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One thing that guarantees a dynamic and varied bar culture is bartenders taking the plunge and opening their own venues.

BarLifeUK contributor and all-round Manchester raconteur, Jamie Jones, is doing just that. Along with Chris Legh, director at Heart Soul Rock & Roll and other partners, he will be opening the Yacht Club  on Hardman Square next week.

They tell us of the venue:

“The summer playground of world leaders, glamour girls, actresses, playboys and the rich and famous, the 1950s Riviera was the ultimate place to party and have a jolly good time.

The ideal place to quaff champagne and absorb the sunny Manchester rays, The Yacht Club will harness this spirit, bringing to life the elegance of the Cote d’Azur with the sophistication of the Promenade des Anglais and the stylishness of St Tropez in a chic outdoor bar complete with wooden deck and leather day beds.”

BarLifeUK have had the pleasure of judging Jamie in several competitions, and his drinks have always been first rate, so we are looking forward to trying the Yacht Club’s menu, which will include:

“Boardwalk Bramble; a fruity combination of Bombay Sapphire gin, lemon juice, a little sugar and finished with a drizzle crème de mure liqueur; The Bardot and Monte Carlo Mint Julep.  All of which can be enjoyed seven days per as the bar opens from midday until 11pm.”

The yacht Club opens on April 19^th, and we encourage you to get involved if you are in that neck of the woods. But take our advice and book an open return train ticket… we never seem to make our train out of Manchester for some reason.

For more information, contact Operations Director, Jamie Jones.

Follow the Yacht Club on Twitter and Facebook.

Sarah "Tiki's Dead" Mitchell

Less than a month old, the underground bar is already attracting a heaving crowd that is as eclectic as its decor.  BLUK caught up with assistant general manager Sarah Mitchell, formerly of Graphic, to talk about birds, bars and all things rum.

BLUK: What is the concept behind the bar?
SM: Not Tiki! Tiki’s dead, and you can say I said that! What it is, is a naval-style rum bar. In the decor you’ve got navy pin-up girl posters all around, navy-style tattoo sparrows on the wall and plenty of rum. Everyone seems really enthusiastic; it’s rum but not Tiki. It’s nice to have something a bit different.

BLUK: How is it different to the original LCC Goodge Street?
SM: It’s really similar, in a lot of ways, same attitude, same style, although we’ve gone for a rum focus here. We are incredibly busy, so busy, especially during happy hour. We get a mix of regulars, the office crowd, some footfall, customers that have heard about us from Goodge Street, and a lot of customers from the old wine bar that we took over from. When they come in, they are all so impressed with what we’ve done with the place.

BLUK: What’s the team like?
SM: We’ve got a great team. Matt Armitage from the LCC Goodge Street has come down as general manager and we’ve got about four or five young bartenders who are thirsty for knowledge, and who are all producing great drinks.

BLUK: You’ve got a cracker of a cocktail list. Talk us through it.
SM: Andy Mill put together the list, and there’s also a few of Matt’s on there. I’d say the Red Dragon is the most popular cocktail (Bacardi 8 Rum, pineapple and lime juice shaken with Chinese five-spice syrup and bitters and garnished with a fortune cookie). But, they’re all really good. We’ve also got the Black Tot, which is great as a pinnacle of the backbar. Basically, it’s the last remaining rum from the days when it was part of a ship’s ration. You can have a tot of it, and it comes with your own engraved mug, too.

BLUK: You were at Graphic for a few years, why the change?
SM: At Graphic, everything had run its course, I feel like I’d taken it as far as I could. James and JJ and I had always talked about me joining the team and this felt like the right time to do it.

BLUK: Lastly, sum up the place in three words.
SM: Rum, fun and rock n’roll!

The Grosvenor hotel’s sleek, new bar Réunion

Formerly the VIP lounge for first class rail passengers at Victoria Station, the revamped bar is just two months old, yet Duane has already honed one of London’s classiest venues.

“My vision for Réunion is to create a destination bar in a chic, luxurious environment where people can meet to enjoy a choice of great cocktails alongside a speciality wine selection and a selection of premium Champagnes served by a team of professionals who are passionate about the products at their disposal and happy to share their knowledge with customers,” he said.

Each month, they will be offering a bespoke cocktail list, with Duane and head bartender Paul Bradley kicking things off with a cracking limited-edition Victorian-themed cocktail list, available until the New Year.

The drinks include a Victorian Martini (Hendricks gin, blackberry liqueur, oranges, thyme and blueberry) and the 19th Century (Beefeater 24, Seville orange, dark chocolate bitters, homemade Oolong tea syrup infused with fresh baby figs and Madagascan vanilla), which was shortlisted for the Beefeater 24 South Regional final this year. Paul has even tried his hand (very successfully, I might add) at reproducing the distinct taste of Southern Comfort in his Cuffs and Buttons cocktail (Four Roses small batch bourbon whisky, peach brandy, cinnamon syrup and orange bitters).

Upcoming themes include, very appropriately, Failed Resolutions in January and Reunion’s Olympic Decathlon to coincide with the London Olympics in August (and what better place to start training, than at a station bar?).

They are also looking to launch an industry night in early 2012, “that gives something back to the hard working bartenders of London with the support from the brands we stock,” said Duane.

As if that’s not keeping them busy enough, each month they also feature a specific drink category where brand ambassadors are first invited in to train the team, before hosting masterclasses.

“We are really trying to put the brands directly into the customer’s hands whilst educating them at the same time, this way they may in turn start to order their drinks by brand rather than by category,” said Duane.

They have so far held four masterclasses including Japanese whiskies (Yamasaki 12 Yr Old, Hakushu 17 Year Old and Hibiki 17 Year Old), American whiskies (Four Roses yellow label, small batch and single barrel), Liqueurs (Mandarine Napoleon, Citronge, Grand Marnier, Cointreau, Pierre Ferrand Dry Orange Curacao and Merlet Triple Sec, Cassis, Poire William and Framboise) and a gourmet wine dinner hosted by Chateau Musar.

www.reunionlondon.com

Dre Masso

For years we have been inundated with brand-marketing telling us that X gin is the best choice for a Martini, or you can’t have an Aviation without Y. And don’t even think about adding Z to a Tom Collins – it’s sacrilegious!

To an extent, they are correct. Some gins, for example, simply have too many bitter botanicals to work in an Aviation, and others don’t have the legs to hold their own in a decent Martini.

