VVIPS are Expecting Gold Medal Services at the London 2012 Olympic Games

VVIPs have all arrived in London this summer to experience the London 2012 Olympic Games. These rich jet setters are expecting nothing less than gold medal services. Royalties, actors, singers, politicians, business people, celebrity sportsmen, and lookalikes ... Loft rentals, penthouses, mega yachts, helicopters, limousines, shoppings, river diners, kids and dogs sitters, quick trips in South of France and extravagant night-lifes will have to be staged.

Everything gets upgraded including cocktails. Nightclub Chinawhite has mixed up London’s most expensive cocktail for its Olympic after-party. My favorite cocktail: a short version of the French 75 - champagne and cognac.

Chinawhite Nightclub London Olympic Cocktail 2012 Champagne and Cognac

Made with Champagne Luxor 24-carat gold-leaf and Hennessy Paradis cognac. And as for the 'cherry on top' it  has a handmade set of 18-carat gold rings at the bottom of each glass. Circonstantially priced at £2,012 (3150 USD). Not so expensive considering the world most expensive coktail is according to the Guiness Book of Records 7000USD available at the Skyview Bar of one of the highest hotel built on earth (4th), 'the Burj Al Arab' Hotel in Dubai.

If you are an olympians it is free, so you have 3 more days!

Sources: NBC news and huffington Post and eater.com

French 75. Should You be Using Gin or Cognac?

David Wondrich in a recent article from Liquor.com reflects on the origins of the celebrated cocktail French 75. Apparently it is hard to provide precise origins for this drink.

French 75, is-it mixed with gin or cognac? In fact, one can find both variations to be used with lemon, sugar, ice and Champagne.  This is a perfect summer cocktail that everyone can do and every bartenders must know. Who said cognac is only for winter?

In the USA, The French 75 was known during the Prohibition as the bootlegger easy mix. A great deal of gins was produced during that period in bath tub I was told and they were not the best boutique kind so mixing it was a must.

David Wondrich mentions that "from there, it got picked up by the 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book, and once it was in there, it was everywhere. The elixir has the distinction of being the only classic born in America during the dry period. Indeed, the combination of gin and Champagne was a popular one with gents of a certain class. According to their contemporaries, it was a favorite of Queen Victoria’s son, the Prince of Wales, and also Kalakaua, the sporty type who was king of Hawaii. The combination of cognac and Champagne was just as well-known, if not more so; as the “King’s Peg,” it was a standard served in the eastern parts of the British Empire."

I believe it is acceptable to sacrifice a cognac VS  with some 'real' bubbly champagne to trade up the gins.

Source: liquor.com