 8th November) go towards researching and finding a cure for DMD - the charity has so far raised more than 40 million Swiss Francs. Pattavino ended his speech with the lessons he’d learned from his son, saying that Paul had “taught us to be alive, be audacious, and do beautiful things together”. Sitting in the Théâtre du Léman on the watch world’s most prestigious evening, it seemed no group of people could reflect this approach to life more perfectly than the one that celebrates the art, science and joy of creating beautiful watches.

FULL LIST OF WINNERS:

Aiguille d’Or Grand Prix: Audemars Piguet, Royal Oak Selfwinding Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin

Ladies’ Watch Prize: Chanel, J12 Calibre 12.1

Ladies’ Complication Watch Prize: MB&F, Legacy Machine FlyingT

Men’s Watch Prize: Voutilainen, 28ti

Men’s Complication Watch Prize: Audemars Piguet, Code 11.59 by Audemars Piguet Minute Repeater Supersonnerie

Iconic Watch Prize: Audemars Piguet, Royal Oak "Jumbo" Extra-thin

Chronometry Watch Prize: Chronométrie Ferdinand Berthoud, Carburised steel regulator

Calendar and Astronomy Watch Prize: Hermès, Arceau L'heure de la lune

Mechanical Exception Watch Prize: Genus, GNS1.2

Chronograph Watch Prize: Bvlgari, Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT Automatic

Diver’s Watch Prize: Seiko, Prospex LX line diver's

Jewellery Watch Prize: Bvlgari, Serpenti Misteriosi Romani

Artistic Crafts Watch Prize: Voutilainen, Starry Night Vine

Petite Aiguille Prize: Kudoke, Kudoke 2

Challenge Watch Prize: Tudor, Black Bay P01

Innovation Prize: Vacheron Constantin, Traditionnelle Twin Beat perpetual calendar

Audacity Prize: Urwerk, AMC

“Horological Revelation” Prize: Ming, 17.06 Copper

Special Jury Prize: Luc Pettavino, Founder and Organiser of Only Watch

The Whisky Master of Seville

Originally appeared on Spear’s

What does Seville have to do with Scotch? David Taylor heads to southern Spain to find out 

A month or so ago, an email pinged into my inbox with an invitation to a whisky launch in Seville. Usually there would be no hesitation, but I hovered over the reply button. What did Seville, spiritual home of Spanish exploration, tapas and oranges, have to do with a dram that was dreamed up over 60 years ago in the drizzle of Aberdeen and matured at Speyside’s Strathisla distillery?

Quite a lot, as it turns out. It all comes down to sherry.

Again, you might think that sherry and whisky have very little in common, but finishing whisky in sherry casks is a practice with a long tradition. Sherry’s sweetness can add a depth of flavour the original liquid would otherwise lack.

The sherry casks used by Royal Salute Whisky come from Pedro Ximénez grapes. Combine them with the dark caramel notes of a Scotch, and you have a match made in heaven. Where are the best Pedro Ximénez casks said to come from? Just outside of Seville.

And so I found myself watching a private Flamenco performance within Seville’s UNESCO World Heritage Royal Alcázar palace complex while trying Royal Salute’s 29 Year Old Pedro Ximénez Sherry Cask Finish Edition. The whisky’s Master Blender, Sandy Hyslop, was there, too, and waxed lyrical both about his new creation and the casks he’d had the fortune of using: “We have a good working relationship with the cask providers and that was important for the development of this special blend. We didn’t want to just buy empty casks, but wanted to control the process from start to finish.

‘We were able to create Pedro Ximénez casks that were fabricated for us from Spanish oak, fully conditioned with sherry and shipped to us in Scotland during the winter months to avoid any issues with transit in containers in the warmer months. This process took several years, but was worth the wait.’

Waiting is something in which Royal Salute has become particularly versed. Launched in 1953 by Chivas Brothers in tribute to the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, the whisky is named after the traditional 21-gun salute. It follows, therefore, that all whisky used in the blend has been aged for a minimum of 21 years, demanding a significant amount of forward planning, to the extent that Sandy is now planning whiskies he’ll likely never taste. This hasn’t dampened his drive: ‘We started talking about this expression years ago, and as we’re always turned towards innovation, we felt this was a great opportunity to create a “first” for Royal Salute, as we’ve never fully finished our whisky in first fill Pedro Ximénez sherry casks before.

‘Whisky is such a versatile and complex spirit that we felt enhancing the flavour of the liquid by finishing every single drop of it in the sherry casks would add another dimension to the blend. The sherry butt finish brings an amplification of the rich velvety character of the whisky but also brings a gentle spicy nuance too.’

Thanks to its Sevillian influence, the whisky has orange notes on the nose, along with a tell-tale hint of sultana, courtesy of its Spanish sherry partner. The sweet taste is full of plum and treacle, and the finish is long and sweet with that spicy kick, a product of the whisky’s long maturation and full sherry finish. A Scottish spirit informed by an Andalusian fire: the journey from Speyside to Seville and back again might sound like an unexpected package holiday, but it’s done the trick for Royal Salute. A bit of Spanish sun never did anyone any harm, after all.


The new world of watchmaking at SIHH 2019

Originally appeared on Living by Euronews

High-end watchmaking is an industry steeped in tradition and proud heritage, which can prove to be a problem when the modern world comes knocking. However, at this year's Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie, tradition met tech in a much-needed boost to the industry.

