The number of rough sleepers has more than doubled to about 4,000 people in six years, the National Audit Office (NAO) said, as England grapples with a chronic housing shortage.

“Homelessness in all its forms has significantly increased,” NAO’s head, Amyas Morse, said in a statement.

“It is difficult to understand why the (government) persisted with its light touch approach in the face of such a visibly growing problem.”

The government said it was investing 550 million pounds ($729 million) by 2020 and implementing the “most ambitious legislative reform in decades” to address the issue.

England’s homeless include more than 120,000 children living in temporary accommodation, such as hostels or bed and breakfast hotels, NAO said.

Private sector rents in England have risen three times faster than wages since 2010, while a cap on housing allowances also likely contributed to making rents less affordable, it said.

The number of households recorded as homeless following the end of a shorthold tenancy overtook personal issues, such as a relationship breakdown, as the main cause of homelessness.

“It is a national scandal that more and more people are made homeless every year,” said opposition politician Meg Hillier, who chairs parliament’s Committee of Public Accounts.

“This reports illustrates the very real human cost of the government’s failure to ensure people have access to affordable housing.”

A government spokesman said ministers will set out further plans shortly, including delivering on a commitment to eliminate rough sleeping entirely.

Local councils spent more than 1 billion pounds a year on homelessness, mostly on providing temporary accommodation due to a reduction in social housing, the report said.

Some authorities, mostly in London, are housing families in cheaper properties outside their borough, it said.

The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents local authorities, said councils have to provide emergency housing for the equivalent of a secondary school’s worth of homeless children every month.

“The net cost to councils of doing this has tripled in the last three years, as they plug the gap between rising rents and frozen housing benefit,” said LGA spokesman Martin Tett.

Homelessness charity Shelter urged the government to increase housing benefit payments and commit to building decent, affordable homes.

By Umberto Bacchi / Reuters / Courtesy TSA

TOP IMAGE: Via Pixabay.com

The post “National scandal” as report shows soaring homelessness in England appeared first on Australian Times News.

UPDATE: South Korean official says North Korea’s nuclear detonation today was five times stronger than the bomb dropped on Nagasaki.

— The Spectator Index (@spectatorindex) September 3, 2017

The earthquake, which Japan said was a nuclear test, struck 75 km (45 miles) north northwest of Kimchaek, where previous tests have been conducted. Such a move would be a direct challenge to U.S. President Donald Trump, who hours earlier had talked by phone with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe about the “escalating” nuclear crisis in the region.

The 6.3 magnitude recorded by the U.S. Geological Survey would represent North Korea’s most powerful detonation yet, which one expert said could support its claims to have developed a hydrogen bomb.

“The power is 10 or 20 times or even more than previous ones,” Said Kune Y. Suh, a nuclear engineering professor at Seoul National University. “That scale is to the level where anyone can say a hydrogen bomb test.”

A U.S. official who studies North Korea’s military and politics said that seismic data on the tremors was being analysed, although the location suggested another nuclear test.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said it was too early to determine if a test, if there was one, supported the North’s claim that has succeeded in developing a thermonuclear weapon, “much less one that could be mounted on an ICBM and re-enter Earth’s atmosphere without burning up”.

The hydrogen bomb report by North Korea’s official KCNA news agency

This report comes amid heightened regional tension following Pyongyang’s two tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) in July that potentially could fly about 10,000 km (6,200 miles), putting many parts of the mainland United States within range.

Under third-generation leader Kim Jong Un, North Korea has been pursuing a nuclear device small and light enough to fit on a long-range ballistic missile, without affecting its range and making it capable of surviving re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere.

Witnesses in the Chinese city of Yanji, on the border with North Korea, said they felt a tremor that lasted roughly 10 seconds, followed by an aftershock. China said it had detected a second, 4.6 magnitude quake with near identical coordinates eight minutes later.

