Cocktail guru Jan Warren shares a travelogue of his cocktail adventures

Master graftsman

28 October, 2015

Hamish Smith finds in Charles Joly a man who doesn’t make compromises – but does make great bars

Joe Ballinger of Berry and Rye in Liverpool was named Buffalo Trace UK champion yesterday, after winning the national final in Lexington, Kentucky.

South Africa's Cape Town is a work in progress on the cocktail scene, freelance bartender Nick Koumbarakis tells us why

The World's 50 Best Bars 2015 annual is now available as an e-magazine.

Team London triumphed over Paris, New York and Singapore to win the 24hr Bar Build Challenge in London on Saturday.

Bar Convent Berlin organisers claim attendances were up 20% this year along with a 30% increase in exhibitors.

Bar Convent Berlin opens

06 October, 2015

The Bar Convent, the trade show for the bar and beverage industry in Europe opens in Berlin today (October 6).

This year was Drinks International’s 22nd Cocktail Challenge, making it one of the longest running cocktail competitions in the world.

Balazs Molnar of Artesian was named the first European winner of Botran’s Rookie Cup at the La Terraza de Oscar in Madrid this week.  

Cocktail guru Jan Warren ponders what makes Tiki such an enduring favourite

Murder on the Dancefloor

23 September, 2015

Having all the subtlety of a Bee Gees bouffant, the cocktails of the 70s were perhaps the least likely contenders for a comeback. Yet Hamish Smith finds otherwise

Julio Hospitality

23 September, 2015

Hamish smith took some time out of Tales to meet with Julio Bermejo – one of the bartending industry’s old-school personalities

Cameron named Mastermind

16 September, 2015

William Grant has crowned Michael Cameron from Guy’s Restaurant & Bar, Glasgow, the winner of the Glenfiddich Malt Mastermind Competition.

Kaneko wins World Class

16 September, 2015

Michito Kaneko from The Lamp Bar in Nara, Japan, was crowned world’s best bartender at the final of Diageo Reserve World Class in Cape Town last month.

Vehí takes Gin Mare crown

14 September, 2015

Manel Vehí of beach bar Boia Nit in the Girona province of Spain, has won the fifth Gin Mare Mediterranean Inspirations cocktail competition at the Vila Mare in Ibiza, Spain.

Bars 51-100 are named

02 September, 2015

In anticipation of next month’s World’s 50 Best Bars ceremony and in response to industry demand, Drinks International has released the list of bars that finished in places 51-100 in the 2015 poll.

Cocktail guru Jan Warren ponders what makes tiki such an enduring favourite. 

The Vietnamese city’s bar scene reflects the character of its inhabitants, Trinh Quan Huy-Philip tells us how 

Phil Duff, Jeffrey Morgenthaler, Edgar Harden, Jörg Meyer and Felipe Januzzi are among the speakers set to participate in the Bar Convent show in Berlin.

Pernod Ricard UK says it wants to encourage on-trade retailers to ‘get social’ this Christmas to inspire their customers and drive sales of premium wine and spirits.

Milk & Honey bar founder Sasha Petraske, was found dead last Friday, according to reports. The cause of his death is unknown.

The voting for Drinks International’s The World’s 50 Best 2015 has now completed.

A View from the City: Oslo

07 August, 2015

Chris Grøtvedt, head bartender of The Thief and organiser of the Oslo Bar Show, talks us through his city's bar scene

London Cocktail Week organisers have announced that it will be moving to a new, bigger hub in London’s Soho.

Tales of the Cocktail’s has named New York’s Dead Rabbit Grocery and Grog World’s Best Cocktail Bar at its annual Spirited Awards in New Orleans.

Chivas Regal has named Josh Reynolds from Hawksmoor Spitalfields in London The 2015 Chivas Master.

Cachaça expert, Jean Ponce of São Paulo, shows us around his hometown's bar scene.

Diageo’s global travel team has announced the names of the final three cruise line bartenders who will compete in its World Class Bartender of the Year competition.

Plamen Pitropski from Tom@101 of Stockton Heath, Cheshire, has won the northern heat of the UK Bartenders’ Guild National Cocktail Challenge.

Fjord Fiesta

01 July, 2015

With a stellar line-up of internationally renowned industry experts, Oslo’s first ever bar show has been hailed a success by organisers and attendees alike, with work already underway for a follow-up in 2016.

Last night's inaugural Oslo Bar Show Awards saw Bergen's No Stress named Best Bar in both the people's choice and jury's votes.

Leading gin brand Beefeater is calling on the world’s top bartenders to enter this year’s Beefeater MIXLDN Global Bartender Cocktail Competition.

Ali Reynolds of Hawksmoor Spitalfields has won Diageo Reserve World Class UK Bartender of the Year.

Charlotta Berggren from Svartengrens bar in Stockholm won this year’s Linie Award.

Jennifer Queen, head bartender and portfolio ambassador at La Familia, tells us all there is to know about the bar scene in Phnom Penh 

City Guide to Seoul

12 June, 2015

Hamish Smith is in Seoul and heads straight to the soul of South Korea's bar scene

Austrian bartender Sigrid Ehm has become Bombay Sapphire World’s Most Imaginative Bartender for 2015 with her cocktail El Diamante.

Gaston Abramoff, CEO of DigitalBites and Speakeasy SA, which runs the speakeasy at The Brooklyn Hotel in Asunción, Paraguay, talks to Hamish Smith about the city's emerging bar scene.

U’Luvka, the premium Polish vodka brand, has appointed Robert Zajaczkowski as its global brand manager.

Cocktail trends: UK

20 May, 2015

There are no cocktail trends in the UK, say bartenders. Hamish Smith does his best to round up the activity.

The World’s 50 Best Bars’ Camper English looks at the cocktail trends in the US.

The World’s 50 Best Bars writer Forest Collins takes us through the ins and outs of the cocktail scene in France.

With so much European influence, Argentina has a tradition for cocktails. Local Buenos Aires cocktail expert Martin Auzmendi gives us the latest. 

From the world’s first ‘internet’ cocktail to ice made from craft beer and bars with no counters, Germany is pushing the boundaries in taste and showmanship, says Helmut Adam.

We polled the World's 50 Best Bars to find out their best-selling aperitifs, digestifs and highball serves. Hamish Smith takes us through the results

Hamish Smith crunches the numbers to find out the top ten spirits for cocktails in the World's 50 Best Bars

In the next instalment of the Cocktail Report we delve into trends. Hamish Smith has been talking to the World's Best Bars.

Adam Borch of Strøm has won Pernod Ricard Denmark’s Absolut Invite with his cocktail Amber Coast.

Hamish Smith talks to bartenders about the latest advancement in cocktails – fermented ingredients.

Digital Edition

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La'Mel Clarke

Service isn’t servitude: the skill of hosting

La’Mel Clarke, front of house at London’s Seed Library, looks at the forgotten art of hosting and why it deserves the same respect as bartending.

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