Liquor shelves are brimming with brightly coloured bevies, but not all food dyes are alike. While most major distilleries use artificial colouring for its intensity and stability, many smaller distilleries are opting for a natural approach, using flora and fauna to add colour and flavour to their spirits.

Furthermore, most botanicals have a long history with humanity, which goes beyond colour and taste. Many hold medicinal and spiritual meaning for present and past cultures. Although these plants are safe to consume, it is important to do your homework before using them at home. After all, plants are powerful!

Disco drinks remind us that colour has always been part of cocktail language. Long before Instagram, bartenders were manipulating hue to signal sweetness, seduction, and spectacle under the mirrorball.

Beverage rituals are usually encountered at one of two moments: when a drink is assembled, or when it is consumed. But no matter when or where the ritual takes place, doing or saying something special before you drink is an act of intentional threshold crossing and fellowship — it signals that the experience is about to begin and that everyone involved is partaking in good faith.

For 500 years agave spirits have been synonyms with Mexico but in just the last decade the world of agave spirits has grown and spread around the globe. As a fan of agave spirits this is an exciting time to taste this evolution in real time and witness how the terroir, culture, and people unique to each new region imprint themselves on the spirits.

Cognac isn’t just another aged spirit tucked away on the back bar. It’s a living system — soil, grape, distillation, and aging — bound together by some of the most rigorous rules in the drinks world.

With three easy builds, Jessica Colacci shows us just how many personalities one bottle can have and why Montenegro deserves a permanent place in your rotation.

Flavour Files spotlights one flavour camp and how it unfolds across spirits, liqueurs, and modifiers offering a lens into its versatility, personality, and creative potential. This edition features spirits that bloom with botanicals, blossoms, and aromatic elegance.

Bitter, herbal, sweet—amaro (plural amari) is one of the most diverse and misunderstood spirits categories behind the bar. Born in Italy and now made worldwide, these botanical liqueurs range from bright and citrusy to bold and bracing. This guide maps out their flavour profiles, ABV, and cocktail potential, using well-known benchmarks like Campari, Aperol, and Fernet Branca to help decode the rest. Whether you’re a cocktail enthusiast or curious newcomer, the Amari Index offers a starting point to explore, compare, and use these complex bottles with more confidence one flavour profile at a time.