Monkey Shoulders Grant Neave has received a final warning after a run in with Head of Whisky Mark Collins.
Reports have emerged from a BarLifeUK source at Monkey Shoulder that a showdown meeting between Grant and Mr Collins has resulted in a final warning being issued. Despite the disciplinary action we believe that Grant has ignored the issues at hand and continued with the very event that prompted the meeting.
The Ultimate Bartender Challenge is seen by the executive board as a step too far in the promotion of the Monkey Shoulder brand. They were allegedly horrified that last years winning team served a cocktail which saw their premium spirit being mixed with Buckfast.
The fact that the winning team profited from this drink at London Cocktail Week, at a bar paid for by Monkey Shoulder, to the tune of £12,500 is also said to be a bone of contention. The cost of this activity combined with Grant’s ‘blatant disregard for proper procedure’ caused a series of meetings amongst the hierarchy.
However our source revealed that just minutes after the meeting, which came with a warning that the Ultimate Bartender Challenge must be reigned in, Grant met with Global Brand Ambassador Dean Callan and began to plan a bigger and more extravagant Ultimate Bartender Challenge for 2016.
Our investigations have uncovered a series of high profile industry figures in the form of Iain Griffiths, Bobby Hiddleston, Alastair Burgess and Mike Aikman have been contacted by Grant & Dean to assist with the challenge which is rumoured to have been extended to 12 heats across the country. This news is sure to infuriate Mr Collins who was unavailable for comment at the time of going to press.
BarLifeUK is confident that this is not the end of this story, which is sure to run and run as Grant & Dean continue their unique take on Brand Am-badass-ador work in blatant disregard to the wishes of their superiors. It remains to be seen whether this years Ultimate Bartender Challenge will prove to be the making or end of Grant Neave.
Our investigation is ongoing and we will bring you more news as we discover it.