These Top 5 drinks lists will introduce you to my favourite wine regions, bars, wines, cocktails and wine folk.
Top 5 Persian Drinks Because alcohol isn’t an option in Iran (except for rather rough illegal moonshine), the range of non-alcoholic beverages is wide, interesting and delicious, including lots of freshly squeezed fruit juices sold by street vendors all over city streets and markets. Chai Chai, tea, is the national drink, always on the brew […]
Top 5Country Pubs Pubs are a great part of Australian culture, egalitarian spaces where tradies and CEOs drink side-by-side and everyone feels at home. In the old days there was a public bar for the blokes and a ladies’ lounge for the gals, with no cross-pollination. Today’s public bars welcome anyone who enjoys gaming and […]
Top 5 Australian Fortified Wines Before modern bottling methods, wines were often fortified with grape spirit to protect them from spoiling. The different flavours this produced caught on and, by the time it was no longer necessary, there was a continuing market for these higher alcohol wines. Australian fortified wines were international stars long before […]
Top 5 Italian Sparkling Wines Italy’s sparkling wines, or ones named for them, were many people’s first foray into the world of bubbles. Coming of drinking age in Australia in the early 80s, it was a glass of lambrusco or Asti spumante that made me feel oh-so-sophisticated; today local producers and great-value imports have made […]
Some of the oldest American cocktails come out of the South, which makes them some of the oldest cocktails in the world given this style of beverage was at least popularised in the USA. Here are my favourite classic Southern cocktails, using some of my favourite Australian spirits (and a Kentucky bourbon). Each recipe serves […]
Sometimes (OK, often) what I drink is as important as what I eat – and sometimes it’s more important. The eats still have to be good of course (and inclusion on this list is in no way an indictment of the food at these establishments), but sometimes I just feel like grazing my way through […]
Top 5 Greek Wines Ancient Greeks were one of the foremost producers of wine in their day and, along with the Romans, responsible for spreading vines to much of Europe. While the modern Greek wine industry was tainted by bad retsina for a long time, today Greek wines, and at least one Greek varietal grown […]
Japanese Whisky By Fredrik Uden The history of Japanese whisky starts with Masataka Taketsuru going to Scotland in 1918. He is already a chemist and comes from a family with a long history of sake brewing. His sole purpose in visiting Scotland is to study the art of whisky making. This is the beginning of […]
Top 5 Dessert Cocktails While cocktails are typically served before dinner, I find some are better suited to the end of the evening. Here’s my version of five classic cocktails that are perfect after, or instead of, dessert. Make your own simple sugar syrup by combining equal quantities of water and sugar or have fun […]
Let’s take a quick vicarious holiday to the town of Jerez de la Frontera and its surrounds, a fascinating part of southern Spain. I visited a few years ago to learn about my favourite wine style, Sherry, and discovered there’s so much more to this very special spot just over an hour’s drive from […]
