De Kuyper Wild Strawberry is a simply stunning summery cocktail ingredient which captures the colours and essence of fresh ripe strawberries in a delicious liqueur. Superb enjoyed chilled and neat, over ice or drizzled over desserts such as vanilla ice cream or sorbet...

The difference between Whisky and Whiskey is that the first is made on the UK mainland – generally in Scotland – and the second is imported, mainly from Ireland or America. Although, the general principle of production is the same, the two types are distinctly...

Vodka is a clear spirit that can be produced from ingredients which contain starch. Starch can be converted to sugar and then alcohol is fermented from sugar. Raw ingredients for vodka production can be anything from grain (barley, maize, rye, wheat etc) to molasses...

The history of vermouth dates back to medieval times when the goodness of herbs was preserved by steeping them in wine – often prepared by monasteries for medicinal purposes. Vermouth takes its name for the German word “Wermut” which means wormwood – an essential...

Triple Sec is similar to Blue Curaçao in that it is made from oranges from the Caribbean island of Curaçao (situated just off the coast of Venezuela in South America). Triple Sec – literally meaning Triple Dry – is distilled three times – creating a liqueur which is...

Tia Maria is still made according to a secret family recipe dating back to mid 17th century Jamaica which has been passed down through the generations. First produced commercially in the 1950s when Dr Kenneth Leigh Evans - a prominent scientist and gourmet - was...

Contrary to popular belief, Tequila is not made from alcohol derived from the cactus plant, but from the agave plant (pronounced ‘Uh-Gah-Vee’), which is closely related to the yucca and the amaryllis. The sweet sap from the agave is fermented and then distilled twice...

De Kuyper’s Sour Apple is a delicious liqueur made with apple flavours blended with fine spirits and is reminiscent of Granny Smith apples. This beautiful bright green liqueur brightens up cocktails and long drinks with its exceptionally fresh sweet and sour apple...

For our entry on white rum, we are using the most well known brand - Bacardi Carta Blanca. As with many rum brands, molasses are used as the base product are transformed into alcohol through spontaneous (natural) fermentation. In the recipe for Bacardi, purified water...

Produced by the above method, dark rums obtain their colour from the addition of caramel and the extractives of the oak barrel during their ageing. In-the-spirit’s preferred Dark Rum is Woods 100 Rum. Woods 100 is blended with several different rums and has soft...

Produced using a similar process to dark rum – the golden rather than dark colour depends on the amount of caramel added to colour and flavour the rum. Aged rum usually refers to a longer period of ageing of a particular rum style to achieve a more robust flavour from...

Rum is distilled from the fermented products of sugar cane – usually molasses. As is the case with all distilled spirits – rum is water white when first distilled. Fermentation is the process by which the sugar in molasses in converted into alcohol by the use of...