Mennie Drinks is a slow publishing imprint focused on whisky, cocktails and the stories they inspire.
There’s a full press release below, but the tl;dr is that this is a small rebellion (in printed form) against a world increasingly shaped by Instagramable moments and rankings. A world that forgets the real reason humans have drinks in bars: to share stories.
I’m building slowly – there’ll be a free downloadable Bar Tab mini-issue later this summer, and gradually growing towards chapbooks and longer-form releases.
If this sounds like something you’d enjoy sharing, writing about, or collaborating on – I’d love that. And if you know any bars, distilleries, or storytellers I should speak to, please send them my way.
📚 menniedrinks.substack.com
📸 @menniedrinks on Instagram
INTRODUCING MENNIE DRINKS
Literary storytelling about whisky, cocktails – and the people who drink them.
In an era of AI influencers, vanishing attention spans and constant pivots to video, Mennie Drinks makes the case to move slowly and stubbornly in the opposite direction. This new independent publishing project celebrates real drinks, real stories, and the kind of writing that lasts longer than a reel.
Founded by London-based spirits writer Alex Mennie, Mennie Drinks is a slow publishing imprint that champions content you can spill something on, dog-ear, and lend to a friend who won’t give it back.
Launching the project, Mennie said:
“It comes from my firm – but possibly misguided – belief that one day people might want to read actual words, printed on actual paper, about real drinks consumed by real people again.”
Instead of vertical video, Mennie Drinks offers two verticals:
- Bar Tab – Short, literary vignettes set in real bars. Bar Tab isn’t a city guide. It doesn’t track trends, rank cocktails, or profile ‘startenders’. Instead, each piece blends atmosphere, character, and conversation into a lightly fictionalised snapshot of drinking culture. Because the real story is who you meet at the bar.
- Glenfiction – A fiction project that reimagines whisky tasting notes as short stories. No flavour wheels, no esoteric adjectives, just atmospheric narrative – best enjoyed with a dram in hand.
Alongside essays, fiction and subscriber-only downloads, Mennie Drinks will also explore storytelling through physical chapbooks, photographs shot on old film cameras, and an enduring commitment to not keeping up with the algorithm.
Mennie Drinks is now live on Instagram and Substack, with the first Bar Tab chapbook – in all its self-indulgent, inefficient glory – scheduled for release in late 2025.