The Tasting Sessions

We have been turning the concept of tasting on its head for the last year. Our latest adventure sees us joining forces with some of London’s edgiest and up-and-coming mixologists, contemporary artists, musicians and designers to take you “Towards a Fluid State“.

On Saturday 05 December we are launching an underground food and drink festival in a secret warehouse in Dalston – taking 5 of the best Tasting Sessions to scale. Not only can you experience 5 sessions in one hit, we have a massive warehouse so you can bring all your friends. It will be immersive and informative food and drink experience profiling flights of cognac, whisky, gin, sake, natural wine and organic beer – matched with delicious morsels of food.

Say no to boredom, blandness, tastelessness and rigidity. This will push all boundaries of food and drink with a multi-sensory and interactive experience combining elements of design, music, contemporary art and fashion. Think cognac vapour-filled balloons, ‘Spiked Virgins’, and wild punk Geisha boys serving aged brown rice sake matched with Japanese tapas.

The festival will run from 3-11pm with timed entry on the hour. Each session will last approximately 2 hours. It is hosted at a secret warehouse in Dalston, E8 and the exact location will be revealed a few days before the event.

Tickets start at £16.50 and are selling fast so get in quick. For the full Tasting Sessions experience, we recommend you Liberate the State. For more information check out www.towardsafluidstate.com.

Hopefully you have been keeping an eye on the buzz around the next event. You will start to receive some updates from Towards a Fluid State updating you on the latest activity. Here are a few sneak peaks of some after hours and weekend shenanigans below:

The Tasting Sessions take things to a whole new level with the launch of a new and innovative food and drink festival in London on the 05 December 2009.

Called “Towards a Fluid State” and held in an undisclosed warehouse location in Dalston, this festival will be the first of its kind. An immersive and informative food and drink experience profiling flights of Cognac, Whisky, Gin, Sake and Natural & Biodynamic wine matched with delicious morsels of food. Also a platform for some of the UK’s hottest emerging contemporary artists, musicians, set and fashion designers this will be a truly unique experience.

The festival will run from 3-11pm with timed entry and tickets start at £16.50. For The Tasting Sessions’ experience the “Liberate the State” ticket is recommended. A limited number of these tickets are available.

Tickets now onsale here

For more information check out the festival website

An upper-class tipple or an opiate for the masses? Gin has a long, illustrious past and a bright future.

On Tuesday 22 September The Tasting Sessions will take you through the annals of Gin’s colourful underworld.

Take a walk down Gin Lane and settle your nerves with some Dutch Courage. You will discover just what makes London Dry and Old Tom rich. If you’re lucky you might even run into Mr Tom Collins himself.

Expect histrionics, melodrama and a bit of madness.  Play your cards right and you may even be a star on The Tasting Sessions’ casting couch.

Rich or Ruin? The choice is up to you.

It was a white hot night. The all-in-one jumpsuits and sexy summer dresses were out – mischief was decidedly in the air.

The Future Gallery was gleaming white interspersed with hot pink highlights. Sweet disco tunes combined with the bubbles of Domaine Champalou elevated the frenzy.

So it began, a tea party for adults with a cool flight of white wines to appease the summer madness.

A return appearance for our expert Joe McCanta, Organic and Biodynamic extraordinaire, was loved by all. The learning was easy as Joe deftly guided the crew through different styles of Riesling and introduced unusual and untried indigenous grape varieties from Italy and Portugal. The flight would not have been complete without a rock-your-world wine, this time in the form of a stunning White Burgundy from Puligny Montrachet (Domaine Alain Chavy 1er Cru ‘Les Folatieres’ 2006) thanks to the fine guidance of Carlo at Les Cave des Pyréne.

An amazing performance from Japanese music artist Ayu Okakita – with hauntingly beautiful originals and a spine tingling version of ‘Paranoid Android’, ensured this was a wine tasting like no other.

Another tempo change as people donned white masquerade masks, trilby, bowler and marine sailor’s hats. DJ Supermethod was firmly back in control.

A fabulous finale, The Clos Lapeyre Jurançon Moelleux 2006 accompanied by mini cupcakes and white raspberry-splattered meringues from Beas of Bloomsbury.

Check out the photos from the night.

It’s summertime and the livin’ is easy. Extended daylight calls for a glass of something crisp, luminous and pure.

Wrap your debauchery in white, and join The Tasting Sessions on Tuesday 30 June for a stunning line up of orgasmic white wines to leave you enlightened and wanting more.

The fish are jumping at The Future Galley, one very cool pond in the West End. From indigenous grapes to boundary pushing blends and high class chardonnay this will be the ultimate wine flight of 2009.

If you haven’t already received your invitation, please contact us. To stay informed about future events and happenings subscribe to our email updates.

The decadence continues with The Tasting Sessions on Tuesday 26 May. Throw away your prohibitions and join us for a wild night of Whisky from all over the world. 

The perfect companion to a great Whisky is a fine cheese. Like Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, they are a classic screen team. 

Our secret venue – once home to the world’s oldest profession – has a hidden entrance, classic cocktails and tunes from the ’20s. Inspired by the speakeasy bars of New York and Tokyo, it is hidden where you’d least expect  to find it.  

