For every experience in life, there is a whisky to accompany it. Whether it’s a dram on your porridge or a glass by a fireside late at night, the joy of a good whisky collection is having a choice of a range of bottles to match your mood and the moment.
First published in Club Oenologique.
With Lent now in full swing after Dry-January and as we slowly head up to Sober October, times of abstention from alcohol are so much easier to bear now thanks to a new wave of truly delicious, premium, non-alcoholic drinks. Some of these no and low beverages are simply lower alcohol versions of what we would like to drink anyway; some plant themselves clearly as alternatives to alcohol and others, cleverly, describe the enemy simply as ‘bad soft drinks’. Whether you can’t drink or are just trying to be more mindful of your alcohol intake, here are some delicious drinks that feel like a treat to taste.
Lucky Saint
Alcohol: 0.5%
This is a bubbly beer that actually tastes like a fully fledged, flavoursome full-alcohol beer. In a slow and meticulous process, Lucky Saint delicately extracts the fermentable sugars from the mash as temperatures increase and leave it unfiltered to keep all the flavour and complexity. The beer is then distilled in a vacuum, which avoids the burnt and oxidised flavours many other non alcoholic beers have. I tested it with a bunch of beer drinkers and we all thought it was the best ‘non alcoholic’ beer we’ve’ tried (0.5% is considered to be alcohol-free). Now available on draught too.
Find it on Amazon or luckysaint.co for £25 for 12 x 330ml
Small Beer Co.
Alcohol content: 1%-2.8%
The Small Beer company have ingeniously revived the lost tradition of creating ‘small beer’ that was popular in the 1700’s, when drinking water was dangerous. These are very low alcohol beers brewed between 0.5 and 2.8%. All under 3%, these beers are isotonic, so they are actually good for you! Tonnes of flavour without the hangover. There are four to choose from: Lager, Dark lager, Steam, and Session Pale. See our longer article on them here.
Find them on Ocado or theoriginalsmallbeer.com for £2.15 per bottle (350ml). £11.99 for 6.
Woodstar
Alcohol content: 1%
This unique tipple looks like a wine and definitely does the job of wine, but it’s made with açai berries, blackcurrant and blueberries infused with cocoa extract instead of grapes. The result is a moreish, grippy, wine-like red juice. The small amount of alcohol comes from the açai berries being steeped in macerated in alcohol for twelve weeks to help release colour and flavour.
Find it Fortnum & Mason and Sainsburys for £8.50 (75cl).
Aecorn Aromatic
Alcohol content: 0%
The three Aecorn drinks could be described as aperitifs and are made with wine grapes (Pinot Noir and Chardonnay). They are more silky and full-bodied than wine and you can drink them neat, chilled or with a splash of sparkling water as a spritzer. The most wine-like (and my favourite) is the ‘aromatic’, which is warm, woody and smoky. They also have a ‘bitter’, which reminds me of Campari and a ‘dry’, which is more for Sauvignon Blanc or Gin lovers.
£19.99 from aecorndrinks.com
Everleaf
Everleaf is the result of two passions for founder, Paul Mathew: bartending and botany. A conservationist biologist by trade, Paul wanted to create an aperitif that was plant-based and uplifting with warmth and aromatics. In Everleaf, you’ll find notes of vanilla, gentian, vetiver and orange blossom. There’s even the essence of voodoo lily in there. I’ve no idea what voodoo lily is, but I like the sound of it. Serve with Mediterranean tonic or use in cocktails like non-alcoholic negronis.
Find it on everleafdrinks.com and Sainsburys for £18
Hayman’s Small Gin
A great concept, this is a gin with a regular amount of alcohol in it BUT the botanical flavours are so concentrated, you only need - literally - one thimble full for your G&T to taste pucker. They even provide the thimble hanging around the bottle neck. It’s not the strongest, most powerfully flavoured gin, but it definitely does the job. What this means is that you can mix a normal gin and tonic but only consume 0.2 units of alcohol and 15 calories. A great, lower alcohol -and calorie- option.
