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The week in pictures

London’s Dandelyan celebrated receiving one of the bar world’s most esteemed accolades. The cocktail bar was named World’s Best Bar during the Spirited Awards in New Orleans last weekend, the grand finale of the world’s foremost cocktail and spirits festival, Tales of the Cocktail. Dandelyan also won the Best International Bar Team and Best International Hotel Bar awards.

Dandelyan wasn’t the only one to win an award, Italian liqueur Italicus Rosolio di Bergamotto also won the prestigious award in the Best New Spirit or Cocktail Ingredient category. Launched by Giuseppe Gallo in September 2016, Gallo was inspired by making Rosolio with his family when growing up on the Amalfi Coast, and wanted to create something that honoured the culture and tradition of the great Italian aperitivo.

Renowned bartender and drinks expert, Richard Hunt – formerly of London bars Milk & Honey, Hawksmoor, and Mahiki – launched his new venture, Mint Gun Club, in east London’s Stoke Newington on Thursday. The tea house, bar and delicatessen serves up cocktails inspired by far-flung destinations along with rare blended teas and pantry-style exotic delicacies. The drinks menu at the Mint Gun Club is divided into four sections spanning Gimlet, Apéritif, Tonic and Soda and Nightcap, and is accompanied by a selection of tonics, club sodas, juices and lassis created using in-house infusions, spices and fruits. Try the Milanese Nightingale – an aperitif containing Aperol, gooseberry and bramble wine, elderflower liqueur, Picon Bière and neroli and sweet orange flower.

Darnley’s Gin will be hosting a series of initiatives in St Andrews this August to celebrate its sponsorship of the Ricoh Women’s British Open. Darnley’s is the official gin supplier of this year’s event, which takes place next door to their new gin distillery in Fife at the iconic Kingsbarns Golf Links from 3-6 August. Darnley’s has teamed up with St Andrews bistro The Dolls House to serve a specially created gin-paired menu and a series of Darnley’s Gin tastings to diners throughout the weekend.

To celebrate National Tequila Day on Monday, Jose Cuervo surprised Los Angles residents (of legal drinking age) by replacing water in select drinking fountains around LA with chilled Tequila. The initiative was intended to swap out the blandest drink (water) on the blandest day (Monday) and provide fans with an unexpected shot via the ‘H2Cuervo’ fountain.

Last Friday saw the first ever Bartender Boxing Finals take place in New Orleans during Tales of The Cocktail between Los Angeles and Texas bartenders. The champions were Chris Amirault from Otium Bar, Los Angeles; Mitch Bushell of Gwen Bar in Los Angeles; Jess Householder of Prohibition Bar in Houston, Texas; and Matt Nicchitta of Big Bar in Los Angeles. The final four of the 16 bartenders from Los Angeles and Houston were selected to be a part of the Bartender Boxing program that trained and went head-to-head in local competitions.

Grey Goose has unveiled the Le Grand Fizz Brunch Club, a unique dining and cocktail experience completely personalised to the consumers own taste preferences. Guests will be taken on a journey of exploration inspired by the five key taste profiles: sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami. Guests will also enjoy bespoke Grey Goose Le Grand Fizz cocktails with twists created by Dan Berger, head of bars at the Ned, paired with a menu of brunch dishes curated by influencer and chef Anna Barnett.

The US final of the Opihr World Cocktail Competition was held at Hotel Monteleone, New Orleans last week. From the 400 US entries from up to 40 states, eight competitors were selected and invited to show off their latest innovations. The two winners were Cesar Perez II of Murrays Bar, El Paso, Texas with his Café Da Gama cocktail and Aaron Pollack of The Dawson Hotel in Chicago with his cocktail, The Road Less Traveled ByThe judging panel included master distiller Joanne Moore and Craig James, CEO of Fentiman’s USA. Both finalists will attend the global final in Marrakesh in September with 13 countries participating.

Woodford Reserve and Punch Room at the London Edition hosted a series of educational seminars, called Scandal Water – A History of Punch. Hosted by the Punch Room’s Davide Segat and Andy Shannon alongside Tom Vernon, with the focus being to give bartenders a history of Punch as a cocktail and the inspiration for the Punch Room bar. The Punch was presented in a mixed drink style to debunk the myth that it is simply a “large format solution”.

Miguel Riascos, co-founder and managing director of La Hechicera Rum, visited London and Manchester from Colombia. He hosted a session on blending secrets behind the Riascos family’s fine aged rum, and to taste different aged rum samples from the family bodega. Revealing the new bottle inscribed with ‘Solera 21 Reserva Familiar’, La Hechicera celebrates its new distribution partnership with Mangrove, which begins on 14 August.

This week from its micro-distillery in Camden, Half Hitch Gin launched in the US, across California, Texas, and Washington. It will also be available in Chicago next month. To mark the launch, Half Hitch hosted a tour of on-trade events for the US Bartenders Guild (USBG) in the likes of Laundrette Bar, Austin and Bellota, San Francisco, with the tour finishing with a showcase in Back Bar & Kitchen, New Orleans.

Nigerian rum brand Flor de Caña crowned its UK Rum Frontier Champion on Monday night at Glasgow’s Drygate bar. Ten finalists battled it out to be crowned champion and win a trip to Nicaragua, where the winner will represent the UK in the worldwide final. Ryan Rhodes of Dusk in Aberdeen blew away the judging panel with his drink Lava Flava, inspired by the artist Scott Lambeck and his colourful interpretation of Nicaragua which adorned the sides of the glass.

On Wednesday, Dandelyan played host to the official launch of Santo de Piedra mezcal in the UK on-trade. The evening was hosted by Barrie Wilson and Fabrice Limon of Highball Brands, and founder and director of Santro de Piedra, David Santillán Giles, who flew to London for the event. The award-winning bar team at Dandelyan developed two serves – the Mexican Firing Squad (Santo de Piedra, coconut, Americano, absinthe, Champagne) and the Million Dollar Cartel (Santo de Piedra, roasted sweet potato, off-cut cordial, spices, grass distillate).

To celebrate the legacy of bar veteran Dick Bradsell, Grey Goose invited guests from both sides of the pond to raise an Espresso Martini to the man who created it and join in the parties which were live-streamed between the bars in New Orleans and Swift in London. At Swift, Bradsell’s daughter, Bea, hosted the evening with all funds from the sales of the Espresso Martini going to The Benevolent, the drinks industry charity. Bradsell, the man who was nicknamed ‘The King of Cocktails’, sadly passed away last year.

On Tuesday, SB’s Melita Kiely headed to luxury London hotel Claridge’s for a very special Dalmore tasting, as part of the celebrations for master distiller Richard Paterson’s 50th anniversary in whisky this year. Guests were treated to three delicious mini dishes, crafted by the talented chefs at Claridge’s and each designed to complement three Dalmore expressions: Dalmore Quintessence, Dalmore 35-year-old and the new Dalmore 40 Year Old, which was unveiled on the day. Following this, Paterson talked guests through a deconstructed tasting of his anniversary bottling, Dalmore 50 Year Old, sampling Sherry and Champagne from each stage of the whisky’s maturation process to the finished £50,000 product itself.

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