There is a revolution happening and whisky is at the cutting edge. We find out more
The revival of the cocktail scene has really taken hold in the trendy bars and clubs across the world, and whisky and bourbon have fast become the premier ingredient for many bartenders – or mixologists as they are known.
A cocktail is essentially a mix of two or more ingredients, one of which must...
By Rob Allanson
from Issue 64 published on 01/06/2007
Ian Wisniewski goes in search of Bobby Burns
It’s surprising that so few cocktails are named after people, whether it’s the person who inspired the recipe, or whoever created it .
So, it’s even more surprising that although Scotch whisky only has a limited number of classic cocktails, the Rob Roy and Bobbie Burns are two examples bearing the ...
By Ian Wisniewski
from Issue 62 published on 01/03/2007
Ian Wisniewski looks at a silver screen classic cocktail
While some cocktails are the result of sheer creativity, and so can happen at any point in a bartender’s career, other recipes are inspired by specific events at a particular time. The blood and sand cocktail for example, was created in 1922 for the premier of the film Blood and Sand, starring Rudol...
By Ian Wisniewski
from Issue 61 published on 19/01/2007
Ian Wisniewski looks at the story behind this versatile cocktail
Offering supreme versatility, punch can cater for various tastes, while a punch bowl provides a natural focal point for guests to gather around. By serving punch rather than a choice of drinks, hosts avoid spending time catering for individual preferences. As guests can serve themselves, hosts are f...
By Ian Wisniewski
from Issue 60 published on 10/11/2006
Sounds simple enough,but there is more going on as Ian Wisniewski finds out
Enjoying whisky in the form of a long, refreshing drink, or a sophisticated cocktail, certainly has its appeal.
But to savour a malt whisky a typical recommendation is diluting with water, on the basis that it ‘opens up’ the character.
While this implies that the existing aromas and flavours will ...
By Ian Wisniewski
from Issue 59 published on 11/10/2006
Ian Wisniewski saddles up for a challenging cocktail
Preparing a Horse’s Neck, by topping up a measure of bourbon with ginger ale (some recipes include an optional dash of Angostura Bitters) sounds simple enough. But then combining the ingredients is not the most demanding element of this cocktail.
What really distinguishes a Horse’s Neck is the garn...
By Ian Wisniewski
from Issue 58 published on 30/08/2006
Ian Wisniewski looks at the Atholl Brose
Various classic recipes can be attributed to bartenders inspired by a special event, a particular customer, or just their own natural creativity.
Atholl Brose came to prominence when one Scottish aristocrat was inspired to serve it to a fellow nobleman. This wasn't however so much a tribute as a sp...
By Ian Wisniewski
from Issue 56 published on 01/06/2006
Whisky cocktails are at the forefront of a cocktail revolution.Sally Toms reports
Like it or not, cocktails are back in style.
Many believe that whisky cocktails are a fantastic way of attracting new drinkers, and during recent years the industry has begun to recognise this and put forward whisky as a premier ingredient.
The trend has received criticism from serious whisky afic...
By Sally Toms
from Issue 56 published on 01/06/2006
Ian Wisniewski looks at the Rusty Nail
Various cocktails exert their own particular appeal, with the Cosmopolitan offering supreme fashionability, while the Dry Martini epitomises an ultimate sophistication.
But actually having to prepare one, rather than placing an order with a qualified professional, is another experience altogether.
...
By Ian Wisniewski
from Issue 55 published on 14/04/2006
Ian Wisniewski on the nearest thing Scotland has to a national cocktail
Scotch whisky may be the national spirit of Scotland, though this doesn’t mean it provides a national cocktail, in the way that a mojito is an automatic choice for Cubans, or a dry martini is a favourite with Americans. But then that’s hardly surprising as Scotch has a limited cocktail tradition, wi...
By Ian Wisniewski
from Issue 54 published on 03/03/2006
Ian Wisniewski on a winter favourite
Before cappuccino, espresso, latte and macchiato became part of our daily vocabulary, the ultimate choice was an Irish coffee rather than anything Italian.
An inspired combination of Irish whiskey, coffee and cream, one sip could take you straight to that special place.
However, once other options...
By Ian Wisniewski
from Issue 53 published on 12/01/2006
Ian Wisniewski on a very old classic
Thriving on tradition, and offering ease of preparation, not to mention a sense of well-being (or at least an illusion of this), the hot toddy seems to have it all.
Except that a hot toddy is never ordered when you’re dressed up to enjoy an evening within the glamour of a cocktail bar. Being percei...
By Ian Wisniewski
from Issue 52 published on 30/11/2005
Ian Wisniewski on the most refreshing of all whisky cocktails
The Collins is a cocktail with a definitive mission statement: providing serious refreshment. This makes it perfect to sip by the pool, on a terrace, or in fact anywhere that you happen to be.
However, while the type of whisky within a Collins, perhaps bourbon or Scotch, can be readily apparent, an...
By Ian Wisniewski
from Issue 51 published on 07/10/2005
It's all a question of balance. Ian Wisniewski explains how a good Sour can put a smile on your face
As a style of cocktail the Sour applies the same treatment to various spirits, with the first sip revealing how appropriately it's named. Lemon juice provides the sourness, and the challenge lies in attaining a balance between the sourness, sweetness and the spirit, without allowing any individual e...