The 29th edition brought together the best watchmakers in the world for four days to show off their latest creations.

SIHH kicked off on Sunday night at the inauguration party, with all 35 brand CEOs gathering for the annual photo to talk shop and let their hair down for the evening. The show continued in kind, with evening cocktail parties at various stands and Champagne as a well-deserved treat for industry professionals - and writers - at the end of each day.

For the second year running, SIHH was also open to everyone on the final day, giving the public a chance to be among the first to see the latest in the enigmatic world of luxury timepieces. Here are the highlights from Geneva’s world of superwatches.

Call of the sea

A major new partnership was unveiled by Panerai, straight out of the traps on day one. In support of its homeland, the Italian brand has become the official sponsor of Luna Rossa, the Italian yacht and crew looking to compete in the 36th America’s Cup. Panerai joins Prada and Pirelli to create a trinity of P’s for the Italian team, and skipper Max Sirena doesn’t underestimate how important the new partnership could turn out to be: “This is the period where we are taking strategic and important decisions, which is going to give us a result in a few years’ time.”

In tribute to the agreement, Panerai has released the Submersible Luna Rossa 47mm. The case, like the boat’s hull, is made of carbon fibre, and sailcloth has been applied to the dials, adding the finishing touches to a professional diving watch water-resistant up to 300 metres.

L’heure de la lune

Hermès made an impression with its brooding entrance design. Conceived by London-based Hideki Yoshimoto, the imposing sphere was inspired by Hermès’ latest release, the Arceau L’heure de la Lune. The new watch displays the moon’s phases in both northern and southern hemispheres simultaneously, leading Yoshimoto to create his own interpretation of the double moon concept: “There aren’t two moons, but two moon faces.

“It’s about sharing. We have billions of viewpoints of the Earth in the history of humankind. We were all born here, all of us have spent our lives here, and everyone has looked at the same moon. That’s the beauty of the double moon concept. What we wanted to feature is not the moon but the Earth.”

Another in the new collection is also a contestant for best name at SIHH 2019 - the watch with a wolf howling at a crescent moon is aptly titled the Arceau Awooooo. Yes, that’s five o’s.

Tech with tradition

While haute horology doesn’t have the strongest record accepting the fast-paced world of technology, this year’s SIHH had a decidedly futuristic addition. The SIHH LAB, an ongoing research and development incubator, included innovations from the worlds of craft, augmented reality - and cocktail making - to showcase the tech at the forefront of watchmaking.

Fabienne Lupo, Managing Director of the Foundation de la Haute Horlogerie, sees the LAB as an important new development for the show: “We are a really innovative, contemporary, modern and dynamic industry. We wanted to show that, and also attract new talent.”

A highlight of the LAB (alongside the unarguably attractive cocktail-making installation) included Leap Motion gesture recognition. Simply place a special strap around your wrist, and through your phone not only see how any watch looks on you, but also interact with the timepiece.

Hey Lambo…

Lambo Italiano. Roger Dubuis has a reputation for the dramatic, which came as no surprise to anyone who took a look at the Lamborghini installed at the front of the Maison’s installation. Roger Dubuis’ creative team has designed a unique timepiece, the Excalibur One-Off, inspired by the recently unveiled Lamborghini SC18 Alston supercar. Like the watch, the SC18 Alston is Lamborghini’s first ever one-off hypercar.

Collaborating with the car manufacturer - and tyre godfather Pirelli for the strap - Roger Dubuis has packed as many technical novelties into the Excalibur as seems to be humanly possible, including a completely unnecessary but very fun function selector. Like a supercar mode selector, choose between ‘W' for watch winding and ’S’ for setting the time. Ridiculous and brilliant.

Cartier Privé

Cartier had a huge presence at this year’s SIHH. One particularly special part, however, was the Cartier Privé collection, the latest in a line of capsules celebrating the evolution of watches throughout history’s fashions and technological developments. At SIHH, Cartier chose to release updated versions of the 1906 Tonneau. The original had an unusual shape, a mix between rectangle and oval. This was to fit better on the wrist and was a precursor to a more modern shape.

Cartier has released two new versions of this seminal timepiece. The hours and minutes model sticks close to the original, with slight contemporary changes. The second piece, a skeleton dual time zone model, has incorporated what was originally two separate mechanisms - one for each time zone - into one movement, retaining the Tonneau’s original aesthetic.

Lange-versary

It’s an important year for A. Lange & Söhne. The manufacture has developed 63 calibres since founder Walter Lange and his partner Günter Blümlein presented four new wristwatches on October 24th 1994, marking a renaissance for the company. A quarter of a century later, the most famous of these remains the LANGE 1.

As you’ve probably guessed, the manufacture is celebrating the milestone by releasing an update of the original LANGE 1. The white gold version is limited to 250 pieces and features a deep blue printed argenté dial and a hinged cuvette (the back of the watch) with an engraving of Lange’s headquarters in the town of Glashütte, the birthplace of German watchmaking.

