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The week in pictures

Diageo-owned whiskey brand Bulleit was in Austin, Texas, this week for the latest event to feature its Frontier Project, which has been touring the US since December.

The Frontier Project features a 3D printed cocktail bar, and during its stop off in Austin imbibers were treated to 3D printed cocktails created by robotics pioneer Benjamin Grimeil.

Visitors were also able to enjoy live music from a host of local talents and an array of local delicacies.

This week, Healthy Hospo welcomed Pauliina Marjanen to its team as the social enterprise’s champion in Finland.

In her new role, Marjanen will be tasked with spreading the company’s health and wellness message and providing support across Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

Healthy Hospo will kick-start its work in the Nordics with a wellness workshop in Helsinki, Finland, on 22 April.

In the lead up to International Women’s Day (8 March), Bacardi and S.H.E Globl hosted Spirit Forward London, which discussed topical gender and diversity issues.

The event, which took place on Tuesday (4 March), was the first European S.H.E Summit and called for a more diverse and inclusive community.

The day’s speakers included TV presenter and diversity campaigner June Sarpong MBE, writer and social activist Gina Martin, chair emeritus of UN Women Laura Haynes and founder of The Dots network for creatives Pip Jamieson.

Also to mark International Women’s Day (8 March), Diageo-owned Scotch brand Talisker released a film celebrating the women at the helm of its distillery.

In the short film, viewers are transported to the Isle of Skye to tour the distillery and hear from the women responsible for protecting the quality and heritage of the brand.

The video features interviews with Diane Farrell, senior site manager; Fiona Macintyre, brand home manager; and Jackie Robertson, site operations manager.

Bacardi-owned gin brand Oxley hosted the second round of its inaugural cocktail competition, continuing its search for the most inventive Gimlet.

This week, the cold-distilled gin brand was in Edinburgh, with competing bartenders tasked with putting their own “unique spin” on the classic Gimlet.

The final heat in the competition will take place in London.

Italian beer brand Peroni recruited famed bartender Simone Caporale and Manchester-based bartender Sam Taylor to create the cocktail menu for its House of Peroni installation in London.

The “immersive luxury experience” returned to London’s Covent Garden for two weeks, where Caporale and Taylor could be found mixing up eight “Instagrammable” serves – each created to honour one of the designers involved in the pop-up.

Inspired by the Italian aperitivo occasion, the menu included drinks influenced by London-based musician Joel Boyd and Turkish-born Pelin Isildak.

This week, The Spirits Business travelled to Islington, north London, to visit new Irish-inspired drinking den Homeboy.

Homeboy was opened in December by Irish duo Aaron Wall and Ciarán Smith, who both formerly held positions at London Cocktail Club, Callooh Callay and The Dorchester. During the visit to the Essex Road bar, SB was treated to a tour of the venue, a host of cocktails from the bar’s Irish whiskey-filled menu and a selection of toasties.

Among the cocktails SB enjoyed were the the Wogan, made with Teeling Small Batch Irish Whiskey, apricot brandy, lime, sugar and saline; and the Wild Honey Porter, which combines Roe & Co Irish Whiskey, Guinness, créme de cacao, Noilly Prat, caramom honey syrup, lime and Angostura rum.

Cocktail ingredient producer Funkin has partnered with London-based creative hub Crucible to create the Funkin Innovation Labs.

The programme will provide training for bartenders across the UK, with each session lead by Rosey Mitchell of London drinking den Three Sheets and kegged cocktail expert Romeo de Wit. The free-to-attend training sessions will run in March and April in London, Aberdeen and Leeds.

Stuart Bale, founder of Crucible, said: “Last year’s Funkin Innovation Labs were most enjoyable and it’s great to be asked back again. This year I’ve captured who I consider to be two of the most exciting folk around just now. They have taken last year’s content and run with it and I’m really looking forward to watching them blast faces off.”

SB headed to Mr Fogg’s Society of Exploration in London for a talk hosted by Joff Summerfield, who cycled around the world on a penny farthing.

Summerfield told stories of his journey, which took him from London, across Europe, though Aisa, into Australia and onto America, before he returned to Europe after two and a half years on the road.

Summerfield’s tales were accompanied by a selection of Tanqueray 10-based cocktails, including the To The End of the Earth, which combined Tanqueray 10, fermented banana shrub, coffee liqueur and lime.

This week, Scotch whisky bottler Gordon & MacPhail unveiled the designs for its proposed distillery in Cairngorms National Park, Scotland.

Once constructed, the site will initially produce 375,000 litres of spirit per year, although the distillery will be capable of producing two million litres of alcohol annually.

The site, which has been designed to take advantage of its views across the River Spey, has a circular design to disguise much of the day-to-day workings of the distillery.

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