Category Archives: Spirits

Bourbon dry: low spirits in New Zealand as bottle shops run out

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Shipping delays and bottlenecks, along with rising popularity of hard liquor, cause shortage, accompanied by dip in chicken nugget stocks

As supply chain pressures and shipping delays are felt around the world, New Zealand is being hit by a nationwide dearth of bourbon, with shortages also hitting the craft beer and chicken nugget markets.

“It’s a pain all right,” said Neil, a worker at the Bottle-O store in Mt Eden. “There’s a shortage of bourbon at the moment. We can’t get anything from out of America, apparently.”

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Gin twist: Japan reinvents the spirit with the help of green tea and oysters

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Sales of the drink soar as distillers target a whole new market

The setting is unmistakably Japanese: a mountainous backdrop and, out of view but menacingly close, an active volcano. And nestling amid barren rice paddies seeing out the winter, a distillery producing a spirit whose roots lie far from rural Kagoshima.

The administrative district on Japan’s southernmost main island of Kyushu is famed for shochu, a spirit, often made with sweet potatoes or barley, that has sustained family-run businesses here for centuries.

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No icy lager, no sundowners: could you handle a sober holiday?

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For many of us, a getaway means sun, sea, sand and… alcohol. But what if you drink so much at home that a break is a chance to go booze-free?

A couple of years ago, before a two-week holiday to the Algarve, I decided I wouldn’t drink. I thought it would be difficult. There would be no more vinho verde to wash down a charcoal-grilled bream. It would be adeus to the icy Sagres lager that goes so perfectly with those fat, yellow Portuguese chips. Aside from the gustatory pleasures, I worried about being the sober one. Drinking is part of the routine of the British holiday. If I didn’t participate, it might endanger everyone else’s fun, too.

Besides, it was part of my “personal brand”. It wasn’t that I was an alcoholic, but I did think that being gregarious, and generally up for a good time and a pint in the sun, was part of the reason people wanted to go on holiday with me. At 32, I worried that I risked projecting Big Midlife Crisis Energy years before my time.

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‘Crumpets have been my saviour!’: readers on their 14 best comfort meals of lockdown

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Food has felt more important than ever this past year – particularly meals that offer solace. From rösti to Coco Pops, here are the dishes that got us through

For me, lockdown has meant an absolutely manic schedule, working from home with back-to-back Zoom calls and long hours. Crumpets have been my saviour. Yes, factory made, perfectly consistent and versatile: top with yoghurt and frozen berries at 8am, blue cheese and leeks at 1pm, followed by eggs and spinach at 7pm, and you have a full day’s menu. For a bit more lockdown spirit, I tried the sourdough version (delicious if squishy) and making my own (I promise you, it’s not worth it). Sophie, data analyst, St Albans

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Back in the mix: cocktails for outdoor meet-ups | Kitchen aide

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The secret to enterprising cocktails for picnic refreshments is to pack them in a flask to keep things cold

What cocktails are good to make for a gathering outside?
Jess, Bath

The key to park-time drinking (in moderation, of course) is keeping things chilled. “Warm cocktails are one of the worst things in the world,” says Claire Strickett, co-author with Bert Blaize of Which Wine When. Salvation, though, comes in the form of a vacuum flask: “Obviously it keeps things cold, too, so make a cocktail, put it in the fridge and then into the Thermos.” One such drink could be a cosmopolitan, or, as Strickett puts it, a Cosmos. “I’ve spent lockdown rediscovering Sex and the City, so I’m back into them.” She shakes 30ml Chase vodka, 30ml triple sec, 50ml cranberry juice and 20ml lime juice per person, chills overnight, then transports in her trusty flask and garnishes with a slice of lime on arrival.

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‘I feel so good I may never drink again!’ Readers on their success – or failure – during dry January

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Readers explain whether they looked, felt and slept better – or if they turned back to alcohol to cheer up a miserable month

I don’t drink every day, but I do drink every weekend and I usually drink a fair amount. I did dry January (and February) two years ago when my wife was eight months pregnant with our son, but I’m finding it much easier this year because I don’t have the opportunity to go out and socialise. The thing I miss most about drinking is visiting the pub with some friends – without that it’s certainly easier. Duncan Ward, operational resilience manager, West Sussex

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Master brewer: the woman excelling in Japan’s male world of sake

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Miho Imada has won international acclaim as a tôji, or master brewer of the traditional Japanese tipple

As a child, Miho Imada promised herself she would never perform “women’s work” to support her family’s sake brewery. She saw how her mother juggled looking after five children with cooking three meals a day for groups of visiting seasonal workers, and devoted what little time she had left to doing the accounts.

“I never saw my mother sleep, and she never seemed to catch a cold,” Imada said. “She was always working. I thought ‘there’s no way I’m going to do that.’”

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