Playboy Club to revive Champagne tower tradition

Encapsulating the decadence and debauchery of the roaring ‘20s, the Playboy Club in London’s Park Lane is to bring back the tradition of Champagne towers at it’s newly launched Baroque bar. The brainchild of Gerry Calabrese, son of cocktail maestro Salvatore Calabrese and founder of Hoxton Gin, Baroque will be the first place in the capital to revive this most theatrical of traditions.

“Champagne towers are a vintage art form that have been sadly neglected in recent decades,” said Calabrese. Boasting one of the most extensive vintage Champagne lists in Europe, guests can pre-order the towers created from retro Champagne coupes said to have been modelled on Marie-Antoinette’s breasts.

Towers can be formed from a magnum of Salon 1964 for £25,000, a Jeraboam of Veuve Clicquot Brut 1945 at £12,700, and a 15l Nebuchadnezzar of Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s favourite fizz Armand de Brignac for £80,000. Decked out in gold, ruby and magenta, Baroque’s theatrical décor by CID Interiors includes Louis XIV chairs, chandeliers and antique mirrors.

The cocktail menu meanwhile, focuses on different takes on the Martini, served either in coupes or in Calabrese’s signature “infusion jars”. The bar will also serve platters of oysters, fruits de mer and caviar, along with childlike desserts such as doughnuts, lollipops and cakes. Calabrese launched East London nightspot The Hoxton Pony in 2008.

Jay-Z and Beyonce toast Obama with Ace of Spades

In a move befitting for hip-hop royalty, dynamic duo Jay-Z and Beyonce hosted a $40,000-a-ticket fundraiser for Barack Obama last night featuring a 350-bottle Armand de Brignac Champagne tower, as reported on db.com. Designed by Jeffrey Beers, the bespoke tower, composed of 350 bottles of Armand de Brignac Brut Gold NV, took centre stage at the glitzy event at Jay-Z’s 40/40 Club in New York.

“Floor-to-ceiling gold bottles fill the entire space. It’s beautiful, breathtaking. It’s the first thing you see when you walk in,” a spokesperson for the club told The New York Post. According to The New York Times, Obama kicked off the intimate dinner for 100 guests by thanking Beyonce and Jay-Z for their friendship. He went on to say that he felt a sense of kinship with Jay-Z because, “we both have daughters and our wives are more popular than we are.”

Beyonce’s speech was short and sweet: “I can’t tell you how proud we are to host tonight’s event with President Obama. We believe in his vision,” she said as she introduced the US president. The White House, which meticulously controls Obama’s image, is not expected to release any photos from the dinner. Before the event, Obama made an appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman.

Jay-Z’s relationship with Armand de Brignac, produced by Champagne Cattier, stretches back to the Champagne’s launch in 2006, when bottles of it appeared in his music video for the single Show Me What You Got.

The fizz, a favourite of rappers such as Kanye West and Drake, is facing a false-advertising lawsuit from Krug and Dom Pérignon owners LVMH over claims that it is “rated the number one Champagne in the world,” which LVMH believes is “intentionally misleading consumers.”