Features

Exploring...Yuzushu

Laura Foster takes a deep dive into the delicious world of this Japanese fruit liqueur, which is creeping into cocktails across the UK.

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11 July, 2022

Features

Born to be mild: Pete Brown on craft beer's next trend

The big beer style of this year is one of the least likely Pete Brown could contemplate – nevertheless it’s one that he feels is actually worthy of revival.

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11 July, 2022

Features

Professor Charles Spence: why cocktails need headspace

Leaving headspace above wine allows the volatile aromas to circulate, giving the drinker orthonasal pleasure. Professor Charles Spence explains how this works and why there’s a case to be made for a similar approach in cocktails.

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04 July, 2022

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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