Distributor will showcase brands at cocktail festival
THE firm behind Southern Comfort, Buffalo Trace and Brooklyn Gin is set to showcase a range of its spirits brands in Edinburgh next month when Tales of the Cocktail’s Tales on Tour event rolls into the capital.
Hi-Spirits, which distributes a broad portfolio of spirits and liqueurs in the UK, is involved in a number of events running in bars across Edinburgh as part of the five-day event.
There will be plenty for bar professionals and cocktail lovers to celebrate.
The festival gets underway on Saturday April 1 with The Branca Breakfast at The Voyage of Buck, where bartenders will get the chance to sample Italian aperitif Fernet Branca; the William Street bar, which is owned by Big Red Teapot (see page 7), will serve a Branca cocktail menu throughout the festival.
Southern Comfort, which joined the Hi-Spirits stable last year, will also feature on the first day of the tour; guests at the #SouthernWelcome party at Hoot the Redeemer on Hanover Street will be able to take in a live band whilst enjoying Southern Comfort cocktails matched to southern-style food.
Elsewhere, the Buffalo Trace speakeasy-style Buffalo Bourbon Empire will set up shop in the Bryant & Mack Private Detectives bar on Rose Street for the duration of Tales on Tour; the whiskey selection will include three vintages of the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection along with the Pappy Van Winkle whiskey range and vintage cocktails made with Branca vermouth.
On April 2, Jason Coleman, Sazerac brand ambassador from New Orleans, will join forces with a bartender from Bryant & Mack in a ‘Dynamic Duo’ session, which will see bartenders from the US and UK team up throughout the festival; while the focus will be squarely on Brooklyn Gin at Edinburgh’s Bramble bar on April 3, where the Dynamic Duo event will see Jan Warren from Dutch Kills bar in New York pair up with Bramble’s Jon Hughes to create cocktails.
Dan Bolton, managing director of Hi-Spirits, said: “We’re delighted to be part of the warm welcome that Edinburgh is extending to Tales of the Cocktail on Tour on its first visit to Europe.
“We’ll be giving both bar professionals and cocktail lovers plenty to celebrate.”
