UNCORKING THE WORLD’S MOST EXPENSIVE BEER

Writer: Simon Morgan

‘Reassuringly expensive’ is the slogan one leading brewer marketed its premium product under for many years in the UK. This and a series of Jean de Florette-inspired TV ads sought to position the beer as a cut above the rest. Something not only to be drunk, but to be coveted, too. However, by 2007, the brew had become so associated with a less arty phenomenon - excessive or ‘binge’ drinking - that the tagline, and even the maker’s name, were dropped from its small-screen promotions. Today, the brand prefers to concentrate on the purity of its ingredients; hops, malted barley, maize and water, a seemingly less explosive concoction than alcohol and one-upmanship. None of which seems to have deterred the Carlsberg subsidiary Jacobsen Brewhouse, which earlier this year announced the arrival of its ‘Vintage Nr. 1′, the world’s most expensive beer.

FIVE OF THE FINEST NEW YORK COCKTAILS

Writer: Chloe Crowson

Is there anything more quintessentially New York than a jaw-droppingly good cocktail? There’s certainly nothing that I’ve seen amusing New Yorkers so much as gathering for a great libation. And, lest anyone raise claims of concern over a city built around sinful sipping, bear in mind that the classic New York cocktail is all about quality not quantity.

When in the Big Apple and thirsty, seek out the drinks that will reside forever in your mind as measures against which other drinks, of similar names and ingredients, will be compared for analysis and will rarely rise to the challenge. Drinks like these:

A PERFECT CUP OF TEA

Writer: Simon Morgan

When I was growing up in the ‘60s, my mum thought teabags were dead common. She felt that fishing around in the cup or pot to extract the spent ones was somehow demeaning. And that the flavour was a poor imitation of that produced by traditional loose leaves. One way or another, though, the teabag survived her disapproval and this year celebrates its centenary. Today, I read, some 96% of the 130 million cups of tea drunk in Britain each day are made using these perforated sachets.

TEENAGE TENNIS CHAMPION: LAURA ROBSON

Writer: Melanie Kramers

Laura Robson is a 14-year-old Londoner who recently won the Wimbledon girls’ tennis title—a home victory not seen since 1984. Beating the third seed to become junior champion in front of the biggest crowd of her life was a huge personal achievement for the young player, who endearingly told reporters afterwards: “I thought I was going to be sick when I walked on court, there were so many people watching.” But her win is also a big deal for England, whose relationship with Wimbledon is fraught with the anguish of near misses. Desperate to crown a British champion on those smooth green lawns, the media have been guilty in the past of piling unbearable pressure on rising tennis stars, namely poor old “Tiger Tim” Henman, who was built up too quickly as the Great British Hope and never quite managed to pull it off. Now all eyes are on Laura, who has already seen her picture splashed all over the nation’s newspapers and been crowned the new “Queen of Wimbledon” by Mail on Sunday, garnering more column inches than Venus.

Summer in the Highlands: Rustic luxury, midges and a Porsche Cayenne

Writer: Daniel Gibbons

East Rhidorroch Lodge is about eight miles from the small fishing town of Ullapool, in Wester Ross on Scotland’s north-west coast. If you take a small detour about five miles along the unmade private road that leads to the Lodge, you’ll discover Rhidorroch House, a rather grand Victorian pile, and like us be disappointed to be told politely by the owners that this is not where you are staying. Let’s just say that (a) the Lodge is basic and (b) those with a predilection for stuffed polecats in glass cases and moth-eaten stag heads on the walls will feel quite at home.