In the Western world the most popular types of booze have been enjoyed for centuries and they are all, one way or another, deeply embedded into our culture. They are products of the ingredients that thrive in their respective soil and climates and are enriched with the personality of the nations that produce them. Gin, Whisky, Beer and Cider all come with a rich history that and just about everyone who likes a drink will have tried them in many of their various iterations. But just as the West has drinks that are intertwined with the history and culture of the countries that produce them, so o ..read more

Distillery: Ardbeg Location: Port Ellen, Islay, PA42 7EA Islay (pronounced Ai-luh. As in Isla St Clair*) is the southernmost island of the Inner Southern Hebrides of Scotland and sits just off the Kintyre peninsula on the Western coast of Scotland. Much of Islay is covered in salt-spray saturated banks of peat which are used in the whisky industry to fire malt kilns. These peat-heated fires impart an iodine smokiness into the malt which gives the whiskies of Islay their distinctive flavour profile. Established in 1815 (and having origins as far back as 1794), Ardbeg distillery is situated on t ..read more

Location Côtes-d’Armor Department, Pleubian, North Brittany https://www.celtic-whisky-distillerie.fr/en/ Intro France might not be the first place you’d think of when looking for a delicious malty dram, but this small, Breton-based distillery uses traditional distilling and aging techniques born of celtic heritage and produces whiskies inspired by its rugged coastal location. The distillery has been built in a bunch of old farm buildings that sit looking out over the stretch of Pleubian coastline known as the ‘Sauvage Peninsula’. It’s an apt name – here the shoreline and surf is flecked with s ..read more

A few years ago we experimented by mixing some Mezcal Margaritas to produce our ultimate cocktail recipe for the smoky agave-based spirit. You can find the recipe here. Recently, ace producers El Recuerdo Mezcal have being conjuring their own cocktails to celebrate Mexican Independence Day (or ‘Grito de Dolores’ as they say in Oaxaca*) which is celebrated on September 16th. Among their inspired creations is a rather unique take on the Mezcal Margarita, created for them by drinks writer Jonathan Hatchman. Obviously, it’s not quite up there with our recipe, but if you’re looking for something a ..read more

Did you know that August 16 has been designated ‘National Rum Day’? Write down all such ‘days’ in your diary and you won’t be left with much room to add meetings, holidays and football fixtures. We ignore most of these days but one of the handful worth noting is Rum Day. The reason? It’s a good excuse to try out a new rum cocktail recipe – because in the height of summer, few cocktails are better than those loaded with rum. In the Rum Day run up we’ve been sent several recipes to try from rum brands eager to get us mixing and shaking their products. The one we’ve selected – South Shore – comes ..read more

FACT FILE Country: Iceland Population: 366,000 Number of Breweries: Around 30 (we think) Oldest brewery: Egill Skallagrimsson (established 1913) Best Known Brands: Kaldi, Einstök, Borg Brugghús, Viking In Iceland, March 1 is also known as ‘Beer Day.’ In this modern age, where ‘days’ are ascribed to anything from International Canned Cocktail Day (Sep 10) to International Gruit Day (Feb 1) it would be easy to assume that this is another such marketing gimmick. But for Icelanders, March 1 has a genuine significance – because until that date in 1989 beer was BANNED. Prohibition began way back in ..read more

The sun is out, the evenings are getting longer and, despite a monstrous ‘allotment job list’ to grapple with, we’ve found ourselves procrastinating by studiously scrubbing last year’s filth from the BBQ grill in eager anticipation of the first alfresco cook-up of the season. We’ve already sorted the beers for the occasion and stocked up on Coopers Sparkling Ale – our current go-to booze for outdoor imbibing – but our Aussie beers deserve a suitably Antipodean-themed BBQ feast. And therein lies the problem. Australian style BBQs tend to be rather meaty affairs and we have both developed pescat ..read more

FACT FILE Country: Austria Population: 8.9 million Number of Breweries: Over 300 Oldest brewery: Brauerei Hofstetten. Established 1229 Best Known Brands: Gösser, Ottakringer, Schloss Eggenberg, Stiegl In the UK, Austria’s beer has a bit of an image problem to contend with: it’s not German. Living in the shadow of one of the world’s brewing powerhouses (not to mention its other famed brewing neighbour, the Czech Republic) has meant that its beers are often overlooked and, even worse, if someone encounters an Austrian beer they like, there’s a chance they’ll assume it’s German. But Austria has a ..read more

Beer has never been great at defining terminology. Even the most basic terms such as ‘beer’ and ‘ale’ can lead to confusion when thought about in much detail; styles such as ‘stout’ and ‘porter’ overlap so much that picking one from the other can often be an impossible task; while asking 100 people to clearly define ‘craft ale’ will likely give you 100 different answers. But perhaps the beer term that causes more blurring of boundaries than any other is ‘Pale Ale.’ How exactly, for example, does a ‘Pale Ale’ become an ‘India Pale Ale’? What precisely makes an ‘American Pale Ale’ American when ..read more

FACT FILE Country: Australia Population: 25.7 million Number of breweries: Over 500 Oldest brewery: Cascade Brewery, Tasmania. Established 1824 Best known brands: Coopers Brewery (est 1862) – largest Australian owned brewery Fosters Brewery – Australia’s first lager (est 1887) Castlemaine XXXX, Tooheys, Victoria Bitter, Carlton Draught If you thought the story of Australian beer began with the kind of fizzy lager that is lapped up by belly-bearing Brits on hot summer days, then you’ll be surprised to hear it has a proud brewing history that stretches back over two centuries. The first beer con ..read more