Candy Land

Richard Mille has tried to sweeten the deal for its customers by releasing the Bonbon collection, a range of confectionary-related timepieces. Cécile Guenat, artistic director of the collection, based the ten pieces on three existing models, revisiting them with a palette of 60 colours. The attention to detail even comes down to the crowns of some pieces being shaped like cupcakes and ice cream. The RM 07-03 Marshmallow is incredibly realistic thanks to modern enamelwork, while 3,000 miniature sculptures are integrated into the three pieces in the Fruit line, which includes the see-it-from-across-the-room bright lemon and strawberry (RM 16-01 Citron et Fraise).

Naughty Nardin

There’s always one. Ulysse Nardin, known for its maritime watches, has teamed up with Italian erotic comic book artist Milo Manara to create a series of ten watches that stretch from mildly titillating to downright graphic. Illustrating a love story between ‘Ulyssa' the mermaid and ‘Nadia’ the human, Manara’s work takes us on a journey into what the brand calls “a timeless, nautical reverie”.

Manara’s collection of ten images has been transferred onto the watch face through a technique known as micropainting, meaning the reproduction is as intricate as the original. Ten pieces per drawing will be made, both in stainless steel and rose gold, limiting the series to 200. Manara says of the collection “I am sure that mermaids do exist”. If they’re anything like this, I’m going sailing more often.

Le Carré des Horlogers

Just off the show’s main thoroughfare is the Carré des Horlogers, a selection of 17 smaller brands dedicated to craftsmanship and bespoke projects. Armin Strom, for instance, specialises in skeletonisation - where the intricate inner workings of the timepiece are visible - while futurist brand Urwerk takes its name from the ancient Mesopotamian city of Ur, where our entire system of measuring time originated.

It’s here that many horological advances find their home. Belgian brand Ressence recently released the Type 2, the first watch to have a smart crown. The light-powered e-Crown digitally registers the manually-set time and automatically checks and readjusts. Even after three months of inactivity, once the owner taps the crown, it will set the watch to the right time.

Also in the Carré des Horlogers was the Time Æon Foundation, which safeguards traditional watchmaking knowledge and skills while encouraging technological developments. Supporters include Greubel Forsey, Urwerk and Ferdinand Berthoud, modern brands that all have a reverence for tradition.

12 hours in Frankfurt - Atlas City Guide

Originally appeared on Atlas by Etihad

Germany’s financial centre is about more than big banks and shiny suits. Lose yourself for the day in the best of Frankfurt’s restaurants, gardens and museums

10:00 Frankfurt Botanical Garden

Frankfurt has the image of a bustling financial hub, but you can start your day in greener surroundings at the Botanischer Garten Frankfurt am Main – seven hectares of botanical garden in the central Westend-Süd district, only a 20-minute taxi ride from the airport. A fixture in the city since the 18th century, it originally served as a medicinal garden for the adjacent public hospital, and all three of its gardens are open to the public daily throughout summer. Directly next door is the Palmengarten, 22 more hectares of free-air and acclimatised greenhouses full of tropical and sub-tropical plants.
Siesmayerstraße 61, 60323; +49 69 2123 6689

11:30 Main Tower

The best view of the city comes from the 56th-floor observation deck of Main Tower in the financial district. It’s Frankfurt’s (and Germany’s) fourth tallest building, and the only skyscraper in the city with a viewing platform. Take in the stellar view of the Old Town and the banks of the River Main, surrounded by the superstructures of the financial district.
Neue Mainzer Straße 52-58, 60311; +49 69 3650 4878

12:45 Oosten

A leisurely half-hour wander down the river from Main Tower, Oosten is an industrial-style restaurant in a glass, steel and wood building at the base of a massive crane by the waterside. You get a 270-degree view of the Frankfurt skyline, and delicious local soul food along with vegan and gluten-free options. Oosten is good at any time of day (though the terrace is a must at sunset), but lunchtime gives you an insight into local life in Frankfurt in the coolest part of the city.
Mayfarthstraße 4, 60314; +49 69 949 425 6814

14:30 Museumsufer

Why have one museum when you can have 16? Frankfurt’s museum embankment flanks both sides of the river and houses some of Germany’s most important artworks and artefacts. Central to this is the Städel Museum, which holds one of the country’s most precious art collections: 2,700 paintings, 600 sculptures, 100,000 drawings and prints, and 100,000 books. Paintings from masters such as van Eyck, Rembrandt, Botticelli, Degas and Vermeer adorn the walls. Besides the Städel, the Museumsufer covers themes such as film, architecture, communication and Frankfurt’s Jewish community.
Schaumainkai 63, 60596; +49 69 2123 6325

17:30 Old Town

While Frankfurt’s Old Town was mainly destroyed in the Second World War, plans to rebuild it according to its original design were put in place in the 1980s, and have recently been completed. The historic centre, Römerberg, is a beautiful square showcasing the traditional half-timbered architectural style of medieval Europe. The centrepiece Römer building has been Frankfurt’s city hall for more than 600 years, and was also painstakingly restored by the city. Take a seat and enjoy a sweet coffee with cream at nearby Bitter & Zart, a chocolaterie specialising in all things cocoa.
Braubachstraße 14, 60311; +49 69 9494 2846

