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Features

Camille Vidal

Features

Bartender wellness: The upside of downtime
Camille Vidal, bartender and founder of La Maison Wellness, is looking at the positives of time away from the bar. It could be the downtime you need, she says
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18 March, 2021
Sous vide

Features

A guide to the sous vide
Professor Shane Eaton’s lab tour takes us to the sous vide. There are few tools better for fast infusion, he says.
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09 March, 2021
Cider

Features

Fine cider - the UK's answer to Champagne
The best ciders are a match for any top wine, says Pete Brown, and it’s about time they were given the credit they deserve.
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04 March, 2021
Graffiti Spirits Group

Features

The dos and don'ts of reopening
John Ennis, managing director of the eight-venue strong Graffiti Spirits Group in Liverpool, says the latest reopening is a critical moment in which profitably trumps everything. He lays out what you should and shouldn’t do to emerge from lockdown stronger.
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03 March, 2021

Features

The spirit the cocktail movement left behind

Most classic categories have benefited from the cocktail renaissance and the growing interest in craft spirits. Not so Spanish brandy, says François Monti
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02 March, 2021
Comfort

Features

Does vulnerability change our drinking choices?
Professor Charles Spence questions whether the instability of the world around us has an effect on the psychology of taste
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25 February, 2021
solid and liquid

Features

Uniting the worlds of food and drink
That chefs deal with solids and bartenders deal with liquids – and somehow one trumps the other – is an outmoded way of thinking. Pull down the barriers, says Ryan Chetiyawardana.
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24 February, 2021
Drinks Journalist

Features

They call it news - you can call it marketing
Meet the drinks journalist – nocturnal by nature, sometimes bedraggled, predictably thirsty, but often useful. Introduce yourself, tell them what you’re up to, build a relationship. They call it news, but you can call it marketing, says Hamish Smith.
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24 February, 2021
homelessness

Features

How Covid took more than jobs
As a volunteer for Under One Sky, Artesian's Anna Sebastian has seen the link between hospitality and homelessness first hand. She reports back.
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11 February, 2021
Roaring Twenties

Features

Why the Roaring 2.0s could actually happen
The last pandemic was followed by the Roaring Twenties. Could history be about to repeat itself? Oli Dodd says if conditions continue to align, it just might.
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11 February, 2021
tequila barrel

Features

Tequila aged in cognac barrels? It's tequila, but different
While using casks from different spirits categories to age or finish tequila is not entirely new, it is unusual. Lucy Britner looks at the future potential
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14 January, 2021
fortified wine

Features

Why fortifieds are the spirits lover's wine

Go on, you deserve it – buy yourself a bottle of something special this winter. If you switch your attention from spirits to fortifieds, 30 or 40-year-olds don’t have to cost the earth, says Joe Wadsack
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11 January, 2021

Features

Buying your bar: is it now time to own, not rent your premises?
Hamish Smith weighs up the pros and cons of bar owners buying their premises, with the help of some industry operators with first-hand experience.
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08 January, 2021
Smell

Features

The effect of Covid-19 on taste is the issue under our noses
If smell can be impaired by age and illness, so can guests' appreciation of our drinks. Professor Charles Spence sniffs out the truth
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18 December, 2020
medieval drinking history

Features

Unprecedented times? Curfews and licensing restrictions are actually our history
Far from unprecedented, restrictions on hospitality are rooted in our medieval history. Dexter Plato turns town crier
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15 December, 2020
bourbon, old fashioned

Features

Old fashioned politics: how failed diplomacy is damaging whiskey
If whisk(e)y tariffs are not de-escalated soon, it could be costly for everyone involved. Hamish Smith reports
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30 November, 2020
Ontrade

Features

On and off-trade? Increasingly it's just trade
The on and off-trades aren’t two neat halves of the drinks market anymore – the blur between them has never been clearer, says Pete Brown
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21 September, 2020
Black Lives Matter, rum

Features

Rum through a pandemic lens
Ian Burrell explains how the pandemic and Black Lives Matters movement exposed outdated marketing in rum.
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18 September, 2020
wine consumption

Features

Lockdown legacy - has wine consumption changed?
Wine consumption was entirely at home for a chunk of 2020 – so how might lockdown trends have translated into the trade, asks Joe Wadsack
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14 September, 2020
Going rogue

Features

Gin has grown, but in what direction?
Gin specialist Emma Stokes believes elements of the category are headed in the wrong direction. Stop with the exhibitionism she says, gin's reputation is at stake
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03 September, 2020
mixed feelings

Features

Mixed feelings: Is the mixer-spirit serve under-used in the cocktail bar?
Post-lockdown, what kind of serve does the consumer want? Could simplicity provide clarity amid a confused picture, asks Lucy Britner
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02 September, 2020
Bartender 2.0

Features

Bartender 2.0: the healthy habits to harness after lockdown
Hang on to those healthy habits of lockdown, says La Maison Wellness’ Camille Vidal. It’s time for Bartender 2.0 to emerge
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02 September, 2020
Black Rock Scotch Egg

Features

How to make Black Rock's Scotch Egg
Black Rock's Scotch Egg is one of the best about. Here's how to make it at your bar. 
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08 August, 2020

Features

Humans crave novelty but shouldn't deliciousness be our guiding principle?
The pursuit of unusual flavours has led chefs and mixologists alike down some interesting roads – but Prof Charles Spence wonders if that’s the right path for cocktails. 
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20 April, 2020
ice

Features

The science of ice
Professor Shane Eaton explains the exact science that leads to clear blocks of ice, he says.
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12 April, 2020
Bar marketing

Features

Why bar marketing matters
Marketing is simply letting people know what you’re doing and helping them understand it, says Ryan Chetiyawardana. Why wouldn’t you want to pay for that, he asks?
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08 April, 2020

Features

Processing the pandemic
For painfully obvious reasons, there is anxiety among the ranks right now. Ellen Manning passes on some sound advice about how we process what has happened and move forward
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06 April, 2020

Features

Brands' pandemic performance and consumer loyalty
There’s a business case for digging deep during a crisis. Lucy Britner looks at COVID-19’s impact on the big drinks companies and consumer behaviour
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04 April, 2020

Features

Creativity in a crisis - how to pivot your bar
Nothing will make up for not having customers, but there are things you can do to build your brand and open up new avenues of revenue – if not for now, then later. Hamish Smith hears how to make the best of a bad situation...
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01 April, 2020
lager

Features

Why there's no shame in being a lager drinker
Lager is somehow seen as an inferior beer, but that’s far from true, says Pete Brown, who here explores the drink’s image problem.
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14 February, 2020