Problem
I went to Imbibe at Olympia exhibition hall in London looking for new wines, spirits, pubs, tours, novelties and interesting people. What do I remember best?
Answers
1 Mezcal with salt.
Mezcal display
Mezcal blue bottle featuring the blue agave plant. What a brilliant blue. Photo by Angela Lansbury.
Tequila and Agave
My favourite chat was at the Tequila stand.
"Do you know what Mezcal is and where it comes from?" a smiling man asked me.
"Mexico?" I guessed.
"Yes. Like Tequila, it's made from the agave plant. And do you know the difference between Mezcal and tequila?"
"No. Tell me!" I said, sipping the Mezcal.
"M e z c a l comes from green agave. Tequila comes from blue agave. We drink it with a slice of orange dipped in this."
The story of the agave plant used in tequila appears in their literature. The plant appears on a beautiful blue bottle. My favourite tequila? Definitely the San Matias Gran Reserva served in a glass with salt around the rim.
The stand had a dozen types of flavoured ground pepper. All different colours. I should have stayed and tried them all. Next year. I was in too much of a hurry to race around the show to the next excitement.
On another stand I saw a huge display of agave.
2 Mist
My next memory is of the white mist rising out of the drinking glass. That caught my attention. I'd seen it before but it never fails to amaze me. Every bar tender and party host should have one. The perfect party trick. The company is called chilli stick and the chillistick costs £1.50.
It's like watching a plane fly. Whatever the explanation, I never fail to be impressed that it works. The gadget and the person operating it are fantastic, in the old fashioned sense of the word.
3 That Hat!
I moved on and saw a man in a hat. I was reminded of the old song, "Where did you get that hat?"
He makes the hats himself. The Hat man of London. Photo by Angela Lansbury.
Hats
Amazing, Amusing. Just like the people on the London tube trains. (I later saw a girl with purple hair on the way home - no it wasn't what I'd drunk, she had dyed purple hair.) At the show were lots of people dressed head to foot in unusual clothes and a few with very few clothes and head to foot tattoos. The most interesting hat was worn by a visitor. The H a t M a n of London. He has a page on Facebook. He makes hats for festivals and events. (I inserted spaces because the spelling corrector prefers batman.)
5 Pirate Hat
Speaking of hats, I heard of another hat. I was standing in the queue (Americans would say line up) for one of the tasting sessions, and I got talking to a friendly, lovely lady who is co-owner with her husband of the Voodoo cafe cum restaurant cum cocktail bar in Darlington. She showed me a picture on her mobile phone of her husband who always wears a pirate style black bandanna.
6 Denbies Vineyard Tour and Camilla
In the next queue I got chatting to a guide from Denbies vineyard, Esther Woods. I remember visiting Denbies, one of the best vineyards and cellar visits in the world. I took both tours.
I asked Esther if anybody famous had visited the vineyards. "Yes," she said. "Prince Charles and Camilla."
After my vineyard and cellar tours, I had eaten at Denbies' upstairs restaurant.
Esther told me that the upstairs restaurant with the panoramic view is very popular on summer weekends. If you are booking for a Saturday or a special occasion such as Mother's Day or Father's Day, you need to book a week in advance.
The Denbies complex also has a self service cafeteria on the ground floor alongside a huge shop with all kinds of wines and bottle openers and gadgets and wine theme kitchenware and clothes.
7 Cucumber Gin
From summer wine, to summer spirits. The subtle sweetness of summer, they say, Cucumber Gin is made in one of the UK's older distilleries using 100 British grain. Add your favourite tonic and a slice of cucumber.
8 Cornish Gin
Trevethan Distillery in Cornwall uses a family recipe from Norman Trevethan from the 1920s.
Their gin uses soft Cornish spring water. They suggest serving 50ml of Trevethan Gin with 100 ml of light tonic, a large twist of orange peel, a sprig of rosemary and juniper berries.
9 Japanese Kokoro Gin
I didn't try the Japanese gin but I admired their bottle as I walked past the stand. White, milk white, opaque, with an elegant curving black squiggle like a dancer or a piece of spiralling foil twisting in the breeze.Their gin is made with Sansho berries.
10 East London Liquor Company
Their distillery in East London produces gin, vodka and whisky.
You can sit eating and drinking and looking at the distillery. A wonderful English revival, something new in the old East End of London.
Tips
www.chillistick.com
http://www.denbiesvineyard.co.uk
http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/event/prince-charles-and-the-duchess-of-cornwall-visit-denbies-wine-estate
www.eastlondonliquorcompany.com
www.englishdrinkscompany.co.uk
www.sanmatias.com
http://www.tequila.net/tequila-reviews/extra-anejos/san-matias-tequila-extra-anejo-gran-reserva.html
https://www.facebook.com/The-Hatman-of-London-
www.trevethandistillery.com
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. I have many more posts on wine, food, restaurants and travel novelties. Please share links to my posts.
