There are shows for everything. Wine shows, beer shows, trade shows, press launches etc. etc. etc. ... it's enough to drive you to drink! And this may seem hard to believe but there's only so much free booze you can sample before you want to give up a head for bed with a hot chocolate. However, there is one congregation that I'm glad I joined and that is the Boutique Bar Show. The Boutique Bar Show is a sort of travelling circus of top-end, specialist, small producer spirits and mixers aimed at those trendy bars that would probably not let me in if it weren't for a press card!

So off I went to the misnamed Camden Centre. Misnamed because it's actually rather lovely. There I found lovely people who are all excited about doing all sorts of new things with cocktails. I love young people, they think they've invented the whole world all over again.

I had the pleasure of speaking with Athene from the Southwestern Distillary, various gorgeous chaps from the East London Liquor Company, Nick from U'Luvka Vodka, Dominic from Wild Geese Wiskey, Tom from Old J Rum, Nick from Nardini, Caroline from Bespoke Barware and Mike from the Bartenders Guild. And generally we all had a great time.