Bring A Bottle Podcast: Episode 92

Aloha drinkers! It’s time for a brand new Bring a Bottle Podcast, and it’s jampacked with knowledge and experience this week. Expert guests, refreshing tonics, chili liqueur, cheese chat - we’ve got it all. What drink goes with classical music? Can Aidy guess exactly where a wine is made? Those questions and many more are answered in this one. Listen and as always, let us know your thoughts!

Our Guest Drinkers

We’re treated to two guests this week. First up, Aidy welcomes Georgie Bentinck to the podcast! From PR, Events, Communications, and every creative job under the sun, Georgie’s done it all in food & drink. These days she’s the Head of PR for Campari Group looking after a seemingly endless range of drinks such as Aperol, Campari, Appleton, and Glen Grant. Welcome, Georgie!

Our second wonderful guest is Master of Cheese Dan Belmont. Discovering and teaching for some of the most famous cheese retailers on the planet, Dan branched out further, and in this case, those branches had grapes on. He’s got a particular passion for the wines of his home nation, which you’ll figure out as soon as he speaks! After years of learning all there is to know, Dan took the plunge and founded his own retailer called Good Wine x Good People. Listen to find out what the exciting new concept for his company is!

What’s In Our Glass?

Episode 92 marks the final episode in which we’ll be exploring Franklin & Sons tasty tonics and sodas. In this episode, Aidy’s chosen their Grapefruit & Bergamot tonic, and this time he’s pairing it with Ancho Reyes, a Mexican chili liqueur. 

Ancho Reyes is a perfect addition for your margaritas, or to add a kick to your mixer. Made with Ancho chiles, it’s a smoky spice rather than a fiery spice and is a fantastic option to have if you’re into cocktails. 

Size: 700ml
ABV: 40%
Find here: £36.44 

At the other end of the spectrum, the Franklin & Sons Grapefruit & Bergamot tonic contains pink grapefruit, bergamot, spring water and a new one for us, Cinchona bark extract, which adds a pleasant bitterness to the drink.

Size: 200ml
Find here: £17.50 Franklin & Sons 200mlx24

The two drinks combined work so well - if you like a Bloody Mary, then definitely listen in to Aidy’s recipe as this drink is for you!

Cheese With Dan

Our resident cheese master imparts his wisdom on us with many amazing cheese facts. If you’re lactose intolerant, you might usually skip a section like this but hold up! Dan lets us know that as cheese ages, the lactose decreases, so you can still enjoy cheese! Listen in for this and many other facts!

Drinks News

Our drinkers debate one of the world’s most unique vineyards where the owner actually encourages you to never drink his wine! Producing just 29 bottles a year, each one is priced at $5000 and you can only buy them at the local art gallery in Reggio Emilia. Is it art? Is it a vineyard? Either way, the backstory it is fascinating.

Cocktail and Music Matches

An interesting thought experiment this week as the team match up genres of music with drinks…
What’s the perfect drink partner for trance?
And what cocktail matches the finery of opera?
Find out and see if you agree!

Drinkers Discovery

Aidy’s wine senses are put to the test as he tries to identify a wine Dan brings in. A difficult challenge to pinpoint the wine and where it’s from so how will Aidy fare? You’re not going to want to miss this bit!

Perfecting your Negroni

Finally, Georgie fills us in on how to make the perfect Negroni, and she would know! Listen to find out the common mistake people make!

Bring a Bottle Podcast: Episode 88

Hello, hello, and welcome back to the Bring a Bottle Podcast! We’re back from our Summer jollies and up to our usual mischief while helping you fall in love with what’s in your glass. From this week onwards though, we’re mixing things up by not only recording podcasts together but also recording podcasts separately with special guests and it just so happens that this week it’s Aidy’s turn!

You can listen to the full podcast via the player below or via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Spotify. Here’s a little snippet of what he got up to:

Third Drinkers

Joining Aidy in the studio are Amanda Selby and Keiligh Baker.

