The BrewDog AF Bar, the alcohol free beer bar & BrewDog’ ‘Drink All You Can Jan’

9-1-2020

‘The BrewDog AF Bar’ is the brewery’s first fully alcohol-free bar. Independent Scottish craft brewer BrewDog have opened their first bar dedicated to alcohol-free. The BrewDog AF Bar is the world’s first alcohol free beer bar and will offer 15 taps of draft alcohol-free craft beer. The bar has opened in central London and will be the first of the company’s global bars to feature a line-up solely devoted to drinks without alcohol. In addition to this, BrewDog will be running ‘Drink All You Can Jan’ across all bars. The initiative offers drinkers unlimited refills of BrewDog alcohol-free beers in all bars for the entire month. And with 24% of beer drinkers choosing more low or no-alcohol options (according to the Mintel, UK Beer Market Report 2018), the brewery are piloting a new concept for their bar division, with a view to rolling it out across the UK and into Europe.

It’s the time for alcohol free drinks: in the Netherlands we spotted amongst others the first pop-up Bar 0.020 in Amsterdam and the new menu for alcohol free drinks at NRC café in Rotterdam. With Dry January it’s wise to serve your guests at least the possibility to drink alcohol free. Our colleagues Robin, Nick and Leonie tried some drinks last week and they were kind of surprised on the sweetness of most mocktails! So if you’re buying or creating alcohol free drinks, not everybody has a sweet tooth!  

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Starbucks Launches Bar Mixato in Shanghai | New mixology offering elevates nighttime experience

29-10-2019

Starbucks Launches Bar Mixato in the Starbucks Reserve Roastery Shanghai. New mixology offering elevates nighttime experience at China’s coffee wonderland by blending specialty coffee craftsmanship with cocktail artistry. This will further elevate the multi-sensory experience of China’s coffee wonderland, and include a novel nighttime third-place experience that will enthrall coffee lovers and bar-goers alike. Bar Mixato features a full bar menu, which includes the global debut of 11 innovative coffee- and tea-based cocktails specially created and available only at the Shanghai Roastery. Classic cocktails, Italian aperitivo, wine, draft beer and mocktails are also available, as is a thoughtfully curated selection of complementary food choices that customers can pair with their favorite cocktails. The menu will be refreshed quarterly based on the flavors of new Starbucks Reserve coffees.

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Amber Garden | True Chinese Cuisine

24-9-2019

Amber Garden, part of the international ‘Yisheng Group’, opened its doors in Amstelveen (near Amsterdam in the Netherlands) in a festive way on September 23th. Owner, Stark Li, third generation respected Chinese restaurant owner, together with Facility Manager, Ronald Ting, opened restaurant Amber Garden in the company of many corporate companies from the region, culinary enthusiasts and (Michelin) star chefs.

With the arrival of Amber Garden, the municipality of Amstelveen has added a beautiful, authentic fine dining Chinese restaurant at their list of restaurants. Lovers of the authentic Chinese cuisine can enjoy the ‘shared dining’ dishes here. During the opening we enjoyed dishes from Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Guangzhou and Xi’an. With the dishes you can enjoy wine pairing that are specially selected. For those who want to drink alcohol-free, they also serve delicious tea-based mocktails. True lovers of the Chinese cuisine must visit Amber Garden, if only for the delicious Dim Sum and their signature dish the ‘Amber roasted Beijing duck in the traditional way’. Like chef Shaun Song says: “You no longer need to go to China to be able to enjoy the best dishes China can offer”.

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Inspiration from 2018 (and 2019) | Non-alcoholic drinks

5-8-2019

Not just demand for healthy food is increasing, but also demand for healthy drinks. In 2018 we have seen a lot of product releases of non-alcoholic beers, drinks and cocktails. In this article you will find an overview of all non-alcoholic drinks we have seen. Which one is your favorite?

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Kever Genever launches Kever 0.0% | What do you drink if you do not want to drink?

14-5-2019

In 2016 we posted an article about Kever genever, the Amsterdam jenever (Dutch gin) brand. The brand wants to become the most innovative ‘jenever’ brand in the Netherlands. A first step in that direction is the introduction of the Kever 0.0% , ‘jenever’ without alcohol and therefore in line with the trend of conscious alcohol consumption. On May 10 2019, Kever started a crowdfunding campaign on the CrowdAboutNow platform. With this campaign they want to raise a minimum of € 100,000 up to a maximum of € 200,000 in order to be able to realize Kever 0.0%, but also to launch other high-profile Kever Genevers within 3 years. Meanwhile, 120% of their goal has been achieved and the crowdfunding still has 35 days to go!