Find it at Waitrose for £25 (20cl)
Caleño
A happy, tropical, non-alcoholic spirit, which is actually rather tasty by itself over ice, Caleño makes a stonking, more fruity version of something like a Gin and Tonic. Created by Ellie Webb and inspired by her Colombian heritage, this is an infusion of juniper and inca berry with spice and citrus. There are some fantastic mocktail recipes on the site too.
Find it at calenodrinks.com for £18.88 (50cl) £24.99 (70cl)
Seedlip Garden
The original, premium, non-alcoholic spirit, Seedlip Garden is the go-to herbaceous choice when you don’t want a Gin and Tonic and soft drinks are too dull. Have over ice with a spritz of any tonic, garnish with mint or basil and you’re away. It’s super refreshing and has that all important bitterness to kill any cravings for alcohol.
Find it at Waitrose for £26.50 (70cl)
Three Spirit
There is no category to put these in, but I love them. Three styles of plant-based alternatives to alcohol with a different attitude, that, as they say ‘celebrates what you put into a drink, rather than what you take out.’ Using plants traditionally used in potions and ceremonies around the world, these are non-alcoholic drinks 'with benefits’ such as the addition of ashwagandha to relax in Nightcap or guayusa, guava leaf and green tea in Livener. It’s alchemy, it’s different and delicious. You’ll want to keep the bottles too.
Memento
Somewhere between a non-alcoholic spirit and a flavoured water, Memento is super dry in taste, like pure water that’s been infused gently with rosemary, verbena and other botanical elements. Inspired by a publication from 1498 that tells of the benefits of blending botanical essences, Memento is very refreshing and pretty bitter. It fares better in cocktails than alone in my opinion, or even just with a spritz of lemonade.
FInd it at mementodrink.com for 30€
By Helena Nicklin
Watch The Three Drinkers do Scotch Whisky now streaming on Amazon Prime.
When was the last time you sipped a cognac? More opulent, viscous and citrus-scented than its whisky cousins made from grain, cognac is finding new favour on the global cocktail scene, yet it still delights spirits aficionados with its epic, long-aged, special bottlings. If you’ve neglected this spirit in the past, now is the time to try it again.
Written originally for Luxurious Magazine, February 4th 2020
Looking to learn a bit more about whisky? Check out our article in Oracle Time magazine where we discuss all things Scotch!
There is no finer place to drink rum than Havana, Cuba’s splendid capital. Whether you want to try it, buy it or learn more about it, Colin has found you the best places to do so.
“Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o the puddin'-race!”
In case your Gaelic isn’t as fluent as mine, a translate of the rousing opening lines of Burns’ “Address to a Haggis” is:
“Good luck to you and your honest, plump face,
Great chieftain of the sausage race!”
Duke’s hotel, one of my favourite Mayfair hotels, has some lovely treats with which to banish the January Blues, and celebrate the birthday of the Bard of Ayrshire, Robert Burns. Duke’s has teamed up with The Exceptional Scotch Whisky and cigar makers Hunters and Frankau to put together some great fun for Burns Night 2020. Hunters and Frankau are the exclusive UK distributor for all Havana cigars in the UK.
On 25th January, birthday of the Bard, they are hosting a Burns Night supper in GBR (Great British Restaurant) – the restaurant at Duke’s. Their famous Head Bartender, Alessandro Palazzi, has created a new take on an Old Fashioned. The inspiration was from a memory of homemade boozy cherries in his grandmother’s larder, he told me. The central spirit is The Exceptional Blended Malt, one of the featured whiskies of the night. Alessandro muddles orange peel at the same time as the brown sugar before adding the sugar syrup and the bitters that he makes himself, the whisky and then finally a garnish of two glossy cherries in Kirsch.
