As summer is an ideal time to enjoy a refreshing cocktail, many spirits brands used the beginning of the season as an opportunity to host product launches and outdoor soirees, and to kick off traveling campaigns based on a theme.
Here's a look at how brands enhanced the average cocktail party through eye-catching decor, personalized experiences, themed entertainment, and more.
Cointreau Art of La Soirée

Event entertainment included DJ Leslie Kirchoff performing alongside harpists Duo Scorpio. The harps kept with the event's color scheme.
Photo: Scott Rudd
Hendrick's Gin Cucumber Festival of Wonder

Hendrick's Gin celebrated National Cucumber Day (June 14) with a consumer event that took place June 11 to 12 at Hudson River Park's Pier 97 in New York. Produced by Momentum Worldwide, the event featured a giant Hendrick's hot-air balloon bar, aptly titled the "World's Tallest Collins Bar."
Photo: Alain Hain
Hendrick's Gin Cucumber Festival of Wonder

The event's carnival theme included a roving cocktail bar, and staffers dressed up as members of a traveling circus while posing with cucumbers.
Photo: Alain Hain
Hendrick's Gin Cucumber Festival of Wonder

Guests enjoyed a penny-farthing cycling performance.
Photo: Alain Hain
Grey Goose Boulangerie Bleue Pop-Up

Grey Goose vodka kicked off its global experiential pop-up campaign June 16 to 19 at Le District in New York's Battery Park. Traveling to French bakeries in 20 cities throughout the summer, the experience is inspired by a French Riviera bakery club, and invites guests to enter through a secret entrance. At the New York event, Adam Leoti of Brooklyn Bread Lab taught a private bread-making class. The breads were inspired by Grey Goose ingredients.
Photo: Kent Miller
Grey Goose Boulangerie Bleue Pop-Up

The pop-up featured a custom bar that served signature Le Grand Fizz cocktails in oversize, branded wine glasses in Grey Goose colors.
Photo: Kent Miller
Grey Goose Boulangerie Bleue Pop-Up

The brand also brought its Grey Goose Camionette to the pop-up. The branded truck served as a personalized cocktail bar, inviting guests to schedule private consultations to make custom martinis.
Photo: Kent Miller
Gin Mare's Med Rooftops

Spanish gin brand Gin Mare celebrated its U.S. launch by bringing its international Med Rooftops series to Ramscale Studios in New York on June 10. Produced and designed by BMF Media Group, the party featured branded displays of the gin and its logo throughout the space. One notable feature was a custom bar on wheels, which served classic gin and tonics.
Photo: Charles Roussel/BFA.com
Gin Mare's Med Rooftops

The party featured branded lounge chairs and a DJ booth on the venue's rooftop, which offered guests views of downtown Manhattan and the Hudson River.
Photo: Patrick MacLeod
Gin Mare's Med Rooftops

A wall of wooden crates showcased the Gin Mare bottles paired with fruit and greenery. The giant installation also served as an unconventional step-and-repeat.
Photo: Charles Roussel/BFA.com
Gin Mare's Med Rooftops

The brand gave guests the opportunity to experience the gin in a variety of ways with six different cocktail options, some of which had unique ingredients including orange marmalade and chipotle Tabasco.
Photo: Patrick MacLeod
Cointreau Art of La Soirée

Orange liqueur Cointreau kicked off its artist-curated, cross-country Art of La Soirée tour with a French-theme summer garden party at Cedar Lake on June 15. A collaboration between the brand and Danielle and Jodie Synder of Dannijo Jewels, the event blended items from the jewelry collection into the garden-inspired decor.
Photo: Scott Rudd
Cointreau Art of La Soirée

The custom L'Orangerie bar, which gave guests the chance to craft their own cocktails, served as a makeshift orange tree with a tower of the liqueur bottles that branched out into a lush ceiling canopy.
Photo: Scott Rudd
Aperol Spritz Summer Solstice

Aperol Spritz hosted its Summer Solstice party on June 22 at the Sabbia rooftop at Eataly in New York. Designed by creative and content production studio Swell, the party featured an installation of hanging bottles of the Italian aperitif that served as vases for orange flowers, including marigolds.
Photo: Courtesy of Aperol
Aperol Spritz Summer Solstice

The party featured a branded orange balloon installation that served as a unique photo backdrop.
Photo: Courtesy of Aperol