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The week in pictures

On Wednesday, Diageo Reserve revealed its 2017 World Class finalists with the UK’s top 50 bartenders whittled down to 11 as judges struggled to choose only 10, at this year’s UK semi-finals. The finalists comprise: Aiden Page, The Bar With No Name, London; Alf Del Portillo, The Natural Philosopher, London; Constanca Cordeiro, Peg and Patriot, London; James Bowker, The Edgbaston Boutique Hotel & Cocktail Lounge, Birmingham; Jamie Jones, The Social Company, London; Jerome Allaguillemette, Sexy Fish, London; Jon Hughes, Bramble, Edinburgh; Liam Broom, Callooh Callay, London; Martin Hudak, American Bar at The Savoy Hotel, London; Sean Fennelly, Hawksmoor Spitalfields, London; Thomas Matthews, The Edgbaston Boutique Hotel & Cocktail Lounge, Birmingham.

The Lagavulin distillery team gathered the representatives from the Islay Charites at the distillery and presented them with £588,395 – raised through a special Lagavulin 200th anniversary bottling. The principal beneficiary of the funding is Islay Heritage, a new initiative which has been established to explore, conserve and promote Islay’s wealth of historical and archaeological sites.
The Kraken Black Spiced Rum has unveiled a range of limited edition cocktails that take classic summertime drinks and twist them on their heads to create Summer Eclipse serves. The line-up has been developed with ingredients such as avocado, black tea and cider.

As cherry trees around the world burst into full blown blossom, Luxardo has announced the acquisition of new land to extend its estate of maraschino cherry orchards with the planting of 2,000 trees. The orchard is known as Campo Tramonte and is in a premium area of the Torreglian hills, near the home of Luxardo in Padua, Northern Italy.  The new trees are expected to bear fruit in four years time. Luxardo now owns over 30,000 Marasca cherry trees, and this sour cherry variety is exclusively cultivated by Luxardo.

On Tuesday, SB headed to the American Bar at The Savoy to sample some of the cocktails on the bar’s new Coast To Coast menu. The Art Deco section touches on the birth of Britain’s cocktail culture with a “classic, heady” selection of drinks served in an elongated coupe on a silver Art Deco tray. The menu includes the Basil Iondes (pictured right), which combines Ron Zacapa, Cocchi cacao infusion, salted cacao liqueur, Mastiha, smoky whisky, and Peychaud Bitters.

The final of the 1800 Tequila cocktail competition was held on Tuesday on the rooftop of Shoreditch’s Ace Hotel. Bartenders across the UK were tasked with creating a cocktail for the inhabitants of an iconic building, either real or fictional, with six going through to the UK final. The winner, Alex Walker from the Beaufort Bar at The Savoy Hotel, impressed judges with his cocktail, Impresario. For winning, he will receive an all-expenses paid trip to Mexico in May.

Three Glasgow companies NVA, Glasgow Distillery Company and Stand have collaborated on a handcrafted gin inspired by the historic landscape of Kilmahew. One thousand bottles of the Kilmahew Small Batch Gin are now on pre-sale through nva.org.uk/shop for £40. All of the profits raised through sales of Kilmahew Gin will be donated to the restoration project to help NVA bring St Peter’s back to life as a distinctive visitor attraction and new cultural resource for Scotland.

Patron Tequila has announced that the Coralina Margarita has been chosen as the 2017 Patrón Margarita of the Year. Created by Mexico City’s Riesler Morales, the winning drink combines Patrón Reposado tequila, Patrón Citrónge Orange liqueur, red wine and hibiscus.

Last night, Smith & Sinclair hosted a bar takeover at Alice’s Adventures Underground in The Vaults under Waterloo station. The Alice in Wonderland-themed event consisted of themed drinks along with food and characters from Wonderland.

Ahead of World Whisky Day (20 May), Drambuie is raising a toast to the Rusty Nail, which celebrates its 80th anniversary this year. Fashioned from one part Drambuie and two parts Scotch whisky, the Rusty Nail has been formative for the development of Drambuie, which is now seen to be a highly-regarded essential to bartenders.

Brockmans Gin is celebrating spring with the debut of two original cocktails reminiscent of Britain’s 4 o’clock tea tradition. Pictured is the Brockmans Berry Tea, a combination of Brockmans Gin, elderflower cordial, red berry puree, lemon Juice and chilled red berry tea.

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