The week in pictures

The Lost Distillery Company (TLDC) has teamed up with The Birmingham Whisky Club to present an exclusive ‘taste-along’ screening of the remake of Whisky Galore ahead of its official launch. Held on the 16 May at the UK’s oldest working cinema, The Electric Cinema, the evening will be one of the first public screenings of the film brought to life by TLDC’s lost whisky legends. Ewan Henderson, global brand ambassador for TLDC, will enhance the screening with a tasting of three whiskies from the brand’s range, served at key points during the film.

The grand finale of the Bols Bartending World Championship (Bols Around the World) has announced the seven finalists who will go head-to-head on 10 May to compete for the world title. The finalists are: Alicja Bączyk, Krakau (Poland), Marco Utomo (Malta), Evgenya Prazdnik (India), Masaki Ishimura (Japan), Jessica Mili (Canada), Claudia Cabrera Rodriguez (Mexico) and Daria Bezhina (Russia).

On Wednesday, the Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Tourism and External Affairs, Fiona Hyslop (pictured left), launched the new Sense of Scotland tour at Edinburgh’s Scotch Whisky Experience. The revamped tour takes visitors on a 180° panorama bird’s eye tour of Scotland’s five whisky-making regions. Visitors are then introduced to the art of blending in a recreated 19th century Blender’s Sample Room.

Tonic brand Fever-Tree has announced a sponsorship with Antigua Sailing Week (29 April–5 May) to become the event’s official mixer provider. During the event, Fever-Tree brought its pop-up bar to the island with special activities and drinks menus planned during Daily Prize Giving ceremonies and at Fever-Tree’s own Race Day.

To celebrate Cinco de Mayo today (5 May), Patrón are hosting an all-day Tequila celebration by the Thames, with the beautiful Patrón Airstream taking shelter at London’s Southbank from 12noon until 9pm today. Take your cocktail of choice from three international interpretations of the Margarita, as the three Patrón Margarita of the Year 2017 finalist recipes will be served-up at the Airstream.

Social Sunday will be returning to Jason and Irha Atherton’s The Social Company on Sunday 11 June. Held at all eight London-based restaurants, the Michelin-starred restaurateur and his army of head chefs will each collaborate with a top UK chef to create a bespoke lunch menu. An addition to the event this year is a bartender residency at The Social Company’s flagship bar, The Blind Pig, where group bar executive Jamie Jones will welcome guest bartenders, including representatives from Peg + Patriot, Coupette, Callooh Callay and Dandelyan, to mix up special cocktails in aid of Hospitality Action.

Bacardi Brown Forman Brands have unveiled a new tour of industry workshops and seminars to educate and inspire bartenders across the UK. The tour kicked off in Birmingham on 11 April at The Edgebaston, with sessions led by JJ Goodman, founder of London Cocktail Club and the BBFB ambassador team. A series of eight workshops in major cities at some of the UK’s most prestigious bars will take place, with talks from industry leaders including Iain Griffiths, Marian Beke and Erik Lorincz.

For this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show (23-27 May), The Ivy Chelsea Garden has created a new signature serve – the Chelsea Summer Blush cocktail. The drink combines Briottet Crème de Menthe Blanche, grapefruit juice, elderflowel cordial and topped with prosecco, and garnished with a rosebud, mint stroke and lavender stick.

Thursday was far from your average day in the office as SB headed to South Kensington’s Flora Indica to taste no fewer than 230 Scotch whiskies for The Scotch Whisky Masters 2017. From blended malts to single grains and Islay no-age-statements to 19-30-year-old variants from Speyside, there were some standout drams delivered to our expert judges throughout the day. Keep an eye out for the June issue of The Spirits Business for the full list of medal winners.

On Sunday at the Spirit of Speyside festival, food designers Blanch + Shock ran a series of food tasting experiences. The duo paired The Glenlivet’s whiskies with unexpected ingredients and tinctures. Each pairing was designed to deconstruct the flavour profile of The Glenlivet expressions, causing guests to look again at the overall taste of the whisky and taking inspiration from the natural surroundings of the distillery, the landscape of Speyside, and the distillation and maturation processes.