Summer is an ideal time for beverage brands to creatively engage with consumers through events, and this year, many brands went above and beyond the average rooftop cocktail party. From Stella Artois’s fleet of mini yachts in New York’s East River to Kahlúa’s exhibit celebrating Instagram photos with zero likes, here’s a look at some of the most innovative and unusual event ideas from drink brands this season.
Grey Goose x Surf Lodge Pop-Up

Grey Goose took Montauk to Brooklyn with a pop-up that brought beach venue the Surf Lodge’s summer concert series to the roof of the Williamsburg Hotel. The event offered guests custom towels to use, which displayed colorful imagery of surfboards. Grey Goose tapped Epsilon to produce and design the event.
Photo: Angela Pham/BFA.com

The event served cocktails inspired by Montauk, displayed on rustic beach signs. Event decor included a wooden, geometric goose.
Photo: Angela Pham/BFA.com

Cocktails were served on branded life preserver rings.
Photo: Angela Pham/BFA.com

Colorful surfboards served as a deconstructed photo wall for guests.
Photo: Angela Pham/BFA.com

Guests could take home Polaroids in branded frames that displayed the name of the event.
Photo: Angela Pham/BFA.com

The event featured a post filled with directional signs to beach destinations, with the brand’s hashtag #LiveVictoriously featured in the middle.
Photo: Angela Pham/BFA.com
Belvedere and Janelle Monáe’s ‘A Beautiful Future’ Event

Belvedere partnered with musician and actress Janelle Monáe to launch “A Beautiful Future,” a digital series that aims to empower creative women. To celebrate the collaboration, the brand tapped Shiraz Creative to produce and design an event at the Shed in New York in June. The event featured a “glowing portal” that served as a popular photo op.
Photo: Courtesy of Belvedere

Guests including Janelle Monáe posed with hanging microphones.
Photo: Courtesy of Belvedere

The event centerpiece was a tower of vodka bottles surrounded by a spiral displaying the name of the collaboration.
Photo: Courtesy of Belvedere
Stella Artois East River Riviera

For a week in July and August, Stella Artois gave New Yorkers an alternative commute option by launching a fleet of French Riviera-style Riva boats. Consumers could sign up online to ride in the two-person boats, which transported commuters between Pier 25 in Manhattan and Pier 5 in Brooklyn. Bait Shoppe produced the activation.
Photo: Courtesy of Stella Artois

At each pier, brand ambassadors handed guests complimentary Stella Artois from mini environments inspired by the French Riviera.
Photo: Craig Barritt/Getty Images for Stella Artois
Bar Aperol

Aperol hosted a monthlong pop-up bar in Toronto in July. The event served guests Aperol Spritz cocktails and an Italian aperitivo food menu, and also offered branded activities such as foosball. The brand partnered with experiential agency Embr and the Taylor Group to produce and design the pop-up.
Photo: Courtesy of Aperol
Meiomi Pinot Putt Off

To celebrate the launch of Meiomi as the official wine of the P.G.A. Tour, the wine brand held a golf-theme event at Golf & Body N.Y.C. in June. Guests could pose for photos on grass in front of a step-and-repeat created with succulents. The wall was designed by LaForce and ES Blooms.
Photo: Benjamin Lozovsky/BFA.com

Take-home treats for guests included cookies frosted with the brand logo and cookies shaped like golf bags and golf balls. The cookies were created by Cades Cakes.
Photo: Benjamin Lozovsky/BFA.com
Patrón #SimplyPerfect Summer Cabanas

Through Labor Day, guests at the Faena Hotel Miami Beach, Mondrian South Beach, and 1 Hotel South Beach in Miami can have Patrón cocktails and food pairings delivered to their cabanas via Alexa. The tequila brand has partnered with Amazon Echo to provide poolside Alexas; the brand also launched an “Ask Patrón” feature for home devices, with cocktail suggestions, gift recommendations, and tequila facts.
Photo: Courtesy of Patron
Kahlúa's Zero Likes Given

Coffee-flavored liqueur brand Kahlúa opened a pop-up exhibition in New York that celebrated photos posted on Instagram that received zero likes. The July exhibition was inspired by the brand’s survey of millennials, in which more than 90 percent said it’s important to live in the moment; more than 60 percent said it was important that their photos get likes; and more than half missed an important moment because they were trying to capture it on social media. Kahlúa partnered with Orange Is the New Black actress Jackie Cruz to host the launch of the pop-up, which was open to the public.
Photo: Noam Galai/Getty Images for Kahlua's Zero Likes Given

Photos with zero likes were displayed in a gallery-like setting. To complement the event, Kahlúa created the #BottomNine website for consumers to generate their nine least liked images on Instagram. The brand partnered with Droga5 for the activation.
Photo: Noam Galai/Getty Images for Kahlua's Zero Likes Given
The Chillhouse x Ketel One Botanical Pop-Up

Ketel One partnered with self-care destination Chillhouse to launch pop-ups at New York Pilates in Montauk and the Lower East Side in Manhattan, open every weekend in July and August. The pop-ups offer guests manicures and pedicures, with the option to add nail art inspired by three Ketel One Botanical varietals: peach and orange blossom, cucumber and mint, and grapefruit and rose.
Photo: Courtesy of Chillhouse Nail Designs
The Macallan Estate Open House Event

Whiskey brand the Macallan debuted its new spirit, the Macallan Estate, with an interactive event in June at the 40 Riverside Drive townhouse in New York. The event featured a photo booth inspired by barley fields in Scotland, highlighting the barley grown on the brand’s Easter Elchies estate. TH Productions produced the event and the Bosco provided the photo booth.
Photo: Ian Zelaya/BizBash

The event featured a mini replica of the brand’s Scotland estate.
Photo: Sam Ortiz

For tastings, guests could grab their own glasses in branded, luxe lockers.
Photo: Jónatan Prosper
Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic

The 12th annual Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic took place in June at Liberty State Park in New York. The champagne brand partnered with Overland Entertainment to produce and design the event, which featured fans, flowers, and pillows in the brand’s signature orange color.
Photo: Matteo Prandoni/BFA.com
Maison St-Germain

St-Germain held its third annual summer solstice celebration in June at Greenpoint Terminal Warehouse in Brooklyn. The brand partnered with ManscapersNY and the Gathery to create a 12-ton elderflower meadow that spanned 1,200 square feet. The meadow featured 1,000 elderflowers, highlighting the brand’s tagline of having 1,000 elderflower blossoms in every bottle. See more: See How St-Germain Brought a Floating Meadow to Brooklyn
Photo: Benjamin Lozovsky
Skyy Vodka at L.A. Pride

Skyy Vodka celebrated its Proudly American campaign with a “Home of the Brave”-theme reflective photo op at the L.A. Pride Festival. We Are Swell designed the structure, which featured a colorful Ferris wheel. See more: Pride 2019: 28 Thoughtful and Colorful Ways Brands Supported the L.G.B.T.Q. Community
Photo: Courtesy of Skyy Vodka