A GOOD COCKTAIL is only equal to the sum of its parts – and, although that sum is often a matter of simple addition, there are times when a complex equation is called for. While some bars seek an edge to help them deal with volume turnover, for others it’s about the theatre of the cocktail and the alchemy of the finest ingredients. Some…

VODKA has a very easy association with cocktails – think the Bloody Mary, the Martini, more recently the ubiquitous Cosmopolitan and, further back, the Gypsy Queen – but unlike other spirits there is not a rich repertoire of classic cocktails to draw on. That said, in terms of the mixing firmament vodka stands on its own. Put simply it is without…

A POOR 2011 vintage, a rising dollar and stronger competition from rival countries: it all adds up to a recipe for crisis for Australia’s winemakers. “This is absolutely the hardest time that you could ever imagine the industry could be in,” Alister Purbrick, chief executive of central Victoria’s Tahbilk Wines, told the Sydney Morning Herald recently. “There is nothing else that could go…

THE GRANT NAME carries some heft in Scotland. It’s a pretty common surname – but when you’re a Grant in the whisky business, that’s something else. No relation to William Grant, George Grant is the sixth generation of his family to work at Glenfarclas. You’d expect me to introduce him as master distiller, right? Wrong. George Grant is director of sales. …