Behind the scenes of booze tasting; handheld fans for heatwaves; and reusable water bottles, tested

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‘I’ve got another parcel for 86. It’s booze again,” No 6 posts on the neighbourhood WhatsApp group. My neighbours believing I have an insatiable appetite for alcohol is an occupational hazard of testing gin, spritzes and cans for the Filter. On any given weekday during the recent heatwaves, I could be spotted knee deep in bottles at my patio table, which probably raised a few eyebrows too.

I’ve been writing about drinks for a decade, so of course, I have to drink them. This can be tricky during normal working hours with a 10-mile school run to negotiate, so I do a lot of background research first. I make notes on the nose, any interesting ingredients or production methods, look into recommended serves and read tasting notes before getting into the sampling.

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