About Us
Slake is an independent digital magazine exploring people, places and ideas through what we drink.
We believe a drink is rarely just a drink. From the wine poured at a neighbourhood restaurant to the history behind an everyday bottle, the rituals of the pub, or the drinking traditions that travel across borders, slake looks beyond what’s in the glass to ask why, where and how we drink.
Our stories move between wine, food, travel, history and culture. We publish deeply researched features alongside practical guides, recommendations, essays and columns – combining genuine drinks expertise with curiosity about the wider world.
That might mean exploring how orange juice became synonymous with breakfast, publishing a first-person perspective on palm wine, or travelling through a region to discover what makes it worth visiting beyond the vineyards.
What We Believe
Drinks are one of the ways we experience culture.
They mark celebrations and ordinary Tuesdays. They tell stories about agriculture, migration, trade, fashion, technology and place. They bring people around tables, across bars and into conversations.
At slake, we take those stories seriously without taking drinking too seriously.
We’re interested in how people actually drink: what they choose, where they go, what they eat alongside it, the places and people shaping their tastes, and why certain drinks become part of our lives while others disappear.
What We Do
The slake world spans:
- Culture & Features – original reporting, essays, interviews and deep dives into the history, people, trends and ideas shaping how we drink.
- Guides – approachable, expert-led resources designed to make wine and drinks easier to understand, from Grapes 101 and Wine 101 to food pairing and the questions you actually want answered.
- Picks – independently selected and tasted recommendations, including seasonal guides and the best examples of particular grapes and styles to buy.
- Travel – guides and stories that explore wine regions and drinking destinations through their restaurants, bars, hotels, landscapes, people and culture as well as what they produce.
- Columns – regular and guest perspectives on drinking culture, including the people and places defining how we drink right now.
- The Newsletter – a weekly note from slake, bringing together what we’ve been drinking, thinking about and reading.
- Events & IRL – bringing slake off the screen and around the table through tastings, conversations and gatherings.
We also work selectively with drinks, travel and lifestyle brands on partnerships that fit naturally within the world of slake, while maintaining a clear distinction between independent editorial and sponsored work. [Find out more – Advertise]
Our Mission
Our mission is to build a drinks magazine for the thirsty mind.
One that treats drinks not as an isolated subject, but as a way into bigger stories about culture, travel, food, history and everyday life.
We want to make expert drinks knowledge genuinely useful; introduce readers to bottles, grapes and places worth knowing; tell stories they wouldn’t necessarily expect to find in a drinks publication; and create a magazine people come back to because they enjoy reading it – not simply because they needed to know which wine goes with dinner.
Slake is independent and UK-based, with contributors bringing perspectives from across drinks, food, travel and culture.
We’re building a modern drinks magazine for people who are interested not only in what we drink, but in everything that happens around it.
Want to join us?
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