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Features

Pot still whiskey

Features

Single pot still or single malt - what is Irish whiskey's flagship style?
New distilleries are springing up and while single pot still remains key, many are also turning to easier-to-market single malts. Oli Dodd assesses the situation in Ireland.
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04 July, 2022

Features

Why wine is underused in cocktails
Joe Wadsack challenges bartenders to drop their preconceptions and be more experimental in their approach to using wine in cocktails.
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04 July, 2022

Features

Professor Charles Spence on the role of smell in taste
As well as aiding our sense of taste, smells can be incredibly evocative. Professor Charles Spence explains how we are led by our noses.
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31 May, 2022

Features

Professor Charles Spence on the role of touch in taste
 Professor Charles Spence analyses how the sense of touch can be enhanced in the drinking experience.
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31 May, 2022

Features

Professor Charles Spence on the role of sound in taste
Continuing our series of articles on the psychology of taste, Oxford University professor and gastrophysicist Charles Spence asks everyone to listen up.
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20 May, 2022

Features

Professor Charles Spence on the role of sight in taste
In the first of a series of articles on the psychology of taste, Oxford University professor and gastrophysicist Charles Spence investigates sight.
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18 May, 2022

Features

Bengal rum and India's forgotten spirits history
Vikram Doctor explains how Indian rum is both an emerging category and has a storied history, dating back to the 18th century.
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28 April, 2022
Pisco cocktail

Features

Pisco: why we must look beyond the sour
Oli Dodd pulls back the curtains on a spirit that has much more to offer than a sour.
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21 April, 2022
Pineapple soda

Features

Why we can't get enough of pineapple products
Not so long ago pineapple products were a rarity in bars – now they’re popping up in mixers, says Hamish Smith.
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21 April, 2022

Features

Charles Spence on why the tongue map is spurious science
Professor Charles Spence peers into matters of taste and explains why the tongue map is wrong
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04 April, 2022
Peated whiskey

Features

Smoke signals - how American whiskey is turning to peat
There are signs that peated American whiskey is about to catch fire, says Tristan Stephenson.
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04 April, 2022
raicilla agave

Features

Exploring...Raicilla
Laura Foster takes a deep dive into one of the lesser-known cousins of the main agave spirits.
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04 April, 2022

Features

Is it time for ethical wine?
Joe Wadsack asks whether it’s time the making of wine doesn’t involve animal products.
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30 March, 2022

Features

Edmund Weil and Rosie Stimpson on their long-awaited Nightjar sequel

Husband and wife team Edmund Weil and Rosie Stimpson have finally opened a second iteration of their popular bar, and London’s West End will be better for it, reckons Hamish Smith.
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16 March, 2022

Features

Is there a cost to Instagramming in bars?

In the Instagram era how do you keep your guests engaged with each other and the experience rather than with their virtual sphere? Charles Spence has a few suggestions for prising mobile phones from customers' hands.
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01 March, 2022

Features

Can music affect the way people taste drinks?
Dave Broom discusses the relationship between music and drinking, taking inspiration form the cultures of Cuba and Japan.
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01 March, 2022

Features

What is complexity in drinks? It's complex...
Charles Spence takes on the subject of what ‘complexity’ might really mean when it comes to alcoholic drinks – it’s not as simple to define as you might think.
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10 February, 2022
Rioja wine glass

Features

Rioja: the tale of the ubiquitous wine born of chance
Rioja is a go-to red in the on-trade, but this grand Spanish wine was born out of a large degree of chance. Joe Wadsack tells the tale of Rioja.
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10 February, 2022

Features

Craft cider is our history but will it be our future?
Misled by the use of the word ‘craft’ and seduced by foreign imitators, UK consumers are missing out on some great British ciders, says Pete Brown.
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02 February, 2022

Features

Do women and men experience taste differently?
Professor Charles Spence investigates whether there are biological gender differences that shape the way we taste.
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02 February, 2022
Prosecco

Features

What you need to know to navigate prosecco
Joe Wadsack isn't exactly the biggest fan of prosecco but his dim view of the Italian fizz isn't without cracks of light – there does exist properly good prosecco, he says.
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01 February, 2022

Features

The blind truth: should cocktail comps be judged blind?
Professor Charles Spence says blind tests make for the purest judgements. So why not in cocktails?
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24 January, 2022
cronut

Features

Dunkin' cronuts! How food's mash-up trend works in cocktails
If there are hybrids in food, what about classic cocktails? Prof Charles Spence gets behind the chemistry of mash ups.
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24 January, 2022
bar atmosphere

Features

Something in the air: the science of atmosphere
A bar’s atmosphere is sometimes indefinable, yet there’s science behind the harnessing of the senses. Professor Charles Spence investigates.
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20 January, 2022
Johnnie Walker Visitor Experience

Features

Dave Broom on the "changing discussion" around scotch blends
Are scotch blends becoming sexy? Dave Broom discovers a changing world at the new Johnnie Walker Experience Centre in Edinburgh.
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12 January, 2022
Light spirits

Features

The rise of the mid-proof spirit category
There’s been no, there’s been low, and now there is a new mid-proof drinks category taking shape. Millie Milliken explores the rise of the ‘light’ spirit, and how it translates into bars.
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05 January, 2022
Mastiha crystals

Features

Exploring... Mastiha
In the first of a new series on little-known liquids, Laura Foster sets her sights on Greek liqueur mastiha
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17 December, 2021
Agave pina

Features

The remaking of mixto
Are bartenders and consumers unnecessarily prejudiced against mixto, or could the variety’s re-emergence in the UK threaten the hard-won success of the 100% agave-led tequila category? Amy Hopkins investigates.
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17 December, 2021

Features

Staff shortages: bridging the gap
Delving into the staffing shortage, Oli Dodd looks to how we cope as employers and employees in the busy months ahead.
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09 December, 2021
champagne coupe

Features

Five champagnes for Christmas and New Year Eve
Joe Wadsack gives us his Christmas list of five champagnes everyone should know.
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24 November, 2021