The week in pictures
More than 100 people within the spirits industry gathered at the prestigious Kensington Roof Gardens for The Spirits Masters Awards Lunch 2014 on Thursday. A culmination of our blind tasting Spirits Masters competitions held throughout the year, it was an opportunity for brands, both big and small, to be recognised for their achievements and above all, their outstanding products.
We felt like proud mothers here at SB when we found out that our talented news and web editor, Amy Hopkins, had been selected as the Alan Lodge Young International Spirits Writer of the Year 2014. Sponsored by William Grant & Sons, Hopkins was joined on stage at The Spirits Masters Awards Lunch at Kensington Roof Gardens by the Lodge family and Ian Taylor, WIlliam Grant head of marketing for GTR, to receive her trophy and prize.
Congratulations are in order for Adriana Soley who was announced as the overall winner of the 2014 Wenneker Swizzle Masters cocktail competition. Five delicious cocktails had made it through the grand final, but Soley’s Barcelona 1992 was chosen as the top tipple of the year.
Work has officially started on the new distillery visitor centre for The Macallan. To mark the occasion, Ian Curle, Edrington chief executive, was joined on site at The Macallan estate in Speyside by Bill Robertson, executive chairman of Roberston, and Graham Stirk, partner of Rogers Stirk Harbour and Partners. Overlooking the River Spey, the facility is due to open to the public in spring 2017.
Moskovskaya Vodka hosted the final of its cocktail competition, which challenged bartenders to create a cocktail to accompany an entrée or main course designed by Jamie Dobbin, head chef at the One Canada Square restaurant and bar in Canary Wharf. Tasked with creating a drink to complement a main dish of rye-crusted cod, London bartender Pie Panah was chosen as the winner for his creation using butter-washed Moskovskaya Vodka as its base, along with chilli-infused cornichon brine, Dijon mustard and lemon juice. As his prize, Panah will travel to the Moscow Bar Show.
Johnnie Walker enlisted the help of Formula 1 drivers Jenson Button, Mika Hakkinen and Kevin Magnusson to drive lucky visitors around Edinburgh in a Caparo T1 supercar and two McLaren MP4-6505 sports cars.
The grand final of the Roadhouse Flair competition took place last weekend in London’s Covent Garden. Tipped as the ultimate flair competition, bartenders from across the world converged on the Roadhouse venue to compete against one another. But there could only be one winner – the UK’s Tom Dyer, of EBS and Ver2 Vodka. Check out his astounding routine in the video below.
The highly anticipated new Kingsbars Distillery and Visitor Centre officially opened its doors to the public last Sunday. William Wemyss, director, and Douglas Clement, distillery founder celebrated the occasion with an official plaque unveiling at a private event attended by industry representatives, family and friends.
Edinburgh-based bartender Tim Pryde has been announced as the winner of the Maker’s Mark Bartender Trove cocktails completion, winning a trip to Maker’s Mark in Loretto, Kentucky. Five finalists competed at MASH, London, where they were challenged to use their “precious Trove” object to create a new Maker’s Mark cocktail, but only after receiving an £80 budget to source their ingredients in Soho.
SB also headed up to Scotland this week for a visit to William Grant’s Glenfiddich Distillery, hosted by the whisky’s new UK brand ambassador, Mark Thomson. We took in the fascinating heritage of Dufftown, learned about the family legacy of William Grant, and experienced how the world’s best-selling single malt is created first hand.
Of course, an obligatory tasting of the brand’s portfolio ensued, followed by a deconstructed masterclass led by Thomson in how the Glenfiddich 15 Year Old is created in giant solera casks containing Bourbon, Sherry and virgin oak whiskies.
Just a hop, skip and a jump away from Glenfiddich sits The Balvenie Distillery, where guests were taken on a behind the scenes tour, and even got to turn malt using a traditional method only used by seven Scotch whisky distilleries today.
And to finish off a long week in style was a visit today to SB HQ from Grey Goose UK trade ambassador Omar Sequera, who came armed with some much-needed Martinis!