By Ian Wisniewski
from Issue 50 published on 09/09/2005
Still the preferred drink of fashion-setters attending the Kentucky Derby, the Mint Julep can be simplicity itself, or a challenge. Ian Wisniewski looks at its history
Originally prepared in the late 18th century using rum, brandy or rye whiskey, the most impressive ingredient in a Mint Julep was actually ice, and not just because it helped to counter the heat in the southern states of the USA. Ice was initially so expensive that serving drinks with an abundance o...
By Ian Wisniewski
from Issue 49 published on 15/07/2005
The second annual Cocktail Challenge took place at Whisky Live in London. Dominic Roskrow reports
What a difference a year makes. Twelve months ago, when we first gathered at the City Inn in London for the first proper Whisky Cocktail Challenge, there was a lot of prodding and poking at the idea of whisky cocktails. Lots of sniff and scratch, lots of taste it and see.
Our barmen gathered intrig...
By Dominic Roskrow
from Issue 48 published on 10/06/2005
Hailed by its fans as the first cocktail, the sazerac courted controversy because of one ingredient -absinthe. Ian Wisniewski looks at its history
The story begins with Antoine Amedie Peychaud, a Creole immigrant who arrived in New Orleans from San Domingo (Haiti) in 1795, with a secret family recipe for making bitters. When his son of the same name opened an apothecary at 123 Royal Street in the French Quarter in 1838, this bitters recipe bec...
By Ian Wisniewski
from Issue 48 published on 10/06/2005
Whisky and cola? Ian Wisniewski takes us in to unchartered waters
It’s like a rite of passage. We grow up drinking cola, accompanied by ice and lemon, but after reaching legal drinking age we can enjoy it with some other, more adult accompaniments.
As a universal mixer, cola partners various spirits and whiskies. Tequila and cola, for example, is the most popular...
By Ian Wisniewski
from Issue 47 published on 05/04/2005
In the latest of his series on classic cocktails, Ian Wisniewski looks at the Old-Fashioned
The Old Fashioned is more than just a whisky cocktail, it’s also a concept, as the same principle of sweetening, chilling and diluting can be applied to other aged spirits, such as rum or brandy, to make an alternative old fashioned with an individual flavour.
Originally created as a bourbon cockta...
By Ian Wisniewski
from Issue 46 published on 10/3/2005
In the first of a new series on great whisky cocktails, Ian Wisniewski looks at The Manhattan
Unlike so many ornate, fruity cocktails that are mere fashion accessories for the cocktail brigade, no one toys with a Manhattan. It's way beyond that, being a quintessential whisky cocktail with genuine pedigree and a sophisticated flavour.
The Manhattan's origins span various options, though a f...
By Ian Wisniewski
from Issue 45 published on 21/1/2005
Impossible to do whisky justice when it’s in a cocktail? That’s rubbish, as our recent Whisky Cocktail Challenge showed
Boy, have we come a long way in a few short months. When we first held a mini cocktail challenge the results were patchy to say the least. It’s not that the cocktails weren’t good – they were. It’s just that half of them could have contained anything.
Not only did the weaker half spectacularly fail...
By Dominic Roskrow
from Issue 40 published on 4/6/2004
Whisky cocktails present mixologists with a unique set of problems. But some of London's finest were up for the challenge. Dominic Roskrow reports.
Morning is spluttering to a conclusion and we’re into that part of the day which diners would consider brunch time. At The Lonsdale in London’s Notting Hill our guests are arriving. Slowly. Some with water in hand, some with sandwiches, one or two with cigarettes.
They’re chatting about a gin launc...
By Dominic Roskrow
from Issue 36 published on 28/12/2003
Whisky cocktails can work, and they could help bring younger drinkers in to the world of malts. A team of Whisky Magazine writers put a selection of them on public trial
Cocktails. Just the mention of them has many whisky lovers spluttering in to their glasses.
And undoubtedly adding a fruit bowl and any number of other sweeteners to a single malt can be truly stomach-churning. But it needn’t be this way, and slowly but very surely whisky producers are accepting th...
By
from Issue 33 published on 25/9/2003
Martine Nouet argues that one of the advantages of bad weather is that you can drink strong spirits to keep out the cold
Eveybody fights the rigours of winter in their own manner. Modern conveniences have spoilt us with houses that are (too) well-heated. But think of the old times when peat or log fires were the only way to get some warmth in cold, damp houses.
There were days when the freezing cold necessitated addi...
By Martine Nouet
from Issue 29 published on 24/3/2003
Gary Regan is currently in hog heaven. Critics believe that he desecrated 'precious malt whisky' live on American television, but malt whisky cocktails aren't quite as strange as you may think
It was a cold winter’s night some seven years ago when I got the call. I had gone to bed that evening envisaging a good night’s sleep only to be woken by the shrill tones of the telephone. It was the producer from the Television Food Network (TVFN) who frantically explained that a guest due to appea...
By Gary Regan
from Issue 14 published on 16/2/2001
Jonathon Goodall investigates whisky cocktails and finds a way of using up these unwanted dregs of single malt.
It was the alchemic quest for the elixir of youth that started it – perhaps. Either that or the necessity of disguising the flavour of crude forms of alcohol. Either way, the history of the creation of cocktails is littered with so many claims and counter-claims that it’s difficult to trust any of i...
By Jonathon Goodall
from Issue 5 published on 4/8/1999
