Jawbox Gin unveils record breaking 915-measure bottle June 2, 2021 Size matters when it comes to gin. With the market saturated with small batch artisans all trying to out-botanicalise each other, one distillery has decided to go in the opposite direction, producing the world’s largest gin bottle. Northern Ireland’s Jawbox Gin has unveiled a 73cm tall, 32 litre, 915 measure Jawbox Giant’s Edition containing the [...]
Scots look away – the best whisky in the world is made in Taiwan June 1, 2021 The best whisky in the world is made in Taiwan by a company that started off making mosquito repellent and root beer. The King Car Group’s Kavalan 10th Anniversary Sky Gold Wine Cask Matured Single Cask Single Malt Whisky has just been named “Best of the Best” single malt at the recent Tokyo Whisky & [...]
Quaglino’s: Golden-age glam the perfect antidote to lockdown June 1, 2021 It is fair to say that good old fashioned glamour has not been in vogue during months of endless lockdowns. Cocktail dresses abandoned for athleisure. Black tie (which you can read all about in this excellent piece by our resident sartorial expert) for three days without a shower. But London is back, and open-ish, and [...]
How Welsh whisky is taking a sip of Scotland’s favourite dram June 1, 2021 North Wales is celebrating the opening of its latest distillery and the release of the first Welsh whisky in over a hundred years. Gwynedd’s Aber Falls Distillery, which used to be a slate works, a margarine factory and a drinks wholesaler depot, has launched its Inaugural Release, a non-age statement single malt made from 100 [...]
Where to watch Euro 2020 in London: Top beer gardens May 29, 2021 After a mad, harrowing year, it seems difficult to believe that Euro 2021 is mere weeks away – and that the biggest games will be taking place in London. For fans without tickets to the tournament, which runs from 11 June to 11 July, watching at the pub looks set to be a game of [...]
Another defence of Chardonnay, which is better than you think May 28, 2021 Last week our wonderful wine columnist Libby Zietsman-Brodie weighed in in defense of Chardonnay, a grape variety often wrongly maligned by people who know enough about wine to have an opinion but not enough to have a correct opinion. And quite right she was, so I though I’d throw my two cents’ worth in too, [...]
This new pasta delivery service might help you live to 100 May 26, 2021 “Blue Zones” are those parts of the world where the people have unusually long life expectancy. There’s the Greek island of Ikaria, which has the lowest middle age mortality in the world; Japan’s Okinawa tropical island, which boasts the world’s longest lived women; California’s Loma Linda, where Seventh Day Adventists rely on a biblical diet [...]
Why the Isle of Man is the new hotness for small-batch spirits May 25, 2021 In an old milking shed at Ballakelly Farm in Andreas on the Isle of Man, a new F&B scene is being created. The Manx Outlier movement even has its own manifesto, written by two gentlemen from Surrey. “We are based at an outlying point of the Isle of Man, which is itself an outlier of [...]
Wagamama owner Restaurant Group sees sales rebound as dining returns May 25, 2021 Wagamama owner Restaurant Group said sales were recovering well as Brits dined after the lifting of lockdown restrictions. The group, which has around 350 sites trading since the resumption of indoor dining, said delivery services were much higher before Covid curbs were eased. Some 130 of its Wagamama sites traded at 85 per cent of [...]
Drinking around the world: The rise and rise of Thai wine May 24, 2021 Producing over a million bottles a year, Thailand is a little known but increasingly adept wine producing region. Vines have been planted there since the 1960s despite the humid tropical climate and the Thai portfolio is now considered by many as the ultimate in “New Latitude wines”. Thailand’s dominant grape variety known as the Malaga [...]