They say Christmas is a time for tradition, and it may be that whisky already features in a number of yours – but if it doesn’t, here are some new ways to get cosy with whisky this Christmas.
Our Gingerbread Purl is an extra spicy twist on a winter warmer of a veritable vintage – warm ale served with a nip of our gingerbread gin liqueur and seasonal spice. Purl was by far the most popular of the hot ale drinks of the Victorian period, although its roots can be traced right back to the Middle Ages. Samuel Pepys was known to consume it as a morning beverage…
If you’re talking about experimental whisky, sooner or later you need to talk about space distillation…
Our Gingerbread gin liqueur recipe harks back to ancient Christmas traditions in London. In fact, some records claim that gin and gingerbread is the first recorded pairing of spirits and food. You see, back in the 17th and 18th Centuries, the River Thames would frequently freeze during the winter. When this happened, Londoners used to head out onto the ice to hold ‘frost fairs’ with all sorts of market stalls…
“I thought I might make a sazerac with some of the nutmeg whisky that Mole brought round the other night. What do you think?” – Christmas with Fox & Beagle Even if you don’t have a friendly family of local moles to provide you with nutmeg-infused whisky, this cocktail is super simple to make – you’ll just need a few days’ notice to make start the infusion running. Infusing herbs…
“The beagle reached a paw up to his collar and drew out a hip flask…He took a deep draught from the flask and shivered as the warming pear whisky and ginger liqueur flowed down his throat. He felt as if the tingle of the ginger reached right to the tips of his paws and he paused to stretch with delight and pass the flask to his partner.” – Christmas with…
An applejack and cinnamon-spiked Manhattan variant, this is a great drink to ease you from late autumn and into the Christmas period. Applejack is a delightful spirit derived from cider. Historically it was made through the process of ‘freeze distilling’ or ‘jacking’ which occurred when the cider made after the autumn harvest was left outside as temperatures began to fall. Because of its (relatively) low proof, the water would freeze…
The ‘bad boy of Speyside’ is bucking the trend for fancy decanters and giving away its newest oldest whisky for free – but how does it taste?
I love peated whisky, because what’s the point of drinking whisky if it hasn’t been heavily flavoured by thousands of years of decaying organic matter?
As innovative London ‘gin palace’ The Worship Street Whistling Shop announces it is closing after almost 8 years at the top of the London bar scene, I remember my first visit, with apologies to The New Yorker’s ‘Bar Tab‘ column.
