It used to be deeply naff, drunk only by teens and maybe your nana; so how did cider get its fizz back to be the drink of the summer, asks Nicky Pellegrino.

The more breweries I visit the more I realise just how good New Zealand beers have become over the years.

I managed to spend some time on Waiheke Island over the break, soaking up the sun and catching up with friends.

Don is the editor of Thirst magazine.

A 15-year-old girl bought alcohol from a Mt Maunganui bar during a police operation at the weekend.

An ad campaign that describes how brewing magnate Morton Coutts was inspired to create DB Export has been dismissed as a "figment of an ad man's hangover" by writers and historians.

It's hard to beat a good cocktail and with more people entertaining at home these days, they're not just making a comeback in the bars.

Despite being enveloped in the bosom of one of the world's largest wine conglomerates, Selaks still holds a sentimental place in the hearts and minds of the New Zealand wine-buying public.

'Tis the season to try new wine varietals or labels. And think beyond your Christmas dinner to all those parties and post-Christmas barbies.

This warm weather has been a bit of mixed blessing for me. On one hand, it's a great incentive to bask in the sun with a few beers, but then I start worrying about melanoma.

Trickery, veiled threats and sly insults aren't what you'd normally expect at a tasting, but malt whisky tastings in Auckland do tend to be different.

There is a school of thought that says that low-alcohol and light beer isn't really beer at all and, in all honesty, I would tend to subscribe to that view, more often than not.

Sun, sex and sand - is there anything that encapsulates them as well as rum? While rum is made around the world - even in countries notably bereft of sugar plantations such as Austria - it has become firmly linked to the Caribbean.

A panel of world class international judges cast their verdicts on a record number of brewers entered in this year's NZ Homebrewing Competition.

Rugby World Cup patrons can expect to pay up to $17 for a glass of wine in restaurants near Eden Park, but industry heads say it's not a rip-off.