Scottish craft brewery BrewDog has taken on the challenge of creating the strongest beer ever, Tactical Nuclear Penguin.  It’s 32% alcohol.  BrewDog’s owners Martin and James, who started the brewery when they were only 24, innovated a process that involved ageing an imperial stout for 14 months in whisky casks, then freezing it repeatedly, all while wearing a Penguin suit (ok, maybe only sometimes).     

Produced in small batches and at 32%,  Tactical Nuclear Penguin isn’t intended for chugging but rather sipping like a fine whiskey. Like their other beers, the offerings are more about enjoying craft beers and educating beer drinkers than getting ridiculous.  Thought when it comes to marketing the beers – ridiculous is the only appropriate term.

There’s word afoot that BrewDog plans to open pubs throughout the UK .  Martin and James recently bought the vacant Marischal Bar in Aberdeen and are hoping to have bars in Glasgow and Edinburgh by the end of 2010. However,  the best way to taste this brew must be at the original Aberdeenshire brewery (they do welcome visits) - because, who wouldn’t want to hang out with these guys:

Tactical Nuclear Penguin from BrewDog on Vimeo.

In what used to be a hydraulic power station in London’s East End, now stands a unique multi-purpose exhibtion and performance space.  Not to mention an award-winning restaurant housed in the station’s Engine and Turbine Houses.  What makes The Wapping Project distinctly innovative and downright cool is its undefined boundaries of space. 

Imagine dining in the midst of original 19th century hydraulic machinery while dancers perform a newly-commissioned contemporary piece.  Each year, it attracts visual artists, choreographers, composers, writers, poets, designers and film makers.

You can find The Wapping Project on the north bank of the Thames (east of Tower Bridge).  Keep an eye out for its tree decked out with yellow umbrellas.  You can’t miss it.  The Wapping Project opened to the public in October 2000.

Playing the air guitar in front of your bedroom mirror is probably the closest you’ll get to becoming a rock star.  But, hold your horses.   Just recently, we came across Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp™ which gives music lovers an opportunity to jam with rock star legends and even play live on stage at a major concert venue. 

There’s a London camp that’s being offered during Memorial Day weekend (May 25-30 2010) which has a cool lineup of acitvities.  Participants get the chance to record at one of the most famous recording studios in the world, Abbey Road.  Then, head up to the Beatles hometown of Liverpool and play live at The Cavern Club. 

Oh but, the fun doesn’t stop there.  “Campers” will meet with some with some serious rock n’ roll legends like Roger Daltrey of the Who, Nick Mason of Pink Floyd and Jack Bruce of Cream.

Are you ready to unleash your inner rock star?

If you are thinking of heading down to South Jersey with dreams of snagging a hot dog rocking chair or wonder bread seat at a Wawa convenience store – sorry for the tease, I’m talking about a different Wawa.

Circuitous world that the Internet is, the reason I’m writing about couches is that I saw Liberty London Girl’s excellent post about the Columbia Road Flower Market. Wherein she teased me with a link to an item on my own personal wishlist-Wawa’s leather briefcases. 

 (Travel tip: if you are visiting a market in London (e.g. Portabello Road). I advise against the thin buffalo leather bag that is ubiquitous throughout the stalls- the stink takes forever to go away).

When I hit the jump, instead of leather briefcases, I found to my delight, Wawa’s handmade designer couches.

The vintage tufted Victorian sofa that I snagged at Housing Works has torn upholstery. I’m debating the expense of redoing it, and comparing it to the cost of buying a new one altogether. But here’s my dilemma. While there’s nothing wrong with barcaloungers, and pastel flower print couches, once you’ve seen how a unique, vintage, of one-of-kind design masterpiece can define the character of a room, it’s hard to well, go Pottery Barn (again, not that there’s anything wrong with that). It takes forever to find an affordable couch that truly makes a space pop.

Wawa was launched in 1998 when Richard Ward showcased his furniture designs as part of Hidden Art Open Studios . The showing was so popular that Richard’s studio and workshop became the permanent Wawa showroom. His sofas are designed and made in the UK, using materials and techniques that are built to last.  They are also custom designed for you and surprisingly affordable with some pieces starting in the $500-$600 price range.

Just another reason to get to London’s East End, and rent a space in a shipping container to get all the good stuff back.

Images and inspiration from Liberty London Girl and Wawa.

Last week, a group of us here at Unlabelled Britain attended a screening of the upcoming film Sherlock Holmes which stars Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law and is directed by Guy Ritchie. This definitely isn’t a spoiler alert, but I do highly recommend it. It’s a darker and more action-packed side of Holmes. He doesn’t take crap from anyone.

It doesn’t officially open until Christmas Day, however if you’re itching to get your Sherlock fix and you own an iPhone (I mean, who doesn’t these days?) the team here at VisitBritain has recently produced a British Film Location application. From Sherlock Holmes to Shakespeare in Love and Match Point to Mary Poppins, the new app allows iPhone and iPod touch users to discover and photograph the most iconic British film locations in cinematic history. It also shows the most famous film scenes on Google maps and allows users to search by film title.

Looking for Harry Potter’s Hogwarts or one of the Braveheart battlefields? Now, there’s an app for that. Each film location is accompanied by a detailed synopsis and description of how to find it.

The Great British Film Location App is available for free from the App Store on iPhone and iPod touch – you can get it here.

Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Downey Jr and directed by Guy Ritchie premiered in London on December 14, 2009 and opens in the US on December 25th.

