More and more spirits also doing charitable work. England's Whitley Neill Gin has created "The Whitley Neill Top of the Tree Challenge" cocktail competition to raise money for UK-based charity, Tree Aid, which supports African communities. UK bartenders will be creating cocktails involving the gin and at least one other ingredient which has derived from a tree. The cocktails will be available until August 1 and the bars will donate money from each cocktail sold to the Whitley Neill Planting Project in Africa.

Whitley Neill Gin already donates five per cent of the proceeds of each bottle sold to Tree Aid. Tree Aid focuses on the poorest sub-Sahel villages where 90 per cent of the population depends on trees including the Baobab, which is a signature botanical in Whitley Neill. The gin was launched in 2005 and is produced in small batches in an antique copper pot still and contains two African botanicals, baobab fruit and Cape gooseberries. It sells for around $30.