Our Suppliers: A Focus on Arc International
International glass pioneers Arc International continue to go from strength to strength, constantly changing the industry landscape with new designs and techniques to improve their products which are adored by consumers and professionals alike.
This month we take a long look at Arc and the new range of their products which we are constantly adding to at drinkstuff.com.
Arc International have a rich history, dating back to 1825 when the company was founded in northern France and owes its continued success to the Durrand family who acquired the company in 1916 and introduced several pioneering techniques including the mass-production of stemmed crystal glasses, opal and decorative glassware and the creation of super-tough Kwarx® glass. Arc International has grown to include several brands including bar and catering favourites Arcoroc and the world famous Pyrex brand and employs 11,841 people throughout the world across 6 continents.
Created in 1958; Arcoroc Professional is an arm of Arc International which specialises in durable designer products for the hospitality trade, not only for bars but also quality glassware and tableware for catering use too. Arcoroc produce a wide range include the super-tough Princesa Glassware, Granity Tumblers as well as our newly featured Malea glasses.
Arcoroc are also responsible for changing the design of the modern pint glass with the creation of the Ultimate Pint Glass , a uniquely-tempered smash-resistant glass which can withstand a large amount of force before breaking, and should it ever break it simply disintegrates into harmless chips like a car window would, reducing the opportunity for the glass to be used as a weapon.
A relatively new division of Arc International created in 1997, the Chef & Sommelier range specialises in high-end glassware, cutlery and crockery for the Hotel and Restaurant sector. The Chef and Sommelier range includes the popular Cabernet series of wine glasses, the newly featured Oenologue Expert range and the Open Up line of specialist wine and tasting glasses which are popular with Sommeliers across the world.
With an eye firmly on the future, Arc will continue to dominate the tableware and glassware industry for years to come as they continue to expand into growing markets. Look out for more ranges from Arc as we continue to add to our lines here at drinkstuff.com.
With St Valentine’s Day soon upon us, no doubt many of you love-struck couples will be reaching for the Champagne or Prosecco to accompany that special meal and help your wooing along with an added touch of class and elegance.
Before making that impulse purchase there is a whole etiquette to sparkling wine and in particular Champagne serving to consider which is often overlooked, even in the service industry. A fine sparkling wine is a delicate drink to befit the care and balance in the way it is served.
Storage
First and foremost, store your wine laid flat in a cool and dry place before chilling. Continued contact with the bottle’s cork will stop it drying out and shrinking, allowing air to enter the wine and spoil it. Heat exposure will interfere with the taste and carbonation of the wine, continued heat exposure will ruin it completely. A storage temperature between 7°c and 13°c is recommended. Do not chill your wine until a few hours before serving, storing sparkling wine in a fridge for a prolonged period will sap the flavour. Obviously not everyone has the luxury of a wine cellar, but at the very least a Wine Rack is the best way to store your wine (as long as your wine racks not in the airing cupboard!).
Allow your wine plenty of time to chill before serving. It doesn’t need to be served freezing cold; a serving temperature of between 5°c and 7°c is perfect. A regular bottle of Champagne should be consumed within 2 years of purchase. A Vintage Champagne has a slightly longer lifespan at 3-5 years, never store a bottle of Champagne for more than 10 years; it will be no good by that time!
Glassware
Your glassware is very important and is dependent on the variety of wine you are serving. A common wine glass is not designed to hold a sparkling wine and keep it carbonated. Champagne Flutes and Champagne Saucers (or Coupes) feature designs and nucleation techniques to allow the carbonation process to continue long after the wine is served.
Champagne glasses should be spotlessly clean before serving, smears and residue will affect the wine’s carbonation process and lead to flat wine. Clean each glass thoroughly before use and wipe dry with a clean towel. To help maintain the temperature of the wine once it’s served, you can store your glasses in a refrigerator to keep them chilled.
Flute or Coupe?
A lot of the time the choice of a Flute or Coupe is a personal one. Champagne Coupes were once regarded as the fashionable way to serve sparkling wine back in the early-mid 1900s this trend has become more and more popular over the years, especially for venues serving Champagne Fountains. There is a science behind the shape of your glass; Coupes have a larger surface area which effects the aeration of the wine and are better suited to sweeter wines and Champagnes that will maintain their body when exposed to air.
Coupes
1: Arcoroc Cabernet Coupe Glass 300ml
2: LSA Wine Collection Champagne Saucer 300ml
3: Dartington Glitz Champagne Saucer 300ml
4: Urban Bar Retro Engraved Champagne Coupe 220ml
5: LSA Savoy Champagne Saucer 250ml
Champagne Flutes on the other hand are shaped to maintain the flavour of the wine while maximising the carbonation. The Flute is designed to be held by the stem to stop your hand cupping the bowl and warming the contents. Flutes are perfectly suited to strong flavoured vintage wines and Champagnes which are better appreciated with the minimum of aeration.