19:30 Restaurant Klosterhof

A trip to Frankfurt wouldn’t be complete without a taste of its grüne soße, or green sauce. This “grie soss” (as the Frankfurters pronounce it) is a mixture of seven fresh herbs and a combination of creams, oils and any other delicious ingredients you could think of that would work in a sauce. Usually served cold with boiled potatoes, boiled eggs or roast beef brisket, the best way to experience it is with the Frankfurter schnitzel – accompanied by local apfelwein (cider). Restaurant Klosterhof serves a praiseworthy schnitzel – as does Austrian eatery Salzkammer – but insist on the green sauce.
Weißfrauenstraße 3, 60311 (Klosterhof), Weißadlergasse 15, 60311 (Salzkammer)

22:00 Robert Johnson

Despite it being named after a famed blues musician, the Robert Johnson club is all about techno and electronic music. It’s said that the sound system is the best in Europe, and whether true or not, international and local DJs flock to play this small club in the Offenbach district. Like most German clubs, it has a strict, no-nonsense door policy, but with a main room holding fewer than 100 people, it’s worth the hassle for an intimate musical experience.
Nordring 131, 63067; +49 69 9202 0990

Behind The Scenes At CRN Shipyard, Ancona

Originally appeared on Wallpaper*

Two things strike you as you walk around CRN’s shipyard in Ancona, Italy. The first is that the water in this part of the Adriatic is a very particular shade of light, chalky blue, which bounces off the hull of a yacht as if by design. The second is that everything is really big.

This makes sense: after all, CRN is in the business of thinking big. Designing and building fully custom steel and aluminium yachts of up to 100 metres in length needs space – 80,000 sq m, in fact, of gargantuan warehouses and private marinas, all based in Ancona’s historic harbour. Founded in 1963 in the city, CRN’s dedicated fleet now numbers more than 180, along with a healthy number of aluminium and light-alloy models built for other brands under the Ferretti Group umbrella.

Having just completed its latest megayacht, CRN is building four other custom yachts simultaneously, each build bringing its own challenges and ambitious owners. Working in such a bespoke and exacting world should be a sure-fire formula for stress, especially when any new materials you develop or solutions you find probably won’t be used again, but to Gabriele Piacenti, senior project architect at CRN, it’s anything but. ‘It’s very fun,’ says Gabriele, pretty persuasively. ‘For an architect or designer it’s probably one of the best places to work.

‘Maybe you never use things again, but our yachts are one-offs. For example, we’ve been working with these guys at Fendi and other luxury brands, and we asked them to study some elements for decorative walls. We work directly with the craftsmen, asking for something new.

‘Each detail has to be clear in our mind. We have to make in three dimensions what we draw in two dimensions, so you think in 3D, you draw in 2D, you come back to 3D. It’s not so easy, but it’s really fun.’

Costanza Pazzi, chief architect of CRN’s design department, has just finished work on CRN’s latest creation, the 79-metre steel and aluminium M/Y 135 megayacht, launched earlier this year at a lavish private ceremony attended by not only the owner and guests, but all those who worked on the yacht’s creation. Working alongside Zuccon International Project on the exterior and Laura Sessa for interiors, the new ship has five decks accommodating 12 guests in five VIP cabins, plus the owner’s suite and a 29-strong crew.

Even working with experts like Zuccon and Laura Sessa, and nearly 200 other accomplished professionals, getting a superyacht from a mood board to the water isn’t an easy task: ‘I worked closely with Laura and the [owner’s] family,’ Costanza explains. ‘In the first meeting, they asked for a mountain chalet on the water. We used a lot of white wood, oak, a lot of wallpaper. We also used a lot of teak and all the colours that the family chose, because they each chose their own cabins. It was amazing to work with them.’

CRN is represented in every meeting a client has with its designers, because as Constanza says, ‘at the end of the day, they would like something, but I have to build [the boat]. I have to explain what we can and can’t do, because we’re not in a building.

‘Sometimes we fight, but at the end we find a compromise. For me, a boat is a beautiful compromise.’

Other concept projects in the pipeline are collaborations with some of yachting’s most important designers – Alfarosso (45m, 50m and 55m) by Francesco Paszkowski, Begallta (75m) by Lobanov and She (70m) by Vallicelli. Looks like there are more beautiful compromises on the horizon.

Sheffield: Why It's Time To Reconsider The Steel City

Originally appeared on Esquire UK

Sheffield doesn’t seem to get much national coverage. It’s that city in South Yorkshire, isn’t it? Used to make steel, two decent football teams, pretty hilly. Not much to see here.

For most Sheffielders, that’s fine with them. Sheffield is comfortable being itself, cheerfully under-hyped. From sport - it’s the home of modern football (the original rules were written here in 1858) and hosts snooker’s World Championship - to music (Arctic Monkeys, Pulp and The Human League, anyone?), Sheffield has plenty to brag about, yet gets on with life, letting other local cities vie for the limelight.

It still has parochial elements, but Britain’s biggest village isn’t all greasy chip butties and old men supping a warm ale with their whippets (although we’ll hear nothing against that). The Steel City has another side that it would be remiss not to experience, a creative, independent and dynamic underbelly that locals and privileged outsiders know all about. For a weekend away, Sheffield should be near the top of the list. Just don’t tell too many people.

To stay: Brocco on the Park

This beautiful Edwardian boutique hotel overlooking Endcliffe Park is perfectly placed for wherever your mood takes you. From here it’s a ten minute walk into the city centre (and probably about twenty back, courtesy of one of Sheffield’s hills / that last Old Fashioned you had “for the road”). For a day surrounded by nature, grab one of Brocco’s Big Five super smoothies and head only ten minutes by car into the Peak District. You might think this is an exaggeration, but the city is deeply connected to the countryside, and has the most trees per person in Europe - it’s come some way since its industrial days.

