One of Gintime’s fave bars, The Lonsdale in Notting Hill, relaunched last week at a glittering event whose special guests included Sarah Jane Crawford, Sara Parker-Bowles, Channel 5’s Nat Coombs, Sara Gilmour, and Poppy Delevingne who took to the decks for a special DJ set.

The Lonsdale has a brand new interior and is serving a new steakhouse menu, courtesy of master butchers, Allens of Mayfair. The original cocktail list, which is as revered amongst locals as it is within the drinks industry, has been retained, so we can be sure it will be the same standard of gorgeous drinks. The new team includes Tim Gardner (Cocoon, The Wellington Club), Jasmine Walters (The Ivy Club) and Jason Wallis (Hawksmoor), whose credentials will undoubtedly ensure that The Lonsdale becomes a mainstay of West London culture.

Check it out here – www.thelonsdale.co.uk

Caorunn Scottish Gin and anCnoc Highland Single Malt Whisky in association with the LA Group are hosting the Caledonian Bartenders Cup in Glasgow on the 9^th of June at LA Group’s state of the art Bar Academy. The first of its kind, the competition will see thirty of the UK’s hottest mixologists battling it out to win the title of Caledonian Bartender Champion and £1,000 prize money. If you’re a bartender with innovative cocktail ideas visit: http://www.la-group.co.uk to get involved in this fantastic new event. Otherwise, keep an eye out for the up-and-coming bartenders who will be showcasing their winning cocktails in a bar near you soon!

If your name is George or Georgina or even Goran or Ygor pop down to any of the five Park Plaza hotels in London and enjoy a free cocktail to celebrate St George’s Day. The ‘Gorgeous George’ cocktail is a fab concoction of Beefeater 24 gin, elderflower cordial, white cranberry juice, grenadine syrup complete with a rose petal garnish. It costs £8.95, but, between 23 April to 30 May 2010, it’s   free for anyone named George (or a variation thereof) when another full price drink is purchased.

Check out Park Plaza hotels here – www.parkplaza.com – and don’t forget you’ll need a driver’s license or passport that proves your first name is George, Georgina or any one of the 46 valid variants of the name of England’s Patron Saint.

We’re loving this fantastic video of Guardian journalist Simon Majumdar’s search for the perfect Martini. Nick Strangeway takes him around three of London’s top bars each of which serve a different twist on our favourite classic. Check out the hilarious trainspotter type comments too.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/video/2010/mar/02/how-to-make-perfect-martini

Here’s an amusing tidbit that arrived in the Gintime mailbox this week. Apparently bartenders in Vancouver have come up with loads of special ways to mark the Winter Olympics currently taking place in Canada. At Yew Restaurant + Bar at the Four Seasons, for instance, Justin Taylor and Jordan Moore have created three cocktails commemorating all the Olympic Games held in Canada. So you can have an updated whisky sour for Montreal 1976, a beefed-up Caesar for Calgary 1988 and a cucumber-flavoured Gin Fling (ooh could that possibly be Hendricks?) with a smoked salmon garnish for Vancouver 2010.

For budding athletes Lauren Mote of The Refinery has worked with personal trainer Vaneska Zahuta at VanFit Athletics to create five healthy cocktails with performance-boosting “super foods”. The gin-based “Beet It” has beetroot  juice and rhubarb bitters and is rich with iron, anthocynim, vitamin C and antioxidants. Great way to keep out the cold!

Gin has come a long way since the days when the horrors of the eighteenth century Gin Madness were depicted in Hogarth’s famous “Gin Lane” with its vivid images of the effects of addiction on London’s population. And no wonder that gin was blamed. Because although at the time gin was drunk by both sexes, women took to gin like ducks to water and the authorities were very concerned about the ability of  gin addled women to give birth to and raise healthy children hence the nickname Mother’s Ruin for gin. They were not wrong – in  the 1720s almost 75% of children born in London never reached five years old. In 1751 nine thousand children died from alcohol poisoning,

A new exhibition at London’s Foundling Hospital featuring Tracey Emin, Matt Collishaw and Paula Rego picks up on contemporary themes of maternal neglect and childhood deprivation so graphically illustrated by Hogarth. In a brilliant demonstration of how much the image of gin has changed Hendricks Brand Ambassador Louis Lewis-Smith has created an exquisite Hendrick’s Gin punch to mark the opening of the new exhibition.

