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© Twycer / www.twycer.nl

I’m a full-time travel and drinks writer, contributing to newspapers, magazines, and websites in the UK and worldwide. In addition I’ve written over 40 guidebooks, one podcast, three radio plays, a collection of my travel writing (Snakes Alive) and a crime novel (Strip till Dead).

MY LATEST BOOK

My latest book is Cask Strength: The Story of the Barrel, the Secret Ingredient in Your Drink. You can read all about it here.

Front cover of the book Cask Strength: the story of the barrel, the secret ingredient in your drink, by Mike Gerrard

I publish several travel content websites and two drinks websites, publish the Beyond Travel Guides, and divide my time between my homes in Cambridgeshire in the UK and near Tucson in Arizona. My wife and I also publish the Arizona Travel Guide.

Here are some of my sample features:

Waitrose Drinks Cover Xmas 2023 Isle of Wight

Isle of Wight

I wrote the feature on the Isle of Wight for the Christmas 2023 issue of Waitrose Drinks. Click on the cover below to read it.

Mike Gerrard's Dublin travel feature in Waitrose Drinks magazine: Stay-Visit-Eat Dublin.

Dublin Travel Feature

My Dublin Travel Feature for Waitrose Drinks magazine covering where to stay, where to eat, and what to visit in Ireland’s capital city.

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Reviewing Apostalagma Ouzo

The chance to review Apostalagma Ouzo for my Travel Distilled website combines my love for spirits with one of my favourite countries, Greece.

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Oak-Aged Sotol Review

My review on Travel Distilled of an oak-aged sotol from the Desert Door Distillery in Texas

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Greek Gin

My review of Stray Dog Wild Gin from Greece for Drinkhacker.

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Through the Kaleidoscope

Through the Kaleidoscope. Mike Gerrard visits Nellie Bly, the kaleidoscope shop in the unlikely setting of Jerome, Arizona.

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Pie Town

The story of Pie Town in New Mexico on the Roadtrippers website.

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The Botanist’s Botanist

Mike Gerrard meets James Donaldson, the Head Forager and botanist for The Botanist gin, made on Islay in Scotland at the Bruichladdic distillery.

A jukebox in The Memphis Rock 'n' Soul Museum in Memphis, Tennessee

Music in Memphis

My piece for The Travel Pages on the Top Ten Music Attractions in Memphis, Tennessee.

A bottle of Jefferson's Ocean Kentucky Bourbon

Jefferson’s Ocean Kentucky Bourbon

I recently wrote the fascinating story of how Jefferson’s Ocean Kentucky Bourbon was created, and how it’s made. It’s on the website of Chilled Magazine, where I’m an Editorial Staff Writer.

Sugarlands Shine Cole Swindell Pre-Show Punch

Sugarlands Shine Pre-Show Punch

I recently sampled and reviewed country singer Cole Swindell’s Pre-Show Punch, made by Sugarlands Shine on the Drinkhacker website.

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Bats for Tequila

Carlos Camarena of El Tesoro Tequila, made at La Altena Distillery in the highlands of Jalisco in Mexico, and his fight to save endangered bats.

Label of vodka bottle from Black Eye, made from black-eyed peas in Texas.

Vodka from Black-Eyed Peas

I recently found a truly excellent vodka, made from black-eyed peas in Texas, which I reviewed for Drinkhacker.

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Sotol from Texas

Profiling the Desert Door Distillery in Texas for the Alcohol Professor website, and learning about the only sotol currently made in the USA.

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Borderlands Brewing in Tucson

Mike Gerrard profiles the Borderland Brewing Company in Tucson, in his series for Tucson Foodie on the local brewing scene.

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On the Tequila Trail

Mike Gerrard takes the Tequila Trail in Jalisco, Mexico, and visits legendary distilleries such as Patron and Don Julio.

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The Cotswolds Distillery

My profile of The Cotswolds Distillery in England and its founder Daniel Szor for the US drinks magazine, Chilled.

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The Stir of the Ocean

In Chilled Mike Gerrard tells the story of the Jefferson’s Ocean bourbon, which is aged at sea.

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Iceland Travel Story

Mike Gerrard writes about what to do, where to stay, what to eat and what to drink in Iceland for Waitrose Drinks magazine.

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Matt Damon, Vodka and Me

Matt Damon’s on the cover of Chilled and Mike Gerrard writes inside about limited editions of Ketel One vodka and Glenmorangie whisky.

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Cocktails That Rock Memphis

Mike Gerrard visits the Hog and Hominy restaurant and bar in Memphis, Tennessee, and meets the head bartender creating cocktails that rock Memphis.

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Chase Vodka Profile

Profile of the Chase Distillery in England by Mike Gerrard for Chilled magazine.

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Red Necks and White Sands

Mike Gerrard discovers the wonderful white-sand beaches, the wildlife and food of Alabama’s Gulf Shores.

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Custard’s Last Stand

An unforgettable visit to the Pudding Club, preserving that great British tradition of the pudding… and walking off the calories on a walking weekend.

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Tom’s Wall

Tom Hendrix built a moving tribute to his Native American ancestor, who walked back 600 miles to her ‘Singing River’ near Florence in Alabama.

