Diageo, owner of some of the world’s most-loved brands including Johnnie Walker, Tanqueray, Ketel One, Ciroc, Don Julio, Bulleit and Zacapa, today announced an exclusive global partnership with IMG’s Taste Festivals. As well as festivals, the collaboration will span across Taste Tuesdays – a new monthly international in-restaurant event series, and Taste Residences – exclusive chef’s table experiences.  

As food and drink enthusiasts become increasingly interested in flavour profiling and experimentation of spirits with meals, this is a first of its kind partnership pushing the boundaries between food and drink.

Top mixologists will join forces with the world’s leading chefs to create immersive experiences, educating culinary and cocktail lovers on combining food and spirits with diverse ingredients, flavours and recipes for every occasion.

One moment they will be donning an apron in a replica of Johnnie Walker’s original grocery store, learning how to build cocktail ingredients to enhance the natural flavours of the spirit. The next they will be in the Ketel One Vodka Kitchen shaking up a quirky Bloody Mary for brunch with friends, or stepping into the Tanqueray bar for an aperitif before watching the city’s best chefs and bartenders demo side by side.

Scotch Category Director and Managing Director of Diageo Reserve, Cristina Diezhandino said: “We are excited to announce a partnership between Diageo and Taste, which explores and celebrates a new age where the worlds of food and drink come closer together than ever before.

“I’ve increasingly seen people from across the world demand more from their food and drink. They want to know what their ingredients are and where they have come from. They want to know how their food and drink has been prepared, learn how to do it at home and overall, be offered a more immersive experience.”

Diageo Global Reserve Commercial Director, Anya Haarhoff said: “This partnership, which will run over multiple years, offers both food and drink aficionados taste experiences like never before, all in the same venue, and we’re excited to place some of our most loved brands like Johnnie Walker, Zacapa and Tanqueray at the very centre of it. We’re thrilled to work with Taste Festivals and bring these exciting experiences to millions of food lovers across the world.”

Justin Clarke, SVP & Managing Director of Culinary, IMG, said: “We’re combining Diageo’s most-loved brands with our global Taste Festivals platform to unlock exciting, immersive new experiences that celebrate the very best of food and drink together.

“Whether through our festivals or new Taste Tuesdays and Taste Residence events, we cannot wait to explore and share top chefs and mixologists’ latest recipes, tips and trends with audiences all over the world.”

Taste Festivals are attended by more than 500,000 people annually across cities such as London, Milan, Athens, Amsterdam, Dublin, London, Moscow, Rome, Sydney, Sao Paulo and Hong Kong.

A launch event to celebrate the partnership was held in London on Friday 11th May and was attended by some of the food and drink industry’s leading experts including world-renowned chef Alex Atala and food writer Andrea Petrini, with food created by Manoella Buffara and cocktails by Diageo Global Cocktailian, Lauren Mote.

Adam Parry
Author: Adam Parry

Adam is the co-founder and editor of www.eventindustrynews.com Adam, a technology evangelist also organises Event Tech Live, Europe’s only show dedicated to event technology and the Event Technology Awards. Both events take place in November, London.