Thursday, June 22, 2006

Fever pitch

World Cup fever has hit the country, and whatever team you’re supporting I hope they are doing well. I’m not a big follower of football so my motivation for going to see England Vs. Sweden on Tuesday night was not the match per se, but rather the Kopparberg Cider, who were hosting the party in 4 Dame Lane.


I first tasted Kopparberg a few months ago and, while I’m not a fan of cider, I absolutely loved it. So refreshing and the bottles are huge! It’s manufactured solely by first-class raw materials and fresh spring water. They don’t ad alcohol; instead it gets to slowly ferment to desired strength. According to an old Swedish original recipe, they have fermented this semi sweet cider, with light, fresh, clean fruity flavours and the range includes pear, apple and mixed berries.


The pear and apple versions have an alcohol level (or whatever you call it) of 4.5% whereas the mixed berries carries a whopping 7% ABV. That surely does the trick!


Among the guests were TV3 sports presenter Aaron Armstrong, Avril Mulcahy and Aimee Milne, sports writer Derek Foley (who tells me that Gary Oldman is being lined up to play him in a movie!), Rebecca O’Neill and photographer Ingmar Kiang.


Incidentally, the match was excellent and ended in a 2-2 draw.


The following night I bumped into Derek Foley again at a reception that Stephen Mackeral and his team at the Carphone Warehouse were hosting to showcase the latest in mobile communications. TV via mobile is no longer a thing of the future and was demonstrated to me on the night. Quite impressive.


I quizzed Derek on his Gary Oldman claim and he explained that there is currently a film project being put together about the Sunday Tribune’s fictional character Ross O’Carroll – Kelly. Derek, or One F as he is often referred to as in the column, will feature in the movie version and be played by none other than Mr. Oldman. Again, quite impressive.