However, if you were to attempt to stock the ‘perfect’ brand for every cocktail (and its infinite permeations), you’d need a backbar the length of your patience for good tippers and the height of your awareness for pretty girls at the bar.

Enter Dre Masso and his latest venture, L.T.D at The Social, where they only stock one of each spirit category – one vodka, one gin, one rum, one tequila, one whiskey, and one brandy – but they are certain they are the ‘best of the best’.

BLUK: So, tell us about the concept behind L.T.D at The Social.

DM:  There’s too much choice these days. London bartenders can be pretty savvy, but it can be trickier for the customers. I mean, do customers really know the difference between Tanqueray or Beefeater? So, what we wanted to do was make it simpler for all involved, while still getting a high-quality drink.

BLUK:  Maybe so, but how do you choose the ‘best of the best’?

DM: We formed a committee of 20 industry people – no sponsorship – and asked every member to vote for their top five spirits in each category under £20, looking for ones that would work best as a cocktail base. The second stage involved blind tasting and a comparison of the three finalists of each section. I took myself out of the panel at this stage. All spirits were sampled neat and in a cocktail.

BLUK: Did you get a wide range of brands in each category? Were there any surprises?

DM: For some categories like vodka and gin, there were some really obvious patterns in the brands that made the top three. For instance the top three vodka brands included Stolichnaya, Wyborowa which are from the home of vodka, while the top three gin brands were Beefeater, Tanqueray and Plymouth, three brands with loads of heritage.

Whiskey was the most surprising category, there were so many brands mentioned. Scotch whiskies can be difficult as they can be really malty or full of peat. The final three included Johnnie Walker Blue and Maker’s Mark.

BLUK: What were the winning brands?

DM: Stolichnaya vodka, Beefeater London Dry gin, Havana Club 7 yr old rum, Jameson Irish whiskey, Ocho Blanco vintage tequila and Courvoisier VS Cognac. We also serve just two lagers – Camden IPA and Camden Lager, as well as just four wines chosen from the guys at Planet of the Grapes.

BLUK: What has the reception to the concept been like?

DM: It’s been really good. I was expecting more conflict – on Friday night it was normal, and then on the Saturday we came in and turned it into L.T.D, so we were expecting a bit of backlash, but it’s been great. We have lots of industry come in, and consumer-wise we also have a lot of regulars. I think having the menu with pictures of all the drinks, and a little description about what we’re all about helps. It’s not just one cocktail for each spirit, but six signature drinks, as well.

BLUK: You’re more than just the brains behind the concept, you’re also pulling a shifts behind the bar, what’s that like?

It’s also been a great learning experience for me. I haven’t been behind the bar for maybe 6 or 8 years, so this has given me new insight!

BLUK: What else is happening at L.T.D at The Social?

DM: Desert island discs is on every Tuesday night. It’s a bit of an industry night where, like the BBC radio show, industry greats come in and take over the decks and play the tunes which have meant the most to them throughout their careers. So far it’s been great. We’ve had Tomas Estes and Julio Bermejo in, as well as Peter Dorelli and Salvatore Calabrese.

Also, we’ve got a photo exhibition running – Behind Bars – which has photos I’ve taken of some of the great industry people over the years including Phil Bayley and Manuel Terron.

BLUK: What happens come the New Year, when L.T.D at The Social closes its doors?

DM: Well, they’ll be looking for someone new to takeover! When I came in, it was basically a blank canvas, which I’ve hijacked until Christmas. So, they’ll need a new team and a new idea for the space.

L.T.D @ The Social runs until 31st Dec 2011

Where: 5 Little Portland Street, London W1W 7JD

And so it came to be that BarLifeUK went on a jaunt of some of Berlin’s finest bars after day one of Bar Convent Berlin (BCB).

With map in hand and Euros in pocket (a heads up for anyone visiting Berlin’s bars for the first time, carry cash, most bars seem to be allergic to card payments) we headed into the Schoneberg / Tiergarten districts of town (we had done a couple of other areas on previous nights – find out about those here).

These districts seem to have the most concentrated selection of bars around with several great venues within walking distance of each other.

The great Manhattan at Stagger Lee

Before a night of cocktails and shots a stop to line the stomach is always needed and there has probably never been a cuisine invented which lends itself better to this task than that of the Germans.

I know this is a drinks website but the food in Berlin deserves a mention. Following previous meals of Pork Knuckle, Beef Olives, Sausages and various types of fried potato and Sauerkraut we found a restaurant called April.

I had a checklist of food to eat and as of yet Schnitzel and Potato Salad had been missing; however this was to be rectified. Whilst sipping on a beer I saw the waitress carrying a dish that’s size summoned up thoughts of tectonic rather than dinner plate across the restaurant, I almost got up to help her it was so vast.

As it was placed in front of me the table legs bowed as a Schnitzel the size and rough shape of North America was placed in front of me. It may have been big but managed to be as thin and moist as Kate Moss in a shower. I ate I breathed out heavily and I was ready for whatever the night threw my way.

Stagger Lee

First stop was round the corner at a bar called Stagger Lee which was hosting an event laid on by the Cocktail Kingdom. The bar was packed but with 80% of people in there drinking the Elijah Craig Manhattans being expertly prepared by the team of bartenders, 2 of whom had been flown over from New York, service was quick.

The Manhattans were exceptional, beautifully balanced and served with a cherry soaked in enough booze to slap you firmly round the face as soon as popped it in your mouth. With drink in hand I surveyed the bar and what a great place it is.

I can only imagine that if the producers of Boardwalk Empire had visited before filming started then Steve Buscemi’s house would have emulated it exactly. Dark red wall paper, wooden panelling and big leather armchairs filled to room. The music rounded off the experience perfectly with Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong mixing in with the joyous chatter.

The packed Stagger Lee

To be honest I could have settled into one of those comfy chairs and happily spent the night drinking Manhattans and talking to (or more accurately boring the arse off) anyone who passed my way, but this was no time for sitting around enjoying yourself, there were bars to visit damn it!

Lebensstern

A 5 minute walk away was Lebensstern, a bar which had been recommended to us by pretty much everyone we had seen and it wasn’t going to disappoint. Located above a rather fancy looking restaurant is a rather fancy looking bar.

This bar is famous for a couple of things (having been featured in the Tarantino blooderama Inglorious Bastards) but it was the spirits selection we were most interested in feasting our eyes and indeed mouths on.

