_______________________________________________ CREAM LIQUEURS AS a category has historically suffered from the perception that it is staid, only seasonal, and lacking in innovation, but, by its very nature, cream always rises to the top, and this year has seen a major shift in its fortunes. Diageo’s Baileys, the standout market leader by a very large margin, grew 6% last year, with growth…
___________________________________ GIN AND VERMOUTH go together like rama lamma lamma ka dinga da dinga dong, which, if it wasn’t a lyric from a nonsensical song in the musical Grease, could easily be the latest obscure botanical in either of the aforementioned drinks. Gin, as we all know, is currently everyone’s favourite spirit and it’s now also being credited with helping to…
______________________________ IF VODKA WAS A teenager it would probably have spent the past few years sulking in its bedroom, writing bad poetry about the unfairness of gin getting all the attention while it, the most mixable of all spirits and the biggest global category by far, was failing in column inches – at least favourable ones. After all, gin just tastes…
_____________________________ THE LEXICON OF tequila is changing. Where once it was about the shot, now it’s about the sip. Where a gulp led to a grimace, now it’s a grin. Where the taste was sharp, now it’s smooth. This is not merely semantics either – although ‘premium’, ‘super-premium’ and ‘ultra-premium’ are words liberally bandied about by producers…
____________________________________________ WITH AGRICOLE WIDELY TIPPED to be one of the new pack leaders for rum, it’s only fitting it should have a champion to ride it to the head of the field – and Switzerland’s Dirk Hany obliged when he won the first Clément Ti’ Punch Cup competition. In an epic three-round final at Clément’s stunning Martinique home, Hany scooped the…
With agricole widely tipped to be one of the new pack leaders for rum, it’s only fitting it should have a champion to ride it to the head of the field – and Switzerland’s Dirk Hany obliged when he won the first Clément Ti’ Punch Cup competition. In an epic three-round final at Clément’s stunning Martinique home on Friday night, Hany scooped the trophy after…
Quito may be the city where hemispheres collide, but Ecuador’s capital is itself of two distinct halves. The cultural epicentre that is the Old Town, flanked by soaring mountains and watched over by a benevolent Virgin Mary who is revered for her miracle performing, is a maze of cobbled hills teeming with museums, galleries, coffee stores and vendors of hot corn comestibles. Restaurants abound, but…
The two-day show, put together by Chris Grotvedt of The Thief hotel bar, featured an industry fair running alongside seminars from luminaries of the bar world such as cocktail historian Jared Brown, Jake Burger of Portobello gin, top bartender Monica Berg, Aquavit expert Halvor Heuch and Happiness Forgets’ Alistair Burgess. Pop-up bars came courtesy of famous names Dead Rabbit, Happiness Forgets, American Bar, Bohemia Bar…
The awards, created to promote Norway’s cocktail bar scene, were the culmination of a two-day show organised by The Thief Hotel head barman Chris Grotvedt and held at the five-star hotel overlooking Oslo fjord. Best New Bar Opening of the five nominated on Facebook was Oslo’s Himkok, while The Thief came top of 14 nominated bars in the Best Cocktail Programme Award. Jorgen Dons, of En…
When the heavens opened on the harvest in the Douro this September, the sense of frustration was almost as uncomfortable as the persistent rain that was causing it. For the first half of the harvest it had been smiles all round, with high-quality grapes tempting the promise of a vintage declaration. Apparently, some great wines have been made with those grapes.