“I was eating brunch just over the border here in Yanji when we felt the whole building shake,” Michael Spavor, director of the Paektu Cultural Exchange, which promotes business and cultural ties with North Korea. “It lasted for about five seconds. The city air raid sirens started going off.”

South Korea’s military said the first earthquake “appeared to be manmade”. A meeting of Seoul’s National Security Council has been convened, national news agency Yonhap reported.

Japan said it had concluded there was a nuclear test

“North Korea’s mission is quite clear when it comes to this latest atomic test: to develop a nuclear arsenal that can strike all of Asia and the U.S. homeland,” Harry Kazianis, director of defence studies at the conservative Center for the National Interest in Washington, said.

“This test is just another step towards such a goal. None of us should be shocked by Pyongyang’s latest actions.”

Earthquakes triggered by North Korean nuclear tests have gradually increased in magnitude since Pyongyang’s first test in 2006, indicating the isolated country is steadily improving the destructive power of its nuclear technology.

After the fifth nuclear test in September, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) measured a magnitude of 5.3. while South Korean monitors said the blast caused a 5.0 magnitude earthquake.

North Korea, which carries out its nuclear and missile programmes in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions and sanctions, “recently succeeded” in making a more advanced hydrogen bomb that will be loaded on to an ICBM, KCNA said.

“The H-bomb, the explosive power of which is adjustable from tens kiloton to hundreds kiloton, is a multi-functional thermonuclear nuke with great destructive power,” KCNA said.

“All components of the H-bomb were homemade and all the processes … were put on the Juche basis, thus enabling the country to produce powerful nuclear weapons as many as it wants,” KCNA quoted Kim as saying.

Juche is North Korea’s homegrown ideology of self-reliance that is a mix of Marxism and extreme nationalism preached by state founder Kim Il Sung, the current leader’s grandfather. It says its weapons programmes are needed to counter U.S. aggression.

North Korea offered no evidence for its latest claim, and Kim Dong-yub, a military expert at Kyungnam University’s Institute of Far Eastern Studies in Seoul, was sceptical.

“Referring to tens to hundreds of kilotons, it doesn’t appear to be talking about a fully fledged H-bomb. It’s more likely a boosted nuclear device,” Kim said, referring to an atomic bomb which uses some hydrogen isotopes to boost explosive yield.

A hydrogen bomb can achieve thousands of kilotons of explosive yield – massively more powerful than some 10 to 15 kilotons that North Korea’s last nuclear test in September was estimated to have produced, similar to the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945.

Hour glass-shaped device

Kim Jong Un, who visited the country’s nuclear weapons institute, “watched an H-bomb to be loaded into new ICBM” and “set forth tasks to be fulfilled in the research into nukes,” KCNA said.

Pictures released by the agency showed Kim inspecting a silver-coloured, hourglass-shaped warhead in the visit accompanied by nuclear scientists.

The shape shows a marked difference from pictures of the ball-shaped device North Korea released in March last year, and appears to indicate the appearance of a two-stage thermonuclear weapon, or a hydrogen bomb, said Lee Choon-geun, senior research fellow at state-run Science and Technology Policy Institute.

“The pictures show a more complete form of a possible hydrogen bomb, with a primary fission bomb and a secondary fusion stage connected together in an hourglass shape,” Lee said.

Tensions on the Korean peninsula have been high since last month when North Korea threatened to launch missiles into the sea near the strategically located U.S. Pacific territory of Guam after Trump said Pyongyang would face “fire and fury” if it threatened the United States.

North Korea further raised regional tensions on Tuesday by launching an intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan, drawing international condemnation.

Trump and Abe spoke by phone and said that in face of an “escalating” situation with North Korea that close cooperation between their countries and with South Korea was needed, Abe told reporters.

The United States has repeatedly urged China, the North’s sole major ally, to do more to rein in its neighbour.

Impoverished North Korea and the rich, democratic South are technically still at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. The North regularly threatens to destroy the South and its main ally, the United States.

