The week in pictures
Associate publisher and events director of The Spirits Business Daisy Jones headed to the launch of the Glenfiddich Gallery this week, where guests were treated to the brand’s collection of rare, aged single malts. Furthermore, the event provided the opportunity to use the Glenfiddich Gallery to match a whisky to guests’ preferred flavour profiles plus the chance to create and personalise the packaging for it.
Champion Wines, situated in Chislehurst, hosted a free D1 London Dry Gin tasting event on the weekend hosted by DJ Limbrey Distilling Co.
It may have only launched a few months ago, but The Cocktail Trading Company is making its mark having won Jim Beam’s Shake history bartender competition, hosted at The Blues Kitchen in Shoreditch, London. Judging the final was none other than Jim Beam’s 7th generation master distiller Fred Noe, who was impressed with the theatrical performance and bartending expertise presented by the winning team, comprising Eliot Ball, Andy Mil and Olly Brading. The trio will now travel to Kentucky, the home of Jim Beam Bourbon, for a “once-in-a-lifetime” experience at the Jim Beam American Stillhouse in 2015.
Team sb headed to Sky Lounge yesterday with an army of cocktail connoisseurs to judge the grand final of The Wenneker Swizzle Masters 2014. Five recipes were recreated for the panel, but only one could claim the title of Swizzle Master 2014. But you’ll have to wait just a little longer to find out who this year’s champion is.
On Tuesday sb and db embarked on a joint venture to Coq d’Argent to celebrate the launch of its winter roof terrace, Lodge d’Argent with an array of cheesy canapés from tartiflette to croque-monsieur and delicious drinks designed by bar manager, Pawel Rolka.
Twelve bartenders made it through to the final, but in the end it was Ali Reynolds of Hawksmoor Spiralfields who was crowned winner of the 2014 Glenfiddich Malt Mastermind cocktail competition. Hosted at Callooh Callay in Shoreditch, London, Reynolds impressed the panel of judges with the “simplicity” of his concoction titled, Family Guy’s Tea, made using Glenfiddich 24 Year Old Rich Oak. Forming the judging panel were Mark Thomson, whisky expert, Kirsten Grant Meikle, of the William Grant & Sons family and director of Prestige at the company, and Roman Foltan from The Artesian.
Diageo Global Travel and Middle East (GTME) has partnered with Duty Free Americas to launch an exclusive Diageo store in the International Arrivals concourse of El Dorado International Airport in Bogota, Colombia. In recognition of the store’s official opening Doug Bagley, managing director of Diageo GTME and Matthie Comard, vice president of Diageo GTME Western and Leon Falic, president of Duty Free Americas attended a celebratory launch event.
We also headed over to famed London speakeasy bar Nightjar to celebrate its fourth birthday. There were cocktails aplenty, including a delicious barrel-aged Pina Colada, canapés and plenty of live jazz music which transported friends of the bar to 1930s New Orleans. Happy birthday Nightjar!
Following US president Barack Obama’s proposal of hosting a “Bourbon summit” with Republican Mitch McConnell, comedians at late-night American sketch show Saturday Night Live enacted what the meeting be like with Woodford Reserve Bourbon, ending in a prank call to Democrat Hilary Clinton.
SB also headed to Fortnum and Mason to take part in the first ever group tasting of Courvoisier’s new limited edition range of ultra-rare Cognacs. Courvoisier’s master blender Patrice Pinet and newly appointed global brand ambassador Rebecca Asseline led an exclusive tasting, where a food course was paired with each new expression. Culinary delights included Cornish scallops with caviar and lime butter, and Norfolk pheasant with braised red cabbage and potato fondant, while beautiful bouquets had be specially crafted to reflect the notes of the Cognacs.
Around 300 spirits industry representatives gathered in Brussels this week for the spiritsEUROPE Spirits Summit. A panel comprised of producers, MEPs and EU Commission members discussed issues affecting the industry, including labelling, counterfeiting and trade barriers.
Cocktails were served after the summit, provided by spiritsEUROPE members including Remy Cointreau, Diageo and Beam Suntory. Delegates were given the opportunity to create their own version of a Cointreau Fizz using a variety of ingredients at the Remy Cointreau cocktail cart.
SpiritsEUROPE president Joep Stassen, flanked by director general Paul Skehan on the right, welcomed guests and delegates to the event, where he also presented a new magazine, Spirits of Europe: Faces and Places of a Sector, which compiled by The Spirits Business for spiritsEUROPE, will be used to communicate the industry’s personality to the incoming European Parliament.
