THERE’S NO GETTING AWAY FROM IT – cognac has taken a pasting in duty free over the past couple of years.

The menu arrives. It’s what you’ve come to expect from the modern bar – banana butter fat washing, smoke-injected spirits, aromatic mists, lavender foam – except you are in Yangon.

The purchase of Bibendum PLB by Conviviality, operators of Bargain Booze, Wine Rack and wholesaler Matthew Clark, is another development in the continuing consolidation of the UK wine trade.

I know this sounds like the start of a joke, but I walked into a London pub the other day and asked for a pint of lime and soda.

There’s no doubt part of the attraction of natural wine, both for makers and consumers, is the anti-establishment image.

The Irish ambassador wasn’t just happy, he was positively beaming – and not just because he’d spent the previous hour sampling a range of whiskeys and other irish alcoholic drinks at the embassy in london.

David Williams Author and Columnist for UK National newspaper, The Observer.

You need deep pockets to make a buck in travel retail these days. 

They say there are lies, damned lies... and statistics. You betcha. The other day I spent an hour helping a Canadian statistics company check its results for the UK drinks market.

The relationship between a writer and  a public relations person is a little like that between a great white shark and a pilot fish. 

FOR SOMEBODY WHO WRITES ABOUT travel retail for a living I have to admit my purchases on the move are often rather modest. 

We all have our overused words. ‘Sorry’ inevitably takes this passive-aggressive Englishman’s top spot.

What does January have going for it? Not much in my experience – a sprinkling of quickly broken New Year’s resolutions, scrimping and saving after the Christmas festivities and, in the UK at least, grey skies and driving rain. 

It’s a bit of a labyrinth to get in but like an Egyptologist finally breaking into a pharoah’s tomb, it’s well worth the effort. The views are stunning and if my visit is anything to go by, the drinks and service are well worth experiencing as well.

Light, floral, sweet and fruity aren’t the first words that spring to mind when it comes to describing the city of Glasgow.

When the news emerged that Taittinger had become the first champagne house to take the plunge in the English wine business, the most immediately striking thing about it was how happy the natives were with the development.

THE STORY OF CHAMPAGNE Jayne v the Comité Interprofessionnel du vin de Champagne (CIVC) has all the makings of a film. Sadly, it wouldn’t be a fun frothy comedy like Champagne Charlie, that British wartime comedy that was named after the song inspired by the dandified founder of Charles Heidsieck.

So here we are again. At the back end of the year in the make or break season that will decide what sort of year our pubs, bars, clubs and restaurants are going to look back upon.

I would describe myself as a pretty traditional journalist, trained up to be suitably and sufficiently cynical and sceptical. Nevertheless, I cannot help but feel rather honoured to be yet again invited to a special tutored tasting with Johnnie Walker master blender Jim Beveridge.

Last month duty-free executives headed to the stunning Red Sea-based King Hussein Bin Talal Convention Centre for the annual Middle East & Africa Duty Free Association (MEADFA) Conference. Despite the spectacular setting, the mood there was likely to have been sombre.

An article in The New York Times exploring where to find the best duty free bargains in the Americas caught my eye recently.

What possessed me? I shouldn’t have done it. We’ve all been warned about going online at night, specially after a drink. I know where it’ll lead and how grubby and ashamed I will feel afterwards.

Business columnist Hamish Smith discusses whether Islamic countries could be the next growth engine of the drinks industry

It was during my first visit to Prowein in 2000 that I first came across the idea of discounters.

An early Monday morning, and the BBC radio newsreader has reached the final item of the 7am bulletin. As is the convention with any news story preceded with an “and finally”, the item is meant to signal a change of pace, offering some light relief. 

Monsieur Bates. Je suis ici!” shouts a leather-clad biker, gesticulating wildly outside the roar and bustle of the Gare du Nord on a sunny October morning.

A few years ago, on the day they banned cigarette smoking in the UK’s pubs, bars and restaurants, I was at a press conference with the new chairman of the Scotch Whisky Association.

Over the past year I have heard several people in the travel retail sector grandly refer to their business as the ‘sixth continent’, to underline just how important the channel has become to the drinks industry. 

After the "normalisation" of Cuban-American relations this summer, DI's business columunist Hamish Smith tells us when to expect the doors of bussiness to swing open and what it will mean for the rum industry

Despite some gloomy reactions among city analysts to Diageo’s full year results to June 2015, chief executive Ivan Menezes was very upbeat at his briefing to journalists and city analysts in a top London restaurant today (July 30).

Drinks International's editor Christian Davis on Jameson's bottle your own initiative.

Drinks International's editor Christian Davis was at Diageo's half-year results briefing.

Patience Gould sees in the new year with a Sunset Boulevardier – and celebrates the latest from Chivas Regal

Or does it just need to be pumped up, asks Ian Harris – CEO of WSET

Patience Gould assesses what’s going on as things shake up in the tequila and Irish whiskey categories

Patience Gould witnesses an historic moment in Bombay Sapphire’s history – and raises her glass to the company behind the brand

Patience Gould gets to grips with her new favourite read – and wishes she could ask the author some questions regarding the world’s current state

Patience Gould is entranced by Cointreau’s literary offering – and its contribution to her new favourite drink, the Margarita

Another one of those low key informal briefings this time revolving around the new Johnnie Walker expression: John Walker Private Collection 2014. As has become customary, held in London’s Soho, officiated over by Diageo’s head of whisky outreach, Nick Morgan and in the hot seat a jet and train-lagged master distiller, Jim Beveridge.

As the Scottish referendum looms, Patience Gould ponders the possible fate of the scotch whisky industry if EU membership is lost

It’s hard to know what Diageo is really thinking. But sat at the trade tasting of Haig Club in London yesterday, I had a glimpse into its inner workings.

Hamish Smith was at The Distillers City Debate, where the future of rum was the topic of discussion