TOP IMAGE: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un apparently overseeing final preparations for the test of a thermonuclear device. The photo was released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on 3rd September and could not be independently verified.

Article courtesy TSA

The post North Korea earthquake points to most powerful nuclear test yet appeared first on Australian Times News.

Bunnings, part of Australia’s biggest retail group Wesfarmers Ltd, completed its purchase of the Homebase chain from Home Retail last year.

The firm is now planning to open 20 Bunnings stores in Britain by the end of the year, up from its previous expectation of 10 stores after the success of two pilot stores.

“Our decision to extend the pilot programme reflects the positive reaction we’ve seen from customers to the stores we’ve opened so far,” said PJ Davis, managing director at Bunnings in the UK and Ireland.

Bunnings halted the planned closure of several Homebase stores a year ago, and is investing 500 million pounds to convert the entire Homebase estate to the Bunnings name and format in three years.

The piloting of new stores comes at a time when British consumer confidence has plunged following the political crisis sparked by Prime Minister Theresa May’s election gamble that backfired.

Two major surveys this week showed confidence among British consumers and retailers had fallen back to levels last seen in the wake of the shock 2016 Brexit vote which thrust Britain’s $2.5 trillion economy onto an uncertain path.

(Reporting by Andrew MacAskill; Editing by Alistair Smout and Mark Potter)

TOP IMAGE: Courtesy Bunnings

The post Australia’s Bunnings to create 1,000 new jobs in Britain as it accelerates expansion appeared first on Australian Times News.

“I am looking forward finally to having my day in court. I repeat that I am innocent of these charges. They are false,” Pell, 76, told a hastily called news conference, hours after Australian police charged him with multiple historical sex crimes.

The Vatican spokesman, Greg Burke, said that, while the Holy See had respect for the Australian justice system, it noted that Pell had cooperated with investigations in the past.

Pell, the Vatican’s financial controller since 2014, is the highest-ranking Church official to be charged with sexual abuse.

Police in the Australian state of Victoria, where Pell was a country priest in the 1970s, said he faced “multiple charges in respect of historic sexual offences” from multiple complainants.

They did not detail the charges against Pell or specify the ages of the alleged victims or the period when the crimes were alleged to have occurred. He was ordered to appear before Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on July 18.

Pell told an Australian government inquiry into institutional child abuse last year that the Church had made “catastrophic” choices by refusing to believe abused children, shuffling abusive priests from parish to parish, and relying too heavily on the counsel of priests to solve the problem.

VICTIMS ANGERED

But he angered victims by saying he was too ill to fly home, testifying instead from Rome.

Last July, Victoria police confirmed that Pell himself was being investigated on suspicion of child sexual abuse.

Francis said at the time that Pell should not undergo trial by media, adding: “It’s in the hands of the justice system and one cannot judge before the justice system … After the justice system speaks, I will speak.”

But the latest development puts pressure on the pope to make good on promises finally to root out sexual abuse in the Church and act against those who cover it up.

Marie Collins, the top non-clerical member of a papal commission on abuse, resigned in frustration this year, citing “shameful” resistance to change within the Vatican.

Church sexual abuse broke into the open in 2002, when it was discovered that U.S. bishops in the Boston area had simply moved abusers to new posts instead of defrocking them.

Thousands of cases have come to light around the world as investigations have encouraged long-silent victims to go public, shattering the Church’s standing in places such as Ireland, and tens of millions of dollars have been paid in compensation.

“I would suspect (the charges against Pell) are going to be stunning to the Vatican and to the pope himself,” said Thomas P. Doyle, the U.S. priest whose report on sexual abuse in the Church led to the discovery of cover-up practices in Boston.

VATICAN REFUGE

Under previous popes, the Vatican, a sovereign state in the middle of Rome, sheltered officials wanted by other countries.

