Maurizio Schiavone is Assistant Bar Manager at Dukes, London, home to the capital’s best martinis and some of its bartending greats. A native of Puglia, Maurizio has been refining his craft alongside manager Alessandro for seven years, ensuring that this enclave of Mayfair is never without some Italian style. Here he talks to our spirits […]

From the white-jackets of St James’s to the beards-and-baseball-caps of Shoreditch, Ronnie Cox, our spirits specialist, ponders the evolving art of the bartender. London’s Shoreditch has become a Mecca for cocktail “Specialists”, cocktail “Creators”, “Mixologists”, and a plethora of other names which describe what is now not only an art but also a bone fide […]

Jean Francois Koenig, Master Distiller at Medine Distillery in Mauritius, gives us the background behind our award-winning, premium rum. Is there a Mauritian rum “terroir” – how is it different from what is produced in the Caribbean? I believe Mauritians rums tend to be dryer, less syrupy than most Caribbean rums. With regards to Penny […]

Australian-born Ben arrived in the UK as a fresh-faced 21-year-old, with the intention of doing a short stint in the bar-trade before returning home. Seven years later, with a career that’s taken in Rockwell Bar (now Vista), Soho House Group, Bistro Bruno Loubet and Zetter Townhouse, he is now the man behind the bar at […]