Breakfast: Marmadukes

This independent café in the heart of Sheffield has been serving a greedy city from three floors of an old Georgian townhouse since 2012, its eccentric, winding layout lending it a conspiratorial atmosphere. Almost everything is made in-house each morning, the artisan bread coming from nearby Worksop and the milk from Our Cow Molly, only three miles away. If you’re feeling ambitious, go for the gut-busting Duke’s Breakfast. If this is too much for your morning sensitivities, don’t worry - their avocado toast is just as good.

Coffee: Take your pick

The people of Sheffield love coffee. Maybe it’s all the walking everyone seems to do, or maybe the nightlife is too tempting, but a morning pick-me-up is vital to the vast majority. Luckily, the city has its fair share of quality coffeehouses, especially around busy West Street.

Tamper Coffee is run by Kiwis and brings the best of New Zealand coffee culture to the city, while Steam Yard is in a great little courtyard that feels miles away from the centre. A few minutes down the road is Sheffield’s most design-led coffeeshop - Ink & Water serves premium coffee and local treats, but is also a graphic design and animation studio, with a real Bauhaus vibe throughout.

Dinner: Jöro

Shipping container restaurants are definitely a thing, at least at Krynkl, a collection of containers housing start-ups, a rooftop bar and Jöro, a restaurant offering “a meal built of many small plates”. It was awarded a Bib Gourmand in the Michelin Guide 2019, and head chef Luke French cooks his “New Nordic” dishes with hyper-seasonal and sustainable ingredients. The barbecued Moss Valley pork belly with Hoisin is a highlight. As are the other seven dishes you’ll invariably have.

Cocktails: Public

Public was recently awarded the best place to drink in the country by Observer Food Monthly, which is a far cry from the underground building’s original use as a public toilet. Underneath the Town Hall, the owners weren’t even allowed to install card machines at first due to the building’s protected status. Somehow they’ve sweet-talked the council, so no need to walk across the road to the cash machines.

The brass-and-leather-soaked bar serves cocktails from a menu split into four sections: Public Awareness (sustainable), Public Footpath (locally sourced), Public Liability (extra strength), and Public Health (alcohol free). Many focus on sustainability and locality, with regular forage sessions in the nearby Peak District and agreements with coffeeshops to take in their used grounds. Public also collaborates with other local businesses, such as vinyl store Bear Street Records and potter Grey Suit Clay. It’s small, it’s cool and it serves (probably) the best hedgerow negroni in the world.

Pub: Kelham Island Quarter

If you like beer, you might never leave. Sheffield has a huge range of pubs, but nowhere is the ale-to-person ratio more skewed to the amber liquid than Kelham Island. Formerly the industrial heartland of the city, the Quarter is regularly voted one of the coolest areas to live in the UK, and with good reason: plenty of start-ups have moved into the attractive Edwardian-era buildings, thirsty for emerging business and a good pint. There’s also the monthly Peddler Night Market, an open-plan food truck paradise with live music and a pop-up gin bar.

Art: Millennium Gallery

A visit to the central gallery offers an intriguing insight into Sheffield’s industrial and artistic pasts, and art, craft and design installations share the modernist space with permanent exhibitions detailing the city’s past - and current - expertise in steel. The gallery shares a wall with the Winter Garden, a huge temperate glasshouse and botanical garden open to the public that also serves as the BBC studio during the snooker World Championship.

Theatre: The Crucible

The Crucible is much more than the home of snooker, putting on world class theatre, music and ballet year-round. Sir Ian McKellen has regularly performed there through the years, and recently said “I shall always be proud that, with Edward Petherbridge, I was in the first play ever at the Crucible in 1971. Chekov’s Swansong was part of the concert which opened the now iconic open stage.” He’s back this year with a solo show. If it’s good enough for Gandalf, it’s good enough for you.



Hockney - Van Gogh: The Joy of Nature

Originally on Living it

Art is a risky business at the best of times; curating an exhibition of a living artist can be difficult, making sure both the artist and the public are happy with the finished show. Imagine adding to the mix one of history’s most popular painters and linking the two through a common theme in their works. That’s exactly what Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum has done in its latest exhibition, Hockney — Van Gogh: The Joy of Nature. The ‘Dave and Vince Show’, as Hockney has been calling it the past few months, unites two artistic superstars through their common love of the natural world.

It’s obvious that Hockney has been deeply inspired by Van Gogh, taking the Dutch master’s swirling canvasses and adding ethereal colour to the natural setting. The exhibition focuses on a series of Van Gogh’s paintings from 1887-89, a productive time during which he travelled Provence, painting the countryside while struggling with his health. While Van Gogh’s paintings of nature could be seen as an escape from himself, Hockney’s are a reclaiming of a past self, a nostalgia for a homeland, once thought disappeared but remaining.

A carefully-selected collection of Hockney’s paintings from 1997 - when he first began returning to Yorkshire to paint - to the present day, adorns a huge expanse of the Van Gogh Museum, covering two floors and multiple rooms. For Hockney, it’s a return to simpler themes. His landscape paintings - in particular the magnificent The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire in 2011 (twenty eleven) - show a clear link to many of Van Gogh’s landscapes, such as Field with Irises near Arles (1888) and The Garden of Saint Paul’s Hospital (‘Leaf-Fall’) (1889).

