TDC CALENDAR: AUGUST 2021

INSPIRATION 🔮
Behind the spectacle of Notting Hill Carnival lies a serious mission: to champion Caribbean culture within the UK, and celebrate the vast diaspora who have settled here. With this in mind, we created a next generation Caribbean classic, put it in the spotlight, and dressed it up in feathers and glitter – because it wouldn’t be carnival without!

THE DRINK 🍸

Sound System Shimmy
50ml Doorly's 3 Year Old rum
20ml Lime
15ml Fiery ginger syrup*
100ml Sparkling coconut water
10ml Smith and Cross overproof rum
Gass: Highball
Ice: Cubed
Garnish: Pineapple leaves, lime wheel, feathers and edible glitter

Build the white rum, lime and fiery ginger syrup in a glass with cubed ice. Top with the sparkling coconut water and stir gently to mix. Float the overproof rum on the top of the drink.

*add 1 cup sugar, 1 cup grated and peeled ginger, and 3/4 cup water to a pan. Simmer for 15 minutes and allow to cool completely before straining and bottling. Keep refrigerated.

HOW WE SHOT IT 📸
Our refreshing variation on the Dark’n’Stormy isn’t an easy drink to photograph thanks to the swirls of cloudy ginger and moody colours. We used a Caribbean Sea-inspired aquamarine backdrop, then crafted a feather adorned plinth to ensure our serve was appropriately extravagant.

To achieve that carnival sense of sunshine, we lit this shot in two ways: a backlight gives that impression of sunlight streaming through the liquid, and also the beautiful vignette that lends a sense of theatre to the shot. A light directly overhead picks up all the detail in the feathers, and allowed us to capture plenty of glittery goodness using a fast shutter speed. We added glitter in several handfuls and masked in multiple layers to achieve a final image that’s full of life and sparkle.