Off the main bar are a series of rooms each with inbuilt glass cabinets holding bottle after bottle of fantastic brands from across the world. In 2010 the bar won Best Drinks Selection at Tales of the Cocktail and with the hundreds of bottles throughout the bar (which can be bought as well admired) the only questions seems to be why it hasn’t won every Drinks Selection award in the world.

There are so many rare and special edition bottles of rum (and indeed other spirits) in the cabinets that it was a surprise that each room didn’t contain a box of tissues for visitors to clean themselves up with after a quick look.

Two of the many cabinets of joy

At this point I have to highlight one of my disappointments with the bars in Berlin during the show (and really there are almost none) and it is to do with the cocktail menus.

A lot of the bars we visited during our trip had produced a ‘special BCB menu’ for the occasion containing 5 – 7 cocktails and had hidden away their usual menus.

I understand the reason for this as I am sure the venues are full of bartenders during this period wanting to be served nice drinks quickly and this approach certainly speeds up service.

I also wouldn’t particularly mind if these lists contained the bars signature cocktails however the fact is they all seem to contain a Gin & Tonic, a Horse’s Neck and a Moscow Mule.

A large proportion of the visitors to the show, like me, come from not only out of town but out of country and BCB is a fantastic opportunity to visit the cities bars and enjoy some of the local bartender talent. In actuality I have found myself being forced to decide which bartender makes the best Horse’s Neck!

Okay mini rant over back to Lebensstern. Philip Duff was propping up the bar and whilst we wandered through the rooms admiring the displays (a sure way to get you in the mood for a drink) Philip kindly ordered a couple of Dark ‘n Stormy’s for us. As we sipped we were joined by the lovely Audrey Fort from G’Vine Gin in town ready for her talk with Philip at the show. A couple more drinks and a great chat with some folks visiting from Amsterdam and it was time to move on yet again.

Mother Nature is obviously a fan of a good night of bar hopping as the moment we stepped outside she turned off the taps on the rain which had caught a few out including an exceptionally wet Rob Rademaker from Bols. Next on the list was Victoria Bar.

Victoria Bar

Located on a main street, Victoria Bar is a brightly lit bar with a fantastic reputation for great drinks. As we were entered we were given the most surly and inhospitable greeting since the spacesuit welcomed the fart. If the rain hadn’t just started up again in grand fashion I would probably have walked out there and then but with an open mind a couple of drinks were ordered.

The menu was great and we picked out a Brooklyn and a Guyana Manhattan. Surly man didn’t seem to deem us interesting enough to serve however his colleague made us two fantastic drinks. The décor was nicely done (if a little bright) and music was, well, patchy but all of this was insignificant compared to the quality drink and the spicy nuts which my stomach was a big fan of. Perhaps the guy was just having a bad night, I hope so because the cocktails deserved better.

Ueno San serving another two perfect drinks

Somehow the clock had ticked way further on than I realised and we had to miss out a couple of bars to head back to the Michelberger Hotel were the one and only Ueno San was holding court behind the bar and producing some of his exceptional creations.

Despite the latish hour Ueno was in full swing as was the crowd surrounding the bar who seemed to be enjoying watching the man work almost as much as they were enjoying the drinks he produced.

The great and the good were in attendance enjoying themselves and any tiredness I felt was soon washed away by the smiles, banter and man hugs taking place. A drink (or was it two?) later and it was time to crash to prepare for another day of great talks at BCB and of course the awards later in the evening.

For more about the show itself click here and on the seminars in particular click on this one. But the awards in the evening were a real highlight.

Mixology Bar Awards

In a lovely venue anyone who was anyone in the German bar industry was there to celebrate the best of their bar culture. Many of the bars we had visited over the last two days were nominated however it seemed that the whole of Germany had reason to celebrate when the winners were announced.

BarLifeUK was honoured to accept a Lifetime Achievement award on behalf of Joe Gilmore from The Savoy who, understandably at 92 years of age, was unable to make it. We shall be handing the award over to Joe at The Savoy very soon.

Here is a full list of the winners:

• Bar Team of the Year – Gekkos (Frankfurt)
• Newcomer of the Year – Henning Neufeld, Les Trois Rois (Basel)
• Mixologist of the Year – Klaus St. Rainer, Goldene Bar (München)
• Host – Frank Kettlitz, Fasanen 47 (Berlin)
• Bar of the Year – Stagger Lee (Berlin)
• Hotel Bar – Les Trois Rois (Basel)
• Lifetime Achievement – Joe Gilmore, from the Savoy Hotel (London)
• New Spirit of the Year – Smith & Cross Rum
• Bartender´s Product Choice – Bollinger Champagner
• Mixology City Award – Vienna Bar Community

Dub Dub doing what he does best

We have an atrocious sense of direction and get lost in them, somehow always ending up in the lingerie department of British Home Stores, drawn there like a moth unto a flame.

And so it was with great relief that we fought our way through throngs of evening shoppers and into the warm, boozy embrace of All Star Lanes’ latest opening within Westfield shopping center for their opening party on September 28^th.

Ten pin bowling is obviously one of the great American pastimes, and as such it makes perfect sense that Jack Daniel’s features prominently behind the back bar, along with an impressive collection of other American whiskeys.

Group bar manager, James Wynn-Williams told us: “It was fantastic to team up with Jack Daniels and Bacardi Brown Forman Brands to throw one heck of a party and announce our arrival to Westfield Stratford City, and to showcase the same great food, fantastic cocktails and darn good night out that people know and love All Star Lanes for.”

The look pretty, but these lanes are clearly wonky because BarLifeUK couldn't buy a strike

Sets by The Correspondents (BarLifeUK are clearly getting old because we had never heard of them before) and the venerable Norman Jay kept the youngun’s on their toes, while Blood and Sand and Jack’s Apricot Sours (Jack Daniel’s, apricot brandy, lemon juice, bitters and egg white) spoiled BarLifeUK’s bowling aim.

The venue looks great, and while we don’t really review newly opened bars (we prefer to give them a few weeks to work the kinks out), especially on opening night, the drinks were really well made and the staff were on top form.

As we reluctantly put our ‘street shoes’ back on at the end of the night, BarLifeUK were struck by the strange thought that there might never come another opportunity to wear a pair of bowling shoes that haven’t housed another man’s feet. A sobering thought, and one that had us reaching for another blood and sand…

B@1 Operations Director, Andrew Stones

They are bucking the economic trend too, with like-for-like results up on last year, a slew of newly-opened venues, and more on the cards. We spoke to B@1 operations director, Andrew Stones, to find out how they have become so successful.

