The week in pictures

This week, HRH Prince Charles, Duke of Rothesay, visited Royal Lochnagar Distillery where he was presented with a rare cask of single malt Scotch whisky.

His Royal Highness toured the distillery and met employees, before being presented with the whisky cask – which was laid down 30 years ago as a gift to the prince.

The cask was originally a present to mark the 140th anniversary of the first royal visit to Royal Lochnagar in 1848. The prince has donated the cask to be bottled and sold in aid of his charity, The Prince’s Foundation. 

As part of London Rum Week (15-21 October), premium Nicaraguan rum brand Flor De Caña hosted its Fire on the Rocks party at London venue Rum & Sugar.

For one night only, the London bar was transformed into an immersive hot and cold box, designed to explore the character of the brand.

A number of Flor De Caña cocktails were served up to guests, who also enjoyed shots of rum from the ice luge.

Speyside distillery Tamdhu partnered with a team of fisheries experts to create one of the UK’s longest fish passes to aid migrating salmon.

The 4.5-metre high and 16-metre long pass allows salmon and sea trout to easily access the Knockando Burn where they can breed.

The burn has been inaccessible for fish since the Victorian times, when a dam was constructed on the river to allow easy access to water, essential for the whisky making process.

Sky-high London bar Duck & Waffle has launched its latest cocktail menu featuring a selection of the venue’s favourite serves from the past 12 months.

On Reflection, which has been created by Duck & Waffle’s head of cocktail development, Rich Woods, features 12 drinks that have appeared on the bar’s menus over the last year.

Woods selected his favourite creations from the bar’s previous menus, including the Removed Mandarin Aviation, which is made from mandarin-infused Hendrick’s gin, Maraschino liqueur and grapefruit sherbet; and the Reformed Pornstar Cocktail, which combines Grey Goose vodka, Sherry, split cream, clarified passion fruit and vanilla.

Diageo-owned Irish whiskey distillery Roe & Co took delivery of its three copper pot stills this week.

The wash still, intermediate still and spirit still were each constructed at Diageo’s Abercrombie coppersmiths in Alloa, Scotland, before being transported to the site in the former Guinness Power Station on James’s Street in Dublin.

Once up and running, the new distillery will distil 14,000 litres of whiskey in every run, with an annual capacity of approximately 500,000 litres.

Around 1,500 visitors attended the inaugural Wine & Spirits Show, which was held on Friday 12 and Saturday 13 October at The Royal Horseguards Hotel in London.

The show, which was the first collaborative event from The Spirits Business and the drinks business teams, featured an abundance of exciting exhibitors as well as areas dedicated to cutting-edge new products and award-winning expressions from The Global Masters series of spirits and wine blind-tasting competitions.

Trade members enjoyed free attendance at the show between 1pm and 5pm on Friday, while consumers were welcome throughout the two-day event.

Premium mixer brand Fever-Tree unveiled its festive pop-up this week, which will be positioned in luxury department store John Lewis.

The pop-ups in London, Manchester, Liverpool and Nottingham will feature the brand’s recently launched Christmas Cracker gifts and will give shoppers the chance to ‘pick & mix‘ their own, sampling a range of G&Ts before picking their favourite four to be packaged into their custom gift box.

Shoppers will have a selection of eight gins to choose from, including Hendrick’s, Sipsmith and Tanqueray.

This week, The Spirits Business had the chance to try and make its own whisk(e)y glass at the launch of the Black Bush Stories series of events with Irish whiskey brand Bushmills.

The event included a glass blowing demonstration at the London Glassblowing Studio – and SB‘s Owen Bellwood even had a chance to make his own creation.

The Black Bush Stories series of events is a chance for whiskey fans to explore the craftsmanship behind the brand, as well as a celebration of extraordinary talents and skills in other disciplines.

This week, Bacardi-owned gin brand Bombay Sapphire launched its own range of edible paints that enhance the flavour of gin and tonic serves.

The Paint Collection has been produced in partnership with Duck & Waffle’s head of cocktail development, Rich Woods, and food and drink innovator Smith & Sinclair.

Bombay Sapphire worked with leading UK bars, including Mr Fogg’s House of Botanicals, Edinburgh’s Panda and Sons and Manchester’s Tariff & Dale to create a number of different serves featuring the edible blue paint.

Earlier this week, SB travelled to Mark’s Bar at HIX in London’s Soho to learn about Black Cow Vodka and sample a selection of cocktails created with the milk-based spirit.

Black Cow ambassador and head of HIX Bars Dustin MacMilla, was on hand to talk SB through Black Cow’s production processes before creating a selection of signature serves with the spirit.

Pernod Ricard-owned rum brand Havana Club celebrated Dia del Cantinero, the Day of the Bartender, this year by launching its Cocktail Boomerang.

The Cuban rum brand challenged bartenders at seven bars around the world, including The Clumsies in Athens, Happiness Forgets in London and Candelaria in Paris, to create a cocktail using its rums.

As part of the boomerang, the cocktails were then bottled and sent to other bartenders for them to sample.

The team behind London rooftop venue Skylight launched its latest bar experience this week, called Late Nights of Havana.

The Cuban-inspired venue aims to bring a celebration of rum, jazz, dance and decadence to Tobacco Dock in London between October and May 2019.

The venue has been inspired by the 1940s and 1950s pre-revolution era Havana, and aims to evoke a time when “rum cocktails, cigars, Cadillacs and unbridled glamour were the order of the day”.