The Corn is Green review: A twee revival at the National Theatre April 25, 2022 The National Theatre’s revival of Welsh actor and playwright Emlyn Williams’ The Corn is Green – the first major production in London since the mid-80s – is a comforting, middle-brow ITV period drama plopped onto the stage. The beats of this semi-autobiographical tale of an impoverished boy propelled from the pits to the cultural elite [...]
Drinks focus: Makar Original Dry Gin is the best of Glasgow April 21, 2022 Makar Original Dry Gin is the first commercial gin to ever be made in Glasgow. Located within spitting distance of the Braehead Shopping Centre and a stone’s throw from Ibrox Stadium, the Glasgow Distillery makes a range of single malts, a blended malt whisky, a spiced rum, and botanical vodkas. But its largest range is [...]
Drinks focus: Tomatin is a storied whisky distillery with a new vision April 20, 2022 Founded in 1897, Tomatin was at one point the largest distillery in Scotland, but its fortunes have shifted with the wider industry. After going into liquidation in 1986, it became the first Scottish distillery to come under Japanese control. Much of its stock was sold for blending, and two of its largest customers rescued the [...]
Drinks events back after the pandemic, Here are two for your diary April 12, 2022 The first big booze shows are on the horizon – we’ll drink to that! The Cognac Show All Cognac is brandy, but not all brandy is Cognac. Though it suffers from a perception that it is too fancy, expensive, and decadent, this varied category of French grape spirits was the workhorse of many traditional cocktails, [...]
The drinks diaries: An experimental new whisky and ready mixed cocktails April 7, 2022 Whiskymakers Compass Box are well known for their mischievous approach to the rules governing the production of Scotch whisky. While some might regard these as necessary impediments to creativity, Compass Box takes apparent delight in tweaking the nose of the establishment, sometimes making whiskies that seem to be a calculated riposte to figures in authority [...]
As tourism returns, we say: ‘Good morning Vietnam!’ March 28, 2022 Like much of the world, Vietnam was on its knees these last few years. Around 18 million foreign tourists visited in 2019 compared to a paltry 3,500 in 2021. But now visitors are flocking back. What’s more, there’s never been a better time to go: some high-end resorts are offering 25 per cent discounts on [...]
Rapper Kano is the mastermind behind The Duppy Share’s new rum March 26, 2022 Last week the latest season of the gritty London crime drama Top Boy dropped on Netflix, and as you settle in to binge the series, its star – actor and MOBO-winning grime pioneer Kano – has you covered for drinks. He’s the driving force behind the flavourful Duppy White Jamaican rum, part of The Duppy [...]
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 [...]
