Electric Night at Launch of City's New Hotel, Bar & Restaurant

It was an event not to be missed, a rare moment of glamour in a city, that sadly, all too often, lacks pizazz. The Hilton Doubletree overlooking the Brayford had it's official launch party on Friday night.  

© 2012 Adam Rhoades Photography

The new venture, which opened its doors at the tail-end of last year, has been causing quite a stir on Lincoln's increasingly impressive restaurant and bar scene. Boasting a wide selection of champagnes (at notable reasonable prices), wines and an excellent selection of Cocktails, expertly mixed by well-trained staff, the bar is made all the more desirable by it's impressive location on the fifth floor of the hotel, overlooking the Brayford marina and university campus. Ingeniously accessed via an express elevator from the ground floor, one feels transported to a metropolis like London or New York. 

Through the double doors and you enter the restaurant. Which has a truly magnificent view up to the Cathedral and Castle.  As great as the view is it is the food which excels. The restaurant matching Reform, at the Castle Hotel and The Jews House on the Strait is superb.

© 2012 Adam Rhoades Photography

Head Chef, Mr. Alec Maxfield, has previously worked at Michelin-starred restaurants, and his team can be seen cooking in the kitchen through a large viewing gallery. Restaurant Manager, Mr. Daniel Ralley, said:

“Since we opened, we've received some fantastic feedback from visitors who’ve been blown away by Alec’s innovative style of cooking. 

“Even the ride up to the fifth floor in the express panoramic glass elevator is a unique and memorable experience and gives people a taste of what we have to offer. It’s certainly been a talking point among guests!” 

In these times of austerity the Electric Bar & Restaurant is the place to head during the week. With a introductory menu reasonably priced at £20 per head, for three courses including half a bottle of house wine (and usually including a couple of amuse boosh), such a package is genuinely hard to resist. Mr. Alec Maxfield said:

“Our aim has always been to raise the bar for the quality of service and provision in Lincoln and we’ve done that literally by locating The Electric Bar & Restaurant on the top floor of the hotel.”  

© 2012 Adam Rhoades Photography

The evening was certainly not without glamour. Mr. Gethin Jones, former Blue Peter presenter and Strictly Come Dancing star, attended the event and along with the other local business owners held a toast for the new venue. 

Upon arrival, the strictly by invite only, guests were welcomed onto the red carpet surrounded by a number of glamorous sports cars and offered a glass of champagne. An array of entertainments, including: Dancers, Musicians and Magicians provided amusements throughout the evening  and an open bar, and a seemingly endless stream of delicious morsels emerging from the kitchen help to keep the party going late into the night.

The Electric Bar & Restaurant at the Hilton Doubletree has firmly arrived in Lincoln and promises a bright experience for its patrons.

Drinkers Alliance Attack Government Plans To Raise Taxes on 'Middle Class' Alcohol

Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, is under strong pressure from 10 Downing Street to 'make an example' of whisky, gin and vodka drinkers when he makes his Commons statement later this month, the Drinker's Alliance claim.

The debate over the plans is further evidence of the tension between Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Mr. Darling, which boiled over last week when the Chancellor said No.10 had unleashed the 'forces of hell' on him after he predicted the recession would be the worst for 60 years.

Under the 'nuclear option' plan for increasing duty – designed to appease the health lobby and show that ministers are serious about tackling the problems caused by binge drinking – the cost of a bottle of spirits would rocket, along with the cost of spirit-based alcopops favoured by young drinkers.



A bottle of Bells whisky could rise from £14.79 to £23.73 while Gordon's gin, another favourite of middle-class drinkers, would increase from £12.79 to £21.17.

Even if Mr Darling imposed a less draconian rise, industry sources are braced for increases significantly above the five per cent already earmarked for beers, wines and spirits under the government's alcohol duty 'escalator'.

That ensured a two percent rise in duty above the level of inflation every year in the Budget for four years starting last year. Under Whitehall calculations, this year's escalator would be set at five per cent.

However, leading figures at No.10 are pressing the Chancellor to hammer spirits much harder, after a series of recommendations by MPs on the health select committee last year, Drinkers Alliance claim.

They say the report demanded that 'unlike in recent years, duty increases should predominantly be on stronger alcoholic drinks, notably on spirits'.

MPs called for a return to the level in 1983 when the duty on a litre of pure alcohol was 11 percent of the average male weekly manual wage, compared with 5 percent in 2002.

Such a move would send Britain to the top of the European league table for spirits tax.

Mr. Darling is understood to be fighting the calls for the very steepest possible increases – but Whitehall sources nevertheless expect him to introduce big rises in duty on spirits, in part to raise money to help cut Britain's record deficit.