Here’s more about the  Foundling Museum which sits on the site of the old hospital that was founded with Hogarth’s money. It was Britain’s first home for abandoned children and also houses Hogarth’s very own punch bowl. Check it out   here     http://www.foundlingmuseum.org.uk/exhibit_temp.php

The new exhibition is a must see but in the meantime, in the spirit of Hogarth, here’s the Hendricks Gin hommage:

To make:
In a finely decorated punch bowl or tea pot, add Hendrick’s Gin, half again of crème de framboise and half again of fresh lemon juice.  Drop in several sprigs of lavender and numerous slices of cucumber.  Top off with sparkling wine before serving into bone china tea cups.  Wonderfully peculiar and not a cat’s paw in sight.

(or per serving)
40ml Hendrick’s gin
20ml creme de framboise
15ml fresh lemon juice
1 piece of lavender
1 slice of cucumber
dash of sparkling wine

Gorgeous!

Beefeater 24’s recent US Cocktail Comp required contestants to create a new drink containing Beefeater 24 plus 6 other ingredients. Here’s the winning recipe created by  Preston Eckman, and a damn fine drink it is too!
Matcha Fizz
Adapted from a recipe by Preston Eckman, Apothecary Lounge, Philadelphia

• 1oz Beefeater 24
• 1oz Gyokuro (green tea shochu)
• small pinch matcha
• half of an egg white
• 0.5oz lemon juice
• 0.5oz honey syrup
• 1 medium sized sage leaf
• 1 sage tip tossed in matcha, as garnish

Shake over ice and strain into a chilled  champagne coupe

Here’s something to warm you up in these dank days – two lovely new tea based cocktails from Caorunn Gin.

Caorunn G&Tea

• 35ml Caorunn
• 15ml rosemary infused gomme syrop
• 250ml hot Apple & Pear green tea (Twinings) infusion

To prepare the tea infusion add the following to 1 litre hot water

• 3 Apple & Pear green tea bags (Twinings)
• 3 broken cinnamon sticks
• 3 star anise
• 9 cloves
• 1 inch square piece of fresh ginger, sliced
• 5 ‘grates’ nutmeg

Leave on just enough heat to keep the mix hot (do not need to simmer or boil) for 30 min. Strain thoroughly before using and serve hot in a 10oz glass/cup. The mix can be re-heated as appropriate.

Highland G&Tea

• Add 1 bag of Camomile & Spiced Apple tea (Twinings) to hot water, steep for 1 min and remove.
• Add 25ml Caorunn
• 15ml fresh lemon juice (approx juice of ½ lemon)
• 15ml Heather honey

Stir thoroughly before serving and serve hot in a 12oz cup/glass

What a great response to our Beefeater Classic Cocktails book offer and congratulations to Lorna Breetzhe, Iain Maxwell, Deirdre Steain, Nick Yardley, Jane Hill, Martin Best, Gary Hughes, Stuart Reid, Jackie Youel and Sue Southurst who, depending on the whim of Royal Mail, should all be receiving their copies of this gorgeous little book shortly. Don’t despair if you weren’t a winner as the Beefeater London Classic Gin Cocktails Book is now available free online at Mixellany Books at
www.mixellany.com
Have a peek at it here:

http://www.master.mixellany.com/Reading_Room.html

This year’s Tales of the Cocktail saw Martin Miller travel to New Orleans for the first time to take part in a series of events but also “to prove I actually exist!”  One masssively successful event was the Internet Bloggers’ Reception on July 7th where web diarists from across the country gathered to catch up, sip Martin Miller’s Gin cocktails and listen to Martin discuss his passion for making gin. The winning cocktail from the Martin Miller’s Gin Masters Competition, created by Sam Ross of Milk & Honey, New York, went down a storm too.