BOMBAY SAPPHIRE®, the world’s number one premium gin, hosted some of Europe’s leading bartenders at the second instalment of The Glasshouse Project with a three-day workshop in Manchester. Exploring topics ranging from sustainability and trend forecasting, to design and flavour, the global initiative has been conceived with world’s top tier bartenders in mind. Consisting of a series of seminars and workshops from people outside of the drinks industry, the programme aims to inspire and push the boundaries of cocktail creativity and drive trade advocacy. The session follows the successful pilot of the platform in London in September 2016 and first 2017 workshop in Mallorca last month.
EUROPE’S MOST INFLUENTIAL BARTENDERS
Taking place over three days, the session was attended by some of Europe’s most influential bartenders including Martina Breznanova (The Gibson), Sian Buchan (Panda & Sons, Edinburgh) and Cederic Millet (Casbar, Sint-Truiden, Belgium), as well as Raj Nagra, Global Brand Ambassador for BOMBAY SAPPHIRE, Sean Ware, Northern Europe Brand Ambassador, and Renaud de Bosredon, UK Brand Ambassador.
INSPIRING INNOVATION AND CREATIVITY
Over the course of the programme, attendees were involved in a series of creative workshops, interactive exercises and seminars led by a team of world-leading experts from outside the drinks industry. Guests were carefully selected in order to engage, inspire and inform attendees, giving them the tools to rethink mixology in the gin category and to create their own bespoke serves to list in their respective bars.
Speakers were: Trends, Insights and Strategy consultant Sean Pillot de Chenecey; Mark Shayler, Director of This is Ape – a sustainable innovation consultancy; renowned Food Scientist and Flavour Expert, Dr Rachel Edwards-Stuart and Chris Hines MBE, founder of UK-based surfers against sewage and former Sustainability Director of the Eden Project.
Sessions were hosted in venues designed to mirror elements discussed by guest speakers and included the People’s History Museum, which prides itself on showing its audiences that ‘there have always been ideas worth fighting for’, as well as Plant Noma, a neighbourhood design studio.
The event culminated in a presentation by each of the bartenders, highlighting what they found most inspiring in the workshop, what they had learnt, and how they would work differently in their bars moving forwards.
DRIVING THE CATEGORY
Julian Davies, Global Marketing Manager at BOMBAY SAPPHIRE, states: “Following a successful pilot last autumn, our ambition was always to take The Glasshouse Project to a broader audience across our key markets. As the world’s number one premium gin brand, we feel it is our responsibility to nurture the creativity of leading mixologists and push the boundaries of cocktail mixology, within the gin category as a whole. The Glasshouse Project assembles groups of like-minded people, sharing inspiring new ideas that are shaping our world right now, and fostering creative opportunities to impact our future. It’s an incredibly exciting experience.”
Further The Glasshouse Project workshops are confirmed to take place in Germany in August, Australia in September and in the AMEA region in November, with the potential for even more.
DRINKS ENTHUSIAST 