By Andy Young
P&O Cruises and Archie Rose Distilling Co. have announced a new partnership on the latest ship, Pacific Explorer, which launches in June.
The Bonded Store bar on the Pacific Explorer
The partnership will see a new bar established on the superliner, called The Bonded Store, which will feature a cocktail menu from the Archie Rose bar team as well as the distillery’s full range of spirits.
P&O Cruises President Sture Myrmell said the partnership will also see passengers able to take part in whisky masterclasses and gin mixing sessions.
“We look to modern Australia when we look at design and at modernising our ships, so I had this idea of wanting to create an intimate, little cocktail bar on one of our ships. One of those where you can really indulge in some quality cocktails, made by amazing bartenders," Myrmell said.
“Then I realised that we had this fantastic distillery in our own backyard, with amazing product and we decided that we had to find a way to work with these guys.
“In The Bonded Store we will feature the full range of Archie Rose products, Will and the team have also created an amazing list of cocktails that we will have available. We will be doing some whisky masterclasses and we are going to do some gin mixing sessions. So we are going to have a lot of fun with this bar.
“We put a lot of thought into The Bonded Store concept and we felt that Archie Rose had just the right flavour for the new bar, with spirits which are sophisticated, on-trend and delicious. The result is a classy venue, which will take people back to another cocktail era but still have some fun design elements – as well as a cocktail list which captures some fabulous flavours,” Myrmell said.
Archie Rose Distilling Co. founder Will Edwards described the partnership with P&O as “a real privilege”.
“From Archie Rose’s perspective we are super-excited to be involved with P&O in the partnership and on this project.
“What really excited me when we were discussing this project with P&O was the attention to detail and the commitment to the details that Sture and the team show. We do a lot of collaborations, we love working with people who share the same values that we do, but I’d say one of the prerequisites for us, is that the people we work with display the same sort of passion that we do.
“To their credit, from the beginning Sture and his team have been about doing things properly, doing things the right way and even pushed us to go a little bit further with some of experiences and the offerings that we are bringing on-board.
“They have been keen to bring down as many people as they can to the distillery who will be serving the spirits so that when they are serving customers on-board they can genuinely say that they have been here and experienced how the spirits are made and met the guys who make them. Beyond that it’s the ‘get-your-hands-dirty’ experiences that we offer here, that we’ve really never offered in an off-site venue before, that truly set this partnership apart.”
Presently sailing as Dawn Princess with sister line Princess Cruises, the Pacific Explorer will be refitted in May and June, sailing on her first cruise from Sydney on June 22.