In the early 1980s, the Vatican refused an Italian request to hand over Archbishop Paul Marcinkus – an American who was then head of the Vatican bank and was wanted for questioning about the fraudulent bankruptcy of a private Italian bank.

Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston moved to Rome after a sexual abuse scandal erupted in his diocese, and has been living in the Italian capital for more than 15 years.

Victims groups were outraged when Law, now 85 and retired, was given a plum job as chief priest at a Rome basilica by the late Pope John Paul II.

However, Francis was tough in the case of Jozef Wesolowski, a former archbishop who was accused of paying for sex with minors while serving as papal ambassador in the Dominican Republic.

Wesolowski was recalled in 2013, defrocked and arrested in the Vatican in 2014, but died shortly before his trial was due to start in 2015.

Victims’ support groups say successive popes have failed to grasp the gravity of the situation, but welcome the judicial steps.

“It would be naive for us to assume that people will be only relieved,” said Neil Woodger, vice president of the In Good Faith Foundation, which says it represents 460 victims of Catholic Church abuse in Australia.

“They’re going to be experiencing a bit of distress as well,” he said. “It is a result that, I think, points to justice working and that justice is there for everybody.”

By Byron Kaye and Philip Pullella

(Additional reporting by Tom Westbrook in Sydney; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

TOP IMAGE: Cardinal George Pell at a news conference in Vatican City, 29 June 2017. (Reuters/Remo Casilli)

The post Pope’s advisor George Pell will return to Australia to fight sexual abuse charges appeared first on Australian Times News.

Russia said on Monday it would treat U.S.-led coalition aircraft flying west of the River Euphrates in Syria as potential targets and track them with missile systems and military aircraft, but stopped short of saying it would shoot them down.

“As a precautionary measure, Australian Defence Force (ADF) strike operations into Syria have temporarily ceased,” Australia’s Department of Defence said in a statement.

Russia made clear it was changing its military posture in response to the U.S. downing of a Syrian military jet on Sunday, something Damascus said was the first such incident since the start of the country’s conflict in 2011.

“ADF personnel are closely monitoring the air situation in Syria and a decision on the resumption of ADF air operations in Syria will be made in due course,” Australia’s Department of Defence said, adding its operations in Iraq would continue as part of the coalition.

“Australian Defence Force protection is regularly reviewed in response to a range of potential threats,” it said.

(Reporting by James Regan; Editing by Nick Macfie)

TOP IMAGE: File image of an FA/18 Hornet, the type of aircraft deployed by Australia in the skies over Syria and Iraq in the war against Islamic State. (Pixabay)

The post Australia suspends air strikes in Syria after Russia threat appeared first on Australian Times News.

LONDON (Reuters) – The death toll in a fire disaster that destroyed a 24-storey block of flats in London was expected to rise on Thursday, with many people still missing and firefighters facing hazardous conditions as they searched the charred carcass.

Smoke was still wafting out of the shell of the Grenfell Tower on Thursday morning and a Reuters witness saw a big piece of cladding falling from the building, 32 hours after fire engulfed the building in the early hours of Wednesday and turned it into a huge flaming torch in minutes.

Authorities have confirmed 12 deaths but have said that the figure would rise and that they did not expect to find any survivors. Firefighters rescued 65 people from the building.

London Fire Brigade chief Dany Cotton told ITV that her crews had reached the top floor of the building and conducted initial visual searches from doorways but had not done a comprehensive search because it was unsafe.

“We’ve got structural surveyors and my urban search and rescue team who are going to come down, make an assessment and find a way of making the building safe so that we can go through the whole building, fingertip search, painstakingly, looking to see what’s in there,” she said.

Prime Minister Theresa May was expected to visit the scene on Thursday, Sky News reported, citing unnamed sources. May’s Downing Street office had no immediate comment.

Survivors who have lost all their belongings in the blaze spent the night at emergency shelters, as charities and local support groups were flooded with donations of clothes and bedding from shocked Londoners.

