Flavoured gins showcase the versatility and creativity of gin distillers, with examples ranging from the floral to the fruity and beyond. Here’s a review of some of the best-flavoured gins... The post We taste some of the best flavoured gins – so you don’t have to… appeared first on Master of Malt Blog ..read more

Black Tot Master Blender’s Reserve – 2024 Edition is now available from Master of Malt. Next Wednesday, the 31 July, is known in the rum world and in naval circles as Black Tot Day. It’s a day of nostalgia and solemnity, one that commemorates the end of the Royal Navy’s centuries-old tradition of issuing sailors a daily ration of rum, known as the “tot”. The practice dates back to the 17th century and in 1740, it was regulated by Admiral Edward Vernon, who diluted the rum with water, creating what became known as “grog.” This practice ended on July 31, 1970, a day since been remembered a ..read more

For the last six years, the person who has run this here blog was Henry Jeffreys.  Henry Jeffreys became a writer after working in the wine trade and publishing and came to us as a seasoned freelancer with proper published books and contributions to places you’ve heard of like The Guardian and The Spectator as well as appearances on BBC radio and TV.  He was named Fortnum & Mason Drink Writer of the Year 2022/23 and his four books: Empire of Booze, The Home Bar, The Cocktail Dictionary, and Vines in a Cold Climate were all critically acclaimed, with the latter recently being nam ..read more

Callum Palmer, of Nottingham’s Tilt Bar, has won the Boutique-y vs. the World competition! That Boutique-y Whisky Company asked all drink lovers from industry professionals to amateurs to mix up a storm for its first cocktail competition. The multi-award-winning independent bottler, which was established in 2012 and won Best Independent Bottler at the 2023 Spirits Business Awards, asked each entrant to create a cocktail from a total of five ingredients taking inspiration from the word MOOSE including the brand’s eight-year-old Canadian Corn Whisky. Palmer’s serve, titled ‘Comrades Stick Toget ..read more

Glenfiddich, Glenlivet, Glenmorangie, Glen Grant, Glengoyne, Glenfarclas, Glen Scotia, Glen Garioch, Glen Moray, Glen Keith, Glen Elgin, Glen Spey, Glenkinchie, Glen Ord, Glendullan, Glenrothes, GlenAllachie, Glencadam, Glenglassaugh, Glenturret, Glentauchers, Glenlossie, GlenDronach, Glenburgie, Glengyle, Glenandrew, GlenWyvis, Glen Mhor, Glen Flagler, Glen Finloch, Glen Aln, Glenlee, Glen Albyn, Glenalmond, Glenshiel, Glen’s Vodka… wait not that last one! Scotland boasts a significant number of distilleries with “Glen” in their name. But why?!  Glenglassaugh Distillery, one of the man ..read more

The Rump@blic rum range has just landed at Master of Malt! Just in time for National Daiquiri Day (in the States, anyway, but there’s no reason we can’t mix one up ourselves, is there?). Rump@blic Origins Ghana/Eswatini Rump@blic Origins Spain/Venezuela Rump@blic Origins Thailand/Phillippines Rump@blic Jamaican Sicilian Legacy Introducing Rump@blic rum Now, first thing’s first, it’s pronounced ‘rum-public’. I don’t quite understand the @ sign either. The press release explains that the sugarcane route inspires the brand and that Rump@blic wants to create “The Republic of Rum”. This is defin ..read more

The name Don Fulano refers to a Mexican gentleman of unknown or undisclosed identity. But at the centre of this Tequila brand is a well-known family. Descendants of a Portuguese immigrant, the Fonsecas have farmed in the heart of Atotonilco in the Highlands of Jalisco for generations, planting agave in the late 1800s to supply Tequila distillers. They haven’t just been cultivating agave for 140 years, however. In the 1970s, the family looked into building a distillery of their own, but instead managed to acquire the La Tequileña distillery (NOM 1146) in the heart of Tequila town; a distillery ..read more

Whisky is a drink for summer. We promise. We know, we know. You’ve been told it’s all fireplaces and cigars. Winter warmers and cold remedies. Men in kilts and stags bracing windswept Celtic landscapes.  But whisky is more than one thing. It’s full of summery flavours. Tropical fruits, coconut, citrus, banana… so why not put it in a Piña Colada? Let Highballs be your new G&Ts. Sip it neat on a beach. Add ice. Go nuts. It’s your whisky.  That’s why we’ve created a list of whiskies for summer, to help you find your new favourite and throw off the shackles of stereotypes and confor ..read more

Water is one of the core whisky ingredients alongside grain, yeast, and father time. The word whisky actually derives from the term ‘water of life’. But there’s not one huge reservoir of whisky-appropriate H20 that every distillery draws from. As you probably know already, whisky distilleries collect their water from a variety of natural sources. That’s true in Scotland as it is everywhere else and the type of water sources vary, which also means the characteristics of the water do too. Which, in turn, affects the whisky being made. To what extent it does is a matter of some debate, with some ..read more

World Rum Day is this Saturday, 13 July, and that seems as good a time as any to put our spotlight on a product you, the dear customer, have been enjoying greatly: Mermaid Spiced Rum. Mermaid Spiced Rum The legitimising of spiced rum It’s a product that reflects the modern spiced rum trend, characterized by a focus on “premiumization” and a “growing appreciation for quality and craftsmanship”. Very industry, press release talk that we see a lot, but to sum up, people are happier to pay more for a better standard of spiced rum and brands have responded in kind by creating them.  That co ..read more