A Celebration of London’s Urban Wineries with Aidy Smith

The Urban Winery scene in London has exploded over recent years, first with London Cru, who were then joined by Renegade, Vagabond and Blackbook, who are now all combining for a first-of-its-kind collaboration event featuring fascinating winemaking insight, beautifully paired dishes, a charity raffle, our very own Aidy and of course, plenty of incredible wines.

If you’re not familiar with urban wineries, they’re probably not a million miles away from what you’re picturing; compact vineyards and wineries that occupy corners in a city as opposed to the rolling hills of the countryside. By their stand-out nature, they also tend to particularly entrepreneurial with a focus on embracing different methods of winemaking.

These four wineries are coming together for a celebration of this movement on Sunday 15th June with two different events suitable for novices, enthusiasts and connoisseurs alike. First, the Winemaker’s Lunch between 1PM and 3PM, hosted in the beautiful garden oasis of Renegade’s winery. Guests will enjoy a summer feast and of course, a wine pairing with each winemaker curating the perfect wine to match. 

And the best bit? Our own Aidy Smith will be hosting! Joined by the Evening Standard Food & Drinks Editor, Joanna Taylor, there will be a charity raffle for PrideWide and the ADHD Foundation with plenty of exquisite wines from the wineries going to the lucky winners.

The fun continues between 3:30PM and 8PM with a walkabout tasting where attendees can get up close and personal with the wines of the day and the people behind them, all in the perfect setting of Renegade’s stunning set-up. The bar and kitchen remain open all evening with a seasonal menu curated to complement the wines… which will be important for lining those stomachs if you want to get a real taste of every winery.

It's a great event at the heart of London’s dynamic urban wine scene, while also raising some money for great causes – particularly during Pride Month. If you want to be part of this exciting occasion, we’ll leave the key details and ticket links below!

Date: Saturday 15th June 2024
Time: Winemakers Lunch: 13:00–15:00 / Walkabout Tasting: 15:30 - 20:00
Location: Renegade Urban Winery Garden, Unit 7, Lockwood Way, E17 5RB
Travel: Nearest Tube - Blackhorse Road, Victoria Line (10min walk to event)
Tickets: Winemakers Lunch (£60-£65), Walkabout Tasting (£15-£20)

Celebrating Aidy as the Top 100 Most Influential People in Drinks Are Revealed!

As the UK’s number one magazine for everything off-trade drinks, Drinks Retailing is always worth keeping an eye on. Their annual list of the 100 Most Influential People has returned this year, with more industry voters than ever before looking across the entire drinks industry and putting names forward.

Be it through innovation, pushing the industry forward, combating injustices, raising issues, or generally using their voice to positively shape drinks retailing communities, voters were asked to pick the people they thought deserved a spot on the list.

All of this is why we’re so delighted and proud to reveal that our very own Aidy Smith came in 5th place in this year’s list! Woohoo! As the UK’s only television presenter with Tourette Syndrome and one of the few LGBTQIA+ personalities, championing fair representation and using his influence to break down barriers is close to his heart.

Not only has he raised these issues on television, radio, and social media, but he’s also launched DRINKLUSIVE, the results of which you can find all across our website and socials. The first of its kind, it’s an inclusivity mentorship and incubator programme that gives aspiring content creators the chance to shine in the drinks space. Alongside this, he’s also been busy exploring Cognac in a new Amazon series of The Three Drinkers and regularly entertaining us on Instagram. Whether they are from LGBTQIA+, ethnic-minority or disability groups, Aidy is at the forefront of diversifying the people writing and creating in our industry, and it’s amazing to see him recognised for this work in this list.

We'd like to send big congratulations to Helena, too, who also featured in this years list! To find out more about her new and exciting adventures, head over to Flock and Hive!

The full list and magazine are well worth a look to see the exciting work going on across the whole industry. You can find Drinks Retailing here, where it’s free to sign up and read the beautifully designed magazine.

Congratulations to Aidy, Helena and everyone building a better drinks industry for all - onwards and upwards!

5 Genius Inventions To Help You Shed the COVID Weight

Words by Aidy Smith (@Sypped)

You’re not alone. As most of the world has been in their own version of lockdown the naughty foods have come into our lives a little more than we’d usually allow, same for that glass of something special each evening. The result? For many of us, the love handles have returned. So much for that summer body, eh? Alas, don’t worry about it. The good thing is, there’s a bunch of new tech and various creations which allow you to combat this face-on. Read below for some simple and convenient ways to get in better shape!

Yo-Yo DESK® BIKE

The Yo-Yo Desk Bike isn’t just another piece of exercise equipment that’ll soon sit in the corner collection dust. This bike will become a fully integrated part of your workday routine. Turn a normally inactive portion of your day into an active one and burn through the fat faster. 

Silent motion technology gets rid of noise distractions while you can work from a laptop with ease and even take video calls while secretly burning the calories. For most of us, working from home has become tedious, not to mention the backpain from spending too much time sitting down. This wonder acts as a stand-up desk too, so you can change your position for a healthier posture.  

