Should you find yourself in near the Los Angeles Airport on May 12th, it may be worth your while to check out the interesting festivities taking place at the LAX Four Points by Sheraton. Why? This particular Sheraton is known as the “original LA Beer” hotel as it’s bar is dedicated to pouring the best in California’s locally brewed beers. Starting at 12pm that afternoon, they’re celebrating the re-opening of their pool and poolside bar with a beer tasting party featuring Cali’s finest brews from places like Strand, El Segundo, Hager 24, Taps, Bootleggers, Golden Road, Cismontane, Smog City and Bruery. The event on May 12th is $24 for twelve 4 oz. tastings—not a bad alternative to a boring layover or sitting in LAX traffic. Check out more info here.
Renowned purveyor of contemporary Art, David Gill opened up a gorgeous new showroom in London last week. The gallery, located next to Christie’s in the Mayfair section of the city, is somewhat of a “destiny,” for Gill who began his career in that same auction house many years ago. This new gallery marks 25 years that David Gill has had an official hand in the gallery world of London. To open, he is presenting some creations of Zaha Hadid whose work you’ll see this summer as she designed the London Aquatics Centre for the 2012 Games, and who you may already know as the creator of the National Museum of 21st Century Arts in Rome and the Guangzhou Opera House in China. Hadid broke into furniture design back in 2007 when she collaborated with Gill to create Dune Formations—an ensemble of 21 pieces that could be used as tables, shelving, seating or even desks. The opening features some of those iconic designs as well as some brand new pieces. The exhibit will stick around for a little while longer—Gill has plans for two more shows this year and is floating drool-worthy names such as Mattia Bonetti, Gaetano Pesce, Barnaby Barford and Fredrikson Stallard. Whoever it may be, you’ve now got a new must-go-see destination on your London Map. Pics from the gallery after the jump.
While you were sleeping, Burberry was making fashion dreams come true…or rather they single handedly completed the task of reinventing the wheel on the common store opening. Spearheaded by Chief Creative Officer Christopher Bailey, Burberry toasted the opening of their brand new Flagship store in Taipei, Taiwan, with the launch of something called Burberry World Live—a fully immersive, completely amazing, jaw-dropping, 360 degree Burberry experience. Think IMAX but for fashion. No, think bigger because it comes with its own weather. Actually, there are no comparisons. Burberry World Live mixes fashion, music (that’s Marina and the Diamond’s lovely voice you’ll hear in the video), story telling and even digital weather to breathe life into everything the storied British heritage brand (founded in 1856!) is all about. Guests at the event, co-hosted by Taiwanese musician Jolin Tsai and Burberry’s Christopher Bailey, included Jessica (Girls Generation), Daniel Henney, Patina Lin, Sandrine Pinna, Edwin Ji, Ran Chen, Sandee Chan, Sunny Wang, Rhydian Vaughan, Tony Yang, Janet Hsieh, Annie Chen, Larisa, Stella Huang, Yi Chen, and Quin Yi Lee. British singer Tom Odell performed with a live orchestra for the first time at the event. Burberry World Live will show in other cities around the world like London, Honk Kong and Chicago. Check out all the highlights after the jump!
When it comes to good vodka, what a vodka is made from is often more important than how many times it has been distilled. Vodka is commonly made from wheat, rye, potato, grapes, or corn. There’s also a huge segment of the vodka category made from the nonspecific “neutral grain spirits,” which can be any fermentable grain including soybeans, grasses, and even agricultural waste. Each source material has its own individual characteristics and can greatly impact your vodka drinking experience: wheat based vodkas tend to be more soft and round, potato vodka tends to be more sweet, and rye vodka has more spice. When picking a vodka, especially a premium vodka, it’s generally best to stick to ones which state their source grain on the label.
A vodka’s flavor and character is determined not only from what it’s made from, but also how it was distilled and what is used to filter or ‘polish’ it. Vodka is often run through charcoal, coconut husks, lava rocks, and even diamonds in an effort to make it more smooth and clean.
When you start with high quality ingredients, fermented well and well distilled, it reduces the need to filter it. Belvedere has shown great confidence in their rye with Belvedere Intense Unfiltered, an 80 proof vodka which showcases the character of the rye grain.