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Aisha Tyler in Chilled

The new issue of Chilled focusses on Tales of the Cocktail 2016, and has Aisha Tyler on the cover and four of my stories inside.

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Jude Law

My features in Volume 9 Issue 2 of Chilled, with Jude Law on the cover and mint juleps inside.

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The Spirit of Sinai

Travel writer Mike Gerrard takes a camel-trekking holiday into Egypt’s Sinai Desert in the company of Bedouin guides.

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Nashville

My feature on Nashville as one of the Ultimate Music Destinations for the Singapore Airlines magazine, Priority.

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Kate Hudson

My cover story for Chilled Magazine on Kate Hudson starring in the 2016 Campari calendar, Bitter or Sweet.

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Travel Notes

Mike Gerrard interviews travel writers including Eric Newby about how they take notes when travelling, and how they safeguard their precious notebooks.

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Like Cognac, Like Vodka

Mike Gerrard, aka The Vodka Guy, writes a potted history of Grey Goose Vodka for Chilled Magazine.

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Elvis was my Buddy

In a diner in Tupelo, Mississippi, Mike Gerrard meets someone who was Elvis Presley’s childhood buddy.

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Volkshotel, Amsterdam

Here’s my review of the delightful and quirky Volkshotel in Amsterdam’s De Pijp district, written for The Huffington Post.

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Chilled: The Heritage Issue

In the latest issue of Chilled, The Heritage Issue, featuring David Beckham on the cover, I’ve got four stories covering whisky and vodka.

Fingal the barge on a cruise along Scotland's Caledonian Canal

Barging with Fingal

Taking a cruise along the Caledonian Canal and through Loch Ness in the Highlands of Scotland.

The Citadines Apartment Hotel in Holborn, London

Citadines on Holborn

The Citadines Apartment Hotel on Holborn in London is a cheap alternative to a central London hotel.

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The Beatles Slept Here

Mike Gerrard meets photographer Fraser Ballantyne at the Four Seasons hotel on Loch Earn, where the Beatles once stayed while touring Scotland.

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Art Walk in Paradise Valley

Taking an art walk to see the sculptures and paintings around the Hermosa Inn in Paradise Valley, Phoenix, Arizona.

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Scallops in Scotland

Somewhere off the west coast of Scotland is a fishing trawler called the Crimson Arrow, and on the boat is a fisherman called Toastie. He brings his scallops into the harbour at Oban, and they are the best scallops in the world. How do I know? Because I’ve just eaten a plate of them.

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Scots on the American Whiskey Trail

Here’s a piece I did for The Herald Magazine, in Glasgow, Scotland, about the Scotsmen who were influential in the history of the American whiskey distilling business.

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Jesmond Dene House

In October 2014 Jesmond Dene House in Newcastle was chosen by the Good Hotel Guide 2015 as one of the best boutique city hotels in the UK. Having stayed there in September, I’m not at all surprised. Trying to find the hotel in a network of busy Newcastle roads, in our case during a rainy […]

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The Loch Ness Inn

Mike Gerrard reviews the Loch Ness Inn by the shores of Loch Ness in Scotland and discovers a Scottish twist on a South African dish: Haggis Bobotie

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Cumbria on a Plate

Here’s a piece I did for the travel pages of The Times about the Cumbrian food tours run by Cumbria on a Plate. The excellent tours are led by Annette Gibbons, OBE, and the website is Cumbria on a Plate. :

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On Sharkwatch in Scotland

Seeing sharks and a lot of other wildlife on a nature cruise with the Majestic Line off the west coast of Scotland.

Ross Simon at the Bitter and Twisted cocktail bar in Phoenix, Arizona

Bitter and Twisted in Chilled

I write regularly for Chilled and in Volume 8 Issue 4 I’ve got four stories, including a profile of the Bitter and Twisted cocktail bar in Phoenix, Arizona.

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On the Trail of Bond

With the new Bond movie, Spectre, due out soon, the Singapore Airlines magazine Priority sent me in search of the locations for this and some earlier Bond movies… and a few things Bond might like to do when he’s there.

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Chef All At Sea

‘If you can eat it, I’ll prepare it,’ chef Stephen Boswell tells me as we sit together and gaze out at the passing landscape of Skye. My profile of Stephen, working as a chef for the Majestic Line cruises off the west coast of Scotland..

The stills at Jamie Baxter's Gin School

Gin School 101

Here’s my piece for Chilled Magazine about Jamie Baxter’s Gin School, a challenge to describe it in 200 words!

Cognac tasting glasses at the Chateau de Cognac owned by Baron Otard in Cognac, France

Passport to Paradis

Read my piece for the Singapore Airlines Priority Magazine, ‘Passport to Paradis’, about Cognac, the 300th anniversary of Martell, and the special cellars of the cognac houses known as Paradis.

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The Train They Never Robbed

Read why the Cumbres-Toltec Railroad, which criss-crosses the Arizona-New Mexico border, is the train they never robbed.

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The Waterside Hotel

Sometimes it’s the little things. As a regular and often weary traveller, what I…