New Zealand Tour 4: Reefton

After a tour of the North Island’s distilleries, I headed back south… then west … The flight from…

sans-titre-16

New Zealand Tour 3: Pōkeno

DAY 3 Pōkeno Today was on a slow southward trajectory out of Auckland with Aaron Savage, Irish bartender…

The modified Hoga still - Thomson Whisky

New Zealand Tour 2: Thomson & 1919

Day 2 The chilled atmosphere of Waiheke [see previous post] gave way to a day navigating Auckland’s sprawl.…

The new still built by Spey Copper Works

New Zealand Tour 1: Waiheke Whisky

I’m not long returned from a trip to New Zealand – first to the always amazing DramFest in…

Big butts and new casks - which do you like?

Montilla magic – beyond the sherry cask

A horizontal forest sits in the light industrial units of Montilla town. Stacks of staves seasoning in the…

Waiheke Island

Pinot, manuka and swamp forest – the world of Kiwi whisky

    The last time I headed to New Zealand, things didn’t go exactly as planned. What was intended as…

AMMoment

One of the highlights of last year was a gig by AMM, the improvising group/collective/cluster which has been…

Exterior of Karuizawa. Gone.

When is Karuizawa not Karuizawa? When it’s Karuizawa

‘Resurrected’ , ‘revived’, ‘doors to reopen’. The excited headlines said it all. The return of Karuizawa from beyond…

Bill's Crab

Dyspepsia, apples and the problem with tasting notes

Up to Lexington/94 which, while not quite having the same ring as Lou Reed’s paen to heroin dealers,…

Snow business like whisky business

Even when there it had the quality of a dream. White Christmases only exist on cards and in…