The week in pictures
After two years at number two, New York bar The Dead Rabbit nabbed the top spot in The World’s 50 Best Bars. A statement from the bar, posted on Facebook, read: “Raise a glass, Belfast. This one is for you. This is for every bartender, in every town, who thinks he can’t play with the big boys, just by virtue of where he or she is from. This is for the outcasts, the underdogs and the no-hopers. This is for The Dead Rabbits!”
On Tuesday, SB was treated to a unique cocktail tour of London with peated Lowland whisky brand, Ailsa Bay. The tour explored four of London’s best bars – Merchant House, City Social, Oriole, Oblix – and introduced the intimate tour group to four bespoke cocktail serves… (cont.)
…Each serve, designed entirely by each bar team, enhanced a different element of Ailsa Bay, mirroring each of the four production processes from malting to ageing. The selection spanned hot milk punch to barrel-matured Ailsa Bay in a former Port and cheese cask.
On Monday SB experienced an exclusive ‘first look’ walk through of the World Class House, led by head of World Class Dan Dove. The House features immersive brand experiences which allow guests to venture ‘Into the Unknown’. We ventured into the Tanqueray No. Ten future forest, explored the sensory #LoveScotch room, and travelled through time sipping unique cocktails from both The Retro Bar and The Future Bar.
The Cocktail Village was also an unmissable London Cocktail Week stop. The maze of pop-up bars – some disguised as trucks, vans and bicycles – live music, and street food stalls is the festival’s hub, as well as the biggest cocktail market the city has ever seen. SB sipped on a Negroni flight at Martin Miller’s…
…enjoyed a delicious floral G&T at Sipsmith – a collaboration with local florist Bloom & Wild – which saw 2g hibiscus petals, 7g rose petals, 1g lemon verbena leaves, 3 borage flowers and 1 marigold flower steeped in gin for the serve…
…before hitting up Belsazar vermouth for a ‘Berlin Breakfast’ shim – Belsazar White, Gin Sul, grapefruit and marmalade.
On Wednesday The Clumsies bar team from Athens took over London cocktail bar Callooh Callay, serving drinks from their own specially-curated menu of Diageo World Class cocktails. From a Calypso Daiquiri made from Zacapa23 rum, muscovado sugar, fresh lime juice, lime kaffir leaves and Dr. Adam Elmegirab Teaport Bitters; to Infinity, which combined Bulleit Bourbon, distilled liquid leaven, hazelnut potion and olive.
Woodford Reserve brought some of the world’s top bars together at White Rabbit Studios in Shoreditch for ‘The Woodford Alliance’ at this year’s London Cocktail Week. Each night the pop-up saw two leading bars – one from London and one international – combining their best-loved elements with new staff, decor and drinks lists. London’s Nightjar will kicked off The Woodford Alliance on Tuesday alongside Stockholm’s Little Quarter. Wednesday saw The Punch Room at The Edition London partner with New York’s The Suffolk Arms. The pop-up ended on Thursday with Peg + Patriot collaborating with The Tailor from Amsterdam.
Hundreds of mini aeroplanes were gliding around London this week, as The Luxardo Aviation Society celebrated London Cocktail Week and 100 Years of the classic Aviation cocktail. The Society co-hosted the London Cocktail Club’s Departure Lounge Bar throughout the week, and crowned the celebration with a Top Gun party where seven variations of the Aviation were served – including a sugarsnap pea variant by brand ambassador Gareth Franklin.
London was the place to drink whisky last weekend as The Whisky Show at Old Billingsgate saw consumers enjoy more than half a million pounds worth of whisky over just two days. An estimated 175,000 drams were poured by 100 distilleries from across the world, with whiskies ranging in value from £40 to £15,000.
After the biggest ever Whisky Exchange Whisky Show saw 2,500 consumers through it’s doors, it was time for the trade day on Monday. It began with bartenders tasting rare whiskies from Port Ellen, Brora and Karuizawa at breakfast, hosted by Sukhinder Singh and led by Colin Dunn and Dave Broom.
SB also headed down to the annual Craft Distilling Expo. The week kicked off with a whisky distilling workshop at East London Liquor Company, before the main Expo – featuring more than 30 vendors – opened at The Boiler House, Old Truman Brewery offering a series of masterclasses and talks. The event is to end today with a gin distilling workshop at Bermondsey Distillery.
Aquum, one of South London’s most popular bars, re-launched as a late night drinking, dining and dancing destination yesterday following a complete and extensive refurbishment. Aquum’s diverse cocktail list of classics, sharing drinks and house infused shooters are now accompanied Greek cocktails, such as the Greek Rose Spritz, containing Metaxa infused with rose petals and Prosecco; the Greek Negroni, combining Bombay Sapphire, Skinos Mastic liqueur, sweet vermouth, and Campari; and the Metaxa Espresso, which blended Metaxa, sugar, espresso, and Tia Maria.
The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS) has relaunched in France with an exclusive party in Paris, and announced further developments to make its whisky and events available to more fans across Europe. The Society staged a ‘Grand Renaissance Party’ in Paris at new partner bar, Beaucoup, to announce the increased range of whiskies and tasting events now available to single malt enthusiasts in France, and across Europe.
Whyte & Mackay launched its latest consumer campaign, Stay Smooth, Glasgow, with an interactive mirror that surprises passers by ‘speaking’ to them as they stand before it. As locals stop to look into the mirror, words will magically appear on the glass, reminding them to ‘Stay Smooth’ and complementing their look with a typically Glaswegian turn of phrase.
Hendrick’s Gin partnered with luxury hotel The London Edition to present the H.O.T.E.L. – Hendrick’s Ocular Tool for Extraordinary Libations – which reinvents the hotel mini bar experience by offering residents a virtual in-room bartender. Guests staying in any of the 12 suites at the luxury five-star hotel can enjoy a virtual cocktail class led by global Hendrick’s ambassador, David Piper.
Jim Beam paired up with London BBQ and Smokehouse Bodeans to bring Double Oaked and Double Smoked to London Cocktail Week. Jim Beam Double Oak cocktails were served alongside a selection of sandwiches from Bodean’s BBQ, including the Soho Special – a mix of pork and beef brisket in BBQ sauce – which featured a BBQ sauce made with Jim Beam Double Oak and Bodean’s secret recipe Hickory BBQ sauce.
SB‘s Amy Hopkins visited the wonderful Cragganmore Distillery in Speyside as part of Diageo’s fascinating and insightful Malt Advocates training, learning the ways of milling, mashing, fermenting, distilling and ageing Scotch malt whisky within the world’s largest Scotch producer.
