Richard Branson announced a new partnership for Virgin Galactic!
Grey Goose, the world’s leading super premium vodka, announced last night its official partnership with Virgin Galactic, the world’s first commercial passenger flight into space. Formed from a shared philosophy that extraordinary achievement comes from acting on your beliefs, the partnership was revealed by Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides, Global Category Director Premium White Spirits Ben Farlow and Grey Goose Creator and Maître de Chai François Thibault, at the Rose Space Center and Planetarium in New York.
The event kicked off with a lively cocktail hour, where invited guests piled into the Hall of the Universe beneath the Hayden Planetarium to await the official announcement of the groundbreaking partnership. A giant screen flanking the space counted down the minutes and seconds to the big moment, when finally, Sir Richard Branson jumped onto the stage with a Grey Goose Le Fizz cocktail in hand to officially toast the partnership.
Later in the evening, Sir Richard Branson introduced Virgin Disruptors, a thought leadership series supported by The Virgin Group. A panel of disruptive minds in the travel industry will debate “The Future of Travel: Are We Moving Fast Enough?” The conversation was facilitated by social media as well as Rachel Crane, Digital Correspondent at CNN. Since the conversation was about the future of travel, subjects ranged from fixing the problem of vehicular traffic to ensuring efficiency during space travel.
During the panel discussion, Sir Richard was asked what the inspiration was for Virgin Galactic, one of the first commercial space travel companies, he responded, “[Virgin Galactic] came out of frustration”, He was disappointed NASA never commercialized the technology, so he felt it was his job to do it. Bertrand Piccard corroborated with, saying the technology always existed; someone just needed to find it and redevelop it. When asked if sustainability should come before innovation, at this point in history, responses were uniform across the panel: sustainability must be a part of innovation. Bertrand Piccard suggested sustainability has a finite point of perfection; a perfected sustainable system is possible through innovation. Once ultimate sustainability is achieved, innovation can resume or remain at breakneck speed. Consumers, according to Jerry Sanders, will dictate the industry’s movement in terms of sustainability, that is both pace and innovation. If it is expectation by the buying public, then industry must follow through and provide. It’s basic capitalism. The panel weaved from topic to topic, but always kept a focus on travel and innovation. And of course, these are tenants of Virgin Group’s vision.
GREY GOOSE Galactic Martini
Ingredients
50 ml GREY GOOSE vodka
10 ml Noilly Prat dry vermouth
5 ml Alsatian framboise eau de vie (40% ABV)
1 lemon twist
3 raspberries on a GREY GOOSE pick
Method
Chill glass.
Add GREY GOOSE vodka, vermouth and raspberry eau de vie.
Throw 4 times. Strain and zest and discard the lemon.
Garnish with raspberries, slightly sprinkled with cracked pepper.
GREY GOOSE Beyond the Clouds
Ingredients:
60 ml GREY GOOSE vodka – chilled
125 ml Raspberry Juice
Pinch of cracked black pepper
50 ml of water with 3-4 drops of food grade Ethyl Formate
1 Ice Ball
Method:
Add Ice ball to glass.
If using a cloud pourer fill the base with water and food grade Ethyl Formate.
Fill capsule with dry ice.
Pour food grade Ethyl Formate Cloud into glass and let hover.
Ritually, pour the chilled GREY GOOSE through the cloud to part it.
Top with Raspberry Juice and freshly cracked black pepper (from a peppermill)
-Benjamin Schmidt