The fire brigade said the inferno was unprecedented in its scale and speed.

“The scene that I was confronted with was an unparalleled scene to anything I had seen before. The building was ablaze. I have truly never seen that in a high-rise building,” Cotton told Sky News.

CAUSE UNKNOWN

The tower, a social housing block built in 1974 in North Kensington, an area of west London, contained 120 flats and was thought to have been home to about 600 people.

Harrowing accounts emerged of people trapped inside as the blaze destroyed everything around them, shouting for help and trying to escape through windows using makeshift ropes from bed sheets tied together.

By Thursday morning, there was no sign of life in or around the blackened hulk. Security cordons were in place around the base of the tower, where the ground was littered with charred debris.

Outside the cordons, impromptu tributes had appeared, with photos of missing people, messages of condolences, flowers and candles.

Emergency services said it was too early to say what had caused the disaster. Some residents said no alarm had sounded. Others said they had warned repeatedly about fire safety in the block.

The building had recently undergone an 8.7 million pound ($11.1 million) exterior refurbishment, which included new external cladding and windows.

Planning documents detailing the refurbishment did not refer to a type of fire barrier that building safety experts said should be used when high-rise blocks are being re-clad, according to Reuters research.

(Additional reporting by Gerhard Mey and Kate Holton; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

TOP IMAGE: The burned out Grenfell Tower in West London. (Reuters/Peter Nicholls)

The post Death toll of 12 expected to rise in London tower block fire appeared first on Australian Times News.

According to the survey 30 percent of companies expect freedom of movement will continue for citizens from the European Union and the European Economic Area (EU/EEA) so long as they have a job offer.

Another 17 percent thought there would be no change to the current rules.

The Resolution Foundation said these expectations were “totally unrealistic” given that Prime Minister Theresa May has pledged to cut immigration to the tens of thousands, regardless of businesses’ demand for foreign labour.

But May lost her parliamentary majority in an election held last week that she did not need to call, bringing political turmoil a week before Britain is due to start negotiating the terms of its exit from the EU in talks of unprecedented complexity that are supposed to wrap up by the end of March 2019, when Britain is due to leave.

That timeline now looks even more ambitious than before, not least because May’s electoral debacle has emboldened those within her own party who object to her “hard Brexit” approach of leaving the European single market to cut immigration.

Forty-six percent of companies employing EU/EEA nationals said they did not expect any decline in their numbers, even though official data has already shown a sharp fall in net migration.

“There’s a stark gap between what businesses want and expect from our post-Brexit immigration system and what the government has pledged to deliver,” said Stephen Clarke, policy analyst at the Resolution Foundation.

“Reconciling these differences, and giving businesses enough to plan for a new regime is absolutely vital.”

Clarke said this would be particularly important for sectors like agriculture, food manufacturing, hospitality and construction.

(Reporting by Andy Bruce; Editing by Greg Mahlich)

TOP IMAGE: The Brexit Puzzle. (By Daniel Diaz via Pixabay)

The post Half of UK employers unprepared for Brexit immigration changes appeared first on Australian Times News.

This tequila ritual is familiar to many college students, but if you haven’t sipped the agave-based spirit since you were younger, it’s time for a refresher course.

The liquor is experiencing a renaissance, and producers are crafting single-estate and vintage dated tequilas. These artisanal tequilas have little in common with the processed stuff that stung your throat back in the day.

By Mexican law, tequila, which is made by distilling the fermented juices of the blue agave plant, must be 51 percent agave. But that means the other 49 percent can be artificial ickiness. “Called mixto, the cheap stuff contains lots of added sugar and even caramel coloring, which mass producers use in an effort to reproduce the complex flavors in aged tequila,” says Ted Gibson, a bartender who heads up the new All Agave Project tequila tasting program at Rancho Valencia in California.

