Gustav Temple provides festive concoctions to get one through the holiday period. People often refer to Christmas as a ‘boozy’ or ‘over-indulgent’ period, then those same people, come the first of January, go all holly-and-ivier-than-thou, self-righteously placing a palm over their wine glass when offered a top up. What they don’t comprehend is that Christmas… … Keep Reading
Gustav Temple braves vintage petrol fumes, spiky juniper bushes and an uphill country walk to sample the new Levin Down Gin from the Goodwood Estate. Scanning the Chichester railway car park for the promised ‘classic vehicle’ that would take us to Goodwood House, I didn’t spy any vintage Daimlers, Alvises or Bentleys. There was a… … Keep Reading
Gustav Temple follows in the footsteps of Phileas Fogg to sample a cocktail from each of the eight cities he visits on his circumnavigation. There are as many cocktails are there are cities in the world, and Phileas Fogg’s route in Around the World in 80 Days took him through some of the major drinking… … Keep Reading
A thrilling opportunity to acquire, along with a Chap Hip Flask, a bottle of The Sexton Irish Whiskey. Viewers of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory will recall that five golden tickets were inserted into five random Wonka Bars, each one guaranteeing the finder a visit to the Chocolate Factory and a lifetime’s supply of chocolate.… … Keep Reading
Gustav Temple takes a liquid journey around the world to see whether single malt whisky can be trusted from anywhere except Scotland. To some readers (and they may be right) is is already blasphemous even to suggest that whisky can come from anywhere except Scotland. But when one discovers that whisky is also made in… … Keep Reading
Gustav Temple assesses a new Irish Whiskey with rather ghoulish credentials. The word ‘sexton’ derives from the Mediaeval Latin word sacristanus – ‘custodian of sacred objects’. A sexton is ‘a person who looks after a church and churchyard, typically acting as bell-ringer and gravedigger’. The gravedigger in Hamlet calls himself a sexton, for example. The typical… … Keep Reading
Gustav Temple nosedives into rums that don’t come from where they used to come from, because they are either made or refined right here on these craggy shores. Over the last decade or so, rum has been slowly shaking off its old reputation as something to swill in discotheques mixed with Coca-Cola. But only recently… … Keep Reading
On National Tequila Day, Gustav Temple samples a new tequila that lays to rest the drink’s association with sombrero-wearing roustabouts “Hey, Rosita, come quick/Down at the cantina they’re giving green stamps with tequila!” For some, the song Speedy Gonzalez by Pat Boone (1962) may have been one’s first introduction to Tequila, for others another song… … Keep Reading
Gustav Temple pays a visit to the Barbadillo Bodegas in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, to settle once and for all what the difference is between Fino and Manzanilla You can smell the bodegas before you see them; the scent of sherry in all its forms wafts about Sanlúcar de Barrameda, a small town on the coast… … Keep Reading
Gustav Temple and Olly Smith on the transformation of gin from slum-dweller’s slosh to sophisticate’s tipple “Liquid Madness sold at tenpence the quarter.” Thus did Thomas Carlyle, admittedly not the world’s greatest party animal, describe gin in 1839. Back then, gin was still waiting for its launch into the High Life, and was the tipple… … Keep Reading
Gustav Temple and Olly Smith share the ideal cocktails to make at home, while the cocktail bars are all closed during Lockdown The origin of the word ‘cocktail’ remains a mystery to historians. One minute men were swigging fermented fruit from gourds and grunting at each other, the next they were swapping witticisms while sipping… … Keep Reading
Olly Smith pays a visit to the East Sussex vineyard of Breaky Bottom to inspect the terroir and enjoy the company of owner Peter Hall “Aaaaah filthy!” These were the words I growled joyfully on all fours while sniffing the earth beneath the vines at Breaky Bottom. It was my first visit to Peter Hall, the… … Keep Reading