In this post:
Shaken not stirred – New BA Turbine Martini
British Airways’ customers travelling through its Concorde Room at Terminal 5 will now be able to try a new martini experience. I absolutely love a gadget (especially involving alcohol too), so I am excited to try this. I’ll be flying at the weekend, so I will keep an eye out for it and try one just for my readers so I can give you my verdict! One of the things any seasoned martini drinker will tell you is how important the ratio of ingredients are. BA thinks they have the answer to this with their new martini maker.
The airline has introduced an exclusive martini mixer designed by British aviation and adventure specialists Bremont, alongside British design and engineering company, CALLUM. The specialist mixer has been engineered with exact precision and crafted from machined stainless steel to mix the ultimate martini, every time. An accompanying bespoke moving bar houses built-in scales to ensure the quantity of the martini ingredients is perfectly measured.
The martini mixer, which features a turbine-inspired design, is pretty appropriate for an airport lounge named after a plane!
BA says that it “has a motorised mixing paddle engineered to stir the cocktail at the perfect speed of between 120-160 revolutions per minute, elevating the citrus and floral notes to create a smoother martini blend balancing the ultimate combination of aeration, dilution and cooling, resulting in the Turbine Martini.”
The Turbine Martini is a modern take on the classic cocktail and has been designed by the airline’s award-winning partner mixologist, Mr Lyan (Ryan Chetiyawardana). The Turbine Martini is a twist on an original martini combining classic ingredients such as vermouth, custom bitters and a bespoke garnish, with the airline’s newest gin partner, Aviation American Gin. Hopefully, they will allow you to customise the gin since, although I quite like Aviation gin, a lot of people prefer Tanqueray.
It sounds like a bit of fun as the airline’s Concorde Room staff will mix and pour the Turbine Martini seat side.
British Airways has also introduced the full range of Don Julio Tequilas into its UK lounges and will be the first airline to offer 1942 Añejo on board in First, as well as in its Concorde Room. It is currently available in the Concorde room and some of the range of tequilas have been also spotted in the T5 First lounge. It will be served onboard from September as well.
British Airways’ Chief Customer Officer, Calum Laming said: “We are really excited to work with the very best experts in the world of design, engineering, and mixology, to create a bespoke experience and offer customers what we believe to be the best martini in the world!
“This is one of many steps we are taking to invest in our lounges both in the UK and further afield, with some more exciting news coming later this year.”Mr Lyan, the airline’s partner mixologist, said: “Over the past couple of years, I have worked closely with British Airways to create a variety of unique drinks that celebrate the motion of flight, and we have taken this one step further to develop a modern version of the ultimate classic cocktail, The Martini.
“Using expertise from every partner, we’ve balanced the perfect combination of ingredients, aeration and temperature to highlight Aviation American Gin’s unique profile. Through our precision-engineered mixer, we created the Turbine Martini to celebrate the bespoke nature and wonder of the classic drink, with a brand-new contemporary twist.”
BA Lounge improvements and Concorde Room new furniture first look
Finally, the cabana space in the Concorde Room at London Heathrow is also undergoing a refresh, including new day beds and areas for working, with new furniture both in the Concorde Room and Arrivals lounge at London Heathrow Terminal 5, as well as in its lounges at London Heathrow Terminal 3. You can read my review of the refreshed T3 lounge with its new First dining area here and the refurbished T5B lounge with the Whispering Angel bar here.
The airline is also improving its lounges further afield, with new touches to its Edinburgh lounge as well as a brand-new bar and an enhanced menu offering in its Seattle lounge.
I was in the Concord Room a couple of weeks ago, and a lot of the furniture has already been updated.
There are now some rather nice booths for working which all have 2 USB sockets and a UK power socket.
The furniture is somewhat eclectic in style and colour, but the sofas are definitely better as they looked very worn previously.
I’ll admit I am not totally convinced by the mix of colour palettes that BA have been using in the lounge refresh, but I can’t complain that they are at least finally getting around to it.
I can only hope one day that they actually get around to refreshing the toilets and showers away from their current NHS chic style into something vaguely approaching luxury.
Out on the terrace, the chairs are much better as I always found them an odd height. If you haven’t been for a while, they also now have a restaurant area on the terrace as well as inside. I really like the teal colour here with the lighter accents. It feels much refresher than inside the Concorde Room. The sofas within the curtained areas have been replaced by chairs.
The afternoon tea also looked great with everything from cakes to scones to sandwiches. It’s ideal if you just want a quick bite.
7 comments
I shall try the martini next Thursday – currently the best martini by a fair lead is served at Dukes Hotel. It will take some beating.
I slso prefer Minutey to whispering angel!
Nigel you are obviously a man of taste. Definetely agree about Dukes although I do also recommend the Library bar at the Lanesborough where they make them at your table which is fun. Some of Whispering Angel’s more premium wines are fantastic but they come at a price!
Great news about the Cabanas but a real shame the sofas on terrace have gone- they were decadently sized.
I used to love the privacy of a cabana for a few hours so this is a shame as I thought they were redoing them.
Michele- somewhat off topic, BA short haul inbound Amex 241 vouchers- there’s plenty of outbounds but very little inbound on most routes. Given BA’s technology at the moment, what’s the best way to find availability because I just don’t trust their website- very odd things happening and it keeps crashing. Thanks. Doc
Yes there has been an IT problem with it for months now that they have not managed to fix. There are two options. One if use an outside source like RFF or Seat Spy which don’t cost much and you can also do monthly and cancel when you are not using it. Otherwise on BA you need to search the inbound on a specific date, not using the reward flight finder option. That still works.
Thanks Michele- what a nightmare
Went into the Concorde lounge for the first time earlier this year and I w as beyond disappointed. The only plus was that it introduced me to Whispering Angel.
Comments are closed.