BLUK: Could you give us some background on how B@1 started?

AS: Well, it was started off by the ‘three boys’ as they are affectionately known: Steve Locke, Leigh Miller and Rhys Oldfield who were bartenders at TGI Friday‘s. They met at the TGI Friday’s Bartender of the Year challenge, got on exceptionally well and decided that they wanted to develop a bar business based on what they would want to drink.

They borrowed some money… car loans, credit cards, that sort of thing and opened Battersea Rise, and that’s 13 years ago now.

BLUK: How many outlets are in the portfolio now?

AS: There are 10: Battersea Rise, Balham, Clapham Common, Richmond, Hammersmith, Putney, Soho, Covent Garden, Spitalfields and Shoreditch.

BLUK: I remember B@1 being nominated for a few awards in the past, how have you done in that respect?

AS: We’ve won a reasonable amount… There is a little bit of what can be perceived as brand snobbery towards B@1. In that we are…  ‘cocktails for the masses’ is probably a little bit strong, but we are not a typical mixologist bar.

We are pretty much about serving consistently good drinks to guests through knowledge of products, consistency and good service. That format has absolutely worked for us as a business.

BLUK: Has that become harder to do as the portfolio has grown?

AS: No, we invest, in terms of our bartenders, we invest £5000 training them up. So we recruit for the right behaviours and we want individuals that have great personalities, that are serious about a career about bartending and that have that real drive and passion. It’s quite a rigorous selection process.

BLUK: Will you take someone who has never been behind a bar before?

AS: Absolutely.

BLUK: So what are the characteristics you are looking for?

AS: The key one is personality. So it’s personality, it’s drive and it’s passion. We will take people who have never worked behind a bar before, but they really need to want to do it.

So they have to want that career, that lifestyle. Otherwise you might have people with great personalities and great passion, as we know in this industry, it’s hard work and it won’t work.

BLUK: That’s a lot of money to spend. How do you make sure you keep people after you have spent five grand training them up?

AS: We are a great place to work. We have our ‘all store party’ this coming Monday… We are closing all our bars and we are going to have one hell of a party at the Shoreditch bar.

We have quarterly communications meetings that everybody comes to. Where the area managers, myself, present… so there is good communication.

We’ve just launched an internal newsletter, we give our teams £75 worth of drinks vouchers each every month.

BLUK: Do you operate bartenders and bar backs?

AS: We do. In an ideal world, we want them to become bartenders. As part of that raining process, they join effectively as bar backs. They go through the bar back training in the first couple of days of their time with us. They then begin learning the cocktails.

One of the key differentiators with us and other businesses is we have over 200 cocktails in our menu. We’re about to launch a new menu in April and there will be even more cocktails.

BLUK: And every bartender needs to be able to make all of them without consulting the specs?

AS: They know them all.

BLUK: If we go back to the original ‘three boys’… What was it about them, aside from their drink-making skills, that made them able to set up B@1?

AS: It was… I think they had absolute clarity about what they wanted to achieve with the brand. They had a very clear vision – they still do – for me, I’ve only been with the business now for 6 months, and the boys generally make the right decisions.

They know what works for this business, they now what their guests want, and they’ve kept it simple.

So, the fact that we don’t serve food is a massive benefit for us, in that it is a very simple product. It’s all about the drinks, all about the service and interaction.

One of the other differentiators for us is the atmosphere and we think we do have a good atmosphere in our bars.

BLUK: So if you image two successful bartenders who have great connections with the drinks companies, good reputations, who want to open their own bar. What knowledge do they need to develop, aside from the drinks knowledge, to do so?

AS: You have to know what you want, before you can go out and get it. You have to have tenacity and drive in order to make it work. Business dog-fighting skills are needed when you are trying to secure finance, finding sites etc.

BLUK: If you were a bartender trying to open a bar now, where would you look for finance?

AS: The conventional route is banks, and that’s how we fund this business.

BLUK: If you are going to open a new B@1 in an ‘average London Location’, how much does that cost?

AS: It depends on the site, but in terms of fitting out a B@1 bar, it costs us around £300,000. However Battersea was around £40,000 when it first opened, because the boys did a lot of the work themselves.

BarLifeUK had heard rumblings of a second venue by the team behind Purl, one of the most talked-about bars to open in London of recent times, and so we collared Tristan Stephenson to get the skinny on the new joint.

BLUK: Can you tell us a little about the concept of the new bar?

TS: I have a bit of an obsession with Victorian London and the Gin Palace era, so as a result of that we have gone down the Victorian route for the new place. It is hard core traditional British, 19^th Century, with the main influence being the gin palaces.

BLUK: How did you come up with the name?

TS: Whistling comes from the Old English for ‘Cheers’ and during the late 18^th Century a whistling shop was the name for a place you could go to buy a drink… it was slang for a gin palace. And as the site is on Worship Street, it rolls of the tongue nicely.

BLUK: Purl has become well know for quite intricate cocktails that encourage guests to step out of the comfort zone on occasion. Will the Whistling Shop follow suit?

TS: The drinks will be quite different to Purl, which is all about theatre and multi-sensory drinks using dry ice or coming in several parts for the guest to construct at their table.

With the Whistling Shop, it’s going to be quite historically accurate, with some modern takes. We are fitting out a full lab, which will create more in-house ingredients than any other bar I’ve seen. The prep list is ridiculous!

If you think about Heston’s ‘Dinner’, it’s pretty close to what we are doing with the drinks.

Ryan Chetiyawardana, of 69 Colebrook Row fame, is the bar manager. He has been working on the cocktail list. One of the drinks we are doing is a Champagne gin fizz – so we are actually bottling a flat gin fizz and bottle-fermenting it with yeast. We have a corker, so it will be served in the bottle and popped at the table.

BLUK: Will the cocktail list be quite gin-heavy?

TS: Yes, kind of. The list has only 12 drinks, and yes you would probably say it is gin-driven.

BLUK: We’ve heard tell of some experiential drinking, can you tell us about that?

TS: We have two private dining rooms, well, drinking rooms. One of them is being converted into an authentic 18^th Century dram shop, so it has bench seating and a library cabinet of vintage gins – the idea being a group go in for a short experience and try some of the gins.

