My family calls Prince Edward County, one of Ontario’s burgeoning wine regions, their home. When they first moved there, I remember the wines being, well, young. But over the last few years, the vines are aging, and winemakers are starting to grow into their own, producing world-class bottles. Image from @limparfaitnegociant on IG Case in point, this tremendous collaborative release from sparkling winery Hinterland and Joe Beef’s ringleader Dave McMillan. The funky micro-label produces expressive, quirky wines with labels done collaboratively by Canadian artists. Past bottles have been super f ..read more

Last year, I spent a lazy few weeks in the South of Spain, working on a story, eating almadraba tuna, and strolling the white-walled streets to pass the time. Part of passing said time was dotting between tapas spots, sipping local beer, or, as I quickly grew a penchant for: sherry. Since returning, I love sipping sherry as a way to get me, well, as close as I can to Spain in 2020. Neat is always an option, but one of my favorite ways to drink sherry is via a Martini. One of the best-loved Sherry martini riffs is dubbed The Flame of Love. (With a name like that, what’s not to like? ) It was or ..read more

Consisting of Aged Bourbon, Rum and Cognac, Bourbon Offering Distilled in 1980 LONDON (Oct. 28, 2020) The Last Drop Distillers, curators of the world’s most remarkable spirits, will introduce its first Autumn Collection of rare, aged spirits, which will consist of three very limited releases: a Bourbon distilled in 1980, a 43-year-old Jamaican Rum and a vintage Cognac from 1959. Taking a page from parent company Sazerac’s annual Antique Collection release, the Last Drop Autumn Collection is available in very limited quantities and offers some of the rarest spirits in the world ..read more

Vienna is known for many things: fantastic opera, the Sound of Music, and stunning architecture. But just south of Vienna lies one of the most exciting natural wine regions in Europe. Image from @dorothee.conraths on Instagram Burgenland is hot, so hot that the Neusiedlersee lake almost completely evaporates on warmer years. With this in mind, Claus Preisinger manages to make incredibly vibrant, high-energy wines out of the area. Born and bred Austrian Claus Preisinger spent years cutting his teeth at vineyards around the world, from California to his native Austria working for Anita and Hans ..read more

I’ve always looked down on the Cosmopolitan. Perhaps it’s the Sex and the City adage: it’s a saccharine, hot-pink drink best sipped over gossip. But a few months ago, in midst of serious pandemic fatigue, I tuned into a live stream of Ina Garten making a Cosmo. I’m not sure what was more chaotic about the video: a heavy-handed pour of Grey Goose into a pitcher with a blatant disregard for measuring, the giant v-shaped martini glasses, or the fact that she was live streaming in the morning. It was a big mood. “I like to make a lot of cosmos. You never know who’s going to stop by — wait a minute ..read more

As we into the Canadian whisky world, let’s field some of the most common misconceptions about the spirit. When you think of Canadian whisky (no “e”, eh?), your mind probably jumps to Crown Royal and its signature purple velvet bag. Or, perhaps, a well bottle of Canadian Club or a high-rye whisky meant for sipping on chilly winter days. But the Canadian whisky category is not just confined to bottom-shelf, bland bottles or pricey cold-weather spirits—it’s a vast category filled with bottles of all kinds. Canadian whisky is one of the top five international styles of whisky, but it’s a whisky i ..read more

Orange wine may be on the menu of every new hip wine bar in the world, but the origins are by no means. It wasn’t a hip winemaker with an eye for trends—skin contact wine can be traced over 8,000 years to Georgia (the country, not the state – I’m not promoting Georgia state wines just yet). The country has a long history of natural winemaking and at the heart of it: skin-contact qvevri. For these wines, grapes are aged on the skins, sometimes with entire chunks of vine and leaves along with it, with natural yeasts in large qvevri (or kvervi): large, egg-shaped terracotta clay pots used specif ..read more

There’s nothing quite as perfect of that first sip of a freshly poured martini, with frosted glass and a bracing booziness. But as the drink sits, it warms up, eventually, leaving a glass of luke-warm gin. Katana Kitten Martini Recently, I wrote about Katana Kitten’s stellar martini. It comes nestled in a box of ice, keeping the martini chilled to the last sip. Which got me thinking: why don’t we ice our martinis? Many would consider it sacrilegious—a bastardization of the classic drink. But martinis are already a drink that requires personalization. Sweet vermouth, dry vermouth, Old Tom gin ..read more

Moving on in our Canadian whisky series, let’s take a look into the production process of Canadian whisky. Barrels of Canadian Club Whisky One of the most fascinating parts of the category is the restrictions aren’t as tight as other whisky hubs: While Americans are tied to strict mash bills, Canadian whisky is relatively laissez-faire—they have no mash bill requirements or age statements on their labels. They are only required to rest the spirit for a minimum of three years in barrels. (Fun fact: Canadian whisky law is so lax, that Canadian distillers can add up to 9.09% of the blend to other ..read more

Every Christmas growing up, after our bellies filled with my grandmother’s turkey and the bottles of Chardonnay emptied, my grandfather would lurch over to the spirits cupboard and whip out a Glenlivet 12—The green bottle with a red top is just as iconic in my holiday memories as Christmas cookies or Santa. It was time for the men to have Scotch. I, the eldest of the grandchildren, was never allowed some. But as soon as my younger cousin turned 16, he joined the boy’s club and an ounce of Glenlivet was ceremoniously splashed into his glass. Journalist Beck Paskin That’s when I first started re ..read more