Caribbean Rum Cocktails
Caribbean Rum Cocktails Due to the post-colonial proliferation of sugarcane plantations, rum is one of the Caribbean’s most important exports – and one of its favourite cocktail ingredients! Like These Cocktails? You’ll love my online Caribbean cooking class inspired by Paul Carmichael! I’ve given suggestions for white or dark rum in some recipes below, but […]
Italian Sparkling Wines
Best Italian Sparkling Wines Italy’s sparkling wines, or ones named for them, were many people’s first foray into the world of bubbles. Join me on a Food & Wine Tour of Northern ItalyHome To The Best Italian Sparkling Wines! Coming of drinking age in Australia in the early ’80s, it was a glass of lambrusco […]
Top 5 Non-Alcoholic Beverages
Top 5Non-Alcoholic Beverages The non-alcoholic adult beverage market is gaining real momentum, with Forbes reporting that it surpassed US$11 billion in 2022. While many offerings still fall short of the mark attempting to compensate for the mouthfeel of the glycerol in alcohol with added sugar, new players are appearing virtually every month and more traditional […]
Top 5 Greek Wines
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
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 Chilled Red Wines
I don’t mean rosé, I mean real red wines that are just so good drunk with a bit of a chill, especially in summer! After all, red wine is intended to be drunk at ‘cellar temperature’ and a European cellar is probably around 15°C all year, not the 35°+ our bottles reach when they sit […]
Top 5 Pet Nat (Natural Sparkling Wine)
What is this term, pet nat, appearing on crown-sealed bottles of cloudy fizz? It’s shorthand for the French pétillant naturel, or ‘sparkling natural’. Sure pet nats are one of the latest things in the world of natural wine … but then everything old is new again, and these are made by the simplest and oldest […]
Jura (regional guide)
One of the less visited areas of France, Jura is a diverse landscape of plains, vineyard-clad hills and the rugged Jura Mountains, which it shares with neighbouring Switzerland. There’s some spectacular scenery and delicious food, but most exciting of all is the unique vin jaune (‘yellow wine’) that has made this region famous among oenophiles […]
Barossa Valley (regional guide)
Top 5 Barossa (regional guide) Australian wine areas don’t get much more iconic than the Barossa. Without getting into too much detail, the Barossa ‘wine zone’ is divided into two official ‘wine regions’: the cooler, higher Eden Valley in the east and the warmer Barossa Valley in the west; plus a small stretch further west […]
Adelaide Hills (regional guide)
Adelaideans, do you know how blessed you are? Just 20 minutes from your city centre, you start climbing into one of the most beautiful parts of Australia. I love the Adelaide Hills, especially when they’re bursting with spring blossoms or glowing with autumn leaves. A drive through the Hills is a joy in itself – […]