Well, this will teach us to start reading the fine print on drink menus.
Hackney hotspot Nightjar is famed for its speakeasy atmosphere and clever cocktails, but many are finding its Moby Dick drink a bit hard to swallow...because it's made of whisky infused with, er, whale skin. (Guess the name should have tipped us off.)
Following a complaint made in October, police visited the bar on December 3 and confiscated a bottle of whiskey containing a small strip of dried whale skin, on the grounds that EU law prohibits the hunting and trading of Free Willy et al.
"We did have a drink on this year's menu which included a small amount of scotch whisky infused with a single 2 x 5 cm strip of dried whale skin," the bar says in a statement, adding that it was unaware of the EU regulations.
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"The strip was purchased in a shop by an employee while on a trip to Japan in autumn 2011...In hindsight we realise that regardless of the legal framework around such products, it was an error of judgment on our part to include this on our menu, and we would like to offer our apologies to anyone who may have been offended by it. We genuinely feel ashamed about our lack of due diligence around this and our insensitivity to public opinion, and have taken the decision to donate all proceeds from the sale of this cocktail to a whale conservation charity."
The Moby Dick has since been taken off the menu. Thar she blows!
Photo: Courtesy of Nightjar