The Glass

Half-full pint glass of amber beer on a worn wooden table in a cosy pub, with a lit tealight candle, small vase of pink and purple flowers, and a colourful knitted scarf nearby.

Beer

Who could blame them?

The problem with cask ale isn't that young people don't drink it. It's that we haven't given them a reason to.

Calm waves lap against a wide sandy beach under a bright blue sky streaked with wispy and towering white clouds, with wooden groynes and small seaside buildings in the distance.

Beer

Drink it in

Beer is full of quiet, private rituals and the places we return to. You never know, in the normal run of things, that you’re having your last drink in one of your special places, so it pays to savour those stolen moments in your favourite drinking spots.

An Aperol Spritz on a bar with blurred party atmosphere in the background.

Spritz

Add a splash of glamour to your life

If life teaches us anything it’s that you must take your pleasure where you can. Spritzes and the aperitivo ritual can provide the firebreak we crave between work and play.

Narrow cobblestone street at night with parked cars and motorbikes, flanked by tall, shuttered buildings. A glowing archway illuminates two distant pedestrians under warm streetlights.

bars

Press once and wait

That threshold between wanting and having — when did you last notice it?

Warm, atmospheric basement cocktail bar with exposed brick walls, amber lighting, red bar stools, and backlit bottles behind the bar

Cocktails

Going underground

The best basement bars to explore this London Cocktail Week

A copper pot still viewed through the open wooden doors of a converted stone barn. The doors are painted sage green. There is neat and organised pipework on the wall behind the still.

English whisky

First the mark, then the malt

In Wiltshire, Witchmark feels like an established name even before its first whisky release.

Whither Le Stubby? Cheap thrills inside

Beer

Whither Le Stubby? Cheap thrills inside

Why the idiot child of beer still delivers nostalgic charm

Featured

Calm waves lap against a wide sandy beach under a bright blue sky streaked with wispy and towering white clouds, with wooden groynes and small seaside buildings in the distance.

Drink it in

Beer is full of quiet, private rituals and the places we return to. You never know, in the normal run of things, that you’re having your last drink in one of your special places, so it pays to savour those stolen moments in your favourite drinking spots.

On nightcaps

On nightcaps

The perfect coda for an evening well spent

Gleaming cars and glamorous monsters

Gleaming cars and glamorous monsters

Mayfair cocktails can leave a bad taste in your mouth

I have a fifth sense

I have a fifth sense

On odours, or our often overlooked olfactory oomph

Behind the bar, beyond the bottle

Drinks writing that transports and educates curious readers