There was a time when women drinking whisky were considered to have low standards, but for men drinking whisky was a sign of a true man. Today, women drinking spirits is no biggie; it is considered sexy when you know what you like, whether it is asking for a specific whisky or how you like […]
The name vodka comes from the Slavic word voda or woda, meaning water. Vodka can be made from a variety of ingredients, and every distillery has its own way of ensuring a unique product, whether it is distilled four times or filtered twice, or maybe the base ingredient is different from the traditional vodkas. Some […]
As soon as I see a bottle of Malfy Gin I instantly start dreaming of the perfect Italian holiday: sunshine, colourful buildings, gelatos, flowers and lemon trees. In fact, the turquoise colour on the Malfy bottle actually represents the Mediterranean Sea, and the bright yellow, the beautiful Italian lemon trees. Not many people are aware […]
It seems every day a new Gin comes on the market and new micro distilleries keep popping up faster than you can say tonic. So it’s about time for us to understand the different stages of Gin production. There are two ways to make Gin – compounding and distilling. Compounding is considered to be the […]
To produce whisky you need three simple ingredients: water, yeast and barley (this can be mixed with rye or corn, I will talk about rye whisky soon) . The best type of barley is the one that produces the most sugar. There are five stages in the process: malting, mashing, fermentation, distillation and maturation. Malting During malting, the barley […]
First of all, as my blog post stresses, there’s Grappa and there’s Grappa. Take the time to find the quality brands (such as Nonino, Bocchino, Berta or Bepi Tosolini) as they are well worth the effort and are a wonderful spirit. The difference is explained through the production methods which I’ve bashed out below. Grappa […]