Amanda Selby, known as @DrinkWithMeUK, is an online drinks sensation. From wine to spirits she’s worked in just about every drinks job there is working on a huge roster of brands like Jack Daniels, Chambord, Russian Standard Vodka, Finlandia Vodka, Sonoma Cutrer Winery in California, Royal Tokaji in Hungary, we could go on.

Keiligh Baker is a journalist and podcast extraordinaire. On the writing side, she’s worked with everyone from the MailOnline to BBC and the Travel Show publishing breaking news stories. In the podcasting world, she’s been working on a number of hit BBC Shows like Ouch and is currently a producer of the BBC’s disability podcast, Access All.

What’s in Our Glass?

We’re putting Grand Marnier to the test this week. Grand Marnier is an orange liqueur made in the heart of cognac and is more commonly mixed into cocktails than drunk mixed with tonics. We’ve chosen to mix our Grand Marnier with Franklin & Sons Rosemary and Black Olive tonic water and Franklin & Sons Mallorcan tonic water.

The Mallorcan tonic water has a smell reminiscent of an orange spritz! It is lovely and fresh, not too sweet and when mixed with the Grand Marnier a natural breeze of fresh orange marmalade hits you with a refreshing burst of tonic at the end. It’s like summer in a glass!

Find here: £17.50 for 24 (200ml)

The Rosemary and Black Olive tonic water is like a meal in a bottle before you’ve even put any Grand Marnier in the mix – think focaccia! When mixed with the Grand Marnier, orange and rosemary hits your nose and to be quite honest it smells like Christmas and would make for a great aperitif before your turkey! It’s a perfect winter drink.

Find here: £17.50 for 24 (200ml)

Drinks News

Have you ever flown Emirates? Well, for all those of you lucky enough to fly first class with them (please do get in touch we have soo many questions!), you will be pleased to hear that now, not only do you get a double bed, a 3.5 minute hot shower and a huge TV screen, but Emirates has just invested £1.6 billion in unlimited Dom Perignon and Caviar for you to enjoy! Cheers to that!

Buy it or Bin it

In ‘Buy it or Bin it’ Amanda puts our tastebuds to the test with a bright blue liquid that looks like either WKD or an energy drink. We can tell you it is neither of those and we can also tell you that you’re going to love the reactions had when it’s tried! Listen in to find out what it actually is here.

Question Time with Aidy

Aidy has some burning questions for Amanda and Keiligh and the answers involve NYC’s Gangsta Crab, how to make the perfect Martini no matter how you like it best, what life is like working for BBC’s disability podcast, Access All, and finally… stealing your baby’s diffuser and putting it to “much better use” by using it to make cocktails!

Mailbag

This week’s burning question is ‘Why do people rub lemon around the glass when making a martini – is it just theatre or is there a reason?’ Well, there is a reason and although it may seem like quite a bizarre thing to do, it’s really quite an important reason. Listen in to hear Amanda explain more!

⁣Enjoyed this? Well, there’s plenty more to listen to so make sure to check out Episode 88 of The Bring a Bottle Podcast now!

The Bring a Bottle Podcast: Episode 87

We’re back with another fun-filled podcast and this week we’re joined in the studio by special guest Christian Smith. Listen in as we chat all about the perfect mixers for your tequila, a great hangover cure, 24-carat gold covered fish and chips and more!

What’s in our glass?

This week we’re focussing on great mixers for tequila and have chosen Franklin and Sons Grapefruit and Bergamot tonic water and Pink Grapefruit Soda.

Bergamot is what you associate earl grey tea with and the tonic didn’t disappoint. Subtle and floral with a nice fruity edge from the grapefruit, it made for a beautiful and very refreshing drink alone and then in combination with the tequila led to a more savoury drink with a slight peppery edge to it. Nom! 

Size: 200ml
Find here: £17.50 for 24

The Pink Grapefruit soda is a beautiful and very sophisticated soda that we would quite happily enjoy on its own as a soft drink. Today, however, is all about the tequila mixers and this soda did not disappoint. It smells just like that burst of oils you get when cutting into a grapefruit and tastes just as good with a touch of zesty lime on the finish. 