There’s a slight spice to the nose on the Belvedere Intense Unfiltered Vodka even though the overall character is soft and clean. The entry is slightly sweet with a soft powdered sugar note. Because it’s unfiltered, it has a nice smooth and round mouthfeel that is very pleasant. In the midpalate things really ramp up with a nice rye spice note that comes in early and then continues to intensify through the midpalate. The rye spice is joined with some heat which leads to a nice finish. There’s the signature ‘pin prick’ on the tongue which you find in really good Polish or Russian Vodka.
While still a clean vodka, Belvedere Intense Unfiltered manages to deliver some nice flavor and excellent spice.
Good rye vodkas like Belvedere Intense Unfiltered stand up well in the traditional vodka soda, where their spice shines through, but it’s in a drink like the Moscow Mule where the rye character really dazzles.
Moscow Mule:
1/2 oz fresh squeezed lime juice
2 oz Belvedere Unfiltered Rye Vodka
4 -6 ounces ginger beer
Add lime juice (which is about ½ a lime) to a Collins glass or mule mug, add ice, drop the squeezed ½ lime into the glass. Add the vodka, top with ginger beer, and serve.
Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend spun a live set at the grand opening of their West Village Store on Thursday, April 19th. Over 200 of the city’s fashion family turned up to celebrate the French based label’s third store in the Big Apple, “mange”-ing on food from neighboring Sant Ambroeus Birstro and talking about how crazy it was that A.P.C had also just turned 25!
Monday’s aren’t your favorite? Live in or are visiting New York City? Then mark this on your calendar—John Allan, owner of John Allan’s Salons (located in New York City—one inside Saks Fifth Ave., Chicago and Toronto) is sending his team of male grooming experts to New York’s Park Avenue Tavern this Monday, April 23rd in the hopes supplanting your Monday evening commute with something more satisfying. There, between the hours of 5pm and 8pm, you’ll be able to snag yourself free massages (his masseuse is brilliant), manicures, shoe shines, all around touch-ups…and to really take the Monday edge off—some Stoli cocktails. Once you’re gotten your fill, check out the pub—not only does the Park Avenue Tavern serve up quite a savory blend of classic American fare (with local fresh ingredients and wines), but they have the Barrel room (the first of its kind in the city) featuring bartender-free beer taps attached to your table. For more about John Allan’s go to johnallans.com For more about Park Avenue Tavern go to parkavenuetavernnyc.com
Milan Design Week (Aka Salone Internazionale del Mobile) serves as a fashion week of sorts for those who love the world of furniture, especially of the Italian variety. Its been doing as such since 1961 but this year’s version will be remembered by us for its inclusion of an instillation by Italian brand Stone Island. Check out a gorgeous realization of Italian design sensibilities, aka the Stone Island Instillation, after the jump. And hey, if you just so happen to be in Milan, Mobile is going on until April 22nd.
More info about Mobile is here
More info about Stone Island is here
Lacoste held what we heard was a major pool party at Coachella. Special guest DJ’s including someone named Elijah Wood, Nigel Godrich of this band we’ve heard of called Radiohead and Ana Calderone spun some chill tunes while guests including Alexander Wang, Florence Welch (of the Machine variety), Bijou Phillips, Brie Larson, Katy Perry, Diane Kruger, Joshua Jackson, Gerard Butler, Lea Michele + Cory Monteith prettied up the place with their super star power.
Ferragamo brought the life back to their newly re-outfitted 5th Avenue Flagship store with a fête featuring the world of Ferragmo, its love of Italy and its commitment to philanthropy. Benefiting the Society of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center’s Pediatric Family Housing Endowment, DJ Solange Knowles (she of mother Tina and sister Beyoncé) spun some cool tunes while hosts Massimo and Chiara Ferragamo and the chairmen of MSKCC enjoyed the chic confines of store’s newness and a handsome company of a VIP revelers. Ferragamo also took the occasion to present their Travel Luggage Collection that won’t be available to purchase until late summer traveling season. Yet more news was made as storied luxury getaway guidebook kindly sent over a few of their experts to launch their latest publication—Mr. & Mrs. Smith Hotel Collection: Italy. The only concern we had was with all of the beautiful Italian fashion happening inside the new Ferragamo store, what need would anyone have actually go to Italy…and then we remembered the beautiful Luggage Collection. Perfect excuse.
