Drinks

We have secretly been developing our own exclusive brew of gin, infused with the famous botanical, Manuka. First introduced from New Zealand in the 1800s, bees feed on this pretty bush to make Manuka honey, grown here in the UK at Tregothnan Estate in Cornwall. Tweaking the original Sipsmith London dry gin with the Manuka, we have extracted the essential oils which gives the gin very f...

Our latest addition on the bar list - The Somerset Cider Brandy   It has long been recognised that for growing apples for fermenting, England has three "vintage" areas where the soil conditions and climate are deemed best for growing cider apples, known as "terroir". All of these areas are in Somerset, Burrow Hill, Kingsbury Episcopi, is right in the middle of one while the others being ...

English wine has been around for centuries with wines produced in England up to the Hadrian's wall in the Roman times. The first vines of the modern era of English wines were planted in the early 90's and for the past year the industry has known an amazing success.   The production is still small; the quality however is impressive.  UK wines received a total of 365 awards in 20...

Germany's winemaking history dates back to 100 BC, when the Romans started producing wines on local soil. Riesling represents German wine culture like no other grape variety. It grows in all of the German wine-growing regions. The Rheingau and Mosel regions have the longest Riesling tradition dating back to the years 1435 and 1465 respectively. The Rheinhessen and Pfalz winemakers can...

Whether it is sourcing the freshest lobsters for our menu, travelling to Portugal to meet with wine producers, we only select the best ingredients to offer our customers a unique combination of flavours. So when Sylvain, our restaurant manager, was looking for a tea supplier to meet our exacting standards the choice was obvious. Henrietta Lovell, known as the Tea Lady and founder of Rare Te...

Restaurant Reading L'Ortolan source local high quality ingredients from equally committed suppliers. On a rainy Monday afternoon we were welcomed with a lot of kindness and passion by Phil, Michael and Lucy at the Two Cocks Brewery in Newbury. Lucy is in charge and Michael and Phil started farming about 5 years ago following a relocation to the countryside, swapping busy city life in...