Size: 200ml
Find here: £17.50 for 24

Third Drinker

This week we are joined in the studio by Christian Smith who is the online editor for The Drinks Business. He shares with us his favourite stories, including one about 24-carat gold adorned fish and chips being sold for £80 in Glasgow, a stunning whisky and tells us more about what it is like to work as the online editor for The Drinks Business!

The Three Drinkers in Ireland Wins an Award

For those who haven’t yet heard, The Three Drinkers in Ireland won an award for ‘The Best Contribution to Wine and Spirits Tourism’ at the Drinks Business Awards this June! If you haven’t seen the series yet, all 6 episodes can be found on Prime Video!

Drinkers Discovery

Stepping away from our usual Drinkers’ Discoveries this week, we bring you ‘Phizz’. These are orange or apple and blackcurrant flavoured tablets that dissolve in water and enable you to absorb 3x the amount of water you would from just drinking a glass of it. Full of natural electrolytes, like sodium, potassium and zinc, not only are they perfect for rehydrating but they’re also great for your skin, hair and nails… and we reckon they would work a treat when you have a hangover too ;)

That’s not all though, we also have a fantastic ‘Buy it or Bin it’, Aidy brings back his ‘Wine and a Whine’, we share a dishwasher hack for your cloudy glasses and talk about vines grown in space! Listen in today!

One Drink, Three Ways: Franklin and sons Mandarin and Ginger Soda

One Drink, Three Ways is the signature feature by The Three Drinkers. Join The Three Drinkers’ Helena, Aidy and Colin as they take one bottle and create a trio of phenomenal serves which you can enjoy anytime, anywhere. From rums and whiskies to gins and wine styles, the three help you get the most out of your glass. It’s time to get liquid on lips.

Franklin & Sons create tonic waters, soda, premixed cans and soft drinks. Founded in London in 1886 they are pioneers in the soft drinks space, seeking out only the best natural ingredients to create unique flavoured drinks. From Rosemary and Black olive tonic to Guava and Lime soda, there are tons of options to enjoy with your favourite mixers or to just sip neat. Today we are sharing with you three of our favourite mocktails/cocktails using Franklin & Sons Mandarin and Ginger soda.

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Helena’s Choice: The Lowball

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The Lowball

Ingredients

50ml Everleaf Forest

20ml Orange & Fennel Cordial

120ml Franklin & Sons Mandarin & Ginger Soda

We all love a cocktail but sometimes you want to drink something that’s tasty without the added alcohol and so I’m mixing things up a bit this time and going for a no-low option. This cocktail is zesty and refreshing with a beautiful warm spicy finish. The perfect drink for a warm summer night. 
Method: Pour all the ingredients (excluding the soda) into a highball glass and then add ice and top with the Mandarin & Ginger Soda. Gently stir to mix.

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Aidy’s Choice: The Northern Mule

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The Northern Mule

Ingredients

50ml Spirit of Manchester Gin

15ml Lime Juice

10ml Ginger Syrup

120ml Franklin & Sons Mandarin & Ginger Soda

Being from up North it would be wrong not to give this beauty a shout out! A twist on the classic Mule, this version uses gin instead of the traditional vodka making for a very light and refreshing Summer drink. 
Method: Pour all the ingredients (excluding the soda) into a mule mug, add ice, and top with the Mandarin & Ginger Soda. Gently stir to mix and garnish with a sprig of mint and crystallised ginger.

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Colin’s Choice: Old Fashioned Spritz

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Old Fashioned Spritz

Ingredients

50ml Woodford Reserve

15ml Demerara Syrup

3ml Angostura Bitters

150ml Franklin & Sons Mandarin & Ginger Soda

I love an Old Fashioned and would possibly go as far as to say it is one of the best whisky cocktails around. The addition of the Mandarin and Ginger soda in this spritz version transports this traditionally wintery drink into a cocktail that is a delight to sip on a balmy Summer evening. The bitterness of the cocktail works harmoniously with the soda giving it an edge of sweetness that will keep you coming back for more.
Method: Pour all the ingredients into a highball glass, stir and top with Franklin & Sons Mandarin & Ginger Soda. Garnish with orange peel and a cherry.

