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The week in pictures

American whiskey brand Bulleit Bourbon headed to this year’s Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica this week.

The awards, now in its 35th year, recognised the best from across 2019’s independent film releases, and this year’s winners included Korean film Parasite, Uncut Gems star Adam Sandler and The Lighthouse actor Willem Dafoe.

During the awards ceremony, Bulleit Bourbon hosted its 3D Printed Frontier Experience, which served up 3D-printed cocktails and showcased Bulleit Neon in a Bottle, a film-inspired art installation by Lisa Schulte.

There was another big night in the world of cinema this week, as the Oscars ceremony took place last Sunday.

Ahead of the iconic awards ceremony, Bacardi hosted a star-studded, invite-only party in celebration of actor and filmmaker Michael B Jordan’s 33rd birthday at Delilah in West Hollywood.

During the festivities, Jordan spent the evening mingling with family and friends as they sipped on signature Bacardi cocktails. Notable guests at the party included hip hop star Diddy, actor Miles Teller and American TV host Tracee Ellis Ross.

It was a busy week for Bacardi, as the company also launched its annual Back to the Bar scheme, which encourages more than 7,000 employees to step away from their desks and visit local bars and drinking dens.

During the 2020 initiative, senior executives such as Nick Stringer, global VP of Martini, and Fabio Ruffet, brand director for Bacardi rums stepped behind the bar at Old St Records, London.

Now in its third year, Back to the Bar aims to help the spirits producer spot what’s next in the world of cocktails, with its trend spotters and tastemakers becoming bartenders for the day.

The ninth annual Arizona Cocktail Weekend kicked off this week, offering imbibers an exciting schedule of seminars, tastings, parties and more.

Running until 16 February, the festival began with The Cocktail Carnival at Walter Where, which features live music, an immersive light and sound display, art show, and a chance to sample some of the state’s most creative cocktails.

Over the course of the weekend, the festival will also see the final of the Last Slinger Standing bartending competition as well as events hosted by brands such as Grey Goose, El Tesoro Tequila and Diageo.

Johnnie Walker owner Diageo this week opened the doors to its relocated North American headquarters in New York’s World Trade Center.

The office, which has created 350 new jobs in the US city, was built to “promote flexibility and collaboration, and to enable agility and modern ways of working”.

The new office features “bright, colourful and immersive spaces” that are influenced by the city’s neighbourhoods, Diageo’s brands and its sky-high location.

Following the launch of its poetry contest in collaboration with writer John Cooper Clarke, black spiced rum brand Kraken sent its fleet of themed milk floats out onto the streets to distribute prizes to the winners.

The Kraken-inspired milk floats will be delivering “the blackest bottle of rum” to the lucky lyricists that came out victorious in the Valentine’s Day competition.

Award-winning bar owner Ryan Chetiyawardana opened the doors to his “opulent” new cocktail den Silver Lyan in the Riggs hotel in Washington DC.

The subterranean cocktail bar, which is Chetiyawardana’s first US venue, is said to “re-imagine the traditional hotel bar”.

Silver Lyan is described as being one of the Mr Lyan Group’s most decadent spaces, while retaining signature “tongue‐in‐cheek” flourishes. The “warm and welcoming space” was developed by Chetiyawardana and Jacu Strauss, creative director at hotel operator Lore Group.

The final of the 2020 Gabriel Boudier Wizard cocktail competition took place this week, with Edinburgh’s Matthew Cusworth coming out victorious.

Cusworth, of Hoot the Redeemer in Edinburgh, wowed the judges at the final, which was held at the home of Gabriel Boudier in Dijon, France.

The Gabriel Boudier Wizard competition challenges bartenders to come up with an original liqueur or crème that is not already commercially available. The winning recipe will be put into production by Gabriel Boudier and released internationally later in the year.

This week, bidding got under way for the world’s largest private whisky collection.

The auction, being run by online auction site Whisky Auctioneer, is the largest private collection of whisky ever to go on sale and is said to be the most extensive whisky collection.

Consisting primarily of single malt Scotch whisky, some of the bottles could potentially fetch a hammer price of more than £1 million (US$1.3m). The Collection of more than 3,900 bottles will be sold across two auctions, the first of which is now live and will run until 17 February.

English gin brand Dockyard partnered with department store Selfridges, chocolatier Artisan du Chocolat and Ivy Collection restaurants to launch a host of Valentine’s Day experiences.

Dockyard Gin and Artisan du Chocolat in Selfridges have paired two of the brand’s spirits with a host of luxury chocolates, while the Ivy Collection’s Brasserie of Light has created a Valentine’s Eros signature cocktail made with Dockyard Gin.

Stephen Russell, founder of Copper Rivet Distillery, which produces the gin, said: “It’s so  exciting when the top mixologists and the best chocolatiers want to use Dockyard Gin to promote their expertise. They really appreciate how Dockyard Gin’s unique grain-to-glass provenance, all natural ingredients and no added sugar blends to create a deliciously balanced, fresh and moreish gin.”

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