Basically, work while losing weight and without noticing you’re even working out. Amazing. 

Price: £400
Learn More Here

The Gym Keg

This one is incredibly simple, but so powerful. We all know we need to drink more water as it’s something that contributes to shedding the weight. It gets a little repetitive having to constantly fill up a smaller bottle of water, so why not just buy something that holds 2.2L of the stuff. That way you only need to fill it up twice during the day and you’ve more than completed your daily allowance. Just be sure not to overdo it though, 2.7L for women and 3.7L for men are the daily recommendations. 

Price: £16
Learn More Here

Noom

There’s a hell of a lot of ‘weight loss’ apps out there, but honestly, very few are based on mountains of scientific research across both biological and psychological fields. Noom helps people to lead healthier lives through behaviour change, making you feel like you’re in control of your life so you can make the hard decisions versus being forced into a situation that makes you loathe dieting. It’s kind of like having a nutrionist, health coach and trainer all in one place. 

Daily quizzes educate you and help you understand WHY you need to take certain actions, while the food suggestion features help you make more informed decisions about what you eat without scaremongering you into cutting out everything. Its realistic. You essentially log what food you’re eating which is categorized into green, yellow and red, allowing you to see how healthy you are being. 

The app has shown to directly promote healthier habits, reducing risk of chronic health problems and even reversing diseases. These aren’t just statements either, they continuously publish research in international recognised journals such as  Nature and British Medical Journal (BMJ), which has shown that 64% of Noom users lost 5% or more of body weight, greatly reducing their risk of diabetes and other conditions.

In summary, an app that doesn’t make weight loss feel like a chore is a great start to becoming healthier, so give it a whirl.  

Price: From $200 (£160) per year
Learn More Here

Æcorn Aromatic

Many of us have been guilty of piling on the pounds from drinking too much. The weather has been amazing, happy hour is within reach of your work desk, there’s countless reasons, really. On that note, it’s important to look after your health and a variety of incredible low or non-alcohol options exist, one of my absolutely favourites being Æcorn Aromatic. Not only is it fantastic as a non-alcohol cocktail ingredient, but it makes a stunning G&T alternative. Flavour and texture are two crucial components for me in any non-alcohol drink and this has both in abundance. 

So in sum; get a nice and health tonic water, and to taste preference an amount of this beauty and et voila, your healthier drink awaits. 

Price: £20
Learn More Here

Ember Mug

I’m a total geek of new tech and Ember have just solved a problem that affects many of us when it comes to drinks. If you’re trying to be healthy you make yourself a nice cup of herbal are fruit tea, right? But heres the alarming issue. It goes cold way too quickly, then you get irritated, then you become annoyed and after a trio occurrence you just give up. Ember is the first portable mug that regulates the same temperature based on what you program to your phone. So, your healthy brew will never get cold and you can keep topping it up. You can even take tea that has brewed earlier in the day and the cup will actually heat it up. Genius.

Price: £80
Learn More Here

Like this? Try our latest Drinker Discovery post, 7 Rums That Scream Luxury, and the World’s best Sipping Tequilas

The World’s First Peated Tomato Juice

Yep, that’s right. This is the first tomato juice to have been infused with Islay peat smoke. The result? A totally unique flavour that screams “Bloody Mary!”. Not only is it richer and deeper in taste than your standard tomato juice, it’s hand-crafted in Scotland itself by a small team of gastronomic food innovators. 

Quite exciting, given how much we love a bloody mary. Now, they recommend you mix it up with vodka (recipe below), but I would argue for those who love peat as much as we do, drop a wee dram of whisky in there instead for a double whammy peat punch. Don’t forget that mandatory slice of shortbread on the side too.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with peat – it’s an organic material that has decomposed over millions of years. On Islay, it absorbs all of the sea salt from the atmosphere given you’re never far away from the coast, in doing so infusing all of that rich goodness when smoked.

A local smokery is used to extract maximum flavour, with the dried peat being infused into the fresh, seasonal tomatoes. What you get is a super rich batch of sweet, smoky and salty tomatoes and in turn, their juice. Damn. 

Okay, enough talk, let’s get to the good stuff. 

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Tongue In Peat’s Smoky Mary Recipe 

Ingredients: 

50ml vodka (or a peaty whisky!)
6 drops Tabasco
8 drops Worcestershire sauce 1 pinch celery salt
1 tsp horseradish
2 tsp fresh lime juice 

Method: 

Rub a wedge of lemon along the rim of your glass, then coat with black pepper. Add the vodka, Tabasco, Worcestershire sauce, salt, horseradish and lime juice before topping up with Tongue in Peat Smoked Tomato Juice. Fill the glass with ice then stir, and garnish with a wedge of lemon and celery stick. 

Tongue in Peat is now available in 250ml or 500ml glass bottles from selected online retailers including directly from Tongueinpeat.com as well as Paisley Drinks Company and Craft56.co.uk 

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