If you’ve enjoyed this, why not check out One Drink, Three Ways: Wine Cocktails with Barefoot Wine, One Drink, Three Ways: The Macallan 12YO Double Cask or One Drink, Three Ways: Remy Martin VSOP Cognac?

The Bring a Bottle Podcast: Episode 83

Whether it be the best crisps to pair with your champagne, beer that tastes like chardonnay, stunning mixers for your vodka or £5 wine that tastes decent, we’ve got a little bit of everything for you in Episode 83 of the Bring a Bottle podcast! Listen in now via the player below!

What’s in our glass

We’re making our way through more of Franklin & Sons mixers this week and this time we’re mixing them with vodka. First up we tried the Rhubarb and Hibiscus Tonic with Assaranca Vodka – the result was a creamy well-balanced drink very evocative of childhood memories of rhubarb and custard sweets. The herbal nature of the vodka matched the rhubarb, which is also quite herbal in flavour, really well and the whole drink wasn’t overly sweet due to the slight bitterness from the tonic making for a delicious sip.

Size: 200ml
Find here: £17.50 for 24

The second mixer we tried was the Guava and Lime soda. The guava came through first, more on the nose than the palate, and then the lime came racing in the back making for a very refreshing drink. This mixer would also pair beautifully well with a white rum such as Equiano white.

Size: 200ml
Find here: £17.50 for 24

Assaranca Vodka

Size: 500ml
ABV: 41%
Find here: £26.99

Drinks News

This week it’s all about Champagne and what to pair it with. Some say caviar works best, many say fish and chips are the way to go but Champagne Laurent Perrier have created the perfect bag of crisps to pair with their Champagne! This bag of crisps, aptly named ‘Chip Shop Scraps and Fries’ is a playful take on fish and chips and contains scraps of batter, thin-cut fries and crunchy peas seasoned with salt and malt vinegar! You can pick a pack up from Sainsbury’s for £1.75 and if you want the champagne to match you’ll only have to fork out an extra 24x the price of your crisps ;)

Bryan Rodriquez

We are joined in the studio by the wonderful Bryan Rodriguez, wine and spirits buyer for Harvey Nichols. He tells us all about his upcoming wedding, what it’s like to be the wine and spirits buyer for Harvey Nichols and shares a few drinker’s discoveries you’re going to want to try!

Drinkers Discovery

We are treated to a Drinker’s Discovery this week as Bryan has brought a bottle of Boom Beer into the studio all the way from Belgium! This particular beer, VAT31, is a lambic style sour beer. It was brewed in 2015 before being naturally fermented in big old barrels which have been around for over 100 years before finally being bottled in 2020! The beer itself will last until 2040 and will age like fine wine. To look at, it is cloudy and orangey, it smells like beer but has a California chardonnay note to it and a lot of light woody influence from all its time in the barrel. It’s creamy to taste and not gassy at all and would work wonderfully with sushi, fish and chips and roast chicken. This would be a great way to get wine drinkers into beer although it is very hard to get your hands on in the UK. For those looking for something easier to find, Burning sky is a UK-based sour beer producer well worth looking into.

Bang for Buck

You can’t beat a bargain and Helena has found a corker! Tesco has a new range of £5 wines that are produced fairly and taste great for their price point! You can find out more here.

This next one is not a cheap bargain; however, it is still a big bargain. Harvey Nichols Napa Cabernet Sauvignon is actually made using the same grapes that are de-classified from Insignia, Joseph Phelps's world renowned 3-figure iconic wine. Considering a bottle of Insignia retails at nearly 10 times the price of this bottle, it is an absolute steal and it will age beautifully for another 10+ years.

Size: 750ml
ABV: 14.5%
Find here: £35

If you like the sound of this and want to hear more, make sure to listen in today and to read more of Bryan’s recommendations, click here!

The Bring a Bottle Podcast: Episode 82

Another week, another exciting episode of the Bring a Bottle podcast to listen in to! This week we’re joined by special third drinker guest, Romy Gill, as we talk about her gorgeous gin and brand new book, a new breed of spirit from Holyrood Distillery and Aidy’s BBC Radio 4 documentary 'The Truth About Tourette's'. Listen in via the player below today!

