Liquid Academy Live set to return for ScotHot 2019
DRINKS will take centre stage once more at ScotHot 2019 as Liquid Academy Live gears up for a bumper event.
Running on both days of the show (March 13 and 14) and hosted by Liquid Academy managing director Scott Gemmell, ScotHot’s dedicated drinks theatre stage will feature input from a range of industry experts – including SLTN editor Gillian McKenzie – as well as drinks-related training sessions.
Day one will kick off with a look at health from Laura Willoughby MBE, the co-founder of Club Soda, an organisation which aims to “create a world where nobody feels out of place for not drinking”.
Working with venues, the organisation is looking to improve the standard of low and no-alcohol ranges offered in the on-trade.
Liquid Academy’s resident beer specialist Donald Stephenson will host a session that looks to showcase “Scotland’s most innovative beers and ales whilst shining light on the innovative new breweries that continue to challenge tradition and open up beer to an ever thirsty craft beer consumer”.
Then Phil Robins, who is said to have played a supporting role in the opening of a new bar in Newington, Edinburgh, will discuss the use of and advantages to stocking regional spirits in a venue’s back-bar.
The session will look at the potential these types of spirits hold to drive creativity amongst bartenders and the scope to introduce consumers to new mixes and flavours.
The first day is set to culminate in a journey with gin.
Led by Scott Gemmell, who will work alongside three brand owners and three soda companies, the interactive feature “is about understanding this ever evolving and expanding spirit category”.
Day two’s Hot Drinks Think will see brands brew up ideas on ways to bolster tea and coffee sales in the on-trade.
Cocktails are also on the agenda, with Dr Adam Elmegirab’s From Medicine to Mixology set to take attendees on a journey through time, looking at the bitters top mixologists are using to enhance their drinks.
Bartenders from leading bars and hotels will also be front and centre at Liquid Academy Live this year for Ready Steady Cocktail. There will be two rounds of ten-minute challenges, involving ten bartenders creating cocktails that will be judged by both visitors and Liquid Academy’s panel.
The Drinks Industry Question Time, which is supported by SLTN, the SLTA and the Scottish Bartenders Network, will also return and see a raft of topical issues debated and discussed.
