Raise a glass for a great cause with Elijah Craig

Elijah Craig’s fifth Old Fashioned Week is shaping up to be the biggest yet, spanning the US, Canada and, for the first time, the UK.

Over the last decade, perennial appreciation for the Old Fashioned cocktail has grown substantially. The popular whiskey serve has become a mainstay on bar menus – what better way to honour this pillar of the classic cocktail community than with a 10‐day extravaganza.

Elijah Craig Small Batch Bourbon forms the perfect base for the much‐loved Old Fashioned cocktail. The brand, produced by Heaven Hill Distillery, has successfully hosted Old Fashioned Week in the US since 2020, and expanded to Canada in 2022.

Now in its fifth year, Elijah Craig Old Fashioned Week is also bound for the UK as it continues to grow its global reach.

Scheduled to take place from 11 to 20 October, discerning drinkers are invited to raise a glass to the Old Fashioned cocktail – and raise important funds for deserving causes in the process.*

“Old Fashioned Week was created in 2020 with two goals: support the hospitality industry at a critical moment of need and create ways for our community to remain connected at a time when we simply couldn’t meet for a drink,” said Max Stefka, group product director at Heaven Hill.

“We are grateful to everyone who has supported it and every patron who has raised an Old Fashioned to a great cause.”

With every bar visit and Old Fashioned purchase, drinkers will be supporting bar and restaurant workers in need. In 2023 and 2024, Elijah Craig raised enough funds to enable the Southern Smoke Foundation to provide almost 1,000 mental health counselling sessions to hospitality professionals throughout the States through its mental health programme, Behind You. Furthermore, nearly US$150,000 was generated for emergency relief grants, while Elijah Craig donated CA$25,000 to the Bartenders Benevolent Fund in Canada. For 2024, the Bourbon brand has also teamed up with The Drinks Trust, a UK charity that supports professionals across the drinks and hospitality sectors.

Participating venues will offer their own riff (or two) on the Elijah Craig Old Fashioned in support of the event. Thousands of bars signed up last year – and this year it is gearing up to be bigger and better than ever before.

Cocktail competition

Bartenders from the US and the UK are also invited to submit their most creative interpretation of an Elijah Craig Old Fashioned for the chance to be crowned the ‘ultimate innovator’. Entries will be accepted until 1 November, when a panel of judges will have the unenvious task of selecting the winner from each country, who will receive a cash prize and the chance to have their recipe published in their country.

If this has piqued your interest, there is still time to register and be part of Elijah Craig Old Fashioned Week.

Find out how to register your bar or restaurant in the US, UK or Canada by going to OldFashionedWeek.com.

*Elijah Craig will donate US$1 for every Old Fashioned sold during Old Fashioned Week, up to US$100,000, to the Southern Smoke Foundation in the US, US$1 for every Old Fashioned sold during Old Fashioned Week, up to CA$25,000, to the Bartenders Benevolent Fund in Canada and £1 for every Old Fashioned sold during Old Fashioned Week, up to £10,000, to The Drinks Trust in the UK, which empowers, develops and supports the drinks and hospitality workforce.

Read Full Story at source (may require registration)
Author: SB Staff Writer