Flutes
1: Arcoroc Grands Cepages Champagne Flute 240ml
2: Durobor Royal Champagne Flute 160ml
3: Riedel Vinum Cuvee Prestige Champagne Flute 230ml
4: Vera Wang Love Knot Champagne Flutes 120ml
5: Waterford Crystal Siren Champagne Flute 180ml
6: Royal Doulton Celebration Champagne Flute 160ml
7: Arc Domino Champagne Flute 170ml
8: LSA Yana Champagne Flute 160ml
Keeping it Cool
Keeping your wine refrigerated while it’s open is a great way of keeping your bubbly cool but it’s a little impractical when you are dining or entertaining as you’ll find yourself backwards and forwards to the fridge all too regularly. Thank heavens for Champagne buckets! Champagne buckets, as the name might suggest, are specifically designed to chill Champagne (and other Sparkling wines too!), they are larger than normal wine buckets to allow more ice, keeping your wine cooler for longer. Although considered a luxury item, there’s no substitute, you can serve your champagne from a mop bucket but be prepared for a lonely Valentine’s night!
1: LSA Bar Glass Champagne Bucket
2: Hammered Effect Stainless Steel Champagne Bucket
3: Pulltex Acrylic Champagne Bucket Blue
4: Bar@drinkstuff Stainless Steel Champagne Bucket
5: Elia Straight Wine Cooler
Champagne, Cava, Prosecco or Asti?
When deciding on a sparkling wine or Champagne; choose your wine carefully, stronger tasting wines are best as palate cleansers and aperitifs or digestifs . The lighter wines are perfectly suited to accompany flavoured dishes and some sparkling wines are best suited as an accompaniment to desserts. Read the wine label, and if you’re lucky enough to have a local wine shop that allows tasting of sparkling wines and Champagnes; try before you buy.
Are You Ready for Christmas?
I must admit, Christmas this year has crept up on me. The previous year’s promises of getting ready early this time have truly flown out of the window (this happens every year though). “It barely seems as if Halloween was yesterday, Christmas is ages away yet” but these honeyed words to myself are only my pathetic attempt at brushing the onrushing Christmas festivities under the carpet. Christmas is nearer than I think, less than 4 weeks away in fact, am I prepared? Am I hell!
Thankfully the saving grace in this day and age is the internet. Gifts can be researched and purchased in a matter of minutes and delivered within a few days and if you shop wisely, you can save yourself a lot of money and drinkstuff.com is a perfect example, a treasure trove of gifts from the quirky to the reassuringly useful. It makes a much less stressful (and let’s face it; warmer) alternative to the dreaded Supermarket, the veritable 24 hour bazaar of last minute treats filled with frantic shoppers and stressed-out mums in full-on festive frenzy mode. Besides I doubt Mum would be happy to unwrap a box of Mr Kiplings and a bag of onions on the big day.
Of course, there’s the other preparation, Christmas logistics. Where are you going for your festive fayre? Who’s coming over? Will Aunty Sue and her special dietary requirements or your Cousin David and his rag-tag feral children throw all your carefully laid plans to ruin? Probably; but at least you can be prepared in other areas to make the passing of Christmas day easier.
Getting the perfect Christmas table
By this I don’t mean going off to a branded furniture superstore and shelling out on some flat-packed coated chip-board (although if you don’t have a table you might want to consider it), I am of course talking about setting up and decorating your festive dining table.
Obviously good quality tableware is a good place to start and with a bewildering choice of patterns, shapes and styles to choose from it’s hard to settle on something for such a big occasion. To help; drinkstuff.com offer a wide selection of tableware ideas from crockery and creative tableware ranges which will hopefully give you some inspiration.
Matching ranges create a harmonious and eye-catching display without the clashing of mismatched patterns and shapes (unless that was the look you were going for? After all: “Vintage” is all the rage these days), personally as a former chef all my crockery is white, that way the food does all the work without competing against the plate for attention and there’s no chance of having mismatched crockery as everything’s the same colour, but then I am playing it a little too safe, some patterned crockery works very well depending on how you present your food.
If you're looking to jazz up your table, little touches like Napkins, Napkin Rings, Place Mats, Glassware and quality Cutlery make the difference between an average table and an amazing table. There are truckloads of Christmas centrepiece ideas online from the austere to the magnificent. I’ve compiled a selection of the best and most inspiring ideas here.
