Dancing, writing and making drinks are just some of the artistic elements to Seed Library’s La’Mel Clarke, whose reputation as one of the industry’s up and coming stars is gathering pace. Earlier this year the Londoner was nominated for Emerging Bartender of the Year at the annual Class Bar Awards.

Beam, the US-based global premium spirits company, has announced that Arthur Aroney will join the organisation as managing director of Emerging Markets for its Asia Pacific/South America (APSA) region.

The importance of the so-called emerging markets such as those in China, India, was underlined by the Pernod Ricard management  team in individual briefings in London today (Tuesday September 6), following the announcement of the group’s annual results last week.

Diageo has cited ‘emerging markets’ as a reason for its positive results – including 16% growth in scotch whisky in emerging markets.