You don’t need us to tell you that it’s tough out there.
It seems like as soon we begin to adjust to the new groove – social distancing, face masks, washing our hands like people possessed, you know the drill – then bam! another curveball comes along to give our mindsets a wobble. And just like that, we can get knocked off track.
Faith, hope and a whole lot of charity are what we all need to get us through these crazy times. Take London Cocktail Week for instance. Rather than cancel this year’s event, Hannah Sharman-Cox and Siobhan Payne are showing their faith in the industry by switching things up and bringing the focus and much-needed revenue to the capital’s bars – 10pm curfew or not.
Then there’s hope. We hear from Roisin Stimpson, Alastair Burgess, Dylan Bell and Imie Augier about the highs and lows, optimism, perseverance and empowerment that they’ve experienced during lockdown and beyond, and the hope that they have for the future.
And charity? Well, there are many examples of brands and bods doing good stuff throughout the pandemic. Kate Malczewski highlights just a few of them, while we check into the Hacienda Patrón to find out how good deeds are at the core of everything they do down Mexico way.
While we’ve kept things purposely London focused in this issue, we’ve made an exception in the case of Jad Ballout. When his bar Electric Bing Sutt was hit in the recent blast in Beirut, faith, hope and charity all came into play from all corners of the globe. We caught up with Jad to find out how they are pulling through.
No doubt there will be more challenges coming our way but let’s not lose hope. We’ve got to have faith for brighter days ahead. Until then be safe and remember, be charitable your favourite bars. They need you now more than ever.
Get the new issue
Bartenders, for your free digital edition please email us at mail@thecocktaillovers.com
