The week in pictures

In whiskey business, Jameson took a group of Irish whiskey fans to the “world’s highest bar” in Namche Bazaar, Nepal, ahead of St Patrick’s Day on 17 March.

The Irish Pub at Namche Bazaar is located 3,440m above sea level, in the Himalayan Mountains, and is the last stop before Everest Base Camp.

On Thursday (12 March), the Nepalese government announced it would cancel all climbing permits from 14 March until 30 April in an effort to prevent any further spreading of Covid-19 (coronavirus).

In beer news, hundreds of brewers and F&B managers laughed in the face of contagions this week and headed to Liverpool for the Society of Independent Brewers’ (SIBA) annual trade show BeerX.

db arrived on Thursday 12 March for day two of the event, which saw the funder of New England-based brewer Trillium, J.C. Tetrault, give the keynote speech before SIBA’s AGM.

The event was somewhat subdued due to coronavirus fears. Tetrault delivered his speech via a Skype call rather than flying from the US to attend the fair, while some brewers mentioned to us there were around 12 suppliers who would normally exhibit at the festival who were notably absent.

SIBA announced on Monday the show would go on with some emergency measures in place. Servers were asked to wear protective gloves at the bar, while guests were told not to re-use their beer chalices, and handshaking was banned altogether.

“It’s all too easy for large corporations to exercise caution”, Ian Fozzard, SIBA’s chairman, told members who attended the AGM on Thursday morning, but argued the trade show for small brewers had to go ahead because “if the worst happens, the major losers will be small producers.”

“What sort of message would we have sent out to our members if we had been overcautious?”

Speaking to db later in the day, James Calder, SIBA’s chief executive, said things were going pretty well all things considered. Attendees were sticking to the rules and not shaking hands, glasses were being passed behind the bar, and more than a few were carrying their own hand sanitiser for extra caution.

“we need to look at final numbers in terms of footfall. That matters to some people, not others, i think it’s gone very well actually. Most people have been very sensible, they’ve been pragmatic, they were washing their hands.”

“The brewing industry is tough at the moment and events like these bring people together. If we’d had to cancel it like we thought a lot of people would have been very upset.

On Thursday, members of the UK drinks industry attended The Benevolent’s annual fundraiser at the Natural History Museum, raising over £43,000 for the charity on the night and pledges are still being received.

Chairman Michael Saunders and CEO, Ross Carter, unveiled the new name for the charity, The Drinks Trust, as well as revealing a new logo, new website and its objectives for the years ahead.

Wine personality extraordinaire Olly Smith Smith compered the evening, and was also announced as one of the founding patrons of The Drinks Trust, by Tom Yusef, previous Chair of The Benevolent and now the charity’s lead patron.

Yusef and Smith are to be joined as patrons by Matthew Rhys, Hollywood actor and star of The Wine Show, and Jancis Robinson.

In good causes, Scotch producer Glenmorangie has declared a three-year partnership with the Giraffe Conservation Foundation (GCF) and the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS), to support efforts to protect giraffes in the wild in Africa and provide a habitat for the animals at Edinburgh Zoo.

Edinburgh Zoo will open a new giraffe enclosure this summer, which aid conservation in the wild through genetic research to support GCF’s translocation efforts, and raise visitors’ awareness of the threats facing the species.

In knees ups, db‘s Rupert Millar joined over 200 people at the Hanson Hotel in London’s King’s Cross on Tuesday 10 March for the Washington Wine annual tasting.

Better still, roughly 150 made it to the after party which included vintage magnums from Washington, a live karaoke band led by Joe Wadsack, and an “amazing” rendition of Sweet Caroline by writer Jamie Goode and president of Washington Wine, Steve Warner (pictured here in the moment).

In more beer news, pub group J.D. Wetherspoon is launching an all-female beer festival later this month.

From 25 March to 5 April, all the beers the pub chain serves over the course of the festival will have been brewed exclusively by female brewers from the UK and overseas, with offers from as far afield as Canada, Australia and New Zealand

Brewers being highlighted include Belinda Gould of Brew Moon Brewing Co in New Zealand, Lisa Matthews from Scottish producer Harviestoun, Sara Barton of Brewster’s Brewery in Lincolnshire – the first woman to win the Brewer of the Year award from the British Guild of Beer Writers – and Dawn Baldry, quality manager at Suffolk’s historic Adnams brewery.

(Photo: Simon Williams)

Reims-based Champagne Castelnau supported the UK’s biggest celebrity current affairs quiz night with a jeroboam of Champagne Castelnau Brut Réserve NV, which was signed by the likes of artist and author Grayson Perry at the event and auctioned in aid of charity.

The Ultimate News Quiz was established 14 years ago by BBC Radio 4’s Martha Kearney, and is held every year to raise money for the children’s charities Action for Children and Restless Development.

This year the event on 5 March raised £188,000 for the charities Presenter and broadcaster Jeremy Vine, whose team went on to claim the trophy, also got his hands on the jeroboam.

In rum deals, a very rare bottle made history in a €2.4 million auction lot at the Habanos Festival.

The final lot auctioned at the 22nd edition of the festival included a bottle of Havana Club 1519 edition, offered alongside a 5-foot tall cabinet humidor filled with 550 Cuban Cohiba cigars.

Pernod Ricard created the rum last year to honour the rum distillery’s 500th anniversary. Just 500 bottles were produced last year.

The winning bidder, Li Thet from China, pushed the total raised hat evening to $4.7 million (£3.73 million).