The Domestic Sluts do the Bompas & Parr and Courvoisier Architectural Punch Bowl

After we got all excited about the Courvoisier Architectural Punch Bowl last week, the wonderfully kind folks at Courvoisier and Bompas & Parr got in touch and invited us to scamper over to the swish neighbourhood of Portland Place and see it for ourselves. Intrigued and salivating a little at the idea of a swimming pool-sized cocktail, Domestic Slut Alex and I decided to investigate.

But first things first. In the interests of health and safety, before we were allowed anywhere near the ginormous punch bowl, we had to don rather fetching plastic pinnies, sanitise our hands and hide our lustrous locks under shower caps. Awed by the ornate décor of 33 Portland Place, and drooling from the cognac fumes wafting through the lobby, we didn’t dare complain about this and instead got scrubbed up as fast as we could. The overall effect’s pretty dashing, don’t you think?

Then, undeterred by our unfashionable attire, we ventured onwards into the installation. A charming young lady kitted out in a bizarre hybrid of medical and sportswear ladled us a cocktail each from the punch bowl containing 4,000 litres of the bespoke Courvoisier cocktail – enough for 25,000 glasses. Braver souls than Alex and I entered a lottery to be able to raft across the punch’s surface, whilst we fretted that the prospect of falling in and potentially contaminating so many litres of delicious, lovely booze was much more of a risk than we dared to take.


Alex James, however, who worked as a Taste Consultant on the project, was bold enough to boat across the punch bowl’s surface on a giant orange slice, whilst a remote-controlled berry garnish buzzed about nearby:


Rather than risk an impromptu liquor-bath, instead we bagsied a nearby berry-decorated throne, and slurped our way through the cocktail, named the Emperor’s Shrub. It contained copious amounts of Courvoisier cognac, along with berries, organic cider vinegar and winter spices. Sadly we loitered too long in at punch bowl installation and the bar was closed by the time we traipsed out, so we only got to sample the one. But that’s probably for the best because as delicious as it was, it tasted pretty potent too.

Thanks to Courvoisier and Bompas & Parr for having us!