No matter what you think of RTDs, you can’t argue with the convenience factor - a fact that has driven the sector into a meteoric rise since COVID.  Although figures show that the sector is beginning to plateau, the premium end of the category is still seeing growth and a demand for new variations.  One such premium brand that has been making its mark is Australia’s Curitif - a brand that believes its expressions empower consumers to redefine their occasions.  With a luxury, high-end image,...

We live in a time when people often refer to Scotch not only by the brand name but also by the age of the liquid.  In executive boardrooms and exclusive gentlemen's clubs, the names of single malts are mentioned with a certain reverence, and a hush will come over the room as a Glenlivit 74-year-old or a Dalmore 45-year-old, as discussed. They are expensive, they are exclusive, and they have given single malt scotch an air of rarity and distinction. But there is one brand that seeks to throw...

New Orleans has a long tradition of being the gateway between US Bourbon and the rest of the world. And Chicken Cock, being one of the oldest Whiskey brands in the US, has had a long association with the city.  Even before he started Chicken Cock Whiskey, original founder James A. Miller was shipping barrels of his coveted whiskey down to the ‘Big Easy’ in the 1830s. So it's no surprise that Chicken Cock has been shipping a very special expression down south for this year's New Orleans...

As El Mayor prepares to export its Tequila to Europe, we caught up with the brand's Master Distiller and Brand Ambassador, Grace Gonzalez, to find out more about its liquid.  Grace, a guardian of her family's fourth-generation distilling wisdom, distills the essence of crafting tequila that resonates with aficionados and newcomers alike (and gives insight into how you can pair it with everything from sushi to steak).  We traverse the landscape of agave fields, uncovering the meticulous care...

With Laws recently winning the title of 'World's Best Small batch Bourbon', we thought it was a good time to talk with founder, Al Laws, to talk about the very niche yet thriving world of heritage grain whiskey.   While heritage grain may sound high brow, for distillers like Laws, who started Laws Whiskey House in Colorado more than a decade ago, heritage is all about unique flavour profiles.   As Laws prepares to start the year with a series of new releases, we talk to him about grains,...

Join the conversation as we uncover the craft behind Seedlip's new groundbreaking non-alcoholic spirit, Notas de Agave, with none other than the visionary founder himself, Ben Branson.  Tune in as Branson discusses the meticulous creation process, the hurdles the brand faced to achieve the perfect harmony of lime, prickly pear, and peppercorn.  Tailored to, and available exclusively in, the US, Notas de Agave is a versitile  non-alc , that works equally well in a Margarita, as it does a...

We thought we would start our podcast year off by talking to one of Scotland's best-known no-alc distilled spirits, Feragaia.  You've probably seen a lot about no and low-alc spirits through dry January, but if the 2024 Bacardi Cocktail Trends Report is to be believed, you're about to hear a lot more.  The report predicts that the sector will skyrocket by 67% to a value of 359 million by 2026 and that consumers will increasingly seek no and low alternatives year-round.  So, with that in...

There can be no argument that Tequila is having a moment. There are so many brands competing for shelf space that it's fair to say that there is a Tequila out there for everyone.  In fact, according to IWSR Drinks Market Analysis, Tequila’s popularity has risen to such an extent that they predict it is set to overtake Vodka this year.  But what does it take to set up a tequila brand in 2023? And is there still room for new brands to make an impact in the market? To find out more, we talk to...

Many a Bourbon distillery has found favour with the public through the stories they tell.  And considering that many of those distilleries are located in Kentucky, it’s unsurprising that those stories often involved a horse. But when you combine bourbon, a horse and a sea journey across the Atlantic to the UK, there is only one distillery that can tell that particular story, and that’s Never Say Die.  You see, while Never Say Die is distilled and initially aged in Kentucky, its whiskey-laden...

With nature as its backdrop and the exploration of flavour as its aim, Sweden's Purity Distillery is gaining a reputation for creating liquids that are as flawless as its name implies.  The brand, probably best known for its Vodka, has just added adds Organic Craft Nordic Dry Gin to its portfolio. Offering a long flavour profile that lasts in the mouth, the gin pushes boundaries with a unique blend of juniper, thyme, basil, coriander, lingonberries, blueberries, lavender, cardamom and...

Get set for an Irish whiskey-laden adventure with Alex Chasko, the master distiller at Teeling Whiskey.  Discover the Wonders of Wood series, an exploration of how different woods, from American Chinkapin Oak to European Portuguese oak, influence whiskey flavours.  Alex pulls the curtain back on these stunning flavour profiles, giving us a tantalizing glimpse into the fascinating world of whiskey making.  And it's not just about the flavours - we tackle how online tastings during the...

When you think of the terroir of the Speyside region in Scotland, your mind very easily goes to the flavours and terroir of Whisky, but what if those same notes you love could actually come through in a Gin?  That's what we talk about with Kara Anderson, Global Brand Lead for Tulchan Gin.  A recent addition to the Gin market, Tulchan has been created on the banks of the River Spey in the grounds of Tulchan Estate.  She shares the fascinating story of how a team of flavour experts walked the...

