Anybody read Jeremy Clarkson in Sunday's Sunday Times (Oct 29)? I know he is right of Genghis Khan and has a tendency to thump people who don't organise a plate of steak and chips for him. But I defend his right to be totally politically incorrect, to write what many people think but increasingly daren't say - and, by the way, he can write and can be extremely funny, sometimes.
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Bottled cocktails: The dos and don'ts
Pre-made cocktails have always carried a stigma, which I find odd. The romance of watching bartenders make drinks from scratch left pre-batched cocktails feeling cheap to many consumers, but lockdowns have forced this attitude to change.
NOTHING'S NORMAL
Happy customers across the UK enjoyed their first pints and non-homemade cocktails at the start of July as its hospitality sector reopened after months of lockdown. But normal service has hardly resumed.
Duff Said: Awash with rum
As the weather gets bleak Philip Duff turns to the warming notes of rum for comfort. But there are currently several elements unsettling the category
Duff said: 2020: Back to the future
Philip Duff sits down 100 years after the start of American prohibition to ponder what may – or may not – have been learned
Dirty cocktail names: Is it the end?
There are lies, damn lies, statistics – and then there are statistics about cocktails. It emerged recently that a UK firm named Travel Republic surveyed punters, and apparently 29% of them disapprove of sexually suggestive cocktail names.
Gender equality: The industry revolution
Gender equality is a hot topic of debate in today's society and La'Mel Clarke from London's Lyaness gives us his thoughts on where the hospitality sector lies with the issue.
Make safety sexy
It was the Worshipful Company of Distillers’ annual dinner at the Lord Mayor of London’s residence Mansion House a few weeks ago, and as a junior member of the Gin Guild I was permitted to attend, provided I promised not to pinch any silverware and did a little light sweeping afterwards.
It’s ‘up periscope’ for Irish distilleries
I know how wierd this might seem but I often think that the opening of a new distillery is like the launch of a new submarine. It is unveiled in all its pristine glory in a blaze of publicity and fanfare.
Why craft brands are gaining traction
I’ve always maintained that the cards are stacked against craft spirits brands wanting to build a meaningful travel retail presence.
The wine state of the US nation
Here is, as usual, a feast of arresting facts and figures in Silicon Valley Bank’s annual study of the US wine market.
Championing the unsung wine heroes
The wine trade can be divided into two fundamentally opposed camps. on one side, you have the romantic idealists who believe that wine is – or can be – something special, bordering on mystical: an elixir like no other, comparable to the greatest works of art.
Chalk it up to experience
Don’t know about you, but I can’t help feeling that the year has not started well.
Will the year of the pig bring in the bacon?
At this time of year my inbox invariably gets flooded with press releases from wine and spirit producers trumpeting their latest Chinese new year special-edition gift boxes and travel retail exclusives.
All change at Diageo Global Travel
There is a new man at the helm of Diageo Global Travel, the largest drinks supplier to the duty free industry.
A wish list for change in 2019
This is the time of year to resolve to do something about our bad habits.
The crazy world of the small distiller
One of the main attractions of social media is that it allows individuals and small businesses a platform from which they can shout loudly, without the need for the big-buck budgets that the global companies can call on.
The final straw for hospitality
Recently someone described me as a ‘lefty communist’, which is a bit weird really. What, as opposed to a ‘righty communist’?
What lies ahead for duty free in 2019?
Now that my christmas decorations have been packed away for another year, it’s time to dust off my crystal ball and try to predict what 2019 has in store for the travel retail liquor business.
It’s time to ditch style over substance
If you could consign something to history, what would it be?
Securing french wines’ future?
When people make predictions about the next big grape variety, what they’re usually trying to anticipate is the next big switch in consumer taste.
The new rock ’n’ roll
I am writing this on my birthday, and being an (increasingly) old heavy rock fan, I’ve got british rock station planet rock on at full volume.
The future's orange
The cult 1980s British film withnail & I has many quotable lines.