And, you’ll need a secret password to get in. 

If you have to choose, make this your one and only highland fling.

If you haven’t already received your invitation, please contact us. To stay informed about future events and happenings subscribe to our email updates.

Was this really The Last Days of Decadence… the beginning of the end? Drinking cock-teas cocktails from teapots iced down to take the edge off the day we prepared our palates for a cheeky flight of Big Reds.

There was no time for tea parties however, launching with the first fab five from Bea Washida at Corney & Barrow. Traditionally Big Reds took flight with Bordeaux – Magnums of Château de Lamarque, Cru Bourgeois, 2001, stand out summertime Grand Cru 2005 from Château Capet-Guillier and a new world Bordeaux blend from Stellenbosch, Klein Gustrouw, Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot, 2005 to be precise. 

Moonlighting wine expert Mark Heywood, member of The Tasting Sessions crew and author of our wine tasting notes, moved stylishly and seamlessly from the page to the people.

Lots of “big little food” including mini game pies stood up to the wine and kept the punters on their feet. Wines from The Lane (Shiraz Viognier 2007, Adelaide Hills) and Achaval Ferrer (Malbec 2007, Mendoza) highlighted Winemakers Doing Big Things. 

Then came the Bad Boys from California, seducing us with the Seven Deadly Zins (Zinfandel, 2007) and the almighty Earthquake (Zinfandel, 2006) weighing in a 14.5% on the Richter scale. 

In the words of Nina Simone – the Cheval des Andes 2005 left us “Feeling Good” and our very own Lady Marmalade – Charlie Rinks and her band left us wanting more, more, more. Sneaky snaps from Photographer Chris Osburn and Tasting Sessions Ambassador, Nathan McDonald, tell the story best.

Calling all horn-rimmed intellectual hepcats.  Grab your beret, don your black turtleneck and manicure your goatee…

The Tasting Sessions is about to take you on a Beatnik journey through some of the world’s “Big Reds”. From the carnivorous of South America to the fearless of Bordeaux and the bold from California. 

On Tuesday 28 April, The Last Days of Decadence sets the scene for an amazing flight of big red wines and revolutionary beats. 

This session will give you the musical framework you need to understand what makes a red wine big and to do your own improvisation later.

If you haven’t already received your invitation, please contact us. To stay informed about future events and happenings subscribe to our email updates.

The Tasting Sessions kicks off the next phase of the journey with a fresh take on ‘grown up drinks’

During the formative years, my grandmother would dispense a sneaky shot of something fortified or distilled when my parents weren’t looking. As it turns out Grandma was ahead of her time.  Sherry is now super cool, Muscatel is the drink of modern royalty and Cognac producers are looking at new and interesting ways of appealing to the younger consumer.

On the 17th March, The Tasting Sessions gives you an opportunity to rediscover a range of childhood treats with a flight of premium cognacs and fortifieds.

We’ll kick off with dinner at the fabulous Suka Restaurant in the Sanderson Hotel and then retire to the Atrium to compare notes on an impressive line-up of after dinner beverages.

This session should give you the ability to order after dinner drinks with confidence, and understand a little more about what makes these drinks so special and super cool. It includes a 2 course dinner and a glass of wine at Suka Restaurant in the Sanderson Hotel plus  all the tastings.

If you haven’t already received your invitation, please contact us. To stay informed about future events and happenings subscribe to our email updates.

The transport system was in meltdown. Everyone was making a mad dash on foot or in black cabs. Tuesday the 02 December was clearly another root day.

Ryota, the bar manager at Life, had been marinating fruit in Shochu for over 24 hours. As we sampled the three specially crafted cocktails for Facing East we knew this was going to be a rather large night. A few small alterations were made for the western palate and then we were ready to fly – the Salty Dog, Kamikaze and Eastern Right Hook all packed a punch.

There was a quick exercise in Japanese pronunciation and then our expert Wakana started us off with the Honjozo – a perfect everyday sake quaffer. Some liked it cold, some liked it hot (we know who you are…).

Stepping up to the Diaginjo it was clear that until now, Sake had never been this good for many. A variety of accompanying condiments from sweet to savoury to salty, left us all with a real appreciation for food matching options. Who would have thought that fish and chips would work so well with Sake!

Next weighing in at 19%, a Honjozo Genshu with heaps of character and a smoothness belying its cask strength, had Joe McCanta concocting on the spot cocktails.

After a short lesson in polishing rice we were ready to embrace Akashi-Tai’s most controversial sake made from brown rice. Genmai Aged Sake – minimal polishing, exclusive Kyoto rice and an aging process using ceramics. Some tasted cocoa or caramel, others lime and some even a cheeky hint of sesame. The flavour pairing with dark chocolate sealed the deal for many.

Finishing with a specially sourced Shochu-based plum wine, Kaga Umeshu, we faced east towards the projected Tokyo cityscape. Our guest DJ Anchorsong (Masaaki Yoshida) began to mix funky beats for the crowd as the boys from Life fired up the cocktail shakers once more.