Liqueurs - even the name sounds thick, rich and sweet. But are they glutinous, fruit-based sugar syrups, or is there something a bit more to them? Well, of course there is.

It used to be deeply naff, drunk only by teens and maybe your nana; so how did cider get its fizz back to be the drink of the summer, asks Nicky Pellegrino.

The more breweries I visit the more I realise just how good New Zealand beers have become over the years.

I managed to spend some time on Waiheke Island over the break, soaking up the sun and catching up with friends.

Don is the editor of Thirst magazine.

Hawkes Bay is famous for several things, including wine and great weather, but now we can add beer to the list.

A 15-year-old girl bought alcohol from a Mt Maunganui bar during a police operation at the weekend.

An ad campaign that describes how brewing magnate Morton Coutts was inspired to create DB Export has been dismissed as a "figment of an ad man's hangover" by writers and historians.

It's hard to beat a good cocktail and with more people entertaining at home these days, they're not just making a comeback in the bars.

This warm weather has been a bit of mixed blessing for me. On one hand, it's a great incentive to bask in the sun with a few beers, but then I start worrying about melanoma.

If you want to rule the BBQ circuit this summer, there is a unique alternative to expensive big-brand beer, says brewing guru Soren Eriksen. Make your own. Here's his dummies' guide to home brewing.

Trickery, veiled threats and sly insults aren't what you'd normally expect at a tasting, but malt whisky tastings in Auckland do tend to be different.

There is a school of thought that says that low-alcohol and light beer isn't really beer at all and, in all honesty, I would tend to subscribe to that view, more often than not.

Sun, sex and sand - is there anything that encapsulates them as well as rum? While rum is made around the world - even in countries notably bereft of sugar plantations such as Austria - it has become firmly linked to the Caribbean.