The week in pictures

Brown-Forman-owned Slane Distillery this week filled its first barrel of Irish whiskey.

The distillery, which opened last year, filled its new make Irish malt whiskey into a Sherry hogshead, where it will be left to mature.

The whiskey, which is made from barley harvested on the Slane Castle estate, will eventually be phased into the production of Slane Irish Whiskey.

Bacardi headed to this year’s Notting Hill Carnival, which took place in London earlier this week.

The rum brand hosted the Casa Bacardi event at the carnival, which brought together some of the world’s biggest music acts, including Major Lazer, Mr Eazi, Giggs and Stefflon Don.

The event kicked off with Calypso music from The Calypsonians and was part of the brand’s Do What Moves You campaign.

Ahead of their first match of the season, Scotland’s rugby captain John Barclay and his Edinburgh Rugby teammate Damien Hoyland, visited Glen Moray Distillery.

The players were treated to a VIP tour of the distillery by master distiller Graham Coull, which included tasting whisky straight from some of Glen Moray’s single malt casks.

This visit celebrated the first year of Glen Moray’s official partnership with Scotland’s capital rugby club, which has seen it named official whisky of Edinburgh Rugby.

Patrick Maguire, head distiller of Sullivans Cove Distillery in Tasmania, was inducted into the Global Icons of Whisky Hall of Fame at a ceremony in Adelaide earlier this week.

Maguire is only the second Australian to ever receive the accolade, and joins other luminaries from the whisky world including whisky writer, Michael Jackson; former head blender of Suntory Whiskies, Dr. Koichi Inatomi; and master blender of Johnny Walker, Dr Jim Beveridge.

Maguire said: “It’s humbling to be included in such an incredible group of people from the world of whisky.”

This week saw London bar Nine Lives release its new cocktail menu, which has a “greater focus” on sustainability and a reduced carbon footprint.

The new menu includes signature cocktails, sharers and “remixed” classics. It also makes use of many homegrown ingredients such as fresh herbs.

Highlights from the menu include the “rich and fruity” Kelross Daiquiri, made with Ron Zacapa rum, bramley apple juice and Hackney honey; and the “herbaceous and complex” Ephemeral, a combination of Somerset cider, brandy, cherry, hazelnut, lemon, and parsley.

William Grant & Sons-owned Scotch whisky brand The Balvenie hosted a night of celebrations in Greenwich last night (30 August).

The evening marked the 25th anniversary of its Doublewood expression as well as the appointment of the brand’s new apprentice malt master, Kelsey McKechnie.

Over the course of the evening, a group of journalists visited the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, for a guided tasting in the planetarium as well as dinner inside the observatory.

Teeling Distillery this week announced it is celebrating the coming of age of its single pot still Irish whiskey by auctioning off the first 100 bottles.

The first 100 bottles of the Irish whiskey will be available from WhiskyAuctioneer.com today (31 August), with all profits from the sale donated to charitable causes in Dublin’s Liberties.

Distilled in 2015, the whiskey has been matured for more than three years in ex-Muscat wine casks.

Swedish gin brand Hernö has named Slamet Haryadi from M Bar, Mandarin Oriental, in Hong Kong, as the winner of its 2018 cocktail competition.

The competition challenged bartenders to pick and forage the ingredients for their cocktails in Skuleskogen, on the high coast of Sweden.

Haryadi triumphed at the competition after impressing the judging panel with the techniques used to create his Black Forest cocktail, which used Hernö High Coast Terroir Gin, blueberries and charcoal.

Scotch whisky bottler Douglas Laing & Co this week revealed further details about its first distillery, which will be named Clutha.

Based at Pacific Quay next to the banks of the River Clyde, Clutha (meaning Clyde in Gaelic) will include a bottling complex, whisky laboratory, archive, visitor centre, bar and bistro, and a new corporate head office for family-owned Douglas Laing & Co.

“Douglas Laing has a long and proud association with Glasgow and the Clyde with the city at the heart of the company,” said Douglas Laing & Co CEO, Chris Leggat.

Alcohol-free ‘spirit’ brand Borrago headed to the Big Feastival in the UK with the ‘world’s first boat bar’.

The non-alcoholic brand unveiled its cocktail bar on a boat at the festival, which is organised by Blur star Alex James.

Over the course of the Big Feastival, the bar served up a number of alcohol-free cocktails to festival goers.

Five-star hotel Rosewood London this week named Yann Bouvignies as the new head bartender of Scarfes Bar.

Bouvignies grew up in the south of France and spent his early days in hospitality working at Hotel Le Kaïla, in Meribel, and La Résidence de la Pinède Hotel, in Saint Tropez.

Bouvignies joined the team at Scarfes Bar in 2016 as a bartender, which he says offered him the perfect balance between a contemporary cocktail bar and a high-end luxury hotel bar.