Urban distilling could be the future
Over the past 12 months I have had the pleasure of spending a considerable amount of time in three of my favourite cities – Glasgow, Dublin, and Louisville.
Getting those Geneva blues
In the middle of a europe-wide heatwave Geneva airport is not the place to kill a couple of hours before catching a flight home.
Rum's time to shine
Who would have thought it? After decades of dabbling on the margins of the fashionable bar trade, rum is enjoying its most successful spell in the limelight since the early ’90s, when spiced rums swept all before them.
Can high whisky prices be justified?
Here we go again. when japanese specialist retailer dekanta released a special bottle of Japanese whisky to mark its third birthday in June, the twittersphere predictably rose up in anger and indignation.
From the crystal ball
Few days before writing this article, i came across an old piece by Robert Parker, written in 2004, in which he made 12 bold assertions about how wine would look by 2015.
How far we have come
About 15 years ago, while I was the editor of Whisky Magazine, we teamed up with cutting-edge bartender Nick sSrangeway to hold a whisky cocktail competition, encouraging the use of Scottish single malt whisky.
The high price of luxury liquor
Dubai airport-based retailer Le Clos’ partnership with the macallan has to be one of the most successful operator-supplier relationships in the history of duty free liquor.
The mystery of generic campaigns
How do you market a region? it’s hard enough getting a message right if you’re a one-man band or family firm processing a single or handful of opinions.
Giving liquor a bad name
A while ago i was walking through Glasgow Airport when I saw a bottle of single malt on offer.
Pride and protection
Protectionism. It's a word that has been beyond the pale in the mainstream discussion of politics and economics of the past 30 years.
Not all spirits are created equal
Twenty five years ago, when I was the features editor at The Publican newspaper, I went with an actor friend to see how pub licensees responded to complaints from customers.
Why duty free must do better
It’s one of the worst PR disasters to have hit the duty free industry in the almost two decades i’ve been covering the business.
What it takes to be admirable
Voting in this magazine’s redoubtable annual awards for the world’s most admired wine brands has forced me, as it does every year, to think about the subject of wine brands properly for a change.
Whisky goes off-piste
If you want proof that alpine whisky is set for its place in the sun, then you need look no further than the 2018 alpine whisky competition held in February.
Vineyard vs winemaking
What is the most important component of a wine brand? What makes it what it is, or, put another way, what can it not do without?
A mixed bag looking ahead
There is a refreshing sense of optimism surrounding the travel retail business which I haven’t seen for quite a few years.
Balancing act of alcohol pricing
And so it came to pass. After years of legal wrangling led by the Scotch Whisky Association and the Comité Européen des Entreprises Vins, among others, the UK Supreme Court has had its final say, allowing the Scottish government to go ahead with its policy of setting a minimum price for alcohol.
Glimpsing the future at Gatwick
London Gatwick may not be the most exotic travel retail location for a brit such as myself.
Sky-high rents cost duty free dear
One of the biggest bugbears for any liquor brand wanting to build a presence in duty free is the high cost of entry.
A true taste of climate change
Sensitivity to weather and climate is the very core of wine’s appeal.
It’s whisky week
Last week, Distell announced that its Bain's Cape Mountain single grain whisky (40% abv), has gone global. So now we have a whisky form South Africa to join the slew of whisky alternatives to good old scotch.
Turning travellers into shoppers
In Cannes last month as I dashed around from stand to stand and from interview to interview amid a whirl of product launches and cocktail parties, I heard one question asked over and over again.
Choose your wine flight
I once had a colleague who said he chose to fly long-haul flights with United Airlines Because at the time –
We need to get serious on airport drinking
The thorny issue of airport drinking has once again hit the UK headlines at a particularly bad time for travel retail.
Modern wine packaging’s in the bag
Most studies suggest they're considerably better for the environment. They’re more convenient, too, if you want to keep your wine fresh for more than a couple of days.
Mine’s a passion fruit martini’
"I’ll have a couple of passion fruit Martinis, love. Actually, make that four."