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London Cocktail Week 2019: the best bits

London Cocktail Week (LCW) celebrated its 10th anniversary this year with a bumper festival packed with pop-ups, immersive activations, bar takeovers and parties. Here’s a snapshot of some of the best events that shook the capital’s cocktail scene.

The Cocktail Village returned to the Old Truman Brewery this year

Taking over bars and venues across London from 4-13 October, the 10th anniversary of LCW saw brands and bar teams from around the world descend on the capital for one of the biggest parties of the year.

At the Old Truman Brewery in Brick Lane, the LCW Cocktail Village returned, where 40 pop-up bars served cocktails to the city’s imbibers.

Away from the Cocktail Village and in the heart of London’s hubbub, cocktail fans attended seminars, workshops, tastings and a host of bar takeovers in venues spanning the breadth of the city.

With a packed schedule of events filling the festival’s 10 days, there are bound to be events you missed out on – so here is our recap of some of the biggest and best events to take place at LCW 2019.

Click through our gallery to see some of the best parties, cocktails and activations from London Cocktail Week 2019.

The Cocktail Village returned to the Old Truman Brewery in London’s Brick Lane this year, where drinks brands from around the world opened pop-up bars serving signature cocktails.

Visitors to the village could sample Maker’s Mark-infused doughnuts, taste Fords Gin Martinis paired with fresh oysters and visit Laphroaig’s pop-up Smokehouse bar.

At the Laphroaig pop-up, visitors could choose exactly how smoky they wanted their drink, from gently smoked through to bonfire bite. Each cocktail was matched with Laphroaig cold-smoked bar snacks.

Also heading to the the Cocktail Village this year was Puerto Rican rum brand Bacardi.

The family-owned rum brand brought its Rum Room pop-up to the Cocktail Village, where guests were able to take part in rum masterclasses and sample spirits from Bacardi’s range.

During LCW, Bacardi also celebrated the launch of its latest bottling with a party featuring an exclusive DJ set from Maya Jama (pictured). Over the course of the evening, Jama set the scene with tunes inspired by the rum brand’s Caribbean heritage while guests sampled the latest release.

William Grant & Sons-owned vermouth brand Discarded had a hectic LCW, partnering with anti-waste pop-up Trash Tiki, and bars including Grind and Cub.

The cascara-based vermouth worked with Iain Griffiths and Kelsey Ramage of Trash Tiki to create a menu of sustainably-minded cocktails made using up-cycled ingredients.

The drinks were then showcased during a six -course dinner at Ryan Chetiyawardana’s London restaurant Cub, before being served up at eight Grind venues across the capital.

Bar takeovers were a big part of this year’s LCW, with teams from venues around the world descending on the capital for one-night pop-ups.

Heading to Ryan Chetiyawardana’s recently-opened Lyaness this year was the team from Melbourne bar Fancy Free.

The Melbourne venue, which closed its doors earlier this year, was temporarily resurrected at Lyaness as part of the bar’s House Party series in collaboration with Dewar’s Scotch whisky.

East London bar The Sun Tavern had a busy week of takeovers, hosting teams from bars in Liverpool, Barcelona, Los Angeles and Toronto.

During LCW, the Bethnal Green watering hole hosted Two Schmucks and Present Company as part of their joint European tour, as well as Iain Griffiths from Toronto bar Supernova Ballroom and LA-based Yael Vengroff from The Spare Room.

As well as cocktails from world-renowned bartenders, The Sun Tavern also offered pizza from Yard Sale. Plus, to keep guests entertained during each bar takeover the venue welcomed a different guest DJ, including Blaine Harrison from Mystery Jets and Shiobhan Fahey from Bananarama.

New York bar Mister Paradise also crossed the Atlantic for a series of takeovers during LCW.

The East Village cocktail bar took over London’s Zetter Townhouse and Scout for two events during the 10-day festival. At Zetter Townhouse, the team served up signature cocktails such as the Party Lobster, made with blanco Tequila, mezcal, Campari, watermelon, lime, fermented habanero and garlic.

Meanwhile behind the stick at Scout, bartenders from Mister Paradise mixed up a trio of serves alongside two of Scout’s eco-driven, tropical numbers.

Jack Daniel’s hosted the final of its Tennessee Calling IV competition during LCW.

The contest saw two teams of bartenders transform Original Sin and Mint Gun Club in London into the Red Dog and White Rabbit dive bars respectively for two days during the festival.

After visits from judges including bartender Erik Lorincz and Jack Daniel’s UK brand ambassador Cam Dawson, the team behind the White Rabbit were crowned the winners.

The winning team included Joe Brooke from Hedonist; Anna Gaglione of The Racketeer; Benji Davies of Little Mercies; Ryan Twigger from Kenilworth Hotel; Adam Hussein of Artesian and Kesia McHardy from Kelvingrove Café.

London bar and restaurant Quaglino’s celebrated its 90th anniversary during LCW, marking the occasion with a night of guest takeovers, live music and the launch of its latest cocktail menu.

Bartenders from Hope & Sesame, Guangzhou; Mixology Salon, Tokyo; Atlas, Singapore; and Coa, Hong Kong, each took over the bar for two hours, serving up their own signature serves.

Alongside guest cocktails, the bar team at Quaglino’s mixed up drinks from its latest menu, which was inspired by the wishes and whims of its drinkers, and a line-up of musicians took to the stage to keep revellers dancing late into the night.

Tonic water and mixer brand The London Essence Company opened the doors to its Essence House activation at LCW offering drinkers a chance to take a “personalised journey through flavour”.

The tonic water producer partnered with flavour scientist Dr Rachel Edwards-Stuart to create a variety of flavour and aroma tests to help guests gain a better understanding of their palates.

At the end of the experience, imbibers were treated to a personalised cocktail crafted by some of the biggest names in bartending, including Maxim Schulte, head bartender at the American Bar at The Savoy; Lorenzo Antinori, director of bars at the Four Seasons, Hong Kong; and Liana Oster, head bartender at Dante, New York.

Italian aperitivo brand Campari partnered with artist Frankie Boyle for its LCW activation, which celebrated 100 years of the Negroni cocktail.

The multi-sensory activation, which opened at London’s Henrietta Hotel, featured a light show consisting of hundreds of hanging lights that flashed in a light choreography that was said to simulate the Negroni’s ingredients.

Alongside the immersive installation, the bar at the hotel served up Negronis made with vintage ingredients selected by the Old Spirit Company and a food menu featuring typical Venetian appetisers.

Global Brands-owned mixer producer Franklin & Sons brought its Flavour Maze activation to London bar Rockwell, which invited imbibers to uncover the flavours at work in the classic G&T.

The multi-sensory experience covered the taste and aromas of a classic G&T, and allowed drinkers to find their favourite flavours and smells to create their ultimate Franklin & Sons-based serve.

As well as the central London activation, the Flavour Maze also encouraged drinkers to visit bars across the city such as Little Bat Bar, Callooh Callay, Playa, and The Shrub and Shutter to sample each venue’s Franklin & Sons creations.

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