The other room is being called the Cocktail Emporium – it will be a multi-sensory journey through cocktails based around a given theme. The idea is up to eight people will taste five cocktails over a couple of hours, but accompanying those cocktails will be aromas, light, images, sound, and music to match.

As an example, we might run an experience on the history of rum. So it would include five cocktails ranging from a Flip all the way to Tiki drinks. For each drink the theme of the room will change, so for the Grog cocktail, the aromas would be sea air, gunpowder, wet wood. There would be the sound of the waves and the light would move to give the impression of moving on a boat. And this would be accompanied by food.

BLUK: This all sounds fantastic! Do you have an opening date yet?

TS: Yes, the opening date will be April 28^th!

You can follow the Worship Street Whistling Shop’s progress towards opening on April 28th on Twitter: www.twitter.com/whistlingshop

While there, I caught up with old friend Simon Webster who asked if I would like to contribute to BarLifeUK and write an article on my experiences. I feel honoured and inspired to do so, and I hope not to bore the crap out of most of you in the northern part of the world.

Treacle

So after enduring many hours in the luxury of Air New Zealand economy class and the, I can only imagine, frequently delayed flights of BA, I finally arrived in Edinburgh. Magical place! But the adventures would have to wait as after 40 hours flying or in transit, I was fairly knackered.

The next day was touring around the heart of the city and seeing what deals I could get. Also to see what booze I could get my hands on, to bring back to New Zealand. That started my tour of the bars around Edinburgh, with a list given to me by friends and also some of the places over the years that I had heard of and also read about.

A place that you hear a lot about, even in New Zealand

First on the list was David’s old bar BRAMBLE. A place that you hear a lot about, even in New Zealand. Here I meet up with a guy called Jason Scott whom I can only imagine as being a house hold name though out the UK.

Bramble was great and certainly lived up to the reputation. Lovely expertly crafted and very well balanced. Now to be honest this would be a place that I would feel very comfortable working in and also drinking vast quantities of the cocktail list. Many thanks to Jason again, for being an amazing host and all around great bartender

Other bars that I managed to get to after tearing myself away from the bar stool at Bramble started with Treacle – this was an interesting place. To be honest it may be not a place that I would have wondered in to but I would have eaten my words as I had a great time.

The drinks where great and the people great to talk to, although to be honest that seemed to be a pattern around Scotland.

Now some disappointing bars, for me these were bars that I heard so much about and certainly bars that were recommended to me by other bars and bartenders alike Tiger Lilly and Bon Vivant. I am not sure why or what was happening with these places.

I certainly was highly recommended to these bars but they just where not that great on the nights I went there. Maybe that the great legend Joey was not at Tiger Lilly that night I am not sure. But knowing Joey and the standard he sets himself, it just was not up to that standard for me.

Aberdeen-ho

So after three nights of touring and drinking it was a quick train ride up to Aberdeen. Here after trying hard to navigate the roads of Aberdeen (I can only imagine the council decided on the town plans, after imbibing far too many Drams of the local Whisky), I made it to my hotel.

I had quick walk about the town to get my bearings, and onto the night life of Aberdeen with a list of establishments from a mate Adam Elmegirab. I headed out to the first place, MIM LOUNGE.

Now MIM LOUNGE, where do I start, much in the same regards as Treacle this was probably a place that I would not have gone in of my own accord. It seemed to be the same as many places that you find here and in Australia, where a lot of money is spent on the outfit of the establishment.

The downside of these places is that they generally use up all of their passion and all of their ideas on that and everything else in the place falls well sort. MIM LOUNGE however was a great exception to this. In fact I had such a great time there that I did not make it to any other bar! Bhakie and Louise were amazing hosts.

Truly great bars

In 2007 I competed in the 42 Below CWC. With this you have international speakers and judges. This year Dale de Groff happened to do a speech for us entitled “the best bar in the world”. Our mission was to guess the best bar in the world which none of us naïve bartenders managed too. Simply put Dales idea of the best bar in the world, was the “place that you feel most comfortable”.

Bramble bar a stand out for Riki

For me I had two of these bars already on my journey and I had not even made it London yet. But without hesitation BRAMBLE and MIM lounge (worlds apart in terms of offerings) are truly great bars.

The next day was spent touring Duff Town and Glenfiddich distillery before driving down to St Andrews to stay with family friends for a few days and try to detox although in Scotland that was never going to happen. A few days and a round of golf later and on I went to London to be a guest judge at the 42 Below CWC UK finals (more of this to come in my next blog).

Over all I have to say that Scotland was an amazing place to go as a bartender not just for the offering of the bars and the distilleries, but also the locals and the passion that the bartenders seem to have about the industry. Great job and I hope that I can get back soon and enjoy some more of the Scottish hospitality.

A buzz of fun and excitement from the crowd, laughter cutting the room, drinks being knocked back at a steady rate, tables moved to the sides to make room for the dancing couples, the worries of a country in trouble being lost to alcohol, good times and the party atmosphere. We have all read the stories and many of us have seen Boardwalk Empire so we know straight away that scene is from a 1920’s Speakeasy.

Look at all those smiling faces, it's like the House of Commons on expenses day

The bar industry like all things goes through trends and whilst the rest of the world seems to be having a whole lot of fun reliving the bright, outlandish, slightly painful 80’s the bar industry has been looking a bit further back and focusing on the dark, low-key 20’s America (not 20’s Europe which was having quiet a jolly time thank you very much with the ‘Golden Twenties’ in full effect ).

There is no doubt that the 20’s Prohibition era was a hugely important time for the liquor and bar industry and I am all for celebrating it, I just think that the way ‘Speakeasies’ are doing this currently is missing the mark.

How the Speakeasy came to pass

There are few drinks writers in the world at the moment who have the academic background to their work to explain this era better than David Wondrich and he makes some very interesting points in his writings on the subject.

Firstly Prohibition was the end result of many years of campaigning against alcohol across the country but not necessarily outlawing it, in actual fact the majority of support came from the Upper Classes who didn’t want to ban alcohol they just wanted to ban alcohol from the working classes. By the time the Volstead Act came into force in 1920 the Upper Class had stocked up their cellars and were well prepared for the dark years ahead.

