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From Sailors to Sippers: How Rum Became Britain’s Most Interesting Spirit

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  For three centuries, rum was a sailor’s drink. The Royal Navy issued a daily rum ration to its sailors from 1655 until 31 July 1970, a day known in naval circles as Black Tot Day. For a long stretch of that history, Britain was the world’s biggest rum-drinking nation. Then, somewhere around the 1980s, rum slipped quietly into the back of the cupboard, alongside the holiday souvenirs and the Christmas Baileys, while gin and whisky took over the front of the shelf. That story has changed in the last decade. Modern rum is a different drink: barrel-aged, regionally specific, sometimes Caribbean and sometimes Scottish, sipped neat from a tumbler rather than mixed with cola. It is currently the fastest-growing premium spirit category globally, and the UK is once again starting to pay attention. This is a friendly UK guide to where rum has gone, what to buy in 2026, and how to drink it properly. We’ve put it together drawing on years of helping customers at our independent shop in Port...
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How to Choose Vermouth for Your Home Bar: A UK Guide for 2026

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  Vermouth has a quiet sort of comeback going on. Twenty years ago it lived at the back of the cupboard, used once a year for a Christmas Martini and then forgotten about. Today it’s back on bar shelves across the UK, drunk on the rocks with a slice of orange, stirred into Negronis, splashed into Martinis, and treated (correctly) as one of the most interesting bottles you can own. If you’re thinking about adding vermouth to your home bar, this guide is for you. We’ll walk through the three main styles you’ll see on UK shelves, what each one is actually for, how to drink them at home, and the questions we hear most often when someone’s buying their first bottle. No jargon, no fabricated tasting notes. We’ve put it together drawing on years of helping customers at our independent shop in Portobello, Edinburgh , from regulars stocking up the cocktail cabinet to first-time buyers looking for the right Negroni vermouth. The good news is that vermouth rewards a small bit of curiosity. T...
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Wines That Make Your BBQ Taste Better: A UK Summer Guide for 2026

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  A British summer BBQ is one of those small joys that turns up about six times a year if you’re lucky. Sausages on the grill, burgers stacked high, a bowl of salad nobody quite finishes, and someone arguing about how long to leave the steaks. The food gets a lot of attention. The wine, usually, does not. That’s a shame, because the right bottle is what makes the whole afternoon click. The best wine for a BBQ is one that matches the smoke, the char and the spice without disappearing or showing off. Get it right and your steaks taste better, your burgers feel richer, and even the grilled veg starts pulling its weight. This is our friendly UK summer guide to BBQ wine for 2026. Five picks across reds, whites and rosé, a quick word on how pairing actually works, and answers to the questions we hear most often at our independent shop in Portobello, Edinburgh . No fabricated awards, no inflated tasting notes, just bottles that genuinely do the job. How wine and BBQ actually work togethe...
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Best Scottish Gin to Buy Online in 2026: A Guide from an Edinburgh Wine Merchant

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  Best Scottish Gin to Buy Online in 2026: A Guide From an Edinburgh Wine Merchant Scotland is famous the world over for whisky. Scottish gin is a different conversation, one that's been growing louder for years and still doesn't get the attention it deserves.   We hear it regularly at the shop. Someone comes in for a bottle of wine, spots one of our gins on the shelf, and asks what it's about. Half an hour later, they leave with a bottle of Lind & Lime and a question: why did nobody tell them about this sooner? This is our guide to the best Scottish gin to buy online in 2026. We'll cover why Scotland produces such interesting gin, the bottles we stock and genuinely recommend, how to serve them at home, and the questions we hear most often. Why Scotland Produces World-Class Gin Scotland has everything a great gin needs: clean water, centuries of distilling knowledge inherited from the whisky industry, and a landscape that hands producers botanicals simply unavailab...
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