Caipirinha is basically the national drink in Brazil. Ice, lime, cane sugar and cachaça is all you need to make a good caipirinha. Because of it’s simplicity everybody can make a decent caipirinha but you need real art to make a very good one. They drink it at any hour and in any occasion, before eating, during eating, after eating, always. Sometimes they prefer vodka instead of cachaça (in that case they call it caipivodka aka caipirioska) or different fruits (e.g. strawberry instead of lime).

Lagavulin 16 years old is one of the strongest single malt scotch whiskys out there. When you pour it, you can perceive the peaty aroma even while sitting one meter away from the glass. They make it on Islay, a big rock of peat emerging from the ocean on the west coast of Scotland, and it takes sixteen unhurried years of rest, kept inside casks on the sea shore, before they allow us to drink it in all of its glory. When tasting this great whisky you can feel a rich, deep, full, long sweetness pervade your mouth, slowly followed by strong peat and finally some hints of seeweed and iodine. I discovered it when I asked the barman for a smoky whisky at The Last Drop in Edinburgh. If they think this is a typical prototype of peaty whisky, then probably it is

Today my mate wanted to cook Filetto al pepe verde (tenderloin with green pepper) and to do so he needed some cognac for the flambé.  I bought a bottle of Martell.  It’s not exactly the cheapest cognac out there, but it was the cheapest on the shelf.  I’ve never been a cognac fan, I tend to prefer whisky (scotch), but I have to say Martell is great.  Gold and copper colour; fruits, leather and sandal on the nose.  When you pour in your mouth, at first you feel sweet and honey, then it turns to pure silk.  Someone tried to describe the difference between cognac and whisky: cognac is like a well-dressed fine lady, whisky is like a sweat and dirty mason.