Speakeasies, were then, by their very necessity aimed at the working class man (and woman who for the first time were allowed to drink in the company of men – well it wasn’t a time to be fussy was it!) and full of the rough and ready characters of the neighbourhood. Jazz became the sound and in a lot of ways the badge of the Speakeasy scene, in the 80’s saying you liked Acid House was code for saying you liked to pop smiley faced pills, in the 20’s Jazz and liquor had the same association.

Of course Speakeasies were also rather hampered by their alcohol selection and quality, spirits were generally made on premise and in nicer areas the real stuff was often cut with water and sometimes with a lot worse (this was largely to make the booze still affordable for the working class folk as well as making more money of course) and as for decent cocktails, forget it. In fact the ability for bartenders to make good drinks was so restricted that many, including the great Harry Craddock, left the US during this period for the UK, France and the rest of Europe.

So let’s recap here a Speakeasy was a rough and ready drinking den full of working class guys and gals wanting to have fun, dance and get drunk without having to spend a fortune, oh and not forgetting to do all of this without anyone knowing you were doing it. Sure in later years once the rich peoples cellars had run dry and their posh restaurants had gone bust they started frequenting their own upper class Speakeasies or joining the riff-raff in theirs but the essence of these bars was always the earlier form.

Modern Speakeasies getting it wrong

Now here is my problem. Today’s Speakeasy bars are generally about as far away as it is possible to get from this. Now I understand that nowhere is going to survive by selling cut liquor in chipped glasses with no mixers but where has the Speakeasy soul gone.

Go back up to the first paragraph (taking out the tobacco part of course), now honestly does that seem like any modern day Speakeasy you have been to? No of course not. It starts out fine with the dark and the jazz but as soon as the feel and atmosphere of the place is included it is lost. Modern Speakeasies all seem to be so exclusive and trendy they have lost the very thing they are supposed to be celebrating. The 1920’s weren’t about the quality of the drinks or the skill of the bartenders it was about being naughty, drinking and having fun – sticking two fingers up at the elitist classes.

Echo... echo...

Oh and bartenders from this period were just that, bartenders. Not mixologists, not drink chefs, not service industry professionals etc but good old fashioned bartenders who concentrated on serving drinks and ensuring people had a great time. Look at pictures of Speakeasies and you’ll find jolly looking guys surrounded by smiling faces (all be it jolly guys who probably kept a shotgun under the bar just in case!).

However that also seems to have been lost – Where in the history books does it mention that a Speakeasy bartender must ‘give across a general feeling of being superior to his customers and produce drinks so serious smiling after the first sip is frowned upon’?

I think it is fair to say that the criticism levelled at these bars that they can’t be a Speakeasy if they tell anyone they exist is a little unfair, they do after all have to make a buck. What I don’t like however is the seeming elitism a lot of them appear to employ. Hosts who seem very concerned with your attire as you enter as if totting up if you can afford a round of drinks. Working Class venues remember???

Many of London’s ‘Speakeasies’ such as Experimental Cocktail Club, Nightjar are great venues, serving great drinks and although they are sometimes more than a little up their own arses for my taste, that is not my problem with them. My problem with them, as you may have guessed by now, is that they are not fucking Speakeasies! Being small, dark and hard to find does not a Speakeasy make.

I believe the closest we have to Speakeasies in today’s culture is the Dive bar. A venue where everyone is welcome, drinks are affordable and dancing and enjoyment are positively encouraged. The rest of you be upfront, admit what you are, you are good at it so why hide behind a false tag.

You are upmarket, expensive, serious drinking establishments – that sounds good to a whole lot of people, stop being scared to admit it.

The BBC, one of Marian Beke's Old Street Speakeasy cocktails for Edmun Weil. Photo: Bruno Drummond

The Nightjar is a passion project from Edmund Weil and his partner Roisin Stimpson. Edmund acts as general manager of the venue while Roisin runs the music and entertainment side; the pair is supported by bar manager Marian Beke and their Shaker-School-trained bartenders.

While Marian has bar experience at Montgomery Place and Artesian at the Langham Hotel, Edmund is a relative newcomer and spent just one year at Shoreditch House learning the ropes. (He was previously an English teacher and a PR)

I have no doubt that the bar will be a magnetic jazz and cabaret venue when it launches. But what kncked my socks off was the cocktail menu. When I met Edmund and Roisin on Friday night, I was lucky enough to be talked through their entire menu and the cocktail geek in me was bowled over.

The most eye-catching must be the BBC – one of Marian Beke’s competition-winning arrangements, the Sazerac-alike is served in a waft of absinthe smoke from the bar’s ‘smoking gun’.

Their aged pina colada looks like a must-try: two rums, fresh coconut milk and pineapple juice spend a week wrapped up in a barrel before the cocktail’s served.

Bespoke Ingredients

Lots of cocktails are made with the bar’s own liqueurs, bitters and infusions. The Name of the Samurai, for instance, has a ginger and raisin infused sake; there is also a blood orange and saffron liqueuer, a prune and Belgian truffle liqueurs and unique ‘electric bitters’ made from chilli-flowers in their signature drink.

The Voltcobbler: the Nightjar's signature cocktail, made with their own infusions and 'electric' chilli-flower bitters. Photo: Bruno Drummond

The thing that caught my eye on the menu was a Silk Stockings made with Earl Grey-infused condensed milk – this creativity is, at the moment, the preserve of just a couple of bars outside of SoHo.

It’s also deeply authentic, right down to the Hemingway cocktail taken straight from Islands in the Stream.

For me it’s another sign that the East End’s the new West End – something Anna and Heather from the Queen of Hoxton mentioned a year ago. Certainly, Edmund compared the cocktail menu to Purl’s and Nightjar’s smoking cocktail has a whiff of the Fixer Upper about it… Does it bother you to lose grungy venues (The Foundry, Victoria’s), or will you welcome Nightjar with open arms?

Sorry it has been a while, I have been busy travelling all over the shop and somehow moving house in between and have not had chance to put pen to paper.  After all the chaos of the past couple of months, it has been nice to spend some much needed time in my new pad.  So when I saw a new pub opening on Kilburn High Street I was very excited at the prospect of having a new local…

The Westbury

Local pubs are very important. Perhaps more so since the great big dark recession which saw people making a conscious effort to support local businesses.  You can’t beat having a good old local, the beauty of having a nice local on your doorstep means you can stumble home.

And I feel quite lucky at the moment because it seems North West London is having a surge of new bars and clubs.

