How did this small archipelago exert such influence on drinks? Like most cold countries, we have a fondness for alcohol. The Russians have vodka, the For a festive special, Tom and Dominic are joined by author and alcohol historian Henry Jeffreys to discuss some Christmassy tipples, from sherry to port, champagne to clairet. Plus, a discussion on why certain drinks revealed your political leanings, and how one Shropshire gentleman set his furniture on fire trying to cure his hiccups after one too many bottles of wine... Thanks for getting in touch. Henry has handed in most of the material and we're just waiting on the final draft. As soon as we have the finished manuscript we'll get to work and are currently aiming to have books ready for Spring 2016. Casinos – Can give you loads of cash. But, if someone wins big (which can happen randomly), you could lose a lot of money as well.

Through the medium of drink, we can chart the rise of British power from a small corner of Europe to global pre-eminence. British culture, literature,

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I may have missed the boat here, but interested to know when your book on Kenelm Digby will be out. As I'm living in Thailand at present, book launches are not often on my radar.

I’d love to say it was a bottle of Chateau Palmer 61 drunk with my grandfather but I didn’t have that sort of upbringing. My parents drank wine but I never particularly liked the sort of hard earthy wine my father bought. In retrospect it was probably quite good Bordeaux. I much preferred going to the pub and drinking beer with my father.Production – Determines how much alcohol is produced each week. This helps keep the booze flowing when you’ve got a lot of businesses and patrons. Here's something I wrote recently for the Spectator. Be warned, it contains references to my misspent youth: In the late 1990s I worked for a wine merchant. We were paid very little, but given a thorough education in wine. After a long evening tasting, a favourite

From renowned booze correspondent Henry Jeffreys comes this rich and full-bodied history of Britain and the Empire, told through the improbable but true stories of how the world's favourite alcoholic drinks came to be. I’ve just received my latest energy bill and it appears that I’ve been living this last year in a draughty manor house rather than a three–bedroom ex-council flat. This winter, I’m going to have to choose between… I'm going to be adding articles to the Shed so that you can get a flavour of my writing. Here's something that appeared in the Spectator recently on Winter Drinking:strong drinks such as rum and India Pale Ale that could stand long hot journeys were developed. Whisky, an indigenous British drink, became the drink of I did this slightly odd interview with Bluffer's Guides. I couldn't think of proper answers to most of the questions so I just made something up.

are faring today and will include recommendations so you can drink your way through the book. Britain’s legacy has been much argued over. The lasting gifts

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Hydrometers used in gin-making at the Balmenach Distillery, Speyside. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian Henry Jeffreys is everything you want a wine writer to be: funny, knowing, unpretentious but also un-blokeish, funny, clever, refreshing, original, funny and inquisitive. And did I say funny? Craig Brown, author and parodist Jason Rodriguez is a guides writer. Most of his work can be found on PC Invasion (around 3,400+ published articles). He's also written for IGN, GameSpot, Polygon, TechRaptor, Gameskinny, and more. What I liketo drink at Christmas is burgundy, burgundy andmore burgundy followed by a little port with my stilton. Good burgundy costs money which I don't have so I'm always on the look out for burgundy substitutes. I've discovered two such wines this year and at the moment they're on offer at Tesco.