IT MAY ONLY BE THE KOREAN STRAIT   that separates South Japan’s shochu and South Korea’s soju but, in terms of global outlook, the spirits are oceans apart.  Soju is more akin to vodka – big brands with big ambitions, selling on a pitch of neutrality. While shochu can swing that way too, in the form of its mass-produced Korui, its crafted Otsurui style…

> I HAVE SEEN many interesting cocktail trends on my travels over the past 12 months. The most original and inspiring has been the evolution of the Gin & Tonic. The Gin Tonica is a progression of a simple drink that incorporates all kinds of garnishes and little extras – depending on the venue and the drinker. It has been driven in…

IT MAY HAVE TAKEN more than 10 years but it’s fair to say that gin has at last shaken off its old fuddy-duddy ‘gin and jag’ image and has not only emerged as the preferred white spirit among the top mixing fraternity in über watering holes around the world, but is finding favour with a growing band of trendy “young things” – aka consumers. …

SPAIN’S WINE POSITION is “not elitist, a fad or muddled,” says Félix Solís Avantis export director Félix Solís Ramos. “In pure volume terms Spain is a major global player and has a strong export tradition from key appellations. Added to this, Spain offers some of the best value-for-money affordable wines to a financially challenged global market,” he adds. “Spain sits in a unique…

I am the only one doing it. If I make a strawberry liqueur, I make it with strawberries, not flavourings. I’m a stickler for quality.” These are the defiant words of Patrick van Zuidam, the 43-year-old managing director of distiller and liqueurs producer Zuidam Distillers. Van Zuidam’s point is that most of the large traditional Netherlands liquor producers buy in their neutral alcohol…

> Dynamic’, ‘innovative’ and ‘American whiskey’ aren’t words that often appear in the same sentence. But at the moment you’d have to look long and hard to find any whisky-producing nation more energised or dynamic than that of the United States. The rise and rise of craft distilling in the country has continued unabated in recent years, but if you have been…