Both Kensal Rise and Queens Park are now home to some great London bars including Paradise and The Island Bar and Dining Room and it seems my little neck of the woods Kilburn is closely following suit… Venture out the gorgeous Maida Vale just down the road and like many places in London, you start to come to a slightly dodger, let’s say “urban” area.  Think home to Poundstretcher, shoe zone (a personal fav of mine) LOTS of independent mobile phone shops and ALWAYS lots of no name places that sell those tartan plastic dirty washing bags (?!)…welcome to Kilburn High Street.

Kilburn does have a certain little charm about it and already major retailers and brands are homing in (yes, we do now have a Starbucks).  Kilburn is definitely being boxed in the “up and coming” with critics.  Before the recent arrival of Miss Betsy (more about her in a minute), Kilburn has been home to the good old Westbury.

A diamond in the rough, a ruby in the mist an emerald in the woods (you get the idea).  The Westbury has always been a firm favourite with local residents, offering a refreshing mixture of people, late night opening hours and a great cocktail selection which regularly sees DJ sets by Yoda and Hot Chip.

Until now the Westbury has always been the Kilburn bar of choice (well it was either that or the Old Bell!) but then along came Betsy Smith….

The Betsy Smith Opening

Betsy Smith, born in 1863 during the Victorian era, is an alluring woman with classic beauty and a subtle hint of rose in her cheek.  She dreams of magical worlds far away with talking badgers, birdcage forests, gardens growing on walls, wardrobes leading to upside-down lands filled with apothecaries, fun fairs with bearded ladies and flamingos wearing top hats…

Welcome to the world of Betsy Smith.  Where birdcages and flamingos hang from ceilings, customers get to sit in wardrobes and other little hidden alcoves such as the scratch and sniff gallery and where cocktails are served a plenty!  The Betsy Smith is a kooky, kitsch pub which could almost be mistaken for a bric a brac store if it weren’t for their wide range of drinks behind the bar.

Imagine, if you will, a Narnia inspired, enchanting, Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus, bewitching, Hocus Pocus meets Shangri La at Glastonbury.  The theme continues on the cocktail menu with delights including Willy Wonka, Forbidden Flower, Bright Eyes, hot cocktails served in tea cups and Betsy’s personal fav:

A Chocwork Orange

Kahlua, Chocolate liqueur, Grand Marnier, Vanilla Vodka and foamy milk and cream topped with chocolate powder

Spencer Kennedy & the Earthlights Boogie Band

The opening night last Friday, saw Spencer Kennedy and the Earthlights Boogie Band perform a very lively set in the “burrow area” and free mini burgers, pizzas and mini margarita shots flowed.  A great opening start to the bar which definitely encouraged locals to come in and join the fun.  Cues for the bar were pretty huge but hopefully this was down to it being the first night and once the bar has found its feet this will calm down.

Like all good locals should have, Betsy Smith also offers hearty breakfasts and roasts, if your head isn’t hurting too much the next day and you can drag yourself up the street that is!  Pub quizzes and sports screenings will also feature on weekdays.  It does seem Betsy has conjured up all the ingredients for a perfect local.

Forget Spots Vs Stripes, it is Westbury Vs Betsy.

Big up NW6!

The Betsy Smith

77 Kilburn High Road, Kilburn, London, NW6 6HY

www.thebetsysmith.co.uk

twitter.com/BetsySmithbar

The Westbury

34 Kilburn High Road, Kilburn, London, NW6 5UA

www.westburybar.com

twitter.com/TheWestbury

That, in case you couldn’t tell, is the sound of a Transformer transforming.

I hate Michael Bay

This highly tenuous segue is there to let you know that the wraps have finally come off Tiny Robot (little brother to Clerkenwell’s Giant Robot) in Notting Hill.

The latest venue from Rushmore (aka Match Group), Tiny Robot will be open from 10am-2am and has the focus on great food and cocktails that you would expect from this stable.

A members only basement will also soon open. Here’s a description from Mr Downey himself:

“The Tiny Robot restaurant and bar soft opens at 6pm today and after a week of evenings only drinks and dinner, we’ll have a pot of coffee and a piadine ready to go from 10am every day of the week (and from 9am on Saturday and Sunday for our weekend brunch if a Brooklyn Breakfast is more your thing). The restaurant has a late license until 2am, which is handy to know for that part of town.

We haven’t quite finished the dinky basement members space yet but that should be up and running in a week or so. I’ll let you know. We’re calling it The Starland Social Club and it will be open until 3am. Expect the usual killer drinks down here and to be booming it up thanks to our massive sound system. How good is that going to be..?”

Well… I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with it.  Love the bars there, used to live and work there so this always conjures up a bit of nostalgia and loyalty to a place but I do find it quite (rhymes with lanky) sometimes.

There is, however, one little place I always have to pop into whenever I visit…Three Blind Mice.

Three Blind Mice, Shoreditch

Located on Ravey Street, a little side street off the main bars on Great Eastern St, you will find a little black metal door with the number 5 written above and a Victorian lamp with stenciled characters of the three blind mice logo (these are the only landmarks). But don’t be scared, go on, go down the stairs…

Don’t expect too much glamour, one of the toilets is still broken from when I used to work there (5 years ago!) and the walls are laden with half torn posters.  The interior takes you back to a “shebeen” or dive bar with images of James Bond, West Indian culture clashing with Communist cold war pictures and a Latin cubana texture, but it is the charm of the place that sends me back.

There is a lovely vibe here. Ok, so I am pretty biased since I worked there and have lots of love for my homeboy Rodge, but it is honestly a credit to the staff that the bar is such a success.  Most people who frequent the bar come back time and time again since it is such a friendly place and it is not uncommon to find yourself sharing a shot with the bar guys.

In fact if I remember rightly it was pretty much a prerequisite to being employed…”can you hold down a krupnik vodka and mop a floor every Saturday night?…err yep”.  There is a lot of love and laughter to be had here and Rodger and his business partner Colin have a fantastic way of making visitors feel welcome and right at home.  Reminiscent of perhaps a back street in Berlin or Paris, Ravey St has a great little following with neighbouring bars; The Griffin and Casita, drawing people in.

So what’s in the name?  Well 3Blind Mice is influenced by Ian Fleming’s James Bond books which were written in Jamaica where Flemings lived. His first film Dr No was filmed in the country, with the opening scene depicting the murder of British secret agent 006 by 3 assassins while in the background a reggae cover of the nursery rhyme “three blind mice ” creates the atmosphere.