When most people think about Bacardi, they think Bacardi Superior white rum. This is the rum that you’ll find behind most bars, and typically it’s you’ll get when you order a ‘Rum and Coke.” Bacardi Superior is very light, slightly sweet, dry and clean, perfect for mixing into cocktails, and it goes well in Coke.
The universe of rum is vast with a tremendous number of different kinds of offerings beyond the basic white rum. Bacardi 8 Year Aged Rum is a great way to begin your exploration of rum beyond the standard white rum. It maintains many of the same easy qualities while adding to the mix flavors that come from the aging process.
Bacardi 8 Year Aged Rum has a light and soft nose with vanilla, brown sugar, and the slightest undercurrent of oak spice. The entry is soft and sweet with the vanilla and brown sugar leading and a subtle, charred oak note underneath. The oak spice builds slightly in the midpalate where it picks up the slightest bit of heat for a solid and clean finish.
Bacardi 8 Year Rum performs solidly both as a sipping rum served neat or over rocks, and as a mixing rum. Perhaps the best way to enjoy Bacardi 8 is in an Old Fashioned where the soft and flavorful qualities all come together.
Rum Old Fashioned
2 oz of Bacardi 8 Year Aged Rum
1 sugar cube or 1 tsp of sugar
3 dashes of bitters (Angostura, Cherry, or Chocolate Bitters all work well)
A dash of water or soda water (no more than 1 tsp)
Orange and Lemon Zest
Put the sugar in a glass and add the bitters and water. Stir together until the sugar has completely dissolved. Add the Bacardi 8 Year Rum and ice and stir well (at least 30 stirs). Add both a lemon and orange zest.
Many people are unfamiliar with pisco, a grape-based brandy made in Peru. Pisco was once a very popular spirit. Gold rush era imbibers used to knock back more pisco punch in San Francisco that almost anything else. Pisco’s popularity faded after Prohibition, when drinkers turned to whiskey as their drink of choice.
Pisco has seen a real revival with the increased popularity for Peruvian cuisine and culture in the United States. There are three major different kinds of pisco: puro, which is made from a single varietal of grape variety; acholado, which is made from a blend of grapes; and, mosto verde, which uses a shorter fermentation process to accentuate the properties of the grapes.
Pisco Porton is mosto verde pisco that blends three varieties of grapes (Quebranta, Torontel, and Albilla) and uses a shortened fermentation process that gives it an amazing, fresh floral quality.
Pisco Porton is wonderfully aromatic with fresh floral grape blossom notes on the nose which combine with a crisp white grape note. The entry is extremely soft with a beautiful floral opening that expands across the palate. White grape notes intensify in the midpalate with the slightest undercurrent of honeysuckle. There’s a touch of spice with a white pepper note towards the end of the midpalate which helps create a very long and flavorful finish.
The very best way to enjoy pisco is with the signature pisco drink, the pisco sour. The pisco sour is to pisco what the margarita is to tequila.
Pisco Sour
2 oz Pisco Porton
1 oz Fresh Squeezed Lime Juice
3/4 oz Simple Syrup
1 Egg White
1 dash Angostura Aromatic Bitters
Hard shake all ingredients (except the bitters) with ice and strain into a glass. Put a few drops of bitters on top of the egg foam that gets created when you shake the cocktail.
With all the spring collection deliveries these days, there’s much ado in the shopping mecca that is 5th Avenue in Manhattan, but none has been more exciting than the recent delivery of Ferragamo’s completely re-designed boutique. The world’s largest Ferragamo store just re-opened its doors after a much anticipated renovation and the gorgeous space fully reflects the elegance and beauty of the brand’s recent evolution. Creative Director, Massimiliano Giornetti, has played a big part in taking Ferragamo to the next level and we just can’t wait to get our hands on some of the stores many luxurious goods. In celebration of the grand opening, fashion dignitaries like Lauren Remington-Platt, Theodora Richards, Alexandra Richards, and Rachel Chandler-Guiness have shared their favorite Ferragamo and New York fashion moments with The Girls About Town in a tumblr-y photo essay well worth spending some time perusing.
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