Rum’s journey into the hearts, minds and mouths of consumers is a well-rehearsed one. You look at the origin and history of the spirit, you find the classic cocktails that stem from this history and then you… what? Rum is arguably ready for the next phase. We enjoyed the fun thing and the Sailors, Bats and Captains that went with it. Then many…

Dear lord, will your grace know that I send your grace some water with messenger Jon Teiste which is called aqua vite and the same water helps for all his illness that a man can have internally.” This letter, sent in 1531 from a Danish lord, Eske Bille, lord of Bergenshus castle, to Olav Engelbrektsson, the last Roman Catholic Archbishop of Norway is…

HAVING HARVESTED A THIRD MEAGRE VINTAGE in what is already one of the lowest-yielding wine regions in the world, Roussillon winemakers might well be thinking there are easier ways to make a living.  As the 2013 vintage settles in tanks and barrels, expectations are of a 29hl/ha yield, which is well below average for the French Catalonia region. To offer a little context,…

Consumers have become a precious bunch. At one time all that was required of a bottle of whisky was for it to look like a bottle of whisky. It had to stand tall and look round. That was it.  Now the brief is uniformly non-uniform. ‘Bespoke’ ‘personalised’ ‘experiential’ and ‘interactive’ are the gush words of today’s meetings of marketers. But these are not…

It is nigh-on impossible not to get swept up by the enthusiasm for Irish whiskey. The sector is booming, with volume up approximately 10% and value up 17% (IWSR/industry estimates). Basically, the distillers and brand owners cannot make enough of the Emerald Isle’s amber nectar. As well as the enthusiasm there is the bonhomie, seemingly genuine interest in each other’s progress. At the…

It’s easy to ignore vodka. You put it with cola and you taste cola. You put it with orange and you taste, well, you get the idea. If you’re an elite bar, you’re probably more excited about gin when it comes to white spirits for classic cocktails. Some bars even famously (well, famous within the industry) shun the drink altogether. Top New York bar…

The world’s first female master blender in Scotch whisky, Rachel Barrie, was originally destined for the medical profession – but her nose scuppered that particular line of work.  “I left school to study medicine and realised I had a very sensitive sense of smell. When I started doing anatomy and carving up dead bodies I realised it was not for me – the…