IF EVER YOU NEEDED PROOF that Japanese whisky had established itself among the world heavyweight whisky producers it came at a recent whisky show in Paris. The finest whiskies the country has to offer were not in the world whiskies area, but in a room called Grandes Nations de Whisky.  “Japanese whisky has crossed over from novelty or esoteric into…

ONE WAY OR T’OTHER there’s a lot going on in the Cognac arena. There are acquisitions – Rémy acquired Larsen at the tail end of 2012 and then in June this year sold the Cognac house on to Altia while, after six months with the For Sale sign flapping outside its GHQ Hine has at last found new owners. Amid all…

Miller was, along with friends Andreas Versteegh and David Bromige, the driving influence behind his eponymous gin. An obituary from Reformed Spirits said: “Martin was genuinely concerned that by the 1990’s the gin drinker was an endangered species, slowly being strangled by the dead hand, as he saw it, of vodka.  “Martin’s dream was to pass on his own love of gin to a whole…

IF IT EVER CATCHES ON, let it be said that Sonic Maturation was the invention of the man to your right, a craft distiller named Ralph. It probably won’t – playing base-booming hip-hop to bourbon barrels isn’t exactly textbook maturation management. But it is textbook Ralph Erenzo. This is a man who personifies America’s craft movement: a man not tied down by…

IF MATURE BRITISH WOMEN became a little less mature and young Spanish drinkers’ habits a little more mature, sherry might actually live up to all the talk that it is in renaissance. That’s simplifying what is a diverse and divergent market, but the truth – setting aside the pockets of optimism in London’s sherry bars and New York’s restaurants and cocktail scene…

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…