The Spirit World

A quick cocktail recipe for the weekend. But, bloody ‘ell people, this is a stunner!
I’ve never had PX (that’s wine speak for the Pedro Ximénez sherry) in a cocktail before but this blew me away. It has got to be my fave cocktaill of all time. After all it has champagne in it too!
It came […]

Absolut Vodka, perhaps the last state-owned vodka in Europe, will be privatized next year. The Swedish government will auction off its parent company Vin & Spirit, considered the crown jewel of entrepreneurial heritage in the state.
The sale of the company could fill the state’s coffers with the equivalent of about five billion euros. The government […]

I’ve come across two great cocktail recipes that should bring us kicking and screaming into ‘08 and banish those post New Years and Christmas doldrums.
They are the creation of a Dim Sum restaurant chain in London. They don’t give full recipe details with quantities and such as the website is obviously trying to entice customers but they describe […]

For once I am ahead of the game! I have found, consumed and written up a wine for the next round of Wine Blogging Wednesday.
Yep, over on Spittoon, if the ’schedule’ facility works correctly, there will appear a wonderful little post on the delights of a white from Venezia Giulia, Italy. It is all primed for […]

Corky’s Vodka Shooters are a range of premixed flavoured vodkas. With an abv of 20% the range features twelve ‘radical’ flavours designed to appeal to both sexes and offers everything from a warm smooth glow to a shockingly sour bite. Each are presented in a uniquely stylised 70cl bottle.
Toffee · Apple Sour · Cherry · […]

It’s that time of year again when most people make, or at least think about making, New Year’s resolutions. Spurred on by the discussion on Grape Radio recently, I thought I’d have a go at making up my wine related resolutions. Being a Scot New Year’s Eve, or Hogmanay as we call it, is important […]

Pour, that Upper West Side wine store I hear so much about, has a full selection of wine related gifts ready for those time and idea-strapped people this Christmas.
Among them, the “Let it Snow Stocking Stuffer” includes a bottle of Montepulciano, a pourer, a spill ring and a cork retriever and sells for $25, the […]

For all you budding wine photographers the Wine Blogging Wednesday group has set-up a flickr group to highlight your endeavours.
Open to WBW participant bloggers only the group will be a great way to publicise your blog post in addition to forming a nice resource of all the wines reviewed. One photo only per month to […]

Not my own creation but taken from a Sunday supplement to the Times; it went down a storm at a little gathering last weekend. Highly recommended.
Red Bullet

15 large ice cubes
100ml gin
50ml top quality creme de cassis
700ml cider
4 slices of orange

No room in my freezer to pre-chill the glasses as the write-up suggested, but simplicity to […]

I’ve been in China for the last 10 days on a guided tour aptly named A Taste of China, and that’s what I’ve been doing – tasting the history, culture, food and of course the wine. To sum it all up, China has huge potential for producing and exporting quality wine – it’s just not […]