June 6, 2023
New Zealand Tour 4: Reefton
After a tour of the North Island’s distilleries, I headed back south… then west … The flight from…
May 24, 2023
New Zealand Tour 3: Pōkeno
DAY 3 Pōkeno Today was on a slow southward trajectory out of Auckland with Aaron Savage, Irish bartender…
May 6, 2023
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.…
April 17, 2023
New Zealand Tour 1: Waiheke Whisky
I’m not long returned from a trip to New Zealand – first to the always amazing DramFest in…
March 21, 2023
Montilla magic – beyond the sherry cask
A horizontal forest sits in the light industrial units of Montilla town. Stacks of staves seasoning in the…
January 27, 2023
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…
January 16, 2023
AMMoment
One of the highlights of last year was a gig by AMM, the improvising group/collective/cluster which has been…
January 12, 2023
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…
January 4, 2023
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,…
December 30, 2022
Snow business like whisky business
Even when there it had the quality of a dream. White Christmases only exist on cards and in…