The Crew Academy's Cocktail Soiree at Monaco Show

Interior crew training provider The Crew Academy has partnered with internationally known beverage and spirits brand Diageo Reserve to drive up the standards of cocktail-making and mixology in the yachting industry. On Thursday 24th September at the International Hydrographic Organisation in Monaco’s Port Hercule, The Crew Academy and Diageo Reserve will be hosting a cocktail soirée for industry figures and senior crew on the rooftop terrace of this prime address.

From 7.30pm to 10.30pm, a team of the world’s best mixologists will be representing the Diageo Reserve brand with a stunning display of cocktail talent and innovation. Using popular brand favourites such as Ketel One, Don Julio, Tanqueray No. TEN, Bulleit Bourbon and Zacapa, the bartending extraordinaires will be mixing up a delicious selection of distinguished drinks for guests and the press.

The cocktail soirée and celebration comes after a near year-long collaboration between French Riviera-based training school The Crew Academy and Diageo Reserve. Since establishing a partnership in 2014, The Crew Academy and Diageo Reserve have simultaneously worked towards the long-term goal of bolstering mixology and the art of cocktail-making in yachting.

Their respective efforts truly got off the ground in December 2014 with the launch of the inaugural World Class Yachting Cocktail Competition at the Antigua Yacht Charter Show. For the first time in the history of World Class, an annual global cocktail competition entered by some of the most successful and innovative mixologists the world over, a ‘yachting’-only entrant was selected and put forward to the overall World Class Final in South Africa in August 2015.

Jasmin Rutter from S/Y Marie was crowned victor among her yachting contemporaries at the Antigua event, sailing smoothly through to the final where she clinched a win with a delectable eucalyptus-inspired cocktail. Rutter became yachting’s first ‘mixology maestro’ and proudly represented her industry in the finals alongside exceptional craft cocktail-makers and some of the finest talents in the bartending business.

Rutter has since found considerable fame in the yachting industry, thanks in part to her blog (The Roaming Mixologist). Rutter continues to work with both The Crew Academy and Diageo Reserve, and will be attending a number of events during the Monaco Yacht Show schedule including the cocktail soirée, such as the PYA Guests Table Setting & Arrival Cocktail competition, where she will act as a judge, as well as holding a presentation at the Captain & Crew Lounge on Friday 25th September at 6pm.

Also at the cocktail soirée will be cult-famous Colgan’s Brewery and award-winning Provence wine brand Mirabeau. Ahead of the 2016 World Class Final, The Crew Academy and Diageo Reserve will continue the search for a new yachting cocktail champion. While plans wait to be finalised, interested yacht crew and budding mixologists in the yachting industry can brush up on their technique, savoir-faire, finesse and creative flair with a TWO-DAY Cocktail & Mixology course, which is organised and run by The Crew Academy and led by Diageo Reserve’s mixology masters.

For full information on the cocktail course as well as other courses available at The Crew Academy, please email caroline@thecrewacademy.com or head to www.thecrewacademy.com.