The week in pictures
At the start of this week, SB’s senior staff writer Melita Kiely hopped on the Eurostar to Paris to judge the semi-final of the inaugural Trois Rivières Rhumbellion cocktail competition. More than 200 entries had been whittled down to just 21 of the best bartenders in the business, who were challenged with creating a delectable drink to match one of five culinary dishes.
In other Parisien news, SB’s social media editor Annie Hayes joined William Grant & Sons in the French capital to get the latest news on the firm’s House of Hazelwood brand.
There has been no shortage of rum happenings this week, including The Spirits Business’ 2016 Rum Masters. Judges gathered at The Rum Kitchen in London and enjoyed a day blind tasting more than 130 different rums. Keep checking back to thespiritsbusiness.com to find out who this year’s medal winners are.
Rum was the chosen base spirit for this month’s Wenneker Swizzle Masters cocktail competition, Tiki Rum, which was held at revered London rum bar Trailer Happiness.
Head blender at Midleton Distillery, Billy Leighton, led guests in a tasting for the launch of Redbreast Single Cask on Tuesday night. Guests gathered to sample the first single cask expression from the brand at the new The Whisky Exchange premises.
Bushmills Irish Whiskey launched its first ever travel retail exclusive range this week – The Steamship Collection. The first release in the collection was revealed as Sherry Cask Reserve and marks the 125th anniversary of the maiden voyage of SS Bushmills.
French liqueur brand St Germain hosted a burlesque brunch this week, hosted by Madame St Germain herself. Guests enjoyed a cocktail-paired brunch and burlesque cabaret at London venue, Balthazar.
Awards season is well and truly underway, and this week saw the BAFTAs come to town. Grey Goose Vodka hosted a post-BAFTA party at the Rosewood Hotel London in partnership with The Weinstein Company and was joined by a myriad of famous faces. Among the stars in attendance were Stephen Fry and his husband Elliot Spencer.
Also joining vodka brand Grey Goose for a cocktail post-BAFTA reception was Game of Thrones actress Emilia Clarke, who was also joined by her co-stars Sam Claflin and Gwendoline Christie.
Idris Elba got stuck into the post-BAFTA celebrations with Grey Goose at the Rosewood London Hotel, where guests were treated to an array of cocktails throughout the night.