If your luck is in, some nights you can stumble across some legendary DJs, it is very rarely publicized but in the past Three Blind Mice has housed Andy Weatherall, Tim Burgess, Amy Winehouse, Mark Ronson and Corrine Bailey Rae.  The music policy is pretty much universally eclectic and Tuesdays and Wednesdays are dedicated to live acoustic nights and poetry/spoken word.

Vintage funk, sweet soul and reggae are typical here. It’s applauded by converts for providing a sanctuary in the Shorebitch barrage of chrome, coolness and slamming electro, “more like being at a mate’s house party than out in the ditch”.  Finally somewhere in Shoreditch with a bit of soul…so if you fancy a bit of a chinwag or a shot of vodka, pop on down those stairs, go on, don’t be scared now…

Three Blind Mice Bar

5 Ravey St, London, EC2 4QW

http://www.facebook.com/pages/London-United-Kingdom/Three-Blind-Mice/6798903730

Zero Degrees – Park Row

Iron Man's latest venture

The day begins in the brewery, come pub, come restaurant Zero Degrees. Walking in you can’t help but think that if Iron Man owned a brew pub it would look remarkably like this. Everywhere you turn there is metal and glass in the cavernous building which, when quiet, leads to a slightly dead atmosphere although I’m sure it can kick off later. On the plus side the beers are great (particularly the Pilsner and the Viennese Red), brewed on site and as fresh as can be, on top of that (readers in London please sit down) they are £2.80 a pint! The food looks pretty good and is well priced with Pizza’s about £8.50 a pop and on a sunny day there are plenty of outside tables.

Portcullis – Clifton Village
Now this is a proper locals pub! Hidden underneath some houses in the trendy (in a good way) Clifton area is where you’ll find this gem – they have good beer, pie’s, pub quiz’s and a dog! What more could you ask for? Find a corner, grab a pint of well kept real ale and watch the old guys at the bar chat with the pierced students whilst the dog threatens to ‘mark his territory’ all over their legs. If you are still in doubt about the kind of pub this is the sign on the wall for the local delicacy which is Piemaster Pie’s explains it perfectly ‘Stay Calm, Eat More Pies’.

N.B. over the road is a pub with views of the iconic Clifton Suspension bridge from its massive balcony. It is awful, don’t be tempted. Buy a beer from a shop and walk up to the park next to it – trust me on this one folks I have done it so you don’t have too!

Colston Yard – Park Row/Colston St

'Because we love rum!'

Sometimes you can rebrand a pub all you want but the locals will still refer to it by its old monocle and the Old Smiles Brewery… sorry Colston Yard is one of those. This is a little unfair to this great boozer which has managed the rare feat of a new fit-out which enhances the old feel with a few modern touches (like heating and seats that have padding). They have also taken some time on the bar with the standard great selection of real ale sitting alongside a fantastic array of Belgium beers and a chalk board proudly listing the range of 24 rums they have from around the world and when BarLifeUK enquired why they had such a large selection of rums the answer came ‘because we love rum!’ and you just can’t get a better answer than that!

Port of Call – Blackboy Hill
This is the sort of old school pub that gives hope to your soul, hope that real ale is not only safe but that it really is a growing market. This small pub just off Blackboy Hill contained the usual weathered old man at the bar offering advice on what you should drink whether you ask or not and round the corner were table upon table of student types all, men and women alike, with a pint of dark, flat, tasty, hop filled joy in front of them. Any pub company who thinks that ripping apart a pub and filling it with screens, big windows and happy hours is the way forward needs to get their fat cat arses down to Bristol to see how proper pubs can work.

Waterfront – Park Street
You can see the thinking – ‘Let’s redevelop the old warehouses next to the canal put in bars and restaurants to create a European alfresco dining and drinking experience’. Theory is marvellous, reality is hell! Never have I seen so many hen does, stag parties, fancy dress costumes and dayglow bottled drinks in my life. They hunt in packs from one gawdy, soulless, chain pub to the next whilst a guy strolls the front selling hats, sashes and glow in the dark bangles. Even as I tried to escape its grasp I was subjected to a tottering girl dressed as (I think) Little Bo Peep with the most disturbing chat up line of all time:
Not So Little Bo Peep: Hey… HEY… What’s your name?
Me: Simon
NSLBP: I like that name – that’s my step dads name
M: Is that good?
NSLBP: Yeah he’s hot!
M: Jesus….. Bye!!

STAR VENUE – The Coronation Tap – Sion Place

Famous For Cider

If Bristol is the home of cider then The Coronation Tap is the kitchen – the place everyone goes to chat, gossip and have a laugh. If you don’t like cider this really isn’t the place for you! They do serve beer but no-one drinks it, in fact I don’t even know if the pumps are connected. They are famous for a cider brewed specifically for them called Exhibition, when in Rome and all that so I gave it a try. Served only in half pints (due to its ABV and effects), the plastic glass taken off a tray on the back bar doesn’t fill you with confidence however it is like very nice slightly warm apple juice. Lovely I thought as I downed my first, half way through my second I realised that my head had gone bright red and was now trying to float away from my shoulders so I giggled, then giggled again, then sat down. Live music and a great atmosphere all help the vibe of this place but its heart is Exhibition – go and try it, you honestly won’t be disappointed!!

The Mall – The Mall
To be honest I only went in here because it is round the corner from The Tap and I needed a sit down but it turned out to be a real treat. Lots of cider (of course) but a good beer selection, good snacks, a weekend BBQ in the garden and some of the best music I have heard in a pub in a long time. Over two levels this is one of those lovely venues with lots of hidden corners for a romantic tryst or big open tables for a friendly gathering.

Adam and Eve – Hope Chapel Hill
The last stop was a welcomed retreat from the madness of Clifton which saw us while away the remaining couple of hours till last orders with some very well kept beers in yet another nicely reworked old pub. The old beams were all still there as were the heavy wooden tables, friendly locals, chatty barmaid and range of snacks (don’t bother with the lobster crisps though, I should know better at my age!). I have been reliably informed the food there is very good when the kitchens open but if like us you missed that there is always a pile of board games to take your pick from if the days exploits have left polite conversation a little beyond your ability too!

I came away from Bristol knowing I had only scratched the surface of a city with some truly fantastic drinking haunts. I will be back and I heartily suggest you all give it a go as well if you fancy a break away. A special thanks to my Bristol guides (when they turned up) – the next Exhibition is on me!!