What’s in our glass?

This week we’re looking at some great mixers for gin and we’ve picked up Franklin & Sons Elderflower and Cucumber tonic. Elderflower and cucumber are really complementary flavours for many types of gin and we found this to be the case here too. The cucumber was the stand-out flavour at first with a subtle hint of elderflower that came out more in the glass as time went on making for a very refreshing and floral G&T.

Size: 200ml
Find here: £17.50 (for 24 bottles)

Drinks News

Helena has spotted an interesting event taking place this Summer, Wetherspoons 11hr bus pub crawl! The boozy experience is £22, includes breakfast, lunch and booze and will take you to 7 venues between Southport and Blackpool all with the aim of uniting solo drinkers and giving them a chance to make friends. Listen in to find out more!

Personal News

Aidy has some big news this week as he has launched a documentary on BBC Radio 4 called ‘The Truth about Tourette’s’. Aidy himself has Tourette’s Syndrome and he is very eager to share the true facts and figures about the condition and to let people know that Tourette’s can be a superpower and not a burden. Listen in as he interviews people with the condition as well as his friends and family to give you a truthful insight into what living with Tourette’s is like.

Third Drinker

This week we are joined in the studio by the fantastic Romy Gill MBE. Romy is a chef, author and broadcaster whose specialty is Indian cuisine with a British twist. Listen in to hear us chat all about her latest book, her Mango, Ginger and Lime gin and her guilty food and drink pleasure!

Drinker’s Discovery

We taste test a new breed of spirit from Holyrood Distillery, enter ‘Strong Water’. Essentially new make, it is made with certain types of heritage barley. We tried ‘Charmed Circle’ made from Golden Promise barley, it has notes of orchid fruits and a bitter sweet finish of dark chocolate and liquorice. We reckon it would work a treat with Franklin and Sons Rosemary and Olive mixer!

If you’ve enjoyed this summary, make sure you tune in to hear more about our ‘word of the week’, the cheeky antics of two rival beer distilleries and more…

The Bring a Bottle Podcast: Episode 81

Welcome back to another episode of our Bring a Bottle podcast! This week we chat whisky mixers, weird and wonderful tasting notes, pornstar martini spas and innovative water that tastes like more! Listen in via this player to hear all this and more!

What’s In Our Glass?

We love a dram of whisky but sometimes you just want to mix it up. So, that’s exactly what we’ve done this week using Franklin and Sons mixers and sodas. First up was their Mandarin with Ginger soda (for our US readers, soda in the UK is spring water with flavour) and it worked so well. The mandarin jumped out the glass, it was floral, fruity and then had caramel chiming in from the whisky. A perfect drink for a whisky lover that wants something a bit different or for someone wanting to get into whisky itself.

Next up we went down a more traditional route of ginger ale. Listen in to find out what we thought and the difference mixing drinks with ginger ale makes vrs ginger beer!

Drinks News

We have two crackers this week, Aidy brings some of the weirdest whisky tasting notes made by professionals to the table… toilet duck whisky anyone?! Whilst Helena lets us know about the first-ever pornstar martini spa, (that you can acutally bathe in)!

Drinks Doing Good

We love a drinks brand that does good and Aidy has found one that does just that. Introducing Sea Change wines which are an eco-friendly brand that help fund ocean conservation projects across the globe through the sale of every one of their bottles. Aidy tried their Negroamaro wine, which is produced on the southern edge of Italy and is almost like a blend of malbec and merlot in taste. It’s a big, bold wine with notes of cassis, blackcurrant, cherry, a kick of tobacco and dark chocolate and the great news is it’s only a tenner!