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Lucknow 49 London | 100 rupee galawati kawab giveaway during opening

28-3-2019

On 2^nd April, the team behind DUM Biryani House will open the doors to their new restaurant Lucknow 49, an Indian restaurant specialising in Lucknavi cuisine just off Regent Street. To celebrate the opening, founder Dhruv Mittal will be giving away Beef Galawati Kawabs (traditional Lucknavi kebabs) during lunchtime on Tuesday 2nd and Wednesday 3rd April. Priced at 100 rupees (circa. £1), Londoners can take their chances with the Galawati Kawab rolls priced at the day’s exchange rate. read more

FÏNLEY | The new Coca-Cola brand in the Netherlands

23-3-2017

Last week, Coca-Cola launched its new brand: FÏNLEY in the Netherlands . FÏNLEY is a refreshing, alcohol-free, and low-calorie beverage which you can drink as refreshing drink in the afternoon or as a mocktail in the evening. It will be available in 6 surprising and sophisticated flavors at supermarkets, a few cinemas and gasoline stations. read more

Curious Elixirs | Shaken not slurred

1-3-2017

Booze-free craft cocktails for everyone, that’s what Curious Elixirs wants to accomplish. They made it their mission to redefine what it means to drink socially. The signature requirement isn’t that a drink is alcoholic; it’s that it’s special, delicious, good for you, and good to drink with friends. We love to see more initiatives for booze-free, great tasting mocktails! read more

#teainspired: the Dilmah Real High Tea Global Challenge

17-8-2015

The Sri Lankan tea brand Dilmah organizes the Real High Tea Challenge since 2007. This challenge is a contemporary approach of – and a quest for – the ultimate high tea.

#teainspired By Dilmah

The tea brand Dilmah, whose name is composed of the names of the two sons (Dilhan and Malik) of the owner Merrill J. Fernando, is known in almost 100 countries around the world for its quality. The tea industry has been revived by companies like Dilmah, through innovation, quality and freshness. Earlier we wrote about initiatives of this progressive tea brand which always seems to strike the right tone and push the right buttons to reach their targeted audience. Late 2014 they organized the first School of Tea in the Netherlands for example.

The Global Real High Tea Challenge in Sri Lanka

In recent years the Dilmah Real High Tea Challenge was organized in fourteen different countries. The culinary top of those countries were challenged to explore, understand and apply the product tea and its gastronomic options. They were challenged to use the ingredient tea (Tea Inspired Cuisine) and match it with food (Tea Pairing). The composed dishes were combined with pure tea, cocktails and tea mocktails (Tea Mixology). The winners of the local Real High Tea Challenge have qualified for the final, that took place last month in Sri Lanka.

The global High Tea Challenge is won by…

The team from the Museum Art Hotel of New Zealand won this culinary challenge with the innovative high tea theme: ‘The Meeting of the Senses.’ A high tea with integrated taste, smell, touch and sound. The Dutch Restaurant Vermeer also managed to do well, they won a gold medal and received an award for the most ‘tea inspired dish’.

The Dutch Challenge

In 2013 Dilmah Netherlands organized the first edition. This was won by the team of the InterContinental Amstel Hotel Amsterdam. The second Dutch edition in 2014 of the Real High Tea Challenge was won by Restaurant Vermeer in Amsterdam. Both teams represented the Netherlands at the international competition.

Beer cocktail by Mongozo

2-4-2015

Mongoza introduced various beer cocktails last year’s April. Now the spring has arrived, it’s time to bring the beer cocktail back. You can make such a cocktail easily with the beers from Mongozo.

Mongozo has created five different recipes of beer cocktails. The cocktail choices are; Mongozo Banana, Mongozo June Bug, Mongozo Mango, Mongozo in the mix and Mongozo Orange Samba.

The beer cocktail is very popular in America recently and a surprising alternative, just like with a spoonful of jam

Recipes

• This is what you need to make a Mongozo Banana; 30 ml Tequila, 30ml of lime juice (1/2 lime), 20 ml of sugar syrup and top this all off with Mongozo Banana.
• To make the Mongozo June Bug you need 30ml of rum, 15ml of melon liquor, Mongozo Cocos and Mongozos Banana.
• The ingredients of the Mongozo Mango consists of 2 wedges of orange, 2 teaspoons of cane sugar, 30ml gin, 1/2 of a flesh passion fruit and top off with the Mongozo mango.
• The Mongozo in the mix is made with Mongoza Coconut and rum, Mongozo Mango and rum or Mongozo Banana and rum.
• To make the Mongozo Orange Samba you need 2 wedges of lime, 2 spoons of sugar cane, 20ml of Cachaça rum, Mongozo Banana and Mongozo Mango.