SPECTACULAR BOISDALE
SPECTACULAR BOISDALE
- Cigar Journal
Text: Nick Hammond
December, 2014
There is a gathering of movie producers at the bar. I'm not entirely sure what the correct plural would be - a murder or a gaggle, perhaps? Whatever it is, their company is riveting.
As well as hair-raising Hollywood tales, those in the group are discussing their favorite cigars. That's what most people are doing, incidentally, chatting about cigars.
Whether literally or figuratively, cigars are never far from lips on this extraordinary evening under the skyscrap-ers of East London's Canary Wharf.
I'm at Boisdale of Canary Wharf for the inaugural Spectator Cigar Awards Dinner 2013, founded by Boisdale. The event is also in association with London cigar merchant C.Gars Ltd and FOREST - Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Tobacco.
Other sponsors of the glittering evening include legendary names in luxury: JeanRichard Watches of Switzerland, Barons de Rothschild (Lafite) and LVMH. Pop stars, musicians, actors and the great and the good from all over the world mingle for a pre-dinner smoke and Belvedere Martinis on the Cigar Terrace.
And of course, they are joined by the murder of movie producers, including Stephen Evans, MikaelHÃ¥fström, Alan Greenspan and Marc Sinden. Of course, Boisdale founder, Ranald Macdonald, is on hand, putting final touches to months of planning and preparation.
And he's joined by Andrew Neil, pressman, TV broadcaster and chairman of the British institution that is the Spectator.
Already, many of the guests have attended a massive cigar auction downstairs, where C.Gars Ltd knocked down in excess of £500,000 worth of aged, vintage and mature Havanas, including rare Dunhill and Dav-idoff cabinets.
And now, the 250 guests in cocktail dresses, dinner jackets, smoking jackets and even a fez or two, are gathered for cocktails and Arturo Fuente cigars. Waitrose managing director, Mark Price, 80's poster boy Simon Le Bon,
socialite NancyDell'Olio, newspaper magnate Lawson Muncaster and bankers from the city's finance hub swell the gathering, and former Liverpool Premier League footballer Julian Dicks is here, as is jazz musician Michael Lington.
The menu is a roll call of great Scottish fare and cooking: diver-caught Isle of Mull scallops, roast dry-aged fillet of Aberdeenshire Angus with claret-braised oxtail, and, finally, British farmhouse cheeses with fresh pear and oatcakes.
Beverages include Krug Grand Cuvee, Dom
- Cigar Journal
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