The Budget – a key springboard for Labour's election campaign – is currently pencilled in by government planners for either Wednesday, 24th March 2010.

As The Sunday Telegraph has already revealed, Mr. Brown and Mr. Darling are at odds over the package, with the Prime Minister keen for it to contain spending increases on voter-friendly areas such as schools and hospitals, as well as jobs programmes for young people.

The Chancellor, however, is holding out firmly against a 'giveaway' Budget in favour of a 'realistic' statement to reassure markets that Labour is serious about reducing Britain's £178 million deficit.

There are claims the Treasury is also drawing up plans to increase VAT from 17.5 per cent to 20 per cent – something those close to Mr Brown would fiercely resist just before the general election.

Mr. Darling reopened hostilities with No.10 with his 'forces of hell' comments – understood to have been aimed at Messrs. Charlie Whelan and Damian McBride, Mr. Brown's former spin-doctors.

Hitting middle-class drinkers with big rises in the cost of spirits would be electorally risky. However, leading figures inside No.10 are understood to be concerned that Labour is not sending out a clear signal that it is ready to get tough on binge drinkers.

The Conservatives, by contrast, have already pledged to increase the duty on alcopops and super-strength beer and cider without necessarily lifting the duty on spirits.

A four-pack of super-strength lager would rise by £1.33 and a large bottle of alcopop would increase by £1.50, under Conservative plans.

Mr. Jeremy Beadles, Chief Executive of the Wine & Spirit Trade Association, said:

"We are a vital industry to the UK's recovery. It is clear the Chancellor is under real pressure to significantly increase the duty on spirits.

"Thousands of jobs are at risk. The hard-working people of this country should not be made to pay for the recession.

"They should be able to enjoy a drink in these times of hardship without being penalised by extra costs. They are already paying enough in taxes. Enough is enough."

Breakfast Wines

Champagne, historically, is the only alcoholic beverage you can drink for breakfast and people won't look sideways at you.

Does this mean that all other wines – and for that matter spirits – are forbidden before lunch?

A few weeks ago now I enjoyed plum bread, lightly toasted, with marcarpone, maple cure bacon and maple syrup and a Matusalem chaser for my breakfast.

Why should we not be able to enjoy a refreshing glass of Beaujolais to complement the bacon and eggs? Or a little Banyuls with the croissant and strawberry jam?

I am not suggesting that you need a belt of Bourbon (my favourite is Woodford Reserve) to kick-start the morning, but a little alcohol with breakfast can be a restoring and invigorating experience. In the Cognac region, home to some of France's longest-lived citizens, a farmer's breakfast will start with a glass of orange juice mixed with cognac. And the Italians, known for their zest for life is the envy of other nations, correct their morning espresso with grappa.

The champagne breakfast is an established gastronomic tradition - and a personal favourite - although a their are those who believe that champagne by itself is breakfast enough. They probably subscribe to the sentiments of Alain de Vogüé, a former director of Veuve Clicquot. Who was once asked when was the best time to drink champagne. His reply: 'Before, during and after.'

To my mind only the British truely understand breakfast, first of all, breakfast has to be cooked. It has to be substantial to set you up for the rigours of the day. Now, the pH of wine is about the same as the pH of our stomach acid, which should mean that wine aids in your digesting process. So my view would be that if you believe in a hearty breakfast, think about serving some wine to help ward off indigestion.

In my opinion nothing starts the day more properly than smoked salmon, savoy eggs, a wholemeal english muffin followed by pancakes with maple syrup and bacon served with a bottle of Laurent-Perrier Cuvee Rose Brut.

Personally, I think it is a sin to mix champagne with orange juice or anything else – a blasphemy for which perpetrators will have to face the wrath of Dionysus on the day of judgement. However, if you are foolhardy enough to transgress in this direction you might try grapefruit juice instead of orange juice or peach juice. But a warning: don't brush your teeth before you have champagne for breakfast. Colgate does nothing for Krug.

For those who are concerned about alcohol in the morning I have this advice: go for German Riesling from the Mosel. These wines can be as low as seven and a half percent alcohol and they will wake up your taste buds like nothing else.

Alternatively you can use wine in preparing your breakfast. Heating wine or spirits drives off the alcohol and you're left with the flavour. The Burgundians make a dish of eggs poached in Beaujolais. Once you got past the colour they are delicious and perhaps as a Chritmas treat why not have French toast made using egg nog instead of eggs and milk?

Other possibilities could include: Silvaner with ham quiche, dry Muscat with fresh fruit, Gewurztraminer with bagels and lox, Pinot Blanc with a cheese omelet.

Leave your options open. You never know what might work.