Raise your glass
I briefly mentioned Glassware earlier, I can’t reiterate enough that quality glassware makes all the difference, as well as having the right glass for the drink. Countless times have I raided the cupboard for glasses for a toast, resulting in the moment being soured as guests cheer with Champagne cantered in a “Keep Calm and Drink Tea” mug, not a scenario I’d want to repeat! Especially on Christmas Day!
If you're looking for Glassware, drinkstuff.com is most certainly your friend. There’s an astounding range of glasses in all shapes, sizes and colours to suit any occasion and budget from Champagne Flutes, Wine Glasses, Tumblers, Hiballs and more. For Christmas there are beautiful hand crafted ranges from LSA, especially their Moya, Polka and Bar lines which include some wonderful boxed glassware items that really are something special, even worthy of being gifts themselves.
Also take a peek at restaurant favourites; Durobor who produce a wide range of sturdy glassware in various shapes and sizes with some very contemporary lines available including their top selling Alternato and Cancun glasses. Don’t miss other wonderful ranges from Libbey, Arcoroc and Artis to name but a few, who offer some amazing quality glassware. Have a browse through the full selection of glassware lines here for some inspiration.
When it comes to Christmas drinks, your creativity is your only limit. Whether it’s a simple glass of Champagne, a round of festive cocktails or some speciality hot mochas, there’s plenty of ideas compiled online here.
So with the advanced preparation and general online procrastination all done you can now relax. The heat has been taken off you with the Christmas prep. Of course there’s still the food shop and the organising to do, but that’s the easy bit!
The Drinkers Guide to Beer Glasses
Open bottle, pour into glass, drink. That's all there is to know about serving beer right? Not if your want to enjoy the finer side of the world of beers. Choosing the right glass can instantly enhance the flavour, aroma and colour of your beer. Depending on your choice of beer, ale, stout, bitter, lager or porter there's a choice of tankards, Pilsner glasses, nonic glasses, conical glasses, steins, tulip glasses, goblets, chalices, Weizen glass....
A rise in the popularity of glassware in the 1800s meant breweries were quick to jump on the bandwagon to advertise their brand and hand out glassware to the pubs. But beer glasses aren't just a marketing ploy, scientific studies show that the shape of the glass effects head development and retention. Now for the science bit...the foam (head) of the beer created by pouring acts as a net for acts as a net for the volatiles in a beer. Volatiles are compounds that evaporate from the beer and create an aroma, such as hop oils, yeast fermentation byproducts, fruity esters and spices or other additions. Therefore a glass that optimises the head of a beer ensures a better taste sensation. 
A popular way to enhance the head of your beer is choosing a glass with a nucleated base. This is basically a printed or etched design in the bottom of the glass which creates bubbles for better head retention. However, the better quality of beer, the less it requires nucleation.
So now you know the benefits of choosing the best beer glass, how do you pick a glass with such a variety on offer? Our short but sweet guide to beer glasses will help you pick out the best glassware for your chosen tipple.
Nonic Beer Glass
Nonic literally means 'no nick' and is a bartender favourite due to it's durable, stackable no-nonsense design. It's used to serve a variety of popular beers and lagers, but isn't designed for optimised tasting.
Conical Beer Glass
Another popular pub glass, the conical beer glass has a simple, stackable design, often toughened and therefore chosen for their practical design. Don't dismiss the conical as just another glass however, the wide mouth makes it ideal for large 'sipper' ales, such as English ales.
Tulip Beer Glass
A classic design, a tulip beer glass is most commonly used to serve ales and dry stouts such as Guinness.
Tankard and Stein Beer Glass
The classic tankard has a long history and is currently enjoying a revive in popularity due to it's traditional and practical design. Suited to hearty English beers, ales and bitters, the tankard is a firm favourite for beer chinkers across the country. A stein is the larger cousin of the tankard, primarily used for serving German beers.
Pilsner Beer Glass
The sexy side of beer glasses (if there is one), the Pilsner glass often features a tall, slender body with a board rim and is specially designed to emphasize the characteristics of German wheat beers, Czech lagers and Belgium beers. The Weizen beer glass is similar in style to a Pilsner and is ideal for wheat beers. Both glasses usually have a smaller volume making them suited to serving bottled beer.
Stemmed Beer Glass
For a more refined choice of beer glass, the stemmed tulip, goblet or chalice is ideal. A narrow tulip shaped glass will enhance the aroma and head of ales and aromatic beers, while a goblet or chalice glass feature a bigger bowl for Belgium ales, abbey beers, German bocks and other big sipping beers.
Novelty Beer Glasses
There's also plenty of fun to be had with beer glasses, with novelty beer glasses such as Beer Boots (Bierstiefel), Yard of Ale Glasses and Oversized Beer Glasses.
Cheers!
The Drinkstuff Blog
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