Size: 750ml
ABV: 12%
Find here: £10.49

Drinkers Discovery

Let’s talk water. We’re supposed to drink 6-8 cups a day but is it just us or does anyone else find this difficult?! Well, worry no more as Helena has found an innovative brand that has changed the way you will drink water forever, Air Up. Using aroma pods that sit at the top of your bottle, your mind is tricked into thinking that you are drinking flavoured water when in fact you are just drinking water. From apple to kola to iced coffee, there is an aroma to suit all

You can pick up a bottle and aroma pods set here from £30.
Extra Aroma pods are sold in sets of 3 from £6 

Third Drinker Tasha Iny

Third Drink Tasha Iny joins Aidy for a chat all about what’s Mijenta tequilas stunning bottles, where to find the best pisco sour around and female empowerment in the tequila industry. Tasha also shares one of her favourite cocktails to mix up with Mijenta Tequila Blanco which actually happens to be the predecessor of the margarita; The Toreador.

Ingredients
50ml blanco
25ml apricot brandy
25ml lime juice
5mls small squeeze agave
Method
Shake it up, pour it into a glass and enjoy!

Mailbag

It wouldn’t be a Bring a Bottle podcast without one of your fantastic Mailbag questions, this week you asked us all about white Malbec and whether it is actually a thing. Listen in to find out what we had to say…

To listen to all this and more, along with previous podcasts, click on this link!

The Bring a Bottle Podcast: Episode 80

We are back for a brand new series of the Bring a Bottle podcast! Follow our journey as we make more drink-y discoveries, uncover the latest drinks news ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous and share some great sips that we think should be in your glass!

What’s in our glass?

Episode 80 is all about the best mixers for Cognac, and wow are there some great ones out there! We tried Franklin and Sons Mandarin with Ginger mixer and Pineapple with almond mixer. Both could easily be drunk neat as a nice soft drink, however, when mixed with Cognac the Mandarin with Ginger mixer was a party in the mouth! The toffee and caramel notes of the cognac worked really well with the ginger element, and the citrussy notes matched the mandarin flavours perfectly. The Pineapple with almond mixer was equally as good. It tasted like stewed caramelised pineapples, wasn’t sugary or overpoweringly sweet and the Cognac stood out whilst the pineapple shone through. It would be a great option for someone who was looking to get into Cognac.

Size: 200ml (24 bottles)
Find here: Mandarin with Ginger £17.50 // Pineapple with Almond £17.50

Drinks News

Helena’s news is all about an incredible canned drinks bar in Peckham Rye called Bo Kiri. Introducing a whole new way of doing hospitality, Bo Kiri is a really open space with around 70 fridges inside stocked full to the brim with canned beer, cocktails, wine, hard seltzers – you name it and it’s there! There is a big emphasis on brands that do good and with all the cans available to either drink in or take out you are bound to leave with a smile on your face!

Brands Doing Good

This week we are giving a big shout out to Ukrainian vodka brand, Dima’s Vodka. The vodka itself comes from a 125-year-old distillery on the outskirts of Kyiv and is made with three grains: barley, rye and wheat. It is sweet and velvety smooth making it a great sipping vodka although it works equally well in cocktails too. Since the war in Ukraine began, Dima’s Vodka has really stepped up its efforts to help people in Ukraine by raising money via limited edition bottlings, tastings nights and pre-bottled cocktails, every penny made going to help Ukrainian charities. You can find out more about the latest events and bottlings here.

Size: 700ml
ABV: 40%
Find here: £35

Drinkers Discovery

This week’s discovery is Tom Savano cocktails and specifically the Patagonian Sunset Passionfruit Martini. It is made from a blend of Fairtrade Quinoa vodka, Fairtrade Argentinian passionfruit liqueur and Madagascan vanilla with a touch of lime. Unlike a lot of passionfruit martinis, it is a lot less cloying and sugary sweet making for a great drink. The brand works tirelessly to source organic, Fairtrade ingredients for their cocktails and puts real emphasis on helping you to get the best out of your home cocktail experience by telling you exactly how to enjoy your drink right down to the temperature and garnish! If you haven’t already, look them up!

Size: 500ml
Find here: £29

In other news, we discuss kummel and Unicum (no, we’re not making those names up) and tackle the mailbag question ‘Is there a difference between Cognac and Brandy?’ amongst much more. Listen in here today!