What is Speed Rack? Speed Rack is an exclusively woman high-speed bartending competition designed to highlight up-and-coming self-identifying females in the cocktail industry and give back to those impacted by breast cancer. The competition in Speed Rack promises to be fierce, but so does the fundraising. To date, Speed Rack has raised over $1,000,000 globally for charities supporting breast cancer research. Cofounded by bartenders Ivy Mix and Lynnette Marrero. In 2011, Mix approached Marrero, who was the president of the New York City chapter of LUPEC (Ladies United for the Preservation of ..read more

I've worked in the "Beverage Division" at Jacques Scott for 9 years now and learning about our brands is a lot more interesting than perhaps I ever imagined it would be. The history of alcohol is immense. For better or worse it's been around for thousands of years. Side Note: I just Googled 'oldest booze brands' and it turns out there is a Japanese family who have been in charge of their family sake brand for...870 years! Two other examples are brands that I represent; Bushmills Irish Whiskey (1608 - officially licensed) and Mount Gay rum (1703). Their history is long and INTERESTING - pirate ..read more

I just got off the phone with our Belvedere/Hennessy rep and (YAY) we get to try some cool new products! Let's step away from gin for a moment and get serious about craft vodka. And by craft, I don't mean some tiny batch, marketing ploy with dubious quality control and a funky hipster label with a dog on it. I mean a brand trying to create something cool and different and INTERESTING. Sometimes cocktails are about relaxing and unwinding and sometimes they're about discovery and educational fun. I'm hoping these will be super engaging. Everyone talks about terroir as related to wine. ter·roir ..read more

We're headlining one of my very favourite gins ever this year! TANQUERAY! Not only will we be sipping on G&Ts like Snoop Dog and Martha Stewart but we'll be doing this with Terry Fraser, Master Distiller of Tanqueray and Gordon's gin himself. Here's a lovely picture of him so you'll know him when you see him! The man with the (GIN) plan... We'll be seeing the return of the Tanqueray Green Room, aka the Tanqueray Soul Takeover at a new venue as usual. Think Aretha Franklin and sweet soul music on a Friday night with signature gin cocktails and Fever Tree G&Ts all round. A real simple ..read more

So it turns out that our favourite thing is to sip Tanqueray cocktails whilst listening to James Brown and Aretha Franklin in a garden setting. Check it out, we're doing our Secret Garden Pop-Up again this Friday at the Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman! Amba Lamb from Seven Restaurant & cocktail queen extraordinaire (in my photo above) has created a couple of signature cocktails and we're loving the Fever Tree tonics in the Tanqueray No. TEN G&Ts! Think fun and friendly Friday night, dancing around to amazing music that you probably haven't heard in ages and sipping on some super Ritzy cock ..read more

I'm not sure we've ever had an event that I've been more geekily excited about than this upcoming dinner. This is the sort of Cocktail Week event where some of us say 'Do you think this will be a bit too out there?' and then we GO AHEAD ANYWAY because we're all so excited! Without giving too many surprises away, we've been working on our main course which I think is going to be a Big Kahuna Burger or a Royale with Cheese but Agua-fied of course. I'm expecting Chef Jonathan to come up with the most deliciously insane gourmet burger and maybe some duck-fat fries because... why not! Cocktail-wis ..read more

Who wouldn't want to be a secret cocktail shopper?! This year we're looking for cocktail enthusiasts to drink free cocktails and let us know how they are! Easy right? Well YES it is! If you're interested please send me an email asap (joaustin@jacquesscott.com) as I'll be choosing around 4 people to be my private army of sipping enthusiasts and I need everyone ready to go out and try some drinks during the month of October. Every year we team up with around 25 bars and restaurants in Cayman who create their own special menus and feature new cocktails for the whole of October. This year we're r ..read more

Last week was Cayman Cocktail Week and we organized Arturo Savage's 'Whisky Lab' event for the first time in the Cayman Islands. It was also the first time that regular customers outside of the bartender world got to do it in the entire North Western Hemisphere. AAAANNNND we did it 3 times!! Whisky Lab gave our guests the knowledge about blends like Johnnie Walker and Single Malts like Talisker and Cardhu that enabled them to design and create their own signature blend to take home. A lot of whisky was tasted and some pretty amazing whisky blend names were produced. Some of my favourites being ..read more

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