Once you’ve supped on your Old Fashioned to the sounds of a live Bagpiper, supper awaits. Executive Head Chef, Nigel Mendham, has created a four course menu to enjoy paired with counterpart whiskies. It gives a contemporary twist on Scottish dishes to make them light and delicious, without losing the traditional taste elements that make up a proper Burns’ Night supper. Alongside the haggis, of which I am very fond, the salmon from loch Duart is amazing and the cranachan is divine.
For cigar and whisky fans, there are two whisky and cigar pairing evenings on Wednesday 23 and Thursday 24 January in the Drawing Room at Duke’s. Starting at 6pm with Alessandro’s fabulous Old Fashioned, there follow three expressions of The Exceptional whiskies and canapés – the Grain, the Malt and the Blend. Each is excellent and beautifully balanced, the Grain having marmalade and crème brulee flavours, the Malt being a fuller bodied whisky with lots of dried fruit flavours and the Blend a perfect balance of young and old whiskies with complex fruit and oaky flavours. However cold it might be, Duke’s cosy walled cigar terrace is always kept toasty with heaters and snuggly blankets so you can enjoy a Monte Cristo Number 2 in comfort. The whisky does its bit too, warming you from the inside out.
I think these are great value for an evening of fun at Duke’s. The Burns supper is £65 per person and the whisky, canape and cigar nights are £55. Worth every penny.
Address: Duke’s London, 35 St. James’s Place, London SW1A 1NY
Telephone: +44 (0)207 491 4840
By Caroline Hampden-White
To celebrate the launch of Part Two of The Three Drinkers do Scotch Whisky, we’re giving away 12 drinky prizes to 12 winners, picked each day from 1st December. To enter and for all T&Cs, head over to our competition page here!
1st December: Uncle Nearest Bourbon Pair
Two very special Bourbon whiskies from exciting brand Uncle Nearest. The whiskey honours a former slave called Nathan ‘Nearest’ Green who was the first premium distiller in Tennessee and even taught a certain Mr Jack Daniels. These whiskies by Nearest Green Distillery honour ‘‘the best whiskey maker the world never knew... until now’. The 1856 RRP £55 & the 1884 small batch whiskey is RRP £45 but not yet available in the UK. Find out more here.
2nd December Old Bakery Gin & Rum
We’re loving this brand new, yet super old, small batch distillery gin that has made a big splash on the likes of Dragon’s Den. When owner Ian Puddick bought an old bakery in London’s Palmers Green, he discovered a centuries old illicit distillery on the premises and set about sourcing original recipes. They now have three gins and a rum, which has just been released. Yum! Gin RRP £38 Rum. RRP £43. Find out more here.
3rd December Le Serre Nuove dell’Ornellaia 2015 MAGNUM
Our friends at Armit Wines have offered a magnum of red wine from one of Italy’s most famous Tuscan wine estates: Ornellaia. Le Serre Nuove is an elegant, silky blend of Bordeaux varietals. Drinking now but will keep! See more here.
4th December: Coravin Model One Black
The original Coravin gadget that allows you to have a glass of wine without pulling the cork! It works by sending a needle through the cork and replacing the wine with inert argon gas. Genius! RRP £199 See more here.
5th December Giant Glencairn Glass
Remember the oversized glass from our Loch Ness episode? Well, award-winning family business Glencairn Crystal - creators of the whisky industry’s favourite glass - is offering you the opportunity to win a limited-edition giant Glencairn Glass. The oversized version is 12 inches tall and can hold just over three bottles, or nearly 100 drams! Collectable, with only a small number made each year. This glass is worth is worth over £150. See more here.
6th December: 30 year old ‘Blue Flower’ Baijiu
Photo credit: Cheng International Co. Limited
Baijiu is the world’s most popular spirit but have you heard of it? This stunning, grain spirit from China has many guises, but we love this elegant, 30 year old ‘blue flower’ Baijiu from Fenjiu. It’s pretty rare and has an RRP of £150. See more @fenjiu_london
7th December: Ice Cool Luxury Wine Cooler
These compact Ice Cool Wine Coolers are beautiful and practical. They maintain the temperature of a wide range of bottles yet take up less space than an ice bucket and don’t get the label wet! Available in a variety of finishes and with a personal engraving. See more here.