Not all tequila is alike

Any bottle worth drinking bears the label 100 percent agave. “Quality tequila is an unprocessed natural spirit with depth of flavor,” Gibson says. The best producers focus on terroir, just like with fine wines. A particular tequila’s flavor depends on the growing conditions, altitude and sunlight.

“Typically, an agave plant grown in the highlands (above 6,000 feet) is bigger and contains more stored sugar, and its tequila tends to have a floral essence,” Gibson says. “Tequila from plants grown in the lowlands are often more vegetal and spicy.”

Now, we could just take Gibson’s word for it that tequila is a versatile spirit that you should be mixing into more than margaritas. But where’s the fun in that? Find out for yourself with these 10 inventive recipes that he created.

It’s a lineup of cocktails that you can serve at a slew of occasions — the perfect sip for a barbecue, a bacon-garnished beverage for brunch, a twist on an Old Fashioned that’s just right for an after-dinner delicacy and more. Move over, margarita — the tequila game just got a whole lot more interesting. Get ready for 10 surprising new ways to enjoy this spirit. Salud!

Gallagher’s Smash

When we think of fruit and tequila, lemons and limes come to mind. But there are many other varieties that pair perfectly with the spirit. In Gibson’s Gallagher’s Smash, watermelon makes a sweet counterpart to blanco tequila.

Yield: one drink

Ingredients

• 2 ounces blanco tequila
• 1 ounce lime juice
• 1/2 ounce simple syrup
• 5 cubes watermelon
• 3 sage leaves

Directions

Combine ingredients in mixing glass; muddle. Add ice, then shake. Double strain over fresh ice and garnish with a watermelon cube and a sage leaf.

Raspberry Beret

Gibson’s Raspberry Beret is a cinch for a party. The recipe below serves one, but it’s easy to turn it into a big batch. Just make the raspberry-mint lemonade in advance (purée lemonade, raspberries and mint leaves, then strain), and add the booze once it’s party time.

Yield: 1 drink

Ingredients

• 2 ounces blanco tequila
• 3 ounces lemonade
• 4 raspberries
• 5 to 6 mint leaves

Directions

Combine ingredients in mixing glass; gently muddle. Add ice, then shake. Double strain over fresh ice. Garnish with a raspberry and a sprig of fresh mint.

Juan-y Appleseed

“Herbs go well with blanco tequila, due to the spirit’s vegetal and floral flavors,” Gibson says. This recipe calls for licorice-scented tarragon, but mint, thyme, sage and cilantro all complement tequila.

Yield: 1 drink

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 ounces blanco tequila
• 3/4 ounce St. Germain
• 1 ounce granny smith apple juice
• 3/4 ounce lemon juice
• 1/2 ounce agave syrup
• 1 sprig tarragon

Directions

Combine ingredients in mixing glass; gently muddle. Add ice, then shake. Double strain over fresh ice and garnish with an apple slice and a sprig of tarragon.

El Jardin

The Pimm’s Cup, a classic gin-based English cocktail, is Pimm’s No. 1, cucumber and lemonade, lemon-lime soda or ginger ale. Mix things up by swapping the gin for tequila for a clean, refreshing beverage.

Yield: 1 drink

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 ounces blanco tequila
• 3/4 ounce Pimm’s No. 1
• 2 ounces lemonade
• 3 dashes Bitter Truth Celery Bitters
• 3 slices cucumber
• 3 basil leaves

Directions

Combine ingredients in mixing glass; gently muddle. Add ice, then shake. Double strain over fresh ice and garnish with a cucumber ribbon and a basil leaf.

La Piñata

“It’s simple to make your own pepper-infused tequila,” says Gibson, who admits that La Piñata is his favorite of the tequila creations he makes, because the cilantro and the heat are a match made in mixology heaven. Just slice one serrano in half lengthwise and drop it into a bottle of tequila. Let it sit for 24 hours, then taste.

