Lauren Bowes

Coventry, London

Bars Editor at The Spirits Business

Bars editor @spiritsbusiness Eating, drinking, writing, reading. She/her

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Articles

Spirited Awards selects US nominees

1 week ago | thespiritsbusiness.com | Lauren Bowes

Tales of the Cocktail Foundation (TOTCF) has named the top 10 nominees across the US for this year’s Spirited Awards. Taking place this year on 20-25 July 2025 in New Orleans, the 23rd Tales of the Cocktail (TOTC) festival will focus on the theme ‘Evolve’. The Spirited Awards ceremony will take place on 24 July in celebration of the world’s best bars, products, individuals and media.
Whiskey and cigar den opens in Montana

1 week ago | thespiritsbusiness.com | Lauren Bowes

The Lone Mountain Ranch resort has launched The Trapper’s Den, a restored 1915 cabin that will serve as a retreat for cigar enthusiasts and whiskey connoisseurs. The bar is located close to the ranch’s members’ club, Auric Room 1915, and benefits from views of Montana’s wild landscape. The den dates to 1915, the same year the Lone Mountain Ranch was founded. It used to serve as a shelter for ‘trappers’, who hunted animals for their pelts.
Burnt Faith creates liqueurs

1 week ago | thespiritsbusiness.com | Lauren Bowes

British brandy producer Burnt Faith has launched a three-strong range of liqueurs. The liqueur flavours include triple sec, coffee and elderflower. The Burnt Faith team make the range in small batches of 880 bottles at the brand’s distillery in Walthamstow, northeast London. The expressions use brandy and eaux-de-vie as the backbone distillate, which the brand claims adds depth of flavour and complexity.
The Macallan Folio 8 lands in GTR

1 week ago | thespiritsbusiness.com | Lauren Bowes

Edrington-owned The Macallan has released the latest edition of its Archival Series exclusively to global travel retail (GTR). The Archival Series first launched in 2015 and celebrates the brand’s advertising campaigns from the 1980s and 1990s. The Macallan released the seventh edition in 2023, which spotlighted a 1984 campaign. The eighth release in the series focuses on a billboard campaign from the 1980s called ‘The Colossus of Nose’, a play on The Colossus of Rhodes statue.
TOTCF creates cocktail competition with Planteray

1 week ago | thespiritsbusiness.com | Lauren Bowes

Fancy A Stiggins is a new contest from the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation (TOTCF) and Planteray Rum, with a trip to France up for grabs. The competition asks bartenders in the US and Canada to create an original cocktail using Stiggins’ Fancy Pineapple Rum. Two winners will attend Planteray’s Stiggins’ Ball in Cognac, where they can create their own batch of Stiggins’ Fancy.
‘World’s most remote’ distillery seeks funding

1 week ago | thespiritsbusiness.com | Lauren Bowes

The remote Faer Isles Distillery has been producing spirits on the Faroe Islands in the middle of the North Atlantic since 2023. The distillery is partly crowdfunded, with more than 1,000 shareholders in 31 countries. There have been two previous funding rounds in 2021 and 2023. Its third is in progress and due to end on 30 April. Shares are priced at 120 DKK each (US$18.31), with a minimum purchase of 50 shares.
Simone Caporale and Lorenzo Antinori to open Hong Kong bar

1 week ago | thespiritsbusiness.com | Lauren Bowes

Montana will launch this summer, created by Sips Barcelona’s Simone Caporale and Bar Leone’s Lorenzo Antinori. Caporale opened Sips in 2021, which was named the World’s Best Bar at the Spirited Awards 2023. He is also behind the Muyu liqueurs range, non-alcoholic ‘spirit’ Zeo, and Amaro Santoni. Prior to opening Sips, he led Artesian at The Langham hotel for five years. Rome-born Antinori opened Bar Leone in Hong Kong in 2023.
Tailor Room opens in Sydney

1 week ago | thespiritsbusiness.com | Lauren Bowes

The Collective is a 1,800 square metre hospitality precinct in Sydney, which launched today (11 April) and features a 20-seat cocktail bar named Tailor Room. The dining and drinking destination features established venues such as Saké and The Cut Bar & Grill. Also opening today are new restaurants The Dining Room and The Garden.
Sylva creates second ‘spirit’ from trees

1 week ago | thespiritsbusiness.com | Lauren Bowes

Seedlip founder Ben Branson has released a new small-batch aged ‘spirit’ from his non-alcoholic distillery and maturation lab Sylva. The lab is part of Pollen Projects, a venture studio Branson developed last year. Sylva is said to be ‘a celebration and exploration of the unique diversity of flavour found in trees and a reminder in this fast-paced world to slow down and sip something delicious’.
Hooch taps into cherryade nostalgia

2 weeks ago | thespiritsbusiness.com | Lauren Bowes

Ready-to-drink (RTD) brand Hooch has added to its range with a Cherry flavour, which launches in the on-trade this month. Its existing portfolio includes its flagship lemon expression, as well as Blue, which is tropical, and Pink, which is flavoured with raspberry. As with its other flavours, Hooch Cherry is a blend of real fruit juice and vodka, sitting at 3.4% ABV.