The A-Z of wine: This week, E is for… England April 12, 2022 We continue to march through the alphabet in search of new wines and old favourites. What’s this then? A green and pleasant land bedeviled by internal strife caused by a single contentious issue – namely, what do you call a soft bread roll? Also home to a burgeoning wine industry fuelled by centuries of wine [...]
Drinks events back after the pandemic, Here are two for your diary April 12, 2022 The first big booze shows are on the horizon – we’ll drink to that! The Cognac Show All Cognac is brandy, but not all brandy is Cognac. Though it suffers from a perception that it is too fancy, expensive, and decadent, this varied category of French grape spirits was the workhorse of many traditional cocktails, [...]
Corbin & King has fallen: What does it mean for The Wolseley, Zedel et al? April 7, 2022 You can be forgiven for not following the corporate intricacies of the hospitality sector, but last week was significant. On Friday, it was announced that Corbin & King, the restaurant group founded in 1981 by the eponymous Chris and Jeremy, had been bought out of administration by Minor International, the vehicle of American-born Thai billionaire [...]
The drinks diaries: An experimental new whisky and ready mixed cocktails April 7, 2022 Whiskymakers Compass Box are well known for their mischievous approach to the rules governing the production of Scotch whisky. While some might regard these as necessary impediments to creativity, Compass Box takes apparent delight in tweaking the nose of the establishment, sometimes making whiskies that seem to be a calculated riposte to figures in authority [...]
Why your next meal out should be in Sheffield thanks to Jöro April 6, 2022 Taking a two hour train ride to Sheffield to dine inside a shipping container next to a bypass may sound like a hard sell, but having done exactly that last week, allow me to try… Jöro is a labour of love from husband and wife duo Luke French (chef director) and Stacey Sherwood-French (managing director). [...]
The Russia–Ukraine war and other geopolitical risks April 5, 2022 | City Talk The war in Ukraine is dominating the headlines. For now. But the conflict’s indirect reverberations will ripple far beyond the borders of its combatants and their allies. Indeed, they could give rise to new and varied geopolitical risks throughout the world. The war’s potential effect on the global grain supply and food inflation is especially [...]
Price of milk may increase by up to 50 per cent, as worried UK and EU industry leaders gather in Brussels April 4, 2022 The price of a pint of milk may jump by 50 per cent, as industry leaders held crisis talks. A perfect storm of supply chain pressures and rising costs for farmers has led to fears that the price of milk might soar to the highest for years. According to The Telegraph, four pints will jump [...]
Making bubbles under the sea: Is this the future of fizz? March 26, 2022 English wine has boldly gone somewhere it has never been before: under the sea. The idea of under-water aging has been trialled across the world since 2010, when some Veuve Clicquot dating from the early 1800s was found in a shipwreck, proclaimed delicious, and sold at a premium. However, Hampshire’s Exton Park is now the [...]
Rapper Kano is the mastermind behind The Duppy Share’s new rum March 26, 2022 Last week the latest season of the gritty London crime drama Top Boy dropped on Netflix, and as you settle in to binge the series, its star – actor and MOBO-winning grime pioneer Kano – has you covered for drinks. He’s the driving force behind the flavourful Duppy White Jamaican rum, part of The Duppy [...]
Last minute Mother’s Day idea: Try the Pan Pacific hotel March 25, 2022 Mother’s Day is on the horizon and with canny timing the Pan Pacific hotel has launched an afternoon tea centred around childhood memories in its elegant Orchard Lounge. Award-winning executive pastry chef Cherish Finden recalls her own Singaporean childhood during either a traditional English tea or a fully Asian affair, the latter of which I opted for. We [...]
