Week in pictures

Our latest pictorial review of life in the drinks industry takes in Burns Night, Desmond Payne, lots of Champagne and Kermit the Frog. Yes, Kermit the Frog!

A glamourous blonde bagpiper signals the arrival of the haggis at the Whisky Exchange’s Burns Night dinner at Vinopolis in London, which included some colourful recitals of the bard’s poems, from, among others, a New Yorker and an Aussie.

Bright young things Jonray and Peter Sanchez-Iglesias, the Anglo-Spanish brothers at the helm of Michelin-starred Spanish restaurant Casamia in Bristol, lead a gastronomy workshop at the G.H. Mumm & Perrier-Jouët Champagne Assembly, where the same food was sampled at different temperatures to see how it affects the flavour profile of the dish and effectiveness as a pairing for Champagne

Bottles of Mumm and Perrier-Jouet reflected in an ornate silver Champagne bucket at the Mumm/Perrier Jouët Champagne Assembley at the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel in King’s Cross.

Oxford emerged as The University Wine Champions 2012, in a competition organised by Wine Australia as part of last week’s Australia Day celebrations in London. (l-r) Contestants Ren Lim and George Scratcherd; quiz host Sarah Ahmed; contestant James Flewellen; Yvonne May, director of Wine Australia UK, Europe and Ireland

Karen Fullerton, global brand ambassador for Glenmorangie, presents the new Glenmorangie Artein release at the opening of the stunning Glenmorangie Signet Room on the 38th floor of the Gherkin in London.

Situated just two floors from the summit of the 180-foot high tower, the Glenmorangie Signet Room offers a spectacular setting for corporate events, meetings and hospitality in the heart of the City.

Tamra Washington, chief winemaker at Yealands Estate in the Awatere Valley in Marlborough, New Zealand, shares a joke with Charles Metcalfe at a Yealands lunch at The Modern Pantry, run by the recently-honoured, New Zealand-raised Anna Hansen MBE

Desmond Payne, master distiller at Beefeater gin, looks on as cocktails are prepared in the Jubjub bar at east London venue Callooh Callay.

Bibendum’s brightly-coloured head honcho Willie Lebus congratulates Quo Vadis’ theatrical new chef, Jeremy Lee, formely of the Blueprint Café, at a wine dinner showcasing a sprinkling of the winemaking talent present at the importer’s annual tasting.

A pair of Scotch bards passionately recite Robert Burns poems at the Whisky Exchange’s epic Burns Night dinner at Vinopolis in London Bridge

The view from Accolade Wines’ hospitality box at the National Television Awards at the O2 in London. If you squint hard enough you might be able to make out Bruce Forsyth singing on stage with fellow TV presenters Ant and Dec.

A lifetime’s ambition of db‘s was fulfilled when we got to see Kermit the Frog, live in person (well, puppet) on the stage at the National Television Awards. Accolade provided the wines for the VIP after party, to which Kermit might well have been invited, but db wasn’t.

And finally… if you drink too much Ginger Joe alcoholic ginger beer you could grow a moustache – just like db‘s Alan Lodge as the O2 arena empties out at the end of the National TV Awards.