Cocktails and other drinks

Cocktails, beer, wine, spirit, liqueurs and other adult beverages

Wine for beginners

Tasting Wine

Wine still has a lot of baggage. By that I mean that there is still a great deal of snobbishness about it, which could be the reason why some people are put off experimenting and expanding their wine tastes. There is also so much choice now in supermarkets and specialist wine shops that it can …

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Clairet – A clear winner over rosé

Rose and Clairet

The first time I encountered clairet was on a bicycle tour through Bordeaux in France. At one vineyard we visited they talked about it briefly when they told us how they made their rosé. To begin with I thought they were just mispronouncing claret, but there is a connection. Centuries ago clairet, known as rouge …

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Homemade Peach Liqueur, Capturing the Essence of Summer

Ingredients for Homemade Peach Liqueur

Fresh picked peaches are one of the finest fruits to be enjoyed. Once you have had filled your craving of fresh peaches, having made peach jam, sorbet, ice cream and even baked a dessert or two, what else can you do with the extra peaches? How does one capture the essence of a perfectly sun …

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Homemade Marmalady Tasting Orange Gin

Marmalady Orange Gin

In December last year, our friend Deborah delivered about 50lbs of oranges from her father’s orange grove in East Texas to us, after we had been talking about making fruit liqueurs. Little did I know how much we were going to get. Unlike other fruit such as apples, peaches or berries, there is only so …

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A Diamond Jubilee Cocktail – ‘On the throne’

Diamond Jubilee Cocktail - On the throne

It is well known that Queen Elizabeth likes a Dubonnet and Gin before lunch each day, a drink she inherited from her mother, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. Once before a trip she was noted to have said. “…I think that I will take two small bottles of Dubonnet and gin with me this morning, …

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