Jawbox Gin unveils record breaking 915-measure bottle June 2, 2021 Size matters when it comes to gin. With the market saturated with small batch artisans all trying to out-botanicalise each other, one distillery has decided to go in the opposite direction, producing the world’s largest gin bottle. Northern Ireland’s Jawbox Gin has unveiled a 73cm tall, 32 litre, 915 measure Jawbox Giant’s Edition containing the [...]
Scots look away – the best whisky in the world is made in Taiwan June 1, 2021 The best whisky in the world is made in Taiwan by a company that started off making mosquito repellent and root beer. The King Car Group’s Kavalan 10th Anniversary Sky Gold Wine Cask Matured Single Cask Single Malt Whisky has just been named “Best of the Best” single malt at the recent Tokyo Whisky & [...]
How Welsh whisky is taking a sip of Scotland’s favourite dram June 1, 2021 North Wales is celebrating the opening of its latest distillery and the release of the first Welsh whisky in over a hundred years. Gwynedd’s Aber Falls Distillery, which used to be a slate works, a margarine factory and a drinks wholesaler depot, has launched its Inaugural Release, a non-age statement single malt made from 100 [...]
Another defence of Chardonnay, which is better than you think May 28, 2021 Last week our wonderful wine columnist Libby Zietsman-Brodie weighed in in defense of Chardonnay, a grape variety often wrongly maligned by people who know enough about wine to have an opinion but not enough to have a correct opinion. And quite right she was, so I though I’d throw my two cents’ worth in too, [...]
This new pasta delivery service might help you live to 100 May 26, 2021 “Blue Zones” are those parts of the world where the people have unusually long life expectancy. There’s the Greek island of Ikaria, which has the lowest middle age mortality in the world; Japan’s Okinawa tropical island, which boasts the world’s longest lived women; California’s Loma Linda, where Seventh Day Adventists rely on a biblical diet [...]
Why the Isle of Man is the new hotness for small-batch spirits May 25, 2021 In an old milking shed at Ballakelly Farm in Andreas on the Isle of Man, a new F&B scene is being created. The Manx Outlier movement even has its own manifesto, written by two gentlemen from Surrey. “We are based at an outlying point of the Isle of Man, which is itself an outlier of [...]
Drinking around the world: The rise and rise of Thai wine May 24, 2021 Producing over a million bottles a year, Thailand is a little known but increasingly adept wine producing region. Vines have been planted there since the 1960s despite the humid tropical climate and the Thai portfolio is now considered by many as the ultimate in “New Latitude wines”. Thailand’s dominant grape variety known as the Malaga [...]
Forget Angelina Jolie: Support bees this week by drinking rum May 21, 2021 If you hadn’t already gathered from the pictures all over the internet of Angelina Jolie covered in bees – well, more of a smattering than a covering to be fair – this week is Bee Awareness Week, when the plight of the bee should be foremost in our minds. Wyre Forest’s eco-distiller Wildjac’s Honey Spiced [...]
Somebody wrote a symphony about this Arctic Circle distillery May 13, 2021 Booze experts have long sung the praises of Scandinavian spirits but Norwegian composer Alexander Aaroen Pederson has gone one step further, writing a 45-minute symphony inspired by the world’s most northerly distillery, located 350km north of the Arctic Circle. Aurora Spirit opened in 2016 under the name “Bivrost”, which means Shaking Path, a reference to [...]
Now we know what tonic the Queen puts in her royal gin May 13, 2021 Royal warrants have been issued since the 15th century to supply the royal court and royal personages with swag. The Queen has granted 686 Royal Warrants, the Prince of Wales 159, and The Duke of Edinburgh 38. This week Devon’s Luscombe’s Drinks became the official supplier of mixers. Buckingham Palace already has its own gin [...]