Caterer and Hotelkeeper – 17446
Whisky galore
Next week, a hotel in Derbyshire plans to restock its hotel bar with drinkers other than guests staying over, by launching the Malt Bar. The library at the Priest House on the River, near Castle Donington, is now home to a bar taken over entirely by malt whisky.
"It was a way of getting local interest up," says sales manager Wendy Johnson, "and filling rooms."
More than 50 different malts are stocked behind the bar - staff have spent the past few weeks learning the whiskies' individual characteristics in anticipation of questions from a new crop of drinkers.
Oldest is the 14-year-old Oban at £2.50 a shot, but the rare Glen Blair makes an appearance, and the island varieties are well represented, with the peaty 10-year-old Talisker from Skye also at £2.50 a shot.
The idea was hatched by the past general manager and the hotel's public relations company, Cranium. Kicking off the launch on 14 March is Glenmorangie's Dr Lumsden, who will lead tasters through a selection of malts after a short whisky history lesson.
For more information, call 01332 810649.
Top-line pub wine
Keen to be seen to be thinking about its wine sales, pub company Wetherspoon has launched a new range of wines throughout its estate "on a par with those available in any leading restaurant or hotel in the UK", it claims.
Put together by Matthew Clark Wholesale from its Grants of St James' portfolio, Wetherspoon believes that the new range will help dispel the notion that pubs serve poor wine.
"We treat our wines as seriously as our cask-conditioned beers," says marketing director Suzanne Baker.
The new range includes Fetzer's Californian Coldwater Creek white and red; Errazuriz' Sauvignon Blanc, Oxford Landing Chardonnay and Cabernet Shiraz, and Louis Jadot Pinot Noir - including one tagged up as organic, Fetzer's Bonterra range.
All are served by the bottle or in 175ml and 250ml glasses, and no wine goes above the £8.50-a-bottle mark, with prices starting at £5.90 a bottle.
