Visitors to Brighton have never had it so good. Hot on the heels of Hotel du Vin opening in the Lanes last year comes the Alias Hotel Seattle, which opened on 17 February. Why is it gracing Caterer's drinks pages? Because it has a great bar.
As at its sister hotels - the Barcelona in Exeter, the Rossetti in Manchester and the Kandinsky in Cheltenham - food and beverage at the Seattle is a prime concern. The Barcelona even managed to turn stuffy Exeter on to cocktails and now it can't make enough, ringing up £900 in sales on an average Saturday night.
The bar at the Alias Hotel Seattle is intended to become equally popular. While it has only one-quarter of the capacity of Kino, the Barcelona's bar-cum-nightclub, the ambition for the bar at Alias Hotel Seattle is for it to become a similar cocktail hot spot, albeit a discreet one. "I want it to be a bit of a gorgeous Brighton secret," explains general manager Melissa Love.
Called Black & White because of its 1960s-inspired monochrome interior (think black leather sling chairs, Edra flower stools and chrome galore - designed by the hotel group's managing director, Nigel Chapman), it can certainly boast the best view of any bar, as it looks out across the bobbing yachts in the Brighton Marina to the setting sun.
Bar manager Chris Lacey-Malvern has put together an impressive list. As well as the eight red wines and eight whites, plus two Champagnes by the glass (Georges Gardet is the house bubbly), there is an exhaustive line-up of cocktails that kick off his free-style interpretation of the classics. He claims: "I want to take margaritas to a new level."
Instead of Triple Sec or Cointreau, he uses Mandarin Napoleon; in place of regular Tequila, he offers boutique-style Patron (at £35 a bottle). "And I squeeze all my lime juice fresh for each drink," he declares. Lacey-Malvern even picked up an award for his mixing talents, being named regional winner of a Plymouth Gin competition for the bartenders' glossy magazine, Class.
Black & White Nectar
Ingredients
37.5ml Grey Goose vodka
25ml Krupnik honey vodka
Punt e Mes
Orange peel
Method
Rinse chilled martini glass with Punt e Mes. Stir vodkas with cubed ice in Boston shaker. Fine-strain into glass and garnish with flaming orange peel.
Shorts
Hop heaven
Want to find out which is the best beer to drink with a ploughman's? Then keep an eye out for the results of the Beauty of Hops competition 2003, which is to take place in London in early June. A collaboration between the National Hop Association of England and Horticulture Research International (HRI), the competition will be open for entries in early April to find the best beer (in cask, keg or bottle) to go with a ploughman's lunch. Previous categories have included Ultimate Pizza Beer, Curry Beer, and Fish & Chips Beer. This year's competition will also attempt to find the Ultimate After Dinner Cheese Beer, as well as the best single varietal Pilgrim hop beer. The Pilgrim hop, for those who don't know, was developed by Dr Peter Darby at HRI Wye and released in 2000. It has the same father as First Gold, with a powerful, rich, hoppy aroma.
Mug up on Oz
Mitchell Beazley has added more titles to its Wine Guide series. The latest publications to hit the shelves are Wines of Australia by James Halliday and Wines of Spain by Jan Read (both £9.99). Halliday is one of Australia's top wine writers and his book lists every significant Aussie producer, together with the wines they produce, key information, and 12 maps with up-to-date analysis of the four most recent vintages. Read's book is an updated version of her best seller, and includes all the usual features, plus a section on the region's gastronomic specialities and wines to match.
Best curry beer
Meanwhile, Rohit Amin reckons he's come up with the best beer for curry in his Tikka Gold. Brewed for Amin's Tikka Beer company, Tikka Gold uses a combination of Indian and Pilsner styles, using rice as well as malts and hops. He worked with a Belgian brewer for 18 months to come up with the beer, "which is designed to refresh curry eaters' palates," he says. At 5% abv, it's available in 275ml and 500ml bottles. For more information, contact Amin on 020 8861 8325 or e-mail rohit@tikkabeer.co.uk.
Burgundy specialist
Burgundy importer Will Grafton, owner of Wills-Burgundy, has launched a specialist Burgundian website, www.wills-burgundy.com, "to help customers unravel the complexities of France's most tricky-to-get-to-grips-with region". It features more than 100 wines from top spots such as Morey St Denis and Gevrey-Chambertin, with information and maps of the villages and domains featured.