Inventory for October 15th, 2017
Forgive us, friends, this week’s inventory is short and sweet. BCB has exhausted us – we had the time of our lives and now we need a very long nap to recuperate.
Remember that next year BCB is three days long! Without further ado, we’ve got the Amazon bar opening as a pop up in Japan, Remy Savage’s move to The Artesian, and Diageo is ready to reopen the Port Ellen and Brora distilleries. Cheers!
Surely most bartenders get asked a whole lot of dumb questions. Buzzfeed did the only correct thing and gathered all of those little, idiotic comments into a fun listicle. Our favorite? So glad you asked. “Why the hell would I want rocks in my drink?”
Amazon Bar to Open in Tokyo
Well folks, it’s come to this. The reality that we now live in is one where online-retail giant Amazon is hosting a goddamn pop up bar. The Japan Times reports: “For 10 days, the web retailer is going to sell beer, wine, sake and cocktails in Tokyo’s glitzy Ginza district to promote alcoholic products sold on its website in Japan.” Could be worse, could be a lot better. The bar will offer a wide variety of drinks from across the globe and is meant to advertise the website’s newest products. “Instead of a menu, Amazon’s 78-seat bar will feature an ordering system that will suggest drinks, and also hire sommeliers to dispense wine advice. Nikka whisky, Yebisu beer and other drinks will cost ¥500 to ¥1,500 ($4.43 to $13.30), and some food will be offered. The pop-up bar will be open for evenings beginning October 20.” Faaaantastic.
Remy Savage and Anna Sebastian take over The Artesian
It’s taken some time to fill space left by Alex Kratena and Simone Caporale hole at The Artesian, but it looks like some worthy successors have arrived. Last week, The Cocktail Lovers announced that Remy Savage and Anna Sebastian will take over The Artesian. Remy says “I loved The Artesian, everyone did, which is why taking on the Head Bartender role is going to be a challenge – those are very big shoes to fill. But that’s what I find really exciting. That and the fact that it’s an incredible project. The venue is about to change significantly in details and style of service.
I’m looking forward to people coming back or at least being interested in what we’re doing”. He’s also bringing Emilio Di Salvo from Little Red Door with him, which he’s very excited about. The first menu will launch on December 1. “It’s all about classics which is not what people will expect from me as I’ve never really done classic cocktails before. But I’ll be bringing the notion of extentionalism into the mix – the idea of terroir, how flavours differ and what impact environment plays in drinks, so classics with the idea of terroir and provenance,” says Savage. This will be exciting.
Port Ellen and Brora Distilleries to Reopen
“Cult single malt distilleries Port Ellen and Brora are to be reopened by owner Diageo in a £35m investment, with production scheduled to start again in 2020.” The Port Ellen and Brora distilleries were both closed in 1983 and have since then “become arguably the most prized single malt Scotch whiskies in existence, coveted by collectors and connoisseurs, and attracting ever higher prices for their annual Special Release bottlings, and at auction.”
One of the reasons for Diageo re-opening is the huge demand from the single malt Scotch market, which continues to grow. “The reinstated Port Ellen distillery will be housed in a new building on the site, with new stills created from detailed records, while Brora will refurbish the closed distillery’s existing buildings and single pair of stills. The distilleries will be two of the smallest operated by Diageo, producing 800,000 litres of alcohol a year, a similar size to Oban.”
Credits
Foto: Photo via Shutterstock.