> VODKA COMES IN ALL FORMS, as we know. Pure and international. Local and characteristic. And then there are flavours – aren’t things getting a bit silly when we start getting wedding cake, cotton candy, cookie dough and chocolate? Has there been a mass defection of creatives from Häagen Dazs and Ben & Jerry’s to vodka companies? Absolut has been…

p> Mikaël Silvestre, the French international central defender, is now 34 so the end is in sight for his footballing days. For all the glamour and wealth among the top flight, the career of a footballer is a relatively short one. You break into the first team squad (assuming you’re good enough and lucky enough), maybe have a few injuries and, before you…

THERE ARE TWO SUITCASES next to the bar. The ’tenders aren’t off to some exotic location, this is just their kit for today’s competition. Silver punch bowls, an absinthe louche, antique shakers and glassware are unloaded, then comes an enormous block of ice, wrapped in plastic and coated in a few starchy white napkins – no doubt from the hotel the bartenders are…

It’s been a strange time of late for Pernod Ricard. The French multinational has, of course, been mourning the sudden death this August of its CEO and chairman of 34 years Patrick Ricard, the man who oversaw the transformation of his father’s company into the world’s second largest wines and spirits producer. Yet, at this time of sorrow, the group’s enviable roster of…

White, dark, spiced, and aged. The essential base of the Mojito and the Daiquiri, a best friend to cola, a virtual prefix to the word ‘punch’ and an oak-edged sipping spirit – rum is a jigsaw puzzle of parts that don’t quite seem to fit together. As some would have it, this is rum’s great blessing; a category that can call upon styles…

The 2012 vintage in New Zealand has come in at 269,000 tonnes. That is down 59,000 tonnes, or 18%, on 2011. The growing season was the coolest on record since the early 1990s, according to Jim Robertson, Pernod Ricard Premium Wine Brands’ global wine ambassador, New Zealand brands. David Cox, director, Europe, for the industry’s generic body, the New Zealand Wine Growers (NZWG), tells…

Spain’s banks might be looking to someone else to pick up their tab, but its most famous wine region is in good shape and still dining out on 2011’s export success.  In 2011 Rioja exports hit a record high with an estimated value of Ä370m. Exports made up 35% of Rioja sales over the 12 months from May 2011 to April 2012,…