The August bank holiday weekend saw Edinburgh bustling with festival visitors, many of who made their way to Festival Square and the Sheraton Hotel for Foodies at the Festival. The sun shone on the multitude of stalls in the square, offering everything from speciality seafood to organic veg and fine wine, while inside the more stalls tempted festival goers with tasty samples.

Plymouth Gin had a major presence at this year’s Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans with a whole series of top bartender led events to celebrate both the iconic gin and the recent launch of Plymouth Sloe Gin in the US. The one we particularly wish we had been at was the Midnight Bartenders’ Breakfast with Plymouth Gin hosted by Audrey Sanders and Simon Ford - a n evening of live jazz music, burlesque, food by Chef Duke and cocktails by Audrey Saunders, Willy Shine, Aisha Sharp & Simon Ford with guest bartenders including Dale DeGroff, Dave Wondrich, Gary Regan, Francesco Lafranconi, Allen Katz, Jacques Bezuidenhout, Kenta Goto, John Deragon, Don Lee, Chris Patino, Matt Gee, Leo DeGroff and special overseas guests Wayne Collins, Tony Conigliaro and Jason Crawley. Some people have all the fun and next year we’ll definitely be there. Meanwhile watch some New Orleans action including Simon Ford talking about Bartenders’ Breakfast .

The winners of this year’s Hendrick’s Gin Croquet Tournament were David Piper and Nick Saunders from ‘The Rakehells’ - a group of Dandies and Cads who organise parties in cool bars in London and Paris.  They narrowly beat Salvatore Calabrese and Peter Dorelli, the ‘Gladiators’ team, to clinch victory for the second year running! It was a tough competition with around 100 bartenders entering the fray including teams from Germany, France, Switzerland, Spain and Dale DeGroff & Charles Hardwick from the US.

At the recent Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans the winners of this year’s Spirit Awards Winners were:

So now we know. A collection of the great names of the cocktail world including such luminaries as Gary Regan, Dre Masso, Angus Winchester and Naren Young have just produced the definitive list of the world’s top bars. And here they are:

The wonderful all singing all dancing Martin Miller’s Gin Tour moves on to Brighton this week for a day of cocktail competitions, master classes and cocktail demonstrations which will take place on Tuesday 5th August. Then it’s Dublin for the final stage of the 2008 Tour from Wed 6th to Thursday 7th August. Check out www.martinmillersgin.com for more info.

The gorgeous London Gin (the blue one) is now available in Selfridges in Oxford Street and in the Berry Brothers Shop in St James in London. It’s also now at B’ham Bullring and Manchester Exchange Square. And if you missed Andy Pearson’s fab new cocktail for the London Gin – the Lady Grey recently featured on BBC2’s "Something for the Weekend” – check it out here .

Here’s a top tip for any Gintimers who happen to be in Paris any time soon. The Oh So Unusual Experimental Cocktail Club have just opened a NEW CLUB and we urge you to check it out. It’s not quite officially open or technically open but more like "prohibition style open". Address is 16 RUE DES BERNARDINS, PARIS 05 District, about 10 minutes walk from Notre Dame… A Green Door….a White Window…No Name…Just a very heavy door…you knock…the door open… and fantastic cocktails.

The Tales of the Cocktail, a culinary and cocktail festival in New Orleans’ French Quarter, recently celebrated Beefeater Master Distiller Desmond Payne’s 40 years as a distiller in true New Orleans style. To mark his Ruby Jubilee a deputation from the Mayor’s office presented him with the keys to the city. Fittingly five of New Orleans’ finest mixologists also prepared specialty cocktails in honour of the occasion. These drinks reflect the flavor and flair of two of the greatest cocktail cities in the world – New Orleans and London – and celebrate one of the most influential people in the gin industry, Desmond Payne.

The folks at Gintime thought the best thing about this year’s Bar Show in London was the opportunity to escape to the Beefeater Distillery in Kennington. No loud pumping music, no flashing lights, no shouty people, the Distillery was an oasis of calm after the madness of Earl’s Court. And far more inspirational as it played host to a truly outstanding programme of events starring the great and the good of the cocktail world. Sasha Petraske of the famed Milk and Honey in New York went head to head with Nick Strangeway of London’s Hawksmoor on the respective merits of both cities’ cocktail styles. Jason Fendick and Tobias Blazquez-Garcia gave valuable insight into Spanish cocktail trends. The history of cocktails through the ages was presented by Anistatia Miller, Jared Brown, Dan Warner and special guests. There was also a rare opportunity to hear Gary Regan, Mr. Mixology himself, in conversation whilst the hard core Beefeater brand education came in the form of tours of the Distillery followed by tutored tastings conducted by Master Distiller Desmond Payne. A Beach Party for 500 at the Stationhouse in Notting Hill on the closing night brought down the curtain on a fabulous two days. Check out the Gallery below for who was there.