Departments · Whisky, cocktails, cigars
Spirits
The bar is where a man’s taste is most visible and most easily improved. Six bottles of whisky chosen well beat sixty chosen at random, and one cocktail made properly beats a menu. We cover what to buy, what to make and how to enjoy it slowly.
We write about whisky, cocktails and cigars for adults who want to understand what they are drinking. No scores, no collector talk, no bottles you cannot buy.
The Whisky Compass maps your palate to three bottles. The Home Bar tells you what you can make with what you have. The stories cover the first shelf, the Old Fashioned, the first cigar and the twelve-bottle bar.
In this department
The latest in Spirits
Spirits · Whisky
Six Bottles for a First Whisky Shelf
Speyside, Highland, Islay, Ireland, Japan and America, between €40 and €80 a bottle. A shelf that covers the whole map and teaches you what you like.
Spirits · Cocktails
Make an Old Fashioned Properly
Whiskey, sugar, bitters, ice, orange. Five ingredients, one technique, and about a dozen ways to get it wrong. The definitive method.
Spirits · Cigars
Your First Cigar, Without the Cliché
Not a prop, not a trophy, not something to be endured at a wedding. An hour, a chair and a mild Cuban done properly. How to start.
Spirits · The bar
The Home Bar: Twelve Bottles, Thirty Drinks
A gin, a bourbon, a rye, a rum, a tequila, two vermouths, Campari, a triple sec and three bitters. That is the whole bar, and it makes every drink worth making.
The tool for this
Whisky Compass
Five sliders for smoke, sweetness, fruit, spice and body, one budget, and a shortlist from twenty-four whiskies you can actually buy.
Reader poll
The nightcap?
Questions we get asked
Which glass for whisky?
A tulip-shaped nosing glass for tasting, a heavy tumbler for an evening. Never a shot glass, never a wine glass.
Do I need expensive whisky to start?
No. Six bottles between €40 and €80 cover more ground than one bottle at €400. Price above €150 buys age and rarity, not necessarily pleasure.
How should I store cigars?
In a humidor at 65 to 70 percent humidity and around 18 °C. A sealed bag with a humidity pack works for a few weeks if you are starting out.
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