Pernod Ricard and Hilton back EMEA bartenders

Monkey 47 gin owner Pernod Ricard and Hilton hotels have collaborated on an activation to support bars, staff and guests across the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region.

The New Dawn Rising and Funky Monkey Jungle Tour activation aims to celebrate ‘human conviviality’ and create ‘positive and memorable moments’.

Pernod Ricard and Hilton hosted a cocktail competition across EMEA to find the hotel chain’s ‘next big thing’. Held digitally because of the Covid-19 pandemic, bartenders across Hilton bars were challenged to create a cocktail that could be replicated across the hotel chain’s bars.

Tom Quinn, international key account manager hotels, at Pernod Ricard, said: “The reaction was fantastic. Because of the pandemic, we really wanted to engage with the bartenders and the hotels, to remain interactive, and keep that engagement during lockdowns.

“Everyone who submitted a cocktail had to share the inspiration for their serve, talk about locality, the sustainable merits of the serve, then upload ingredients and an image of their cocktail. We used all submissions to create a shortlist.”

More than 400 recipes were submitted, and the shortlisted entries were then asked to do a live call in with a panel of judges.

The winning cocktail came from Andrea Volajova, a bartender from the Hilton Prague, Sky Bar and Lounge Cloud 9 who is also studying hospitality management.

Volajova’s cocktail was called Simia Sour and took inspiration from the fragile ecosystem of the rainforest and endangered wildlife species.

Her winning recipe was based on Monkey 47 Schwarzwald Dry Gin, and also incorporated lemon and cranberry juice for added ‘freshness’ and to create the ‘perfect sour taste’.

The cocktail will be served in 350 Hilton hotels across 29 countries, with seven European countries also hosting parties to celebrate the conviviality of Pernod Ricard and the ‘fun of Monkey 47’.

To ensure the contest was as inclusive and diverse as possible, Pernod Ricard and Hilton encouraged entrants to submit non-alcoholic cocktail recipes as well.

“Yes, we’re a spirits company, but part of our sustainability credentials is about responsible consumption,” added Quinn. “So we also supported bartenders, particularly in the Middle East and Africa, to contribute alcohol-free serves, given large parts in some markets are dry markets.

“It really resonated with the genesis of the programme, kept engagement and made it inclusive and line with what we wanted to do, which was to bring everyone on this journey.”

Funky Monkey Jungle Tour

The Funky Monkey parties will tour across Europe before finishing in London at the end of September. The activation is expected to reach more than 5,000 consumers visiting Hilton bars.

“The creative team behind Monkey 47 is a little bit eccentric and cheeky sometimes, and that’s where they really jumped into,” Quinn added. “Collectively, Hilton and ourselves came up with the Funky Monkey Jungle Tour visits to a number of Hilton destination bars across various cities in Europe and the Middled East.

“It started on 24 July in Barcelona. It’s a takeover, which allows guests to try the Simia Sour and experience some of that Monkey 47 funkiness.”

The Funky Monkey Jungle Tour will visit Volajova’s bar in Prague on 10 September and will be in London on 21 September.

Quinn added that Pernod Ricard will continue to work over the next few months to enhance bartenders’ skills across Hilton hotels, as part of the their long-standing partnership.

He said: “As an extension of where we’ve got to with Simia Sour, from September to January we will have a series of micro-events where we will do live calls to the Black Forest [in Germany, where the Monkey 47 distillery is located] with team members between the hotels and Monkey 47 teams can interact.

“So over the next few months, we will be bringing people on that journey, and we’ll create more learning opportunities, with category drive rather than hard brand messages.

“We want to make sure we’re creating all-round bartenders, and what we’ve seen in the past with these competitions is they have great opportunities to become leaders in food and beverage.”