The week in pictures

This week, London bar Quaglino’s hosted the first night in its Q Icons series – a programme of live events, brunches and supper clubs.

Running from 3 July until 29 August, the series opened with a performance from Dutch singer Glennis Grace and will also feature appearances from Richard Hadfield, Kimberly Nichole and Jack Pack.

Quaglino’s will also host a number of themed brunches throughout the summer, including a Gatsby Brunch in July and a Disco Brunch to celebrate the 70s.

Italian apéritif brand Aperol hosted events to mark its centenary this week.

Aperol, which was founded in 1919, took to Padova and Venice in Italy to host a range of activities to mark 100 years since its origins.

As part of the celebration, Aperol invited guests from around the world to mark this centenary through art, music and Aperol Spritz.

Vodka brand Smirnoff partnered with Queer Eye star Jonathan Van Ness to celebrate New York with its House of Pride event.

To mark the LGBTQ+ festival, Smirnoff and Van Ness hosted the immersive pop-up experience, which featured six rooms that paid homage to the LGBTQIA+ community.

At the pop-up, Van Ness brought along a rainbow taxi and sipped on specially-created Smirnoff cocktails while toasting to Pride Month and the LGBTQIA+ community.

Bartender and Banks Rum co-founder Jim Meehan has kicked off the third instalment of his Please do Tell tour, which this time is heading to Germany.

Meehan will host talks and events in Hamburg and Frankfurt as he shares stories and experiences from his book Meehan’s Bartender Manual with the local bartending community.

The tour kicked off at The Dining Room at Fraser Suites, Hamburg, before heading to Frankfurt for events at Gekkos Bar and Hunky Dory.

This week, SB headed to Indian Accent in London’s Mayfair to host the latest rounds in the Spirits Masters blind-tasting series – Irish, American and World whisk(e)y.

An expert panel of judges gathered at the London restaurant to taste their way through a huge range of whiskies from across the three categories, awarding Silver, Gold and Masters medals for the best expressions entered.

To find out all the results from the contest keep an eye out for the August edition of The Spirits Business.

Last week, SB‘s Owen Bellwood headed to Village Underground for this year’s P(our) Symposium, which tackled the topic of understanding.

This year was the first time the symposium had taken place in London, and saw a host of speakers from different industries and backgrounds discuss their experiences of understanding.

As part of the conference, the P(our) team produced a number of collaborative products for assembled bartenders and on-trade experts to sample, including cider from Kent-based Starvecrow and a hot sauce made with waste chilli from Denmark’s Empirical Spirits.

London cocktail bar London Cocktail Club (LCC) is inviting imbibers to celebrate the summer weather with one of its signature Piña Colada cocktails.

LCC’s Heat Rave will see drinkers in the capital treated to offers on Piña Coladas as the summer temperatures rise. The bars’ Heat Rave Thermometers outside each venue will show drinkers when they can receive the offers throughout the summer.

As temperatures rise to 25°C the bar will offer £5 (US$6) Piña Colada, at 30°C the drinks will be available for two for £5 (US$6) and if the mercury rises above 35°C drinkers in the capital can claim a free Piña Colada at LCC.

At this year’s Imbibe Live industry trade show in London, rum brand La Hechicera aimed to transport the landscape of its native Colombia to central London.

During the trade event, visitors to the stand were treated to a Gold Fashioned cocktail made with La Hechicera rum by Russell Burgess, managing director of consultancy firm Wet & Dry.

Also heading to this year’s Imbibe Live was non-alcoholic ‘spirit’ brand Borrago.

During the event, Borrago launch its  mechanical cocktail contraption, which was created to highlight that non-alcoholic cocktails can have “as much theatre and excitement as alcoholic ones”.

The brand’s hand-powered machine mixes cocktails with “flair and lots of theatre”. Measuring over two meters on its stand, visitors to Imbibe Live were treated to Borrago signature serves mixed up with the contraption.

Glasgow gin bar Gin71 has updated its monthly-changing cocktail menu to showcase three cocktails made with Australian gin brand Brookie’s.

Each month, the Glasgow bar adds three cocktails to its menu to showcase a particular brand. This month its bartenders have created three drinks including the Hungry for Apples, made with Brookie’s Dry Gin, blueberry syrup, apple juice and lemon juice.

Other Brookie’s-based cocktails include the Throw Another Shrimp on the Derby, which combines Brookie’s Dry Gin, Aperol, rhubarb and cherry tea syrup, lime and peach, and the You Little Ripper, which mixes Brookie’s Slow Gin with grapefruit juice and honey.