Ready to immerse yourself in the luxurious world of Camus Cognac? Join us and our guest, US Ambassador Arya Wright, as we journey into the realm of quiet luxury, embracing the heritage and rituals of cognac that evoke old world elegance.  Arya gives us an exclusive glimpse into Camus's latest XO offering, designed to bring cognac back to the center of the dining table and exemplify the art of fine dining, or Art de la Table.  And she suggest in the middle oif that table should be the XO's...

No matter whether you're distilling spirits or drinking them, we're all in search of flavour. But for distillers, there has been an increased movement that blurs the lines of their spirit by finishing them in the barrels of other spirits.  We see Whiskey finished in Port barrels, Gin finished in Whiskey barrels and, as in the case of Pappa's Pilar's latest release, Rum that is aged in Rye barrels.  Pappa's Pilar, the ultra-premium rum brand inspired by the legendary novelist, Ernest...

When we think of cocktails, we often think of the spirits that we use to make them, but the modifiers, the Liqueurs, the Cremes, the Vermouths, and the Amaris, that balance the drink, often become an afterthought.  But one brand not only seeks to bring those liquids into the spotlight but also explore the history and seek out modifiers that may have been lost over time.  Tempus Fugit, a Latin term that means time flies, is a brand that has been digging through the annals so as to source and...

We are now all used to hearing about culinary influencers being utilized in cocktails, both in terms of flavour and approach, but what if that same idea was applied to the making of the spirits that go into them?  Gin, which is one of the few spirits that utilizes botanicals and spices in its production, would seem like the perfect candidate for this. And it is from that premise that distiller Andrew Thomas established the Brooklyn-based craft brand, Halftones Spirits. Born during the...

Through the 18th and 19th Century Irish whiskey went from strength to strength, but at the beginning of the 20th century, legislation enacted across the sea in the United States practically brought the whiskey industry in Ireland to its knees.  The United States was the biggest international market for Irish whiskey, and that country's enactment of prohibition forced the steals to stop and the distilleries that housed them often to close their doors.  One such distillery was JJ McConnell's,...

Nearly 43 years ago, a mass immigration of Cubans travelled from Mariel Harbor near Havana to the United States, known as the Mariel Boatlift.  The exodus, which happened over several months, saw more than 125,000 Cubans make the journey across the Florida Straits.  One of those people was a six-year-old girl, Janet Diaz-Bonilla, who travelled with her parents towards a new life. But it was a journey that would impact not only Janet's life, but also, the fabric of her adopted...

You may not think that liquids can tell stories, but when you look at Laure like Sorel, which has basically traveled from West Africa through the Caribbean, into Harlem, and then across the river to Red Hook, you can bet that there are some stories to tell.  There are stories of commerce both through the slave and spice trade.  There are stories of tradition as displaced peoples kept the original sorrow liquid alive, and there are stories of migration as many went to New York seeking a...

While you might think the use of hemp and cannabis for medical use is fairly new, it has a long history that goes back centuries.  In the 1800s in the United States, although they weren't called that at that stage, physicians started to prescribe hemp-derived concoctions for all sorts of maladies and afflictions, and elixirs could be readily purchased in general stores.  But then came the 20th century with its inclination to basically prohibit everything. And hemp and cannabis products...

When you think of agave spirits, your mind naturally goes to places like Lesko and its surrounding areas in Mexico.  But what if, instead, it went a little further north of the border? That is what mean mule distilling wants your mind to do when you think of the agave spirits that they are producing in Kansas City, Missouri, located slap bang in the Heart of America.  Mean Mule was born of generations of distilling tradition, but this time all above board and legal and with a whole new...

While you might have heard of the Spirit Pisco, there's a fair chance that you don't really know a lot.  Sure, you might know that Pisco is basically a young brandy. You might even know that it's mainly produced in Peru or Chile.  But you probably didn't know that there are eight approved grape varietals that range in taste from pepper and smoke to almond and roasted walnut.  You also probably didn't know that there are five different Pisco growing regions with 42 valleys and over 500...

We're all used to whiskey being made from barley, corn, rye, and even wheat. But what about rice?  Rice is the world's third most abundant cereal crop, and yet historically, you would be hard-pressed to find a whiskey distiller that used it as the base of their spirits outside of Japan.  But recently, that has all changed. Distillers like Louisiana-based JT Meleck are amongst a small number of US producers who are crafting a contemporary image of what rice whiskey can offer.  And the...

Whether you grew up with one or only read about them in books, secret gardens have always promised a world of possibilities. And there is one such secret garden at the foot of the Pentland Hills on the outskirts of Edinburgh that fulfils some of that promise by not only providing a refuge for nature but also a location to distil gin. Rooted in nature, Secret Garden Distillery was conceived as a place where nature would not only allow the brand to create liquids, seed to sip, but also inspire...