Welcome to our newest page!  The Brand Ambassador's Corner!

This page will introduce you to some of the spirit industry's greatest individuals...the Brand Ambassadors!  This group of hard working people (don't you just wish you had their job???) spend every day and night teaching the world about the brands they represent.

This month, lets welcome Simon Ford - Global Brand Ambassador

10, 9, 8, 7 the crowd shouted, but it wasn’t new years eve, 6, 5, 4, they continued, as Jay and Dushan of Employees Only emerged from their kitchen into the bar holding a giant cake with the words Prohibition iced onto the side, 3, 2, 1 and the crowd began cheering, the jazz started playing and everyone grabbed a tea cup of Plymouth Gin Punch to celebrate the 74^th repeal of Prohibition. Of course those of you that know their dates will notice that this wasn’t the official anniversary of Prohibition that would be 24 hours away and, for me, there was certainly going to be plenty of celebrating between now and then.

At 3am I departed Employees Only for in 4 hours time I was expecting spirits educator Allen Katz and drinks writer Dave Wondrich at my house to batch cocktails for the day ahead. Between 7am and 10am we mixed 10+ liters of various classic cocktails that were going to play a part in the day ahead. At 10:30 we departed with cocktails in hand to meet 60 bartenders at McSorleys, New York’s oldest bar where we enjoyed a fabulous beer breakfast. It appeared that a party had begun and it was barely noon however we were on a mission so we rounded everyone up, handed them a hip flask filled with punch and headed off on our mission to celebrate the history of the New York Cocktail.

Our first stop was Washington Square. This square was home to the Delmonico’s, The Manhattan Club, Hoffman House and Jerry Thomas’s bar so we felt it was only right to sip and toast them all with a Manhattan Cocktail. After out Manhattan in Manhattan we boarded the coach to the Bronx to drink a Bronx Cocktail. Of course we couldn’t go to the Bronx without paying our respects to the late Jerry Thomas.

The sheer affect that Jerry Thomas has had on the drinks industry was truly felt as each of my bartender companions paid there respect by pouring a shot into the ground of the professor’s final resting place. For many this was the highlight of the day. We mixed a Blue Blazer in his honor and drank a hot brandy flip to help fight the cold wind up at the Bronx cemetery and then I decided it was time to put some food into the stomachs of my quite tipsy guests.

Pizza wasn’t the best accompaniment to our Bronx cocktails but it was exactly what was needed to bring the crew back to life. After our Bronx in the Bronx it was time to get to Brooklyn. The sun was already on its way down and we still had a few stops to make. As the bus crossed into the borders of Brooklyn we ceremoniously poured a Brooklyn Cocktail and made toasts to our merry selves as the jazz rattled out of the speakers of the bus.

The next stop was the Brooklyn Brewery where the Head Brewer Garrett Oliver talked us through a tasting of his finest and rarest beers. As we sipped each of them we were given a carefully selected cheese to compliment each brew. After this fine tasting we toured the Brewery and listened as Garrett told us tales of the buildings history during prohibition.

It was 7pm and it was now time to start celebrating. The clock was now ticking its way towards the real 74^th Anniversary of Prohibition and where better to have our dinner than the world renown ex speakeasy the 21 Club.  As we arrived we were bombarded with Plymouth Gin Southside’s, Negoni’s and Martini’s, the perfect way to start any meal! As we enjoyed our dinner a representative from the club told us some of the famous stories of the Club and gave us the secrets behind the 21 Clubs ability to avoid being busted during Prohibition. As we tucked into dinner I was aware that everyone was ready to party. This theory was backed by the fact that as soon as the last bite of dessert was eaten everyone got up and headed to Bills Gay Nineties, another former speakeasy and our last stop for the night.

We were greeted by a 5 piece jazz band that had everyone swinging. We drank, danced, conversed and, every now and then reminded out selves that we had now been celebrating for over 12 hours. Then all of a sudden the countdown started 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Hooray!

That was my day. I had celebrated Prohibition twice and just shared an incredible journey with like minded friends across New York celebrating the cocktail, Jerry Thomas, Plymouth Gin and the profession of bartending. This was undoubtedly everything I like about being a brand Ambassador but tomorrow? Well that was looking like it might be everything I dislike about it!

Hendrick's Gin Brand Champion....Charlotte Voisey

As told by Charlotte...

My role as Brand Ambassador for Hendrick’s Gin involves a wide variety of responsibilities and activity.  No two days are the same.  In any one week I can be bartending an event in Las Vegas, speaking at a culinary school in Kansas, training sommeliers in San Francisco, giving radio/TV interviews in New York or shopping for cucumbers in Miami.  There is a lot of travel involved and the ability to be flexible and ready for anything is a must.  Day to day it is also about sales support both on and off premise accounts in synergy with a national and global brand strategy. And then a little number crunching in order to stay abreast of the market, competitor performance and consumer trends in local, national and global economies.

I believe that the Brand Ambassador template was born, in part, from the need for education on three different levels: consumer, trade (bartenders) and distributor. It is a function that fits more into marketing than sales and I have always viewed my role as an extension of the brand’s personality.  

With Hendrick’s Gin specifically it is also about breaking down barriers in a new market or recruiting consumers to the gin category which can be a challenge. The good news is that gin is back in fashion.  Gin was the original cocktail spirit and as the bar scene goes back to classics, the re discovery of cocktails that made gin famous is a delight.   Cocktail development is probably my favorite part of being Hendrick’s Gin Brand Ambassador.   Creative mixology has been an invaluable tool in communicating the mixability of the unique flavor profile of Hendrick’s.  I think that it was no coincidence that I was chosen for this role given my strong mixology background. 

The secret to being a successful Brand Ambassador is to choose your brand carefully.  When you have to talk about, enthuse after and drink your brand twenty four hours a day, seven days a week it is imperative to be in love with your brand.  It will show if your passion is anything less than genuine.

In the most part gins differ due to botanical recipe and style of distillation.  The botanical basket of Hendrick’s Gin collects eleven different seeds, berries, herbs, spices and flowers from all over the world with the unusual addition of Dutch cucumber and Bulgarian rose petals.  Hendrick’s Gin is distilled in tiny batches in a seaside village on the west coast of Scotland under the careful watch of the Grant family who have been crafting Single Malt Scotch whiskies for five generations.  This experience guides the Carter Head and Bennett copper pot stills used to craft Hendrick’s Gin which has a smooth mouth feel and elegant finish.