POP goes the Season

THE delightful sound of popping corks permeates the London Season, as each and every occasion celebrates in fizzing style.  More champagne is drunk during the Season in London than is drunk the whole year in many a country, and while sporting prowess may wax and wane, cultural events excite or bore, the bubbly keeps on flowing.

At the Derby, for example, over 15,000 bottles of bubbly are drunk in two days, in addition to some 44,000 pints of beer and 3,000 bottles of Pimms.

Veuve Clicquot is particularly prominent, sponsoring a number of the Season’s occasions, notably the Gold Cup Polo and the Vintage Stakes at Goodwood. Bollinger is enjoyed by racegoers, especially within the Royal Enclosure at Ascot, where the Special Cuvee or La Grand Anee are served; and Dom Perignon has launched its new vintage 1998 bottle in time for the festivities. Ayala, from within the Bollinger stable, is a name not known so well today but which was a great favourite in the 1920s/30s, now re-emerging here.   It is sponsoring the Albert Roux Riverside restaurant at the Henley Music Festival – one of the newer events on the calender, from the 11-15th July, immediately after the Henley Regatta.

Combine champagne with pretty girls and big hats and you have the essence of the Derby atmosphere - oh, and we mustn't forget the horses.
The young lady above won last year's Style on the Downs competition, awarded on Ladies Day. Right, Dom Perignon's elegant vintage bottle.

A special tonic on the lawns

THE SMART alternative to champagne is Pimm's.  This quintessential English summer drink, traditionally served at regattas, cricket matches and garden parties, somehow fell from favour from the 1970s on.   Perhaps its up-market connotations and esoteric concotion – one part Pimm's, to two parts  ginger ale, Indian tonic or lemonade, slices of lemon, orange and apple, with mint and borage leaves – worked against it.  But in today’s climate of cocktail appreciation, such a mixture is very much in vogue, so Pimm's is back on the lawns. 

Invented in 1823 by a Mr  Pimm, as a healthy digestive to go with oysters in his City oyster bar, it was initially just available with a gin base, with quinine and herbs.  Such was its success that this ‘tonic’, known as the No 1 Cup, was followed by Nos 2 and 3, respectively whisky and brandy based, then Nos 4, 5 and 6, with rum, rye and vodka. As the drink went out of favour, so the varieties were whittled down, so that only the original gin-based version remains, though the brandy one is served as a winter warmer, and the vodka is in limited production.

Some 150,000 glasses of Pimm's go with the traditional strawberries and cream served at Wimbledon over the course of the tournament. The Hampton Court Flower Show, Glyndebourne, Henley and the Gold Cup Polo event are other venues where Pimm's has retained its traditional popularity. For further information and recipes go to the official anyoneforpimms.com site or the very helpful the-picnic-site.com. The jug above shows how it is most usually served, as in the picnic-site recipe.

Make mine a Mint Julep

THIS YEAR , with the Queen taking in the Kentucky Derby, it might be nice during the Season to toast our American cousins with the top drink of that meeting - the Mint Julep.

This has been the official tipple of the Kentucky Derby since 1938 and is a sweet Southern drink, based upon bourbon, mixed with sugar, water, mint and lots of crushed ice, served in a silver or pewter cup.  The following is claimed to be the authentic recipe of the track:
Boil 2 cups of sugar with 2 cups of water for 5 mins, then chill overnight in a jug with half dozen or so sprigs of fresh mint; make each julep by pouring a tablespoon of this liquid over crushed ice, adding a generous slug of bourbon – say, 2 ozs – stir and garnish with mint.

Bourbon  has been making some inroads into the UK market. Woodford Reserve, the bourbon brand that sponsors the Kentucky Derby and recognised as one of the best, has been producing the stuff at its Kentucky distillery since 1812.  It is stocked by good off licences and also in some supermarkets, notably Sainsbury’s, where it sells at £24.99 a bottle.