By Tony Higgins
As some of you know I spend a lot
of time working in London and when I return to Caravaca, at the weekend, Teresa
and I like nothing more than to have a few drinks around the town.
Last Saturday night we ended up
in the pub Calle Mayor, to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with a couple of Guinness’.
Anyone who has drunk Guinness will know that after a couple (2) of pints it can
become quite heavy, so it wasn’t long before we were onto our favourite, gin
& tonic. There is nothing quite like a Spanish gin & tonic and I
remember a few years ago reading an article by Michael Robinson, the Spanish TV football commentator, in which he said the same.
One of the waiters in the Calle
Mayor did a great job upselling (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upselling)
special types of gin & tonics infused with herbal tea and strawberries,
which were very nice. The mixer (the tonic) was quite a new brand of premium tonic
water called Fever Tree (http://www.fever-tree.com/)
which is also very nice. On the flight back to London, this afternoon, I was surprised
to see an article, in the in-flight magazine, devoted to Fever Tree and the two
London entrepreneurs Tim Warrillow and Charles Rolls who are the brains behind
the brand that has apparently become the most sought-after accompaniment to gin
in Spain. The article also referred to bars in Barcelona (http://www.bobbygin.com/) dedicated solely
to gin and it is in these types of joints (bars) that Fever Tree has taken
hold. Incidentally Tim Warrillow, 36, first showed entrepreneurial nous
(knowledge) at Newcastle University, where he started a company hiring out his
friends as waiters while taking his management and marketing degree. Newcastle
of course being the home city of Teresa and I, so another small link.
See below a good Spanglish video
which can be used as a listening exercise, the video is in Spanish and English.