8th December: Master of Malt 6 Month Whisky Dram Club Subscription
Our friends at Master of Malt are offering six months worth of their Dram Club subscription to one lucky winner! You’ll receive five carefully selected whiskies worth up to £100 a bottle, right to your door. Read more about them here.
9th December: Eto wine decanter
The decanter reinvented, Eto is a work of art that works as a decanter and a wine preserver at the same time. It works by displacing air thus not allowing wine to spoil for up to 2 weeks. Perfect for that one (!) glass in the evening and keeping the rest. RRP £125-145. See more here.
10th December: Frapin 1270 Cognac and Cocktail Kit
Frapin 1270 is a versatile cognac which can be enjoyed neat or mixed, thanks to its great aromatic richness. Win a full size 70cl bottle, two cocktail glasses and a cocktail mixing kit with all the essentials you need to start mixing like a pro and impress your friends with classic Cognac cocktails such as Mint Julep, Side Car and Old Fashioned. Prize worth over £100. See more at @cognacfrapinofficial
11th December: Armand de Brignac Brut Gold Champagne
Gold Brut is the most iconic cuvée in the Champagne Armand de Brignac range and is created using the old world traditions of champagne blending. This prestige cuvée is a trio of vintages from some of the most highly-praised terroirs in the region and expresses vibrant fresh fruit character, and layers of complexity. RRP £300. See more here.
12th December: Personalised bottle of 18 year old Highland Park
A rich and fruity 18 year old Highland single malt bottled in 2019, this whisky from The Whisky Exchange is limited edition (only 276 bottles) and will arrive personalised with a message of your choice. Prize worth £99.95. See more at @whiskyexchange
For so many people in the drinks world, the new decade ahead will be all about rediscovering spirits that have been maligned or ignored for too long. Cognac is one of these; a brown spirit with a lot of history that we at The Three Drinkers have fallen head over heels back in love with in recent times.
Made with distilled fine wine (rather than grain as whisky is), cognac has a soft, velvety texture with warming notes of citrus peel, fudge and marmalade. A great introduction is to try it with tonic in a simple highball as a much more interesting G&T alternative or in a classic cognac cocktail like a Sidecar or in an Old Fashioned (Go for the VS or VSOP quality levels if mixing). Cognac tasted by itself however or over a simple chunk of ice, is a truly indulgent treat. This is when you will reach for the XO styles that have more age or special bottlings that beg you to appreciate every nuance.
One cognac we’ve tried recently is brand new to the market and a little bit different. Tercet by the famous, much-loved house Rémy Martin is a bit of a departure from their normal range of classic cognacs.
Tercet is the story of a trio of experts who came together to create this blend over ten years of dedicated research. The first was Baptiste Loiseau, current Cellar Master at Rémy Martin who discovered that certain eaux-de-vie (the spirits that are blended together to make cognac) had a particular, unique character that while it was fabulous, was not technically in line with the house style. These spirits were particularly pure and elegant with expressive, exotic fruit aromas.
Baptsite kept these special eaux-de-vie aside while he decided what to do with them and finally, called in the expertise of two other men: Francis Nadeau, a wine producer, and Jean-Marie Bernard, a master distiller with forty years of experience. Together, these three men would combine their individual expertise to work out which terroirs the eaux-de-vies came from and how they should use them to create something special. Over the years, they tested the oak barrels, yeast strains used for fermentation, the methods of pressing, the grapes themselves from different terroirs and more. Finally, they began to unravel the secret and were able to recreate it. The result was Tercet: a premium cognac that is also the ideal place to start anyone’s cognac journey thanks to its exotic, lychee, pineapple and apricot aromas, gentle sweet spice and long, complex length. Soft enough to have alone and ridiculously good with hazelnut macaroons and a slice of dried pineapple.
See more about Tercet cognac here.
Buy it here. RRP circa $100 / £78