One major difference is Hockney’s use of colour. Van Gogh’s paintings are full of movement and vibrancy, but it’s Hockney’s combining of unexpected colours that transport us to the East Yorkshire countryside. Many of Hockney’s more recent works have centred around Woldgate, a Roman road on the way to the town of Bridlington. “I asked somebody once, ‘what colour is the road?’” says Hockney. “He looked for a moment and said ‘it’s not just grey, is it?’ I said, ‘no it’s not, if you really look.’ But you have to really look.

“With photography you’re not really looking, but when you’re drawing one blade of grass, you’re looking and then you see the other blades of grass, and you’re always seeing more. Well, that’s exciting to me, and it was exciting to Van Gogh. He saw very, very clearly.

“He was kind of a miserable man in a way, but when he was painting, he wasn’t.”

The similarities and contrasts are uncovered with intelligent placement of the artists’ works: a wall of Hockney here, a single Van Gogh on an adjacent pillar there, the lighting casting different perspectives as you move around the room, pillars blocking and revealing works simultaneously.

Interestingly, despite Hockney’s comments on photography, a highlight of the exhibition is his moving image piece The Four Seasons: Woldgate Woods. Shot over - you’ve guessed it - four seasons in his favourite spot, the collection of film is overlaid, spliced, and shot from almost imperceptibly different angles, so that the eye never rests. After all, when was the last time you looked straight ahead while walking in the countryside? Like with Van Gogh, movement is key.

As Van Gogh moved art from the 19th to 20th Century, so Hockney contributes to the evolution of art from 20th to 21st. Both artists escaped home for sunnier climes (Hockney still spends much of his time in California); both painted nature as they saw it. Whereas Van Gogh used nature as a cleansing sanctuary from himself and those around him, Hockney uses the gentle fields and woods of his native land as a reconnect to both the land and its people.

In Hockney’s own words: “The world is colourful. It is beautiful, I think. Nature is great. Van Gogh worshipped nature… He might have been miserable, but that doesn’t show in his work. There are always things that will try to pull you down. But we should be joyful in looking at the world”.

Hockney — Van Gogh: The Joy of Nature runs until May 26, vangoghmuseum.nl

Survive in style: luxury Doomsday shelters

Originally in issue 50 of Oracle time at online

Ben Rickert, in Adam McKay’s 2015 financial semi-biopic The Big Short, is a bit of an unorthodox character. He’s based on real-life banker Ben Hockett, who teamed up with his neighbours to bet against the American housing market and was rewarded handsomely.

Played by Brad Pitt, we meet Rickert mid-film and are greeted with his first claim about the future: “seeds will be the new currency”. Rickert is a survivalist, a man who believes modern society will collapse, leaving us to feed and protect ourselves against the elements – and each other.

The Big Short is based on a book of the same name, covering the build-up and climax of the housing crisis and financial crash of 2008. Nobody seemed to learn from that blip/catastrophe, and some believe it’s only a matter of time before something similar happens again. To that end, there’s a select group of individuals that have taken it upon themselves to prepare for the worst, be it a financial crash, a nuclear holocaust, or Piers Morgan being given more of a platform.

According to Brad Pitt, Hockert lives in a Californian home inaccessible by car, far from human settlement. In the film, he has multiple phone lines, and grows his own vegetables. This is 101 prepping for most enthusiasts, who number more than you’d think. For luxury survivalists, however, this is small-fry. Welcome to the big leagues.

New Zealand has been of particular interest to the super-rich looking to escape armageddon, with its isolation, lack of population and lush farming the perfect mix for a survivalist wanting the good life. A group of Silicon Valley executives have recently buried bunkers in the country, only to be found by GPS. The Investor Plus Visa also allows the rich to effectively buy property – and nationality – by investing a minimum of $10 million (approximately £5.2 million) within three years.

Rising S Company

The bunkers have been built and installed by American company Rising S Co, whose business motto is: “We don’t sell fear. We sell preparedness.” You too can get your own slice of preparedness from the reasonable price of £30,000, “specifically designed for the blue collar American family.” If you’re thinking there’s a touch of Fallout about it all, you’re not far off.

Included in the starter package bunker (8×12 sq.ft) is a range of mod-cons, such as a basic air filtration system, water pressure pump and 12 volt TV/DVD combination machine. The bunker prices steadily rise, but for those wanting something extra special to hole up in during hell on Earth, the company offer a £6.5 million luxury bomb shelter called The Aristocrat. The Aristocrat holds court over a bunker complex big enough for 50 people to sleep comfortably, with a full kitchen, sauna, swimming pool, bowling alley and a greenhouse with LED grow lights, among other perks that make you almost wish for a viral pandemic to occur.

Oppidum Bunker in Czech Republic

Survivalists have been just as busy in Europe, with companies making big money from the end of the world. The friendly-sounding mega-structure, The Oppidum, is in the Czech Republic and was conceived in 1984 at the height of the Cold War. Because powerful thumbs across the world were poised over various red buttons, the governments of Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union pumped money into a huge apocalypse-proof complex capable of sustaining a community for 10 years. The Oppidum is the result, and they don’t make ’em like they used to.

