Babycream has songs for sale
I have seen the future, and it's Babycream. The new Liverpool bar, opened by Cream founder James Barton and the Lyceum Group's Rob Gutman, offers "take-away tunes" with your cocktails. The Creamselector - a rather clever gadget that lets you compile your own bespoke CD via one of five specially created booths in the bar - is set to mark "a new era combining music shopping with leisure".
Mega labels such as EMI, Warner and BMG, plus independents such as Beggar's Banquet and Warp, have endorsed the service, and drinkers have access to more than 2,000 titles for their compilations.
How does it work? It costs £1.25 per chosen track, with a maximum of 18 tracks per CD (though 10 is the norm), which bar staff will burn for you while you sip on your cocktail in the Virtual World Bar, which uses the latest audiovisual technology to "take you to another place" - with "virtual windows" looking out on to a variety of landscapes, from a harbour at sunset to rolling countryside.
Cocktails are huge here, and the CD-selecting ritual is not complete without Pure Passion. Pardon? Not for Babycream current cocktail favourite the Mojito. No. General manager Steven Smith and bar manager Trevor O'Loughlan have come up with their own concoctions - the most popular of which is Pure Passion - shake together 25ml Passoa (passion fruit liqueur), 25ml of Fraise, 25ml of Stoli Razberi and 25ml of Pure Polish, then pour over cubed ice and serve with a strawberry slice.
By the way, Smith and O'Loughlan report that the cocktail phenomenon is going down well with Liverpool men, who eschew Pure Passion in favour of Cream Lover Pour Homme - 25ml Maker's Mark, 25ml Toussaint Coffee Liqueur and a splash of Dark Cacao shaken with milk and cream.
But how on earth do you juggle making cocktails with burning CDs? "You press a button, that's all - it takes three minutes to download," explains O'Loughlan, who has a total of six staff shaking behind the bar. You even get your own sleeve design and CD title - though they offer a choice of only four at the moment.
"It will revolutionise the way we buy music, and it will define Babycream as a standard bearer for a new breed of lifestyle bars," hopes co-founder Barton, who eventually wants to use the service as a platform for the music industry to profile new artists and labels.
shorts
Labour of love
Gemma Crangle. Remember her name. The 26-year-old has turned her love of the Languedoc into an exciting new wine business. Called Terroir Languedoc (020 8318 5267), it offers more than 50 different wines from the region, some of them exclusive to Crangle - including four wines from the Domaine de la Madura vineyard. Particularly good is the Grand Vin Rouge 2000, which had bright, ripe fruit, while another exclusive, Clos Centeilles, showed rich, plummy fruit, balanced acidity and silky tannins. According to Crangle, it was this particular producer that sparked off her idea to import wines exclusively from the Languedoc. "I love their willingness to break the rules, their obsession with quality, their insistence on putting creativity before commerce, and the diversity of their output," she enthuses. For the full listing and prices check out www.terroirlanguedoc.co.uk.
A sting in its tail
Hayman Distillers (01376 517517) launches Scorpion Tequila, a full-strength premium Tequila with added flavouring and colour "to maximise impact". Aimed at the young adult market, it comes in five combinations - cinnamon (black), citrus (blue), wild strawberry (red), gold and silver.
Take-home wine service
Californian producer Beringer Vineyards is teaming up with UK restaurateurs to enable diners to take home unfinished bottles to boost sales. How exactly? By offering a wine kit with air-extraction pump, rubber stoppers, branded bottle bags, point of sale material and a press kit for publicising the service in the restaurant's local media. "The restaurateur sells more wine, and the consumer can choose an extra bottle knowing it will not be wasted if it's not finished with the meal," explains Norbert Heinl, Beringer Blass European brand manager. A similar "hugely successful" scheme trialled in France last year, attracting more than 500 restaurants across the country. The kits are available through Berkmann Wine Cellars on 020 7609 4711.
New Champagne blend
A small, family-owned Champagne producer has just released Cuv‚e Aux Six C‚pages 2000. Champagne is normally produced using just three grape varieties, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, with producers using varying amounts depending on the wine style they're going for. Francois Moutard, of Champagne Moutard (available through Hallgarten Wines 01582 722538), has decided to use three more grape varieties in his blend, namely Pinot Blanc, Arbane and Petit Meslier, three little-known varieties permitted within the appellation contr"l‚e for the region. What does it taste like? Moutard has fermented the juice in old Meursault Burgundy barrels for added flavour, which is described as "truly unique" by bubbly specialist, Tom Stevenson.
