Buddha-Bar marks 20th with Tanqueray tie-up

Buddha-Bar Restaurant Group has formed a partnership with Diageo Reserve and launched a cocktail competition as it marks the 20^th anniversary of its first bar opening in Paris.

As part of the agreement, the Pan-Asian fusion restaurant, bar and hotel franchise group will launch a global cocktail competition which encourages bartenders to create a Tanqueray Gin anniversary cocktail.

Open from 1 October until the end of November, the 24 restaurants and bars in the group will compete to create the “perfect” Tanqueray serve using three main base ingredients: Tanqueray gin, lemon and sugar.

As part of the deal marketing support will be rolled out globally, including bar activations, PR initiatives and social media activity.

The competition itself will be judged by Tarja Visan, owner of Buddha Bar World Brand; Matthias Giroud, executive worldwide bar-chef at Buddha-Bar World Group; Stephanie Jordan, global brand ambassador for Tanqueray Gin; plus other industry stakeholders.

Up for grabs is a trip to Scotland to visit the Tanqueray and Gordon’s distilling facilities and the brands’ historic archives in Scotland, hosted by Jordan.

“At Diageo Reserve, we are committed to support our key trade partners and mutually create value by growing cocktail culture and fine drinking through World Class drinking experiences,” said Matteo Fantacchiotti, global vice president for Diageo Luxury Brands. “We’re confident that the Tanqueray and Buddha-Bar partnership will be very inspirational, both for the group’s bartenders and ultimately for the end consumers.”

Buddha-Bar Group’s Giroud added: “This is an exciting year Buddha-Bar World with exciting events taking place around the globe to celebrate the 20-year anniversary of our first bar opening in Paris.

“We’re delighted to be partnering with Tanqueray on this exclusive serve challenge. Tanqueray is considered as the quality benchmark of gin and this collaboration will allow our group to gain exclusive skills and insight into the making of one of the world’s best gins and deliver an inspired Tanqueray cocktail serve to our customers.”

Earlier this month Tanqueray announced a new strategic partnership with rapper Snoop Dogg, launching a campaign inspired by his hit song ‘Gin & Juice’.