The week in pictures
The 13th annual Spirited Awards took last weekend at New Orleans cocktail festival Tales of the Cocktail, with the award for World’s Best Bar going to New York watering hole Dante.
Other notable winners of the night were Monica Berg, of Tayer and Elementary, who was named International Bartender of the Year, while Singapore’s Atlas won the title of Best International Cocktail Bar and cocktail expert Javier De las Muelas received the Helen David Lifetime Achievement Award.
The award ceremony opened with a speech from Breaking Bad actor Bryan Cranston.
During this year’s Tales of the Cocktail, a host of workshops, talks, events and parties also took place across New Orleans.
One such event was the Garden of Elyx, which popped up across the US city. Hosted by Absolut Elyx, the Garden of Elyx featured its own beauty salon, pool and a cocktail menu served up by bartenders Leo Robitschek, Toby Cecchini and this year’s International Bartender of the Year, Monica Berg.
To coincide with this year’s BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, The Ivy Kensington Brasserie partnered with fashion brand Rixo to create two signature cocktails.
Available throughout the summer, The Ivy Kensington Brasserie has created the Mint Cream, made with Grey Goose, Crème de Menthe Vert, Crème de Cacao Blanc, double cream and topped with chocolate sprinkles, and the Psychedelic Butterfly, which combines sloe gin, crème de rose, pineapple juice, lime juice and topped with a gold butterfly.
Venezuelan rum brand Santa Teresa kicked off its inaugural Alcatraz Cocktail Challenge this week, which invites UK bartenders to raise money for charity.
The competition, in support of the School of Hard Knocks, will see bars from London to Edinburgh create Santa Teresa serves that will be available in each venue for five weeks.
Each cocktail sale will result in £1 (US$1.20) being donated to the cause, and the two winning bars will select a team member to embark on a trip to Japan during the Rugby World Cup this September.
Tonic water and mixer producer Double Dutch has launched a cocktail competition that challenges bartenders to create drinks inspired by their favourite country.
Around the World With Double Dutch challenges bartenders to create signature serves using the brand’s range of tonics and mixers, with the victor winning a trip to Amsterdam.
Regional heats will run between 5 August and 7 September at host bars in cities including Manchester, Leeds, Brighton, Bristol, Southampton and London.
On-trade education programme Jigger Beaker Glass took to Edinburgh this week to host an immersive masterclass on the subject of hospitality.
Attendees were led through three rooms centred around hospitality and the principles behind the power of persuasion, looking at how bar top manner can help the guest make the right drink choice and ensure they leave satisfied every time.
Bacardi Brown-Forman Brands hosted the event at The Voodoo Rooms where ambassadors and guest host Paul Johnson offered their tips for working in the on-trade.
Bacardi-owned gin brand Bombay Sapphire hosted a G&T masterclass this week at London’s TT Liquor in Shoreditch.
Twelve leading bartenders, from venues including Artesian, Kwānt, Below Stairs and Bramble, each presented their own twist on the classic G&T with serves from the masterclass featuring on each participating bar’s menu until September.
Renaud de Bosredon, Bombay Sapphire UK brand ambassador, said: “We were thrilled to host some of the top bartenders from across the UK to celebrate the artistry behind the most creative gin and tonic serves.”
During this year’s San Diego Comic Con, the stars and creators of The Walking Dead announced the series’ first foray into spirits.
Fear the Walking Dead’s Ian B Goldberg, The Walking Dead’s Angela Kang, creator of The Walking Dead Robert Kirkman, CEO of Skybound Entertainment David Alpert and The Walking Dead’s Gale Ann Hurd all attended a preview of the new whisky, which was created in partnership with Johnnie Walker own Diageo.
The Walking Dead Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey has been launched under Spirits of the Apocalypse – a “strategic alliance” between Diageo and Skybound Entertainment, the firm behind The Walking Dead comic series.
English gin brand Ramsbury this week opened its Estate of Mind activation at London’s Dalloway Terrace.
The two-month takeover offers Londoners a taste of summer in the English countryside and boasts a floral installation and menu of cocktails made with ingredients grown on the Ramsbury Estate in Wiltshire.
The cocktail menu, created by Dalloway Terrace general manager Giovanni Spezziga, includes The Bell, featuring flavours of apricot, black olive and rosemary alongside Ramsbury Single Estate Gin, and The Estate Spritz, which includes green apple, basil and Ramsbury Single Estate Vodka.
Earlier is week, Chinese baijiu brand Fenjiu held a masterclass for drinks press and educators at London’s The Ivy Club.
During the masterclass, five different Fenjiu baijius were showcased at the tasting, which was organised by Fenjiu’s distributor Cheng International Co and attended by Hao Min Li, general manager of Shanxi Xinghua Cun Fenjiu International Trade Co.
The event was attended by a host of press and educators, including Adrian Smith, Colin Hampden-White and Helena Nicklin, otherwise known as The Three Drinkers.
Hamburg Duty Free entrepreneurs Claus and Gunnar Heinemann were awarded the Legends Wings of Help Award on Saturday during the Living Legends of Aviation event.
Taking place at the Scalaria Event Resort at Lake Wolfgangsee in Austria, the award was given to Claus and Gunnar Heinemann in recognition of their global social commitment.
The two cousins employ more than 8,000 people worldwide and have trade relations in more than 100 countries.
