The Spirit World

As most whisky aficionados know at least two per cent of each cask evaporates through the oak after the distilling process. This is known as ‘the angels share’.
If you envisage the financial amount this equates to across thousands of barrels and over the years you can see why drink producers would look at limiting the process. Giants […]

A 10 year long record has just been broken. Back in his day British wine writer Malcolm Gluck signed 1,001 books with his full signature in 59 minutes.
But this remarkable achievement has just been broken by Sir Salman Rushdie of all people. Rushdie, during a US book tour, managed to inscribe his name on 1,000 […]

My latest artist pick (wine under $10/bottle) is the 2005 Castle Rock Petite Sirah. Grown in the Russian River Valley of California where well drained soils and a fog cooled climate offer ideal growing conditions, this medium-bodied lush wine with juicy berry, mocha and candy apple on the nose is on the verge of jammy […]

Did you know?
It was a tradition in German medicine that, should a doctor be dying, beyond all hope of recovery, it was the duty of their attending medical colleagues to offer them a glass of champagne. The Russian playwright and author, Anton Chekhov, was a qualified doctor. Dying of tuberculosis in Germany in 1904, this […]

Someone recently told me that there is a new lollipop company out there making absinthe-flavored lollipops, so I figured I better investigate. Turns out, its true.
Lolliphile is a new candy company in San Francisco making unusual flavors of lollipops. So far, they’re making absinthe-flavored ones, as well as maple-bacon. They’re working on more flavors too, […]

The warm days of summer are almost upon us — time to break out the white wine. Versatile as an aperitif and food-friendly, Sauvignon Blanc is as varied in style and complexity as are completely different varietals.
At a recent gathering of starving artists, the 2006 Baron D’Aliénor Bordeaux Sauvignon was a real crowd pleaser. Made […]

If you’re not a captain of industry or you don’t have celebrity status, then you might want to check out my Artists Picks, great moderately priced wines under $10. I’ll be reviewing a different wine in each post, describing the terroir, region and providing tasting notes.
The Douro Valley in Portugal is a spectacular landscape of […]

An interesting snippet from a BBC email highlighting the background to toasting ones health -
According to them ‘toast water’ was a restorative drink during the 18th and 19th centuries and a highly popular one to boot. It was made by pouring boiling water over toasted bread and left to infuse until cool. It was then strained and […]

I sent a bottle of wine back the other day as I thought it was faulty. It had a very slight musty smell to it in the glass and I wasn’t happy it was right. Now I’ve never sent wine back before in a restaurant so I was interested to see what reaction I got […]

A Japanese whisky has been voted the best in the world.
Yoichi 20-year-old is the first variety outside Scotland to win the coveted single malt award from industry bible Whisky Magazine, scotching the hopes of dozens of other varieties, including last year’s winner, Talisker 18-year-old, from the Isle of Sky.
Yoichi, which is distilled near Sapporo City […]