If you spend much time in Edinburgh’s cocktail bars then you will already know that the city’s bar tenders have a glowing reputation for their mixing skills.
Places like Bramble regularly feature in World’s Best Cocktail Bar lists and mixologists such as Ryan Chetiyawardana have gone from behind the bar in Edinburgh to the world stage.
That cocktail expertise was recognised yesterday as Tales of the Cocktail® revealed plans to bring their cocktail festival to the Scottish capital.
Vancouver, Buenos Aires… Edinburgh
After stops in Vancouver, Buenos Aires and Mexico City, Tales of the Cocktail® on Tour hits Edinburgh in April for four days of seminars, tastings and networking events across the city. The event will take place from 1-4 April.
Founded in 2002, Tales of the Cocktail® is considered the world’s leading cocktail event.
Aimed at spirits industry professionals, it welcomes some 15,000 delegates to New Orleans each year.
As the name suggests, Tales of the Cocktail® on Tour takes the experience out of New Orleans to other cities. When it comes to Edinburgh in April, it will be the first time that the event has been held outside of the Americas. The event will return to Edinburgh again in 2018.
Sponsored by some of the biggest spirits brands such as Johnnie Walker, Pernod, Bacardi and William Grant & Sons, Tales of the Cocktail® on Tour features a packed program of seminars presented by some of the world’s most renowned cocktail experts.
Seminar titles include Drambusters: Why Scotch Belongs in Cocktails and Talking Rot: Rancio, Scotch and MADness.
Public events: Dynamic Duos
In the evening, the public can enjoy a series of nightly events called Dynamic Duos. Bars will host one night pop-ups featuring special drinks made with iconic brands by some of the world’s leading bar tenders.
The Scotch Malt Whisky Society is one of the bars taking part. Their event will focus on flavour in single cask whisky and takes place at Kaleidoscope Bar on Saturday 1 April.
Speaking at the launch in Edinburgh’s Bon Vivant, Tales founder Ann Tuennerman explained that she wanted to bring the event to the Scottish capital after being impressed by the hospitality, culture, food and drink on previous visits:
‘We started Tales of the Cocktail® on Tour because we wanted to shine a light on places which have an amazing cocktail culture but one which people perhaps aren’t aware of. For example, we wouldn’t go to London but we wanted to come to Edinburgh because what we see here is really special.’
‘It’s almost like the Olympics. What happens is we bring a tonne of people from all over the world to your town and you get to show your talent, your bars and your hospitality to the rest of the world. It’s amazing what happens when we bring Tales on Tour to a city.’
The full program is detailed here.
Ticket packages, priced at $329, to Tales of the Cocktail® on Tour Edinburgh go on sale to the general public tomorrow.