#WeekInPictures: rum for International Women’s Day, Champagne in Aÿ and a new non alcohol brew
From London panels and Rosewood roundtables to cellars in Champagne and a brewery launch in America, the week offered a wide sweep of conversations around drinks, hospitality and the people shaping them.
Don Papa marks International Women’s Day
Don Papa Rum hosted the UK launch of its Masskara edition in London to coincide with International Women’s Day. The evening centred on a panel discussion with women working across the drinks world, including Eron Mibo of Tales & Tails UK, Anna Sebastian of Anna Sebastian Hospitality and Cri Molina, global marketing and innovations manager at Diageo.
The rum takes inspiration from the MassKara Festival in Bacolod, Philippines. Made from sugarcane grown on Negros Island and aged three years in American oak, it is finished with Philippine honey, calamansi lime and Siling Labuyo chilli. It will arrive in Sainsbury’s in April.
A new non-alcoholic beer from familiar faces
George Clooney, Rande Gerber, and Mike Meldman introduced Crazy Mountain, a non-alcoholic beer designed for outdoor living. The launch followed a teasing campaign on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, where pixelated billboards hinted at the trio’s involvement.
Brewed in the United States, the beer aims to keep the ritual and sociability of drinking while leaving the morning after untouched.
Bollinger opens a new cellar in Aÿ
A dinner in Aÿ marked two unveilings by Champagne Bollinger: the release of La Grande Année 2018 and the opening of its new barrel vault overlooking the ungrafted Clos Saint-Jacques. The vast, near-ecclesiastical hall will hold 5,000 barrels. Dinner here, by César Troisgros and Léo Troisgros of Maison Troisgros, featured langoustines poached in just-disgorged La Grande Année 2018. The vintage, shaped by a sodden start then fierce summer heat, showed pineapple edged with saline drive in the Brut, while the rosé draws structure from red wine from La Côte aux Enfants. Nearby, the restoration of Maison Dueil advances as Bollinger prepares its own hotel and spa ahead of the house’s 2029 bicentenary.
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Dom Pérignon and the art of blending
Vincent Chaperon spoke just after completing the 2025 blend for Dom Pérignon, describing the work as a dance in which ‘Mother Nature gave us a playground’. Since 2008, the house has held parcels apart – now more than one hundred single lieu-dits and climats – until the final blend, so each plot sounds its own note. Recent wines show the range: the immense, reductive, Chardonnay-led 2017, only 15% of the usual volume and Chaperon’s first alongside Richard Geoffroy; the now graceful P2 2008, floral and blotter-dry; and the saline, serious Rosé 2010, built with around 10% red wine from dedicated plots. In the vineyards, rows of vines are now threaded with some thirty species of fruit trees.
Bath celebrates with Witchmark
Witchmark Distillery appeared among the sponsors of the Bath Life Awards 2026 at The Forum in Bath. Each winner left the stage with a bottle of Bath Rugby x Witchmark London Dry Gin, produced by the Wiltshire distillery.
Women in hospitality gather at Rosewood
At Rosewood London, assistant bar manager Nora Foldvari hosted an afternoon of roundtable discussions focused on women in global hospitality. Speakers included Kaitlin Wilkes of The Ada Coleman Project, Kelly Villareal of Four Seasons Riyadh’s Tonic Bar, Priyanka Blah of BCB Berlin and The World’s 50 Best Bars, Raissa de Haas of Double Dutch and Amanda Wan of Three X Co.
The day closed with a courtyard reception before an evening bar takeover from the Three X Co team.
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