An Update from the Spirits Team

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July arrived bringing the sunshine in force – and our whole team debunked to Olympia for a couple of days to show the whole Berry Bros. & Rudd Spirits Portfolio together for the first time at Imbibe, the UK’s largest trade show. This included the new Glenrothes vintage and some products from our US partner Anchor Steam – however you will have to wait for later in the year to know more about these craft spirits!

The fabulous Summer weather made for a sweltering but wonderful Coronation Festival where several of our team met the Royal Family and enjoyed showing ever-popular liqueur The King’s Ginger alongside our other delights. Our summer cocktail recipes both went down well, the Summer Cup and the specially created Royal Tea Cup designed with the Cocktail Lovers and presented over the same weekend on the main stage. The King’s Ginger has also been popping up at festivals across the UK as well as Harvey Nichols, Selfridges, Gerry’s and more; keep an eye on Facebook for details.

June also saw the No.3 cocktail competition final held at the Royal Albert Hall. Our competing bar tenders pulled out all the stops and we had James Bond (look alike Ehren from Brighton!) serve a twisted Vesper as well as popping candy, hurricanes and yes, even more CO2, but there had to be a winner. Alongside his “Curious No.3”, Matt Fairhurst of cocktail bar Milk Thistle in Bristol presented the “St James’s Street Fix” incorporating plague water with a home-made shrub and sherry to take the title, and the decanter trophy. He has since returned home to host a No.3 Gin Three Martini Lunch with delights such as oysters and steak. There will be more to come if you are based out West and we hope to give you the opportunity to taste Matt’s creations in London too. In the meantime there are masterclasses around London from classic Quaglino’s and their 1920’s Hutch Club pop up to South London Powder Keg Diplomacy (date TBC). Twitter and Facebook are the places to follow for all new dates as well as our video series of leading bartender’s favourite cocktails.

The Glenrothes distillery is taking its regular summer break but our team is not. We are going to be popping up around the city and out – for those in Oxford do set Monday 19th August aside as we will be joining The Alcademics for an afternoon and evening of whisky including the brand new to market 2001 vintage.

In the meantime, we hope that you continue to enjoy the sunshine whether it’s with a No.3 Gin and tonic and a slice of grapefruit, The King’s Ginger Summer Cup, a chilled Glenrothes dram or perhaps a Pink Pigeon rum mule; all our websites have a range of cocktail recipe ideas whatever the occasion.