Push the boat out on your Irish celebrations with a £1,000 whiskey March 17, 2022 This weekend is the perfect excuse to indulge in some Irish whiskey. But if you’re feeling particularly indulgent, you should get your hands on a bottle of The Craft Irish Whiskey Co.’s new rare release, The Taoscán. The Taoscán is the first whiskey finished in a combination of tawny port and French chestnut barrels. Bottled [...]
Hendrick’s looks to the sea for inspiration for its brand new gin March 10, 2022 Hendrick’s flagship gin arrived in the vanguard of the gin revival. Packed with floral notes from rose petals, and freshness, from cucumbers, its inventive blend and distinctive bottling has been emblematic of gin’s return to prominence over the last two decades. In recent years the brand has continued to innovate, with regular releases of limited-edition [...]
The Merchant of Venice at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse review March 9, 2022 Abigail Graham’s production of The Merchant of Venice, at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, sets out with the stated intention to “reclaim Shakespeare’s disturbing tale”, from whom it is not clear, but it successfully reframes the ancient hatreds central to the text in a way that will sit even more uncomfortably with contemporary audiences. If it [...]
Hamlet at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse: To see or not to see? February 22, 2022 Sean Holmes’ new production of Hamlet at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse is something of a curate’s egg. The costumes are an odd mix of period and modern, and there are a range of acting styles, which don’t really mesh, either. On the whole, it was the actors taking a more traditional approach who engaged better [...]
The whisky diaries: Tasting a very special 39-year-old January 27, 2022 Some whiskies want to get you drunk, some want to challenge you, but The Singleton 39 Year Old is a super premium single malt that really wants to take you to dinner. While the first release in The Singleton’s Epicurean Odyssey series, a 38-year-old single malt launched in 2020, tasted of baked apples and caramel, [...]
Burns Night is here again: Here’s what to drink and where to go January 25, 2022 Today is Burns Night, the annual celebration of Scotland’s national poet, and semi-official “St Patrick’s Day” for lovers of Scotch. Plan B restrictions may have derailed large-scale Burns Suppers and ceilidhs, but there’s no reason you can’t stay home, put on a Gay Gordons LP, whip up some haggis, neeps, and tatties, and toast the immortal memory of Robert Burns with [...]
Last Minute Xmas gifts: Singleton X Biscuit Boutique December 20, 2021 If you’re stuck for gift ideas, this culinary match made in heaven could be for you. Matching fine scotch with excellent confectionary, The Singleton x Biscuit boutique is one of our top gift picks of the year. The Singleton 12 Year Old is a delightful, fruity single malt, with buttery hazelnuts, baked apples, and blackberries, [...]
Trouble in Mind at the National Theatre is a searing portrait of racism December 18, 2021 Racial tensions reach breaking-point in the National Theatre’s production of Trouble in Mind. It’s the mid-1950s, and race is a hot-button issue in America. Al Manners (Rory Keenan) is a white Hollywood director, suspected of communist sympathies, who is compelled to take a job on Broadway. He intends to direct Chaos in Belleville, a broad [...]
Xmas Drinks 2021: The spirits you need on your cabinet over the holidays December 15, 2021 The Botanist Islay Dry Gin is ideal for seasonal cocktails. Made by the experimental Scotch whisky-makers at Bruichladdich, using a rare, salvaged Lomond still, the Botanist combines nine traditional gin botanicals with a further twenty-two ingredients foraged from the island. The resulting spirit is incredibly smooth, enlivened by citrus, mint, and harmonious floral flavours, that make [...]
Measure For Measure at Sam Wanamaker Playhouse review December 8, 2021 Government sleaze is on display again, but at least in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse’s latest Shakespeare production, it’s entertaining. In Measure for Measure, the Duke of Vienna delegates power to an outwardly righteous advisor, with the hope he will restore moral order in an increasingly licentious society, but remains in the city in the guise [...]
