The week in pictures
Last Friday, team sb headed to the 2015 Whisky Live exhibition held at the Honourable Artillery Company Museum in London. An eclectic mix of whiskies – and some rums – were on offer to sample ranging from Scotch and Irish to Japanese and Taiwanese. Manning the Girvan stand on the day was global whisky specialist Kevin Abrook, which certainly had no shortage of eager visitors throughout the event.
Diageo held an innovation day in the UK this week to unveil seven new products for the domestic market. Among them was Ciroc Pineapple, which is getting its launch in the UK in April. Diageo’s head of Reserve Brands, Nick Temperley, said he expected Pineapple to become the most popular Ciroc flavour in the country.
Also unveiled by Diageo were several iterations of Pimm’s, specifically the Pimm’s Cider Cup, Pimm’s Summer Cooler frozen pouch, and Pimm’s Strawberry with a Hint of Mint. Diageo’s innovation team deconstructed the flavours of Pimm’s, using different forms of strawberry and cucumber, to demonstrate the complexity of developing a new flavour innovation.
Jose Cuervo kicked off the search its Dons Of Tequila competition at London’s Tonteria with Mexican wrestling, presentations exploring 250 years of rich Cuervo heritage, and a talk-through tasting with one of the historic Dons, Tequila Master Francisco Hajnal Alfaro (pictured left).
Fabian Van Roy of Crystal Lounge triumphed in the Belgian Giffard West Cup Preselection competition that took place this week at the S Bar. Judges included Edith Giffard who voted Van Roy into the top spot with his creation Angers-Lima, based on Pisco and Menthe-Pastille.
Hendrick’s Gin held a Mystery of the Martini event this week, where a select crowd was educated on everything these is to know on the iconic, but notoriously tricky to recreate, cocktail.
Staritsky & Levitsky Vodka’s cocktails and canapés event: no menus, no recipes, no restrictions – just the imagination of BYOC Camden’s bartenders, trusted with the task of creating a unique series of cocktails to exhibit the super-premium Ukranian vodka with any concoction of syrups, fruit and vegetable juices, spices, herbs, salts, homemade cordials and bitters.
Not one, but two Bacardi Legacy Global Cocktail Competition winners were announced this week. Taking the title in the Mexican final was Alberto Riesler of Grupo Fisher’s, who scooped the top accolade with his cocktail La Familia.
Congratulations are also in order for Ezequiel Rodriguez of Victoria Brown Bar, Buenos Aires, who rose to victory in the Argentinian final of the Bacardi Legacy competition with his cocktail, Perfume Daquiri. The global final will take place in Sydney in May.