Along with the staggering above-ground 30,000 sq.m (323,000 sq.ft) plot, the below-ground, super-safe section has a total space of 7,200 sq.m (77,500 sq.ft), with ceiling heights of four metres. This is split up in to one 630 sq.m and six 160 sq.m apartments, an underground garden with simulated natural light, a swimming pool, library, cinema and spa; offices and a conference room (for all those meetings you’ll have after the breakdown of modern civilisation); and medical and surgical facilities. There’s also a wine cellar, which was probably the first room installed.

The Vivos Group

The Vivos Group has already sold out an 80-man Cold War shelter in Indiana, USA, and is in the process of reworking a Soviet base bore into a 400ft mountain near Rothenstein, Germany. The Soviets knew how to build big bunkers: the complex is 2,300 sq.m (250,000 sq.ft), and will apparently house up to 1,000 people, with over three miles of tunnel chambers, bespoke living quarters, a zoo, space for culturally significant items and a gene bank to protect the existence of plant and animal life. Vivos Group have thought of everything; hot water, exercise equipment and even kennels are installed and ready to go.

The price? A semi-private suite costs around £31,000. An apartment – £1.8 million. Compared to central London, that’s not bad at all – and peace of mind is priceless, right? I’ll start stocking up on seeds.

44°N Gin - sustainable gin from the home of perfume

Originally on Living it

On the Côte d’Azur, in the hills north of Cannes, lies the town of Grasse. Since the end of the 18th Century, it’s been seen as integral to the perfume industry - “la capitale mondiale des parfums”, as the French so eloquently put it.

Perfume houses like Galimard, Molinard and Fragonard are still headquartered in the town and have given in to the temptation of the omnipresent ‘factory tour’, but remain gorgeous mementos of a France gone by. There is, however, a new industry growing in Grasse that takes some of its inspiration from the old perfumeries.

A distillery sourcing its botanicals locally

Comte de Grasse, founded in 2017, has just released its first spirit, a particularly futuristic gin named 44°N in honour of the location of its factory, formerly one of the town’s perfumeries and producers of raw materials for perfumers since 1820. The area, perfect over so many years for sourcing the very best perfume ingredients also lends itself to a distillery sourcing its botanicals: local cade, mimosa, jasmine, immortelle, lavender and rose centifolia are all within plucking distance.

Tradition and romanticism are all well and good, but they get you nowhere in the growing world of sustainability: beautiful design and romantic backstory are no longer enough in an industry crying out for eco innovation. It’s here that 44°N has managed to combine the perfume world with the future of spirit distillation.

Comte de Grasse’s master scientist Marie-Anne Contamin has worked with the University of Nice and Sophia Antipolis Research Lab to introduce three incredibly complex-sounding processes to gin distillation, to improve both the spirit’s sustainable credentials and its taste. This trio of methods is codenamed Grasse HYPRX, for ease in conversation and presumably also to make the distillery sound more exciting than anything Elon Musk has come up with.

Ultrasonic maceration

The first step, ultrasonic maceration, creates microscopic bubbles that burst and de-structure the cells of the botanicals present, extracting flavour and character. The low-energy process enables a quick and high extraction rate, which in turn gets the best tasting notes from each ingredient.

The resulting pulp - or macerate - is then moved onto the vacuum distillation stage. Further flavours are extracted from the ingredients at low pressure and temperature, in order to adequately concentrate the alcohol level while preserving any fragile notes and creating a more energy efficient process.

The final step is the most Space Age in technique and name. CO2 superficial extraction, in layman’s terms, is the process of pumping high pressure CO2 plasma through each botanical - with the pressure tailored to the molecular structure of each - to extract the exact flavours wanted for the gin.

Innovative gin production

While the steps are familiar - maceration, extraction, distillation - the intricacy of the processes has reached the next level of technical prowess, using significantly less energy and fewer natural resources than traditional gin production, and seeming more akin to the exacting standards of perfume creation.

Replacing the perfume industry is vital for Grasse, the local community having seen years of decline due to many of the famed perfume manufacturers moving to more industrial areas. To this end, before the botanicals even get to the distillery, they’re hand-picked by Renouer, a cooperative dedicated to rebuilding the economic independence of the area.

With one final homage to Grasse’s past, 44°N’s bottle is a Bleu Klein beauty, taken straight from a perfume bottle designer’s handbook. For the local area, perfume remains an important cultural and financial aspect of life, and with Comte de Grasse, this looks set to continue for some time to come.

The Spirit of Scotch: ghost distilleries with Diageo's Dr Jim Beveridge

Originally appeared on Living it

While Scotch whisky is currently enjoying huge popularity across a wide range of audiences, the landscape hasn’t always been this way. Whisky is risky - the product has to sit in casks for a minimum of three years and a day before it can even be called Scotch, so forward planning is the cornerstone of any distiller’s business. Unfortunately, this, along with the peaks and troughs of whisky popularity, means that some distilleries aren’t able to survive. These are the ‘ghost distilleries’, places where once was a thriving business, but now lie only a few unopened casks.

The whiskies from these ghost distilleries can be highly sought after, both for their unique flavour profiles and romantic provenance. Scotch giant Johnnie Walker has collected a number of ‘irreplaceable casks’, in order to preserve the legacy of distillers that had to concede their dream of producing their own whisky.

