Hawkes Bay is famous for several things, including wine and great weather, but now we can add beer to the list.

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.

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.

There is something almost naughtily decadent about drinking bubbles.

The Christchurch earthquake back in September caused plenty of grief down there, but it also had a rather nasty effect on this particular Aucklander.

I once had an appalling wine experience, when I watched a man make a rosé.

Bourbon is the great American whiskey. It was named for Bourbon County in Kentucky and 95 per cent of it is still made in that state.

In a world of spirits that aim to be the biggest tasting and most highly flavoured, vodka has always been something of an enigma.

Many years ago I was sitting with a friend at a pub in Ireland when an American tourist came in and began studying the menu. He approached the bar and asked the barmaid for "a quicky".

As you may have noticed, the daylight hours are lengthening and there are rumours spring is upon us.

We are swimming in a wine glut at the moment and though that's not good news for the producers and growers, it's very good news for the canny consumer.

Few spirits have the romance, the history and the sheer brilliance of whisky.

I had a wonderful experience recently when I attended a tasting of Hallertau's beers at a rather salubrious Mt Eden hostelry.