The Scotch Malt Whisky Society throws a fun party. Last week I went to the Queen Street club for hauf ‘n hauf a beer and whisky tasting, an event that was part of Clans & Drams, SMWS’s celebration for whisky month. I made my way up to the second floor and a…
Christopher recently visited Innis & Gunn to taste Smokin’ Gunn, their very special, slightly smoky beer. We were delighted to be invited back to Innis & Gunn HQ recently to check out their premises and learn about the events they put on. We were lucky enough to have a beer…
We left Edinburgh on a Friday afternoon and promptly got stuck trying to get over the Forth Road Bridge. Our sat nav seemed desperate to send us via the Erskine Bridge. We stuck to our guns. It was actually a good journey and we arrived at the Craigellachie Hotel without…
Doesn’t this cocktail look fabulous? The star mixologist Alex at Bistro Moderne gave me a sneak preview of a cocktail he’s developing for this month’s Dining Club at Bistro Moderne. I wish I could have that much flair. What makes this cocktail molecular? It’s the foam on top created with an alcohol, some…
It’s a growing niche market, printed magazines dedicated to food and drink. I am a firm fan and regularly visit Analogue Books in Edinburgh to see what’s new (Jan 2015 – alas now closed). We have our own home grown magazine, Hot Rum Cow, designed and created in Edinburgh. Previous…
Carte Noire has made a range of espresso capsules that work with Nespresso* machines. I’ve got a Krups Nespresso Citiz, an easy to use machine that produces great coffee every time. When I saw a call for blogger to test and review Nespresso-compliant capsules from Carte Noire, I was intrigued…
Today’s guest writer is Christopher Garvie, known to readers of this column as C. When we were invited to Innis & Gunn to the launch of their latest beer, C. kindly came with me. Since he’s a long-time fan of the company, I asked him to write up the experience.…
Recently I was invited to Chaophraya to eat Thai accompanied with Glenfiddich whisky. Whisky and food matching is a challenge: I love the idea, but it can be tricky to manage. If you’re used to drinking wine with food whisky can seem too strong, too concentrated. At my whisky-matched meal,…
I like gin. It’s a thing people know about me. Recently I was, for this very reason, given a bottle of Opihr gin by friends. They’d attended a gin tasting and decided to find one that was right for me. Using their knowledge of my palate and how it compares…
We have seven cafetières, a filter mug, a ROK espresso press and a mocha pot. If we want coffee, we have several ways of making it. Because all of these methods result in a certain amount of mess, we recently also got a Nespresso machine, with a milk heater on…
