About Us


Diffordsguide.com was founded in 2001 and has grown to become one of the most complete and authoritative sources on cocktails and bartending.


It is staffed by a dazzling array of top talents, as you can see:

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Simon Difford

Simon lives and breathes the modern drinks industry. His own bar, at his house in South London, is one of the best stocked bars in the world, with practically every example of spirits and liqueurs on the market today. He has become a world authority and expert on distillation and is respected for his encyclopeadic knowledge of spirits production. And when he's not tasting and testing new products, he's out there 'in the field' road-testing bars around the world - instantly recognizable if not by his personal appearance but by his signature bar call - so if you hear someone ask for a 'Classic Daiquiri' in a Cockney accent, better make sure it's a good 'un!

Likes: Blue shirts, gadgets, everything just-so

Dislikes: Religion, tweeting, public transport

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Ian Cameron

Ian's our intrepid in-house hack - a career journalist who used to work for our rival magazine Theme. Having spent his formative years as a medical journalist, he's much happier writing about bars and booze, as you might imagine. He's also authored a number of cocktail books too, and ghost-writes for some well-known figureheads in the cocktail world - though he won't say who. Armed only with a napkin and a blunt pencil he's always on the look-out for a story.

Likes: Riding his bike, turning left on planes, You've Been Framed

Dislikes:Making everyone tea, other people's mess, Eastenders

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Sally Walker-Taylor

Sally is also responsible for keeping us up to date in the ways of the internet. She's a kick-ass digital designer who is extremely patient and known for her ability to speak slowly until the rest of us understand. She works from Bristol and is also a professional trapeze artist, but is currently between circuses - seriously!

Likes: Hanging upside down, pot plants, her many cats

Dislikes: Stopping smoking, our continual spec changes

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Jonathan Cowley

Jon joined in October 2011 and is responsible for keeping the business running. If you have any good ideas about joint ventures or ways to part with your cash - he's the man for you. Jon has a law degree from LSE and was a professional bartender and manager for ten years previously heading up Red Hook and Eighty-Six Fulham Road.

Likes: Cheese, Gin, new socks

Dislikes: Uselessness, Twitter, Emma's dog

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Tara Garnell

Tara came to work with the firm in October 2011 direct from Hakkasan, Mayfair, before which she spent some time in South America and Mexico meaning she is now in fluent Spanish. She is our resident cocktail expert and runs all the events, photoshoots and filming that happens here at The Cabinet Rooms. She is also the boss of Simon and ensures he's in the right place at the right time. Good luck.

Likes: Crème de Banane,yoga, oysters

Dislikes: Toothache, nicknames, bad oysters

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Jane Ryan

Jane came to us fresh out of university after doing a journalism degree. As Ian's mini-me she helps write the content for the weekly and follows Simon around the world on distillery visits. She's a proper Aussie and swears like a trooper, but is so young she has no memory of early Neighbours plot lines. Strewth!

Likes: Raw green peppers, Henry VIII, swimming in Noosa

Dislikes: Mozzie bites, sand in her cozzie, neck sunburn