Mulled Wine – Spice Yourself Up This Christmas Mulled wine. It’s such a Christmas tradition, just like cards, trees and gift-giving. It’s a warming drink with a long history that’s made a welcome comeback in modern times. Sometimes known as spiced wine, it’s always served hot, whether indoors or outside, for example, at the European Christmas markets that have become …
International Drinks Days – a Calendar in progress
International Drinks Days – a Calendar in progress Have you noticed the increasing number of International Drinks Days? These are annual days dedicated to a grape variety, a cocktail, a spirit, or a beer. How did the idea of International Drinks Days arise? Do they have value besides clogging up your calendar or social media feeds? Are they of any …
Limoncello? How to make it yourself
Limoncello? How to make it yourself Shout out if you don’t like Limoncello. *silence* I thought so. Limoncello Limoncello is an Italian lemon digestivo, produced in Italy wherever lemons grow. Its origins are probably around the Amalfi Coast of Campania, south of Napoli. There, the large oval and sweet Sorrento lemon called Femminello Santa Teresa has a zest unusually high …
The Isle of Eigg
The Isle of Eigg The Isle of Eigg (Eilean Eige) is one of the Small Isles of Scotland and part of the Hebrides. It lies about 15 km off the west coast of Scotland, to the south of the Isle of Skye. It may only be about eight km long and five km wide, but it’s a singular place. This …
Gin the Ultimate Companion – New Book Review
Gin the Ultimate Companion – New Book Review Gin, the Ultimate Companion is a new book by Ian Buxton, published on 7 October 2021. The subtitle is “the essential guide to Gins, Flavours, Cocktails, Tonics and More”, and, as we shall see, it lives up to this description admirably. It may be the only book on gin that you’ll ever …
Amaro Montenegro – and a Favourite Quarantini
Amaro Montenegro – and a Favourite Quarantini Suppose Stanislao Cobianchi had followed his father’s wishes and become a Priest. In that case, we might never have had Amaro Montenegro, and the wonderful world of drinks would have been all the poorer. Fortunately for lovers of speciality drinks and cocktails, he preferred instead to go and explore the world. On his …
Caol Ila. Try a Dram on World Whisky Day
Caol Ila. Try a Dram on World Whisky Day Pronounce Caol Ila as Cull-eela, Gaelic for the “Sound of Islay”. It’s the name of a distillery on the northeast coast of the Scottish island of Islay. Islay or eela, as the late Iain Banks once wrote, “does not rhyme with outlay”. Islay has the distinction of being one of the five …
Kirkjuvagr Aurora – a Gin made for Winter
Kirkjuvagr Aurora – a Gin made for Winter When the current gin boom began some ten years ago, few would have wagered that it would still be continuing unabated today. Now there are more than 300 gin distilleries in the UK, double that of five years ago. This growth is due to the many new small artisan brands which major …
DeuS Brut des Flandres, a Belgian beer by Bosteels
DeuS Brut des Flandres, a Belgian beer by Bosteels The Belgians are master brewers, and their beers come in a wide range of styles, including the unique and unusual. One such beer is DeuS, brewed by the famous Bosteel Brouwerij, founded in 1791 in Flanders. Bosteels is at Buggenhout, between Ghent, Antwerp, and Brussels and is world-famous for it’s traditional Kwak …
F Scott Fitzgerald conjugated the word Cocktail
F Scott Fitzgerald conjugated the word Cocktail. F Scott Fitzgerald is best known for writing The Great Gatsby and Tender Is The Night, those magnificent novels of glamour, decadence and tragedy. He wrote other novels, short stories and letters. Meanwhile, his notes and lists collected ideas and impressions, ranging from the profound to the banal, including a list of thirteen ways …
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