Yield: 1 drink

Ingredients

• 2 ounces serrano-infused blanco tequila
• 1 ounce fresh pineapple juice
• 3/4 ounce lime juice
• 1/2 ounce agave syrup
• 2 pineapple leaves
• 1 lime wheel
• 3 sprigs cilantro, leaves torn

Directions

Shake ingredients in mixing glass with ice. Double strain over fresh ice and garnish with pineapple leaves, a lime wheel and cilantro.

La Siesta

A Paloma is a beloved cocktail made with tequila and grapefruit juice. Give it a modern twist by charring the grapefruit before you juice it so it caramelizes slightly (simply halve the grapefruit and toss it onto a hot grill until you see grill marks). For a garnish, a charred grapefruit slice adds visual interest and even more smoky flavor.

Yield: 1 drink

Ingredients

• 2 ounces reposado tequila
• 2 ounces charred grapefruit juice
• 1/2 ounce lime juice
• 1/2 ounce cinnamon simple syrup
• 1 charred grapefruit segment
• 2 cinnamon sticks

Directions

Shake ingredients in mixing glass with ice. Double strain over fresh ice and garnish with charred grapefruit segment and cinnamon sticks.

The Palomino

Vanilla plays well with reposado tequila, bringing out its rich barrel-aged flavor.

For this recipe, it’s simple to make your own vanilla bean syrup. Simply combine 1 cup each of sugar and water in a small saucepan, along with a vanilla bean (slice it down the middle and scrape the black seeds into the liquid mixture, along with the pod). Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the sugar has dissolved. If you don’t feel like making your own syrup, substitute Licor 43, a Spanish liquor with hints of vanilla and citrus, for the syrup and lime juice called for in the recipe.

Yield: 1 drink

Ingredients

• 2 ounces reposado tequila
• 1 ounce lime juice
• 1/2 ounce vanilla bean syrup
• 1/2 ounce ginger juice
• 1 lime wheel
• 1 candied ginger

Directions

Shake ingredients in mixing glass with ice. Strain over fresh ice and garnish with a lime wheel and candied ginger.

Thyme Me

The Thyme Me is a fun alternative to a Bloody Mary, featuring classic breakfast flavors like maple syrup and bacon. Keep the garnish in place as you sip, so you get the aromatics from the bacon. Then, when you’ve finished your drink, it’s snack time.

Yield: 1 drink

Ingredients

• 2 ounces reposado tequila
• 1 ounce lemon juice
• 3/4 ounce maple syrup
• 1 bacon strip
• 3 sprigs thyme

Directions

Combine ingredients in mixing glass; gently muddle. Add ice, then shake. Double strain over fresh ice. Garnish with a strip of crispy bacon and a thyme sprig.

Loosen the Reins

This cocktail, deep and complex, is basically an Old Fashioned made with tequila instead of bourbon. It’s perfect for after dinner — like dessert in a glass, thanks to the addition of the chocolate bitters.

Yield: 1 drink

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 ounces añejo tequila
• 1/2 ounce agave syrup
• 3 to 4 dashes Fee Brothers Aztec chocolate bitters
• 1 orange peel

Directions

Combine ingredients in mixing glass. Add ice, then stir. Strain over fresh ice. Express orange peel over drink and around rim.

Tiny Bubbles

Who knew tequila and prosecco, champagne or cava would work so well together? Balanced, light and perfect for brunch, this cocktail shows that the spirit isn’t all muscle and fire.

Yield: 1 drink

Ingredients

• 1 ounce blanco tequila
• 1/2 ounce grapefruit-infused St. Germain
• 1/2 ounce lemon juice
• 1 lemon peel
• 4 to 5 seedless red grapes
• Sparkling wine

Directions

Combine ingredients (except for sparkling wine) in mixing glass; muddle. Add ice, then shake. Double strain over fresh ice, then top with sparkling wine. Garnish with a lemon peel and grapes.

By Bethany Gumper (Zester Daily) 

The post Beyond the margherita: 10 tequila cocktails to try these holidays appeared first on Australian Times News.