21 September

It's Paloma's birthday and World Paloma Day, which both fall on this day, incredibly apt as it's also International Day of Peace.

We've more on the International Day of Peace below but crucially for its link to my/our Paloma and indeed the Paloma Cocktail, the international symbol for peace is a white dove. And the Spanish word for dove is of course paloma.

So, we're celebrating a birthday and World Paloma Day with the classic version of the Paloma cocktail while also celebrating the growing number of riffs on one of the most popular contemporary classic cocktails. And for those misguided folk, who've missed the dove link with the International Day of Peace, and think World Paloma Day falls on May 22nd, as with the Monach, it would appear Paloma has an official birthday and an unofficial birthday.

We invited Discerning Drinkers members to share their own version of the Paloma cocktail via our Cocktail Builder. We sought easy to replicate tasty Palomas and our two favourites were the Amaro Paloma by Filip Filipovic, and the Otoño Paloma by Taylor Isaacson. Many thanks to all who shared their recipes, there were numerous good recipes and we very much enjoyed trying them.

International Day of Peace

Today is International Day of Peace, an occasion, according to the UN, to work towards peace in the world, when warring parties should put down their weapons – if only. It's also a day for a Day of Ceasefire to make peace in your own relationships.

The International Day of Peace was established in 1981 by the United Nations General Assembly and then, two decades later was designated a day of non-violence and cease-fire by a unanimous vote of the General Assembly.

So whatever your war, battle, or mere disagreement, now is the time to take a step forward and make the peace. Peaceable folk also recommend lighting a candle or sitting in silent meditation. We will be meditating on a White Lady, an aptly-named drink, and enjoying the resulting inner peace whilst hoping for a more peaceful world.

The Hobbit's birthday

Nobody, least of all the middle-aged English professor and philologist who wrote it, would have predicted that The Hobbit (or its three-part sequel, Lord of the Rings) would have the impact it did - particularly at the time when it came out, this day in 1937.

Today, Tolkien repeatedly ranks among the all-time greats of English literature in popular surveys and the film has brought The Hobbit to a whole new generation of fans. Tolkien's hobbits enjoyed the finer things in life: beer for everyday occasions, and red wine for special guests, plus fresh berries from the farmland. So in honour of the book's anniversary, we are enjoying a combination of berries and red wine: a Cobbled Raspberry Cocktail.