To those we have met and those we have yet to meet.
To those who have left us for a while and to those who have left us forever.
Let us lift our glasses and drink a toast that they may abide in our hearts forever.
To absent friends!
Robert Burns
Céad míle fáilte, a hundred thousand welcomes, to Absent Friends, the pre-launch issue of Liquid Sunshine.
Strange perhaps, for the pre-launch of any magazine to focus on those loved, yet lost, but whisky is an unfinished story a thousand years in the writing. It constantly innovates whilst respecting tradition, leads the way whilst remaining firmly rooted in its past, and entices fresh generations with each passing year. So, in this issue we honour the journey that brought us here before heading full steam into the wild world of whisky in the 21st century.
Next issue we celebrate The Old and The New, so join us now, as we remember lost distilleries and favourite bars now sadly silent, drams long drunk and roads well travelled.
The Heart of the Run
The heart of the run, the pure centre cut of second distillation. We’ve broken the locks but don’t tell the revenue man, here are this issue’s personal favourites straight from the spirit safe.
Shebeens to Top Shelf
From the backstreets and boulevards to the loftiest of rootop bars, whisky is the world’s favourite spirit.
In the wild
We roadtest whisky in the wild, from the finest whisky bars around the world to shebeens in darkest alleys.
Dram funny
Welcome to Dram Funny, the home of the really awful whisky joke. Beware, we take no prisoners, so just grain and bear it.
Lost weekend
There are places to drink whisky. And there are places to drink whisky.
On the road
By foot, by ferry, on trains and buses, by mountain bike or motor bike, in our trusty old Landrover Defender, we get there any way it takes.
Mixing it up
Whisky puts itself about a bit, from the coldest of climes, through the wettest of weather, to the driest of deserts. You’ll find it neat, on the rocks, as a cooling highball or soothing cocktail, in shots and shorts or dressed to the nines. One thing is for certain, you can always find something to suit the occasion.
The Sazerac Challenge
The Luggage Room, London
The oldest, and we say the best, cocktail of them all, from New Orleans to the World.
For Liquid Sunshine, if it’s a Sazerac, there is only one place to start. and no, it’s not New Orleans.
Our favourite Sazerac, the standard against which all others are measured, is the classic fifty-fifty Sazerac as mixed in the Luggage Room, London. A perfect balance of chilled rye and cognac, in a glass rinsed with absinthe, seasoned with Angostura and Pechauds Bitters, then finished with a spritz of atomised orange oil.
Meet the makars
Where the tears of the sky become the water of life – deòir nan speur gu uisge na beatha.
The distilleries and independent bottlers who make the magic happen.
Whisky 101
Whisky – from the first sip to the last fading memory.
What is it? Where does it come from? How is it made?
Currently blending
Join us for our launch issue, coming soon – The Old and the New.