Mr Slang invites us to join him in a glass of the blue stuff... O for a beaker full of the warm South Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene, With beaded bubbles winking at the brim, And purple-stained mouth Keats ‘Ode to a Nightingale’ (1819) If Dabblers have a fault it is, I fear, refinement. ... Read More...
Drink
The Dabbler's drinks writer Ian Buxton – author of the bestselling 101 Whiskies to Try Before You Die – uncovers some historic whisky... A most unusual whisky has just come to light after spending the last 100 years in the Antarctic ice cap. Explorer Ernest Shackleton prepared very thoroughly for his 1908 ... Read More...
Introducing The Dabbler's new wine correspondent... My name is Henry Jeffreys and I’m a wine bore. Few of my friends share my interest so I started a blog as an outlet for all the useless knowledge I was accumulating. I don’t drink good wine to show off and I don’t only ... Read More...
The Dabblers visit Sipsmith, makers of artisanal gin and vodka... In a shed in a residential road in Hammersmith, two thirtysomething former public schoolboys are busy at work under the shadow of a colossal copper machine. They are making London gin. Well, not actually physically making gin themselves – a distilling ... Read More...
This week something slightly different on the whisky front, as The Dabbler's drinks writer Ian Buxton – author of the bestselling 101 Whiskies to Try Before You Die – looks at a unique artisan blender, and picks three of the best from the Compass Box... As it enters its second decade, ... Read More...
Glengoyne whisky is distilled slower than any other single malt Scotch whisky. This creates a more subtle, complex product in which all of the delicate flavours are freely allowed to express themselves - which description could equally apply to The Dabbler, of course. The Dabbler is teaming up with Glengoyne to offer ... Read More...
Toby Ash, The Dabbler’s Most South-Westerly Tip of England Correspondent, discovers the local origins of an iconic drinks brand whilst walking the back streets of Penzance. A few months ago, as I walked through the maze of back alleys in east Penzance, I stumbled across a locked wooden gate, behind which ... Read More...
The Dabbler talks to Andy Davidson of Glencairn Crystal, a man on a mission to help you to really appreciate whisky… You wouldn’t buy a Rembrandt and then magnet-stick it to the fridge under the MOT reminder and the Chinese takeaway menu, would you? And you wouldn’t go to a Michelin-starred ... Read More...
On the eve of Burns Night (25 January), this question is on the lips of the nation. After all; Scots, honorary Scots and wannabe Scots (and who doesn’t?) all gather on this night to eat haggis, recite his poems (badly) and drink whisky. And so we need to know, just in ... Read More...
Ian Buxton is one of the UK's leading drinks writers, specialising in whisky and spirits, and is the author of the bestselling book 101 Whiskies to Try Before You Die (itself a perfect Christmas treat!) Are you overdue a reward? Find any one of these desirable drams and you can congratulate yourself ... Read More...
