Parent Company of Johnnie Walker Partners with IMG's Taste Festivals

Calling all foodies and drink lovers: from May 2018 owner of some of the most-loved spirits, Diageo and culinary leader, Taste Festivals, come together to deliver the ultimate taste experience.

LONDON -- IMG's Taste Festivals, the world's favourite culinary celebration, announced an exclusive global partnership with Diageo, the spirits company behind some of the world's most-loved brands including Johnnie Walker, Tanqueray, Ketel One, Ciroc, Don Julio, Bulleit and Zacapa. The announcement was celebrated with an event at London's Margot restaurant with industry leaders including world-renowned chef Alex Atala, celebrated food writer Andrea Petrini, Manoella Buffara and Lauren Mote toasting to this first-of-its-kind collaboration, pushing the boundaries between food and drink.

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Top mixologists will join forces with the world's leading chefs to create experiences like never before, educating culinary and cocktail lovers on combining food and spirits with diverse ingredients, flavours and recipes for every occasion.

Festival-goers around the world will be treated to immersive experiences from iconic Scotch Johnnie Walker, legacy-rich Ketel One vodka and bartender's favourite gin Tanqueray, to name a few. One moment they'll 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'll be sitting in the Ketel One Vodka Kitchen shaking up the perfect quirky Bloody Mary to recreate at home with friends, or stepping into the Tanqueray bar for an aperitif before watching the city's best chefs and bartenders demo side by side.

As well as at Taste festivals, there will be exciting new opportunities to experience how cocktails and dishes come together at Taste Tuesdays - a new monthly international in-restaurant event series, and Taste Residences - exclusive chef's table experiences.  

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 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: "People are becoming increasingly interested in flavour profiling and experimentation of spirits with meals. 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.

The 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, with food created by Manoella Buffara and cocktails by Diageo Global Cocktailian, Lauren Mote.

SOURCE Diageo and Taste Festivals