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The week in pictures

This week, London-based Bimber Distillery crowned the winners of its inaugural Martini Challenge cocktail competition.

The final took place at Dry Martini in Melia White House, where Claudio Lucolino and Stefano Toscano walked away with the top prizes.

The pair triumphed with their twists on the iconic Martini cocktail, wowing the judging panel that included Alessandro Palazzi, head bartender at Dukes Bar, and Javier De Las Meulas, from Dry Martini. 

London steakhouse and bar Gillray’s has added another string to its bow with the opening of its new whisky bar.

The steakhouse celebrated the launch of its new venture with an evening of guided tastings from brand ambassadors Tom Daw and Terri Brotherston.

The bar, located within the London Marriott Hotel County Hall, also served up a selection of canapés from its kitchen to complement the whisky tasting.

Premium gin brand Brockmans has launched a new list of spring cocktails.

The gin, packed full of dark fruit notes, has released recipes for two new signature serves.

What’s Up Brock? Combines Brockmans with apricot liqueur, carrot juice and cilantro leaves and the Brockmans Negroni Blaco mixes gin with Bitter Bianco and sparkling grapefruit juice.

 

The Savoy’s American Bar has continued its tradition of creating a cocktail for each milestone in the royal family’s history with the launch of a new drink to mark the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

The cocktail, called The Royal Welcome, is a blend of Italicus Rosolio di bergamotto, Bombay Sapphire gin, Champagne syrup, yuzu, Peychaud’s bitters and English sparkling wine.

Priced at £24 (US$33), The Royal Welcome is available to order individually or as part of The Royal Flight, a collection of historical cocktails created at The Savoy for other royal weddings through the years.

London Dry gin brand Bulldog has partnered with Notion Magazine on a series of events happening throughout the year.

The partnership kicked off this week with the launch party of The Breakthrough Issue, at London’s Hackney House.

The event saw performances from Shakka, Eliza and Rachel Fox, as well as a number of VIP’s in attendance.

The partnership with Notion Magazine follows the gin brand’s collaborations other music industry giants, including Dizzee Rascal, Wiley and British Music magazine, NME.

SB headed to Black Rock in London earlier this week for the launch of Scotch whisky distillery Jura’s new core range of whiskies.

The event saw a number of writers and industry insiders gather to taste their way through the 10-, 12- and 18-year-old expressions, as well as the no-age-statement Journey and Seven Wood releases.

The brand showcased the whiskies in a number of signature cocktails, designed to highlight their ‘mixability’ to the bartenders who were present.

Coffee liqueur brand Tia Maria is preparing to launch its own Coffee Cocktail month, starting on 1 April.

Throughout April, the liqueur brand will be teaming up with 350 venues around the UK on a range of activities to promote coffee liqueur cocktails.

Coffee lovers will be able to enjoy the brand’s classic Espresso Martini as well as other coffee cocktail serves, including Flat White Russian, Tia Coffee Tonic and Tia Iced Popcorn Frappé.

SB headed to the Embassy of Ireland in London on Tuesday for a showcase of Irish drinks producers, spanning whisky, gin, liqueurs, wine and beer.

Organised by Irish food board Bord Bia, the embassy opened its door to UK drinks media, buyers and the on-trade, providing a first-hand look at new and established drinks brands available from Ireland.

Among the 26 companies involved were Glendalough, Teeling, Slane, Chapel Gate, Kinsale Spirit, Old Carrick Mill and Dingle Distillery.

This week, bring-your-own-spirits bar BYOC saw the return of its Discovery Club series, which celebrates the history of different spirits brands.

The bar recognised the origins of London No. 1 Gin with the help of its master mixologist and brand ambassador, Boris Ivan.

Five top Mexican bartenders also attended the event, as part of a visit to the UK to learn about gin culture and history.

SB will head down to the home of Portobello Road Gin for an evening of food, cocktails and storytelling as part of its ‘The Distillery Presents’ series.

The evening promises a selection of food and drinks pairings, each inspired by the adventures of fictional super spy James Bond.

The Distillery Presents will be a chance to learn more about the adventures of the secret agent. But, if we told you any more than that, I’m afraid we would have to kill you.

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