We have female Ice Road truckers, firefighters, submariners and perhaps soon front line combat troops. During the month of World Women’s Day, what is the current situation in the drinks industry? Women’s more discerning taste buds have long been appreciated in the spirits business with noted master blenders like Rachel Barrie (Brown Forman after Morrison […]

Rum has been going to be the ‘next big thing’ for the last few years once the gin market becomes totally saturated with new start distilleries. Rum is not as easy to produce as gin; you have to ferment a molasses base first before distillation. For gin you buy rectified spirit and add peels, barks, […]

We know that visitors to this website are adventurous but I wonder how many of you received a bottle of absinthe for Christmas. There is something mildly naughty and a tad trepidatious about first trying a drink that is supposed to drive you mad. Known as the Green Fairy we have intriguing stories from La […]

Vinegar has been known to man for as long as beer has. This solution of acetic acid is used as a condiment, for pickling foods, making sauces and chutneys. It remains the housewife’s most ready source of acid for cleaning and in the US and Japan, vinegar parlours are springing up where people drink it […]

There is a perception that wine makes itself. You crush the grapes, the yeast is on the surface of the skins, you put the juice into casks and hey presto. If you are making Beaujolais Nouveau you may only have six weeks as the rush to market starts on the third Thursday of November! Others […]

According to the latest figures from Julia Tristam Eve at Wine GB, there are 522 commercial vineyards and 164 wineries in England currently producing 15 million bottles. That is a two and a half times increase in just five years. More than 8,600 acres of grapes are being grown and that has doubled in the […]

There are some folk in Burton on Trent who are looking forward to global warming as it will bring the distant seaside closer! Whether you believe in a man-made cause of climate change or put it down to sun spots, El Niño or cyclical changes, there is no denying that the last five years – […]

By law in the UK, whisky must spend at least three years in an oak cask before it can be bottled and sold as ‘whisky’.

We thought it was time we looked at how the structure of the UK brewing industry has changed since those heady days back in 1980

Scotch malt whisky has, by law, to be made in a pot still. These are made of copper and it is arguable that copper is as significant a raw material in the process as are malt and yeast.

This month we wanted to tell you how to make malt whisky

Global cider production is around 27mhL and the UK market at 8.22 million hectolitres is the world leader still representing 39%