Jigger’s launches Belle Fleur Apple Eau De Vie!

And you know what they say, an apple a day… Olivier Jacobs from Jigger’s (Ghent) wanted to make a spirit that is honest and responsibly made. A product which he followed from apple to bottle. Distilled by Biercée this results in an eau de vie that is an absolute jewel and there’s only 2000 bottles……

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Black Smoke Rising!

Black smoke, pieces of trees and lots of dead animals smouldering! It sounds like the beginning of a war movie, but it’s actually a brand new BBQ restaurant in Belgium. Situated in the old ‘De Koninck’ brewery, founders Kasper Stuart and Jord Althuizen couldn’t have picked a better spot. Black Smoke is the name and…

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Maison Ferrand & The Launch Of The Belgian Cocktail Book

Every year Maison Ferrand launches a cocktail book in a different city, this book  represents the (cocktail) culture and bartender scene of the country the city is located in. It started 5 years ago in Paris, followed by Berlin, London, Singapore, NYC and now Antwerp, Belgium. The good people of Maison Ferrand immediately spotted how…

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How do you like your vermouth?

If somebody offered us a vermouth and asked: “Italian or French?” We would probably answer: “A Savoyan”. Because that’s where they come from, the former Duchy of Savoy. Or was it Germany? And more importantly where are they now? Italy, France? Yes and Spain and a little bit everywhere actually, even Belgium has one. Vermouth…

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Hammering a good drink to life requires a Sip-smith

No doubt Sipsmith, as a relatively new gin, has earned its place among the classics and will keep it for a long while. Fairfax, Sam and the well known Jared Brown took their first steps into sip smithing with prudence, which also happens to be the name of their first small copper still. A few…

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Saint James Rhum Cocktail Competition

Last week one of the cocktail competitions we judged was the Saint James Cocktail Competition. Fifteen candidates squared off against each other in the lovely ‘La Tricoterie’ in Brussels in the hope of winning one of the great prizes – amongst them one of the last bottles of Saint James 250 for Belgium. Saint James…

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First Belgian Bitter launched by Biercée Distillery

Belgians like their bitter they say, I say Belgians like everything. True, we love cacao, coffee, endives, sprouts, hops and others but we’re also quite fond of our stew and fries, our waffles, genever, anything really. But what if some crazy Belgians said to each other: “what would happen if we put all the bitter…

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Vitas Van de Cauter wins New Grove’s Belgian Tiki competition

Mauritian rum brand New Grove chose Belgium’s first and foremost Tikitender Tom Neijens from the Drifter to organise a Tiki cocktail competition at Uncle Babe’s Burgerbar in Ghent. The result was great fun with an amazing diversity in drinks! It shows how much you can do with rum. Next to the usual suspects there were…

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Trends and tipular fixings for 2016

To augur the cocktail and spirit trends for 2016 is more like horoscopes, tarot and disembowelling lamb to check their livers for strange spots. It’s not hard science. So instead we take a look at what we saw in 2015 and what we would like to see in 2016, mixed together with what we could…

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