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The week in pictures

This week, rum brand Bacardí brought the sound of rum to the Governors Ball Music Festival in Manhattan.

Bacardí opened the doors to Bacardí Bay, an exclusive island-inspired event space that hosted surprise performances, refreshing cocktails, hammocks, day boats and a two-story bar with the best views of the festival.

Signature cocktails were served, including the Gov Ball Punch, made with Bacardí Superior Rum, Bacardí coconut-flavoured rum, coconut water and pineapple juice.

Yorkshire-based distillery Cooper King has marked its official launch with an event attended by more than 200 guests.

Cooper King, England’s first self-built distillery, celebrated its launch alongside the distillery’s friends, family, investors, supporters and Founders’ Club members.

The event included live music, distillery tours and local food, as well as cocktails made with the newly released Cooper King Dry Gin.

SB headed to UKAI restaurant in London’s Notting Hill for the gin round of the annual Spirits Masters competition.

Judges gathered at the Japanese restaurant to taste their way through a selection of old tom, London dry, cask aged and genever expressions, awarding Silver, Gold and Masters medals as they went.

Keep your eyes on thespiritsbusiness.com and look out for our July issue to see the results.  

As the gin world prepared itself for World Gin Day, the East London Liquor Company this week launched its Negroni Month.

For the month-long event, East London Liquor Company has partnered with top London bars, restaurants and hotels to showcase its Premium Batch No.2 Gin in a number of signature Negroni cocktails.

This June, the celebration will see Negroni fans attend vermouth masterclasses, visit the distillery and have the chance to sample special Negroni tasting flights.

Ahead of this week’s World Ocean Day, 500 employees from Pernod Ricard UK joined together to help tackle water and land pollution.

The collective force focused on the clearing of rubbish from river banks and beaches across the UK, as well as creating Rain Gardens, a natural filtration that helps to transfer clean rain water back into the ground.

Partnering with The Marine Conservation Society and Thames21, Pernod Ricard’s UK colleagues descended on the River Thames and multiple beachside locations clearing a significant amount of litter.

SB‘s Owen Bellwood headed to Paris for this year’s P(our) Symposium earlier this week.

The symposium focussed on the theme of perfection and saw a host of speakers discuss the topic across a number of different industries, including farming, architecture and hospitality.

Solo ballerina Shelby Williams discussed how she copes with the pressures of perfection through humour and her Biscuit Ballerina Instagram account, while psychologist Charles Spence spoke to the assembled bartenders and restauranteurs about multi-sensory cocktails.

The week, Absolut Vodka hosted an exclusive event experience in New York in celebration of its Absolut Truth campaign.

The event aimed to bring back the “golden era” of New York’s nightlife, and included music from DJs Stretch Armstrong and Jus Ske and a special cabaret performance from Amanda Lepore.

Following his appointment as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the New Year’s Honours List 2018, WSET chief executive Ian Harris was presented with his honour by HRH The Prince of Wales this week at Buckingham Palace.

Harris said: “It is an incredible honour to be appointed an MBE. After 25 years in the mainstream, commercial side of the industry, I have enjoyed the last (and the best) 15 years of my career at the Wine & Spirit Education Trust.”

He received the commendable honour in recognition of his services to the wine and spirit industry.

SB‘s Nicola Carruthers headed to the Gin Guild’s annual Ginposium yesterday for an array of seminars and demonstrations on gin and distilling at the RSA house in London.

Talks on the day included a Gin in the USA seminar, held by Simon Ford of Ford’s Gin; a Grain-to-glass seminar by Gin Foundry’s Olivier Ward; and a panel discussion on gin categories and consumer aids to discovery and understanding.

UK-based gin brand Bulldog this week hosted its Big Session in aid of Nordoff Robbins.

The night of music took place at the Printworks in London and saw performances from DJ’s Gorgon City, Tom Findlay of Groove Armada, Housekeeping and Siggy Smalls.

Big Session raised more than £2,000 for the charity, which is the largest independent music therapy charity in the UK.

To celebrate the success of the Scottish gin industry, the Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) arranged a gin tasting reception in the Scottish Parliament and published a new WSTA Scotland Gin Trail.

The WSTA Scotland Gin Trail, first launched back in 2016, has been updated to reflect the rapid rise in distilleries. It now includes 54 gin makers across the length and breadth of Scotland.

Some of Scotland’s finest gin and spirit makers took part in a tasting showcase for MSP’s at a reception in Holyrood on Wednesday evening.

SB headed to London’s Dandelyan bar in the Mondrian London hotel for the press launch of the Botanical Suite in partnership with Bombay Sapphire on Tuesday.

Cocktails on the menu included a BC3 Negroni, made with Bombay Sapphire, Dandelyan pollen vermouth, propolis, Ceylon Arrack, Campari and aged honey and Goose & Gander, a combination of Grey Goose, Noilly Prat, companion cordial, pear, and soda. Featuring live plant walls and large trees, a tasting table with live foliage built in, and a private entrance to an outdoor patio, the suite has been transformed into a botanical terrace with a sail and outdoor seating.

The Botanical Suite will feature a different menu and creative concept devised by team members at Dandelyan each week.

On Monday, Callum Baines from Treacle Bar & Kitchen, Edinburgh was crowned the winner of 1800 Tequila’s Visionaries Competition, held at the Oxo Tower in London.

Bartenders across the UK were tasked with creating a cocktail that demonstrates what we will be drinking in 20 years’ time.

Baines impressed judges with his cocktail, ‘Make Tequila Great Again’, which combined 1800 Reposado, oak wood smoke, cactus and aloe syrup, lemon juice and Boston Bittahs served in a mug.

For winning, Baines will receive a trip to Mexico to visit the 1800 distillery.

The Tap Room at Brigadiers hosted an exclusive tasting of its new cocktail menu this week.

The cocktail tasting was hosted by JKS Restaurants Group bar manager James Stevenson, who gave an introduction to the various cocktails and mixes that have been specially crafted for the restaurant.

Drinks on offer at Brigadiers include the Clover Club, made with Tanqueray gin, lemon, egg white, raspberry cordial and raspberry sour beer.

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