The brand’s parent company, Diageo, has also decided to reopen two distilleries and guide them back to their former glory. Brora, a Highlands distillery, was cursed by its own success, when a second distillery was built alongside it to meet demand, just before the market crash of the late 1970s, and it finally ceased production in 1983. Islay distillery Port Ellen closed the same year, having run since 1825. However, both will have a new lease of life when they reopen in 2020, rediscovering the one-of-a-kind tastes of each.

Dr Jim Beveridge, master distiller at Johnnie Walker, has worked for the brand for almost four decades, having joined as a chemistry graduate straight out of University. His first job, as a flavour chemist, saw him slowly make the move over to the blending table with his understanding of the relationship of maturation between whisky and the casks it is stored in. His newest creation is Johnnie Walker Blue Label Ghost and Rare,a blend of some of the rarest whiskies from the Johnnie Walker Reserves used to create Johnnie Walker Blue Label, producing unique flavours that will never be created again. Living it sat down with Dr Beveridge to discuss ghost distilleries, one-off whiskies and why innovation is key to success in the industry.

What do you think attracts us to the idea of ghost distilleries?

There is something quite romantic about being able to savour the great whiskies from distilleries that closed long ago. For me, it’s fascinating how whiskies from a small number of iconic, closed distilleries have a unique, inimitable character that lend something very special to the taste of Johnnie Walker Blue Label. Exploring the character of these wonderful whiskies was what we set out to do with Johnnie Walker Blue Label Ghost and Rare Brora.

Why do you think it’s necessary to revive ghost distilleries? Is it a matter of legacy?

The rare whiskies that come from closed ‘ghost’ distilleries offer a fleeting opportunity to experience the often-unique Scotch they produced. They are so rare that not everyone gets the chance to experience their unique flavours. With such a growing interest in whisky, if we can revive a ‘ghost’ distillery then we can we can offer more people a chance to taste something of the spirit of these wonderful distilleries and their unique whiskies.

How often do you get to work with whiskies of this rarity?

Not often enough in my book! These whiskies are so rare that working with them only comes along occasionally.

You always have a mixture of feelings towards these very rare whiskies from ‘ghost’ distilleries. The great challenge of ‘ghost’ distilleries being that their supply is finite, yet, on the other hand they are there, and they need to be used.

Day-by-day we use all kinds of whisky from all over Scotland and of different ages - bringing out different characteristics to experiment with. We tweak, record and perfect each experiment until we discover something that can sit alongside our iconic portfolio of whiskies.

How big is your library of irreplaceable casks? It must be quite exciting to explore them all.

Not big at all. I mean, these whiskies are so precious that I always wish we had more of them to work with. The reality for something like Brora is that we only have a handful of casks. When we do work with these whiskies we feel very privileged.

Why have Brora and Port Ellen been chosen to be revitalised?

Fifteen or so years ago Diageo started bottling Port Ellen and Brora as special releases. They have become so popular that it became obvious the time was right to bring those two distilleries back to life in order to meet the number of people who can enjoy the Brora and Port Ellen whiskies.

Their reopening is part of Diageo’s huge investment in Scotch whisky industry and tourism – it’s exciting to see how that will transform the Scotch whisky visitor experiences across Scotland.

How unique is the Brora flavour profile, and how does it lend itself to Johnnie Walker Blue Label Ghost & Rare?

There only is one Brora – so its flavour is completely unique. Brora stocks are a mere drop in the ocean among the 10 million casks available to the Johnnie Walker blending team.

Any sample of Brora is deeply aged and from a distillery that produced only small amounts of whisky – that makes for a very special Scotch indeed. This lends something very special to Blue Label and brings a uniquely rich fruitiness and a subtle smokiness to Blue Label Ghost and Rare Brora.

What about the whiskies from Cambus and Pittyvaich? They’re two other ghost distilleries that play a big part in this new expression. What are you looking to get out of those in terms of taste?

Pittyviach has unique flavours, in a completely different flavour style to Brora. It is a classic malt whisky, which has got spicy aromas, that is very important to the layers of flavour in Johnnie Walker Blue Label Ghost and Rare Brora.

Cambus is a grain whisky, again it has rich, deep vanilla flavours and sweet notes – so there is quite a contrast there, very rich in flavours.

Together these three presented the best flavour profile to blend with the other rare whiskies from existing distilleries to create a blend of great richness and elegance.

Is the era of ghost distilleries at an end? Is there still a risk of closures, or do you think the Scotch industry is in the strongest shape it’s arguably ever been in?

I hope so. While I enjoy working with these ‘ghost’ whiskies I certainly don’t want to wish any into existence – a distillery has to close for that to happen and I wouldn’t want that to ever be the case but I accept that from time to time it happens.

The whisky industry in Scotland looks strong, so I’m hopeful that if this is the case, all the distilleries producing such wonderful Scotch in Scotland will continue to do so.

Should we be doing more to protect distilleries, or do you think with the re-emergence of Scotch on the wider market, people are finally appreciating the history and craftsmanship behind them?

Whisky enthusiasts have always been interested in the provenance and history of Scotch, they want to travel to the great distilleries of Scotland to touch and feel the distilleries where their favourite whiskies are made. It seems to me that more and more people want this experience and that can only be good news.