 

Selfridges has been opening their doors on December 26th for the past seven years and are the first store to do so in London.  This year, Selfridges will be opening at 9am.   Selfridges also has regional stores in Birmingham and Manchester that will also open that day at 8am.  The Selfridges Boxing Day bargain-hunters will be the first able to pick from the tens of thousands of discounted products, like 75% off this Dries Van Noten Blazer and 50% off Alexander Wang’s Anya shoe.

The Selfridges sale runs until stocks last.  Check out www.selfridges.com.

For the full list of sale designers, prices, and deals, take a peak at the Selfridges Boxing Day Sale release.

                                                                                                                                               If you’re a design geek like I am, you’ll dig this.  Glasgow School of Art is known for cranking out Turner Prize winning artists, renowned animators and even a rock musician here and there (Franz Ferdinand’s own Bob Hardy went to school here).   In short, GSA attracts some of the most creative and innovative artists around.   Most notably, the one and only.  Wait for it. Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

Glasgow School of Art is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its world-famous Mackintosh building.  It’s hands down the best known and most widely regarded of all Mackintosh’s buildings.  For its 100th anniersary, a £100 bill from Clydesdale bank and films about the art school will be projected on to the side of the building.  The school will also unveil a centenary scroll and commemorative door plaque.

The school’s library is a true highlight.  I took a tour of the school last year and it’s no wonder why they keep it for the end.  Yeah, it’s dark and a little musty, but the detail is incredible.  And you can clearly see the Art Noveau meets Japanese influence along with touches of the Arts & Crafts movement.  Ahhh, I’m feeling inspired!

This ain’t Reno.  It’s Wiltshire, England.  There’s a groovy retro photography exhibit called “Icons of the Highway” at the Fox Talbot Museum at Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire.  Think motels touting electric neon signs for weary travelers, flamboyant over-sized automobiles, aluminum Air-Stream caravans, colorful burger shacks, bustling 24-hour diners, and rich red brocaded cinemas of old Hollywood glamour.  Just good ole’ Americana in England.  Who knew?

The  images on display are the works of Dorset-based photographers Tony and Eva Worobiec.  Not to sound too romantic here, but Tony and Eva’s photos really do take visitors back in time on a classic 1960s American road trip.  The exhibtion opens on January 9, 2010 and runs until June 27, 2010.

And here’s a tip if you’re planning to go.  Members of The Royal Oak Foundation get into the museum and all other National Trust properties for free.

Kevin Caruth of Urban Gentry was showing me around Shoreditch and Brick Lane in East London last week.  We were checking out a few indie shops in on Cheshire street, when I spotted that robotic sprite from Forbidden Planet, Robby, in a shop Window display.

I found to my surprise, a whole store dedicated to Vintage robots.  Drop your old comodore 64 game codebook and Atari T-shirt into the trash can, because this is old school nerdery at its finest. I was planning on writing something up about it, but then owner John Kelly sent me an email describing his store and ethos.  I was,  too say the least, simply charmed.  Consequently, I’m just going to pass it straight along unedited.  (Sorry for the long quote Jeremy – somethings just speak for themselves).

THUS spake John Kelly:

“My shop is really called THUS but everyone knows it as the Robot Shop, principally because it mostly sells clockwork robots and selected tin toys. Apart from possibly the largest selection of tin robots, all working and all perfect replicas of original robots, made in the same Japanese factories as the originals, now transplanted to China, I sell clockwork mice, snapping crocodiles, pecking roosters, bluebirds and hopping frogs, all at remarkably cheap prices. The most expensive item – an original Matmos Lava Lamp, is £55.00.

A warm welcome and good conversation is free. The shop looks like a comfortable if eccentric living room, with rare kilims, wooden floors, Balinese dance masks and glass and chrome cube cabinets, straight out of the 1950s. I keep shop because I like people even more than robots. My son, Ned, helps on Saturdays because he likes girls. We both like New Orleans funk, so you’re likely to hear that stuff in the shop: no bad thing.

We play it as it lays. The shop sign proclaims ‘Open at Random (It’s true – it was closed when I was there), but invariably 1-5 pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Some people are saying it’s one of the coolest shops in Shoreditch. That’s very nice to hear, since it’s entirely accidental and I’m very, very lazy. I just like to see people enjoy themselves. Honest.”

You can find THUS (the Robot Shop) at:
20 Cheshire St
London E2 6EH
0797 4155031

PS – Bonus points to anyone who can identify all the bots in the picture.

“When all is said and done, when everything is gone, the photograph is what’s going to remain.  The photographer is the producer of history.” – Nat Finkelstein

I never really like beginning blog posts with quotes, but this one was particularly powerful.  His photographs speak for themselves.  Photojournalist Nat Finkelstein was a legend.  Plain and simple.  His work covered everything from Warhol’s Factory to the civil rights movement.  And come January, his iconic photographs will be on display in a retrospective exhibition in London.  Nat Finkelstein: From One Extreme to the Other runs from January 20th to February 14th at the Idea Generation Gallery.

Not only was Finkelstein a renowned photojournalist, he was an activist, fugitive and veteran of the 1960s New York scene.  He was expelled from Brooklyn College, trained at Harper’s Bazaar, fleed to the Middle East and managed the post-punk band Khmer Rouge. 

It amazes me how this exhibtion documents vividly five decades of not only his own life, but the lives of those who downright shaped modern day culture.  If you’re going to be in London early next year, this exhibtion should be on your to-do list. 

© Nat Finkelstein, Courtesy of Idea Generation Gallery

Nat Finkelstein: From One Extreme to the Other, is at Idea Generation Gallery from Jan 20^th– Feb 14^th, www.ideageneration.co.uk.