Discovering a show-stopping Spanish brandy at Alicante Duty Free

– Bob Dylan, A Simple Twist of Fate

One final breathtaking Alicante sunrise and it’s time to head to the rather cooler climes of Ystradgynlais, South Wales for some time with my daughter (and our Chief Operating Officer) Sinead and her family, as she continues her battle against NUT Carcinoma lung cancer.

My Los Arenales del Sol Interim Bureau has served me well. There are surely few better working environments than an apartment looking out over the Mediterranean, its rich blue waters sparkling in the November sun.

The window view from my low-cost Ryanair flight from Alicante–Elche Miguel Hernández Airport to Cardiff Airport offered a marvellous contrast of topography. A few seconds out of Alicante and a sprawling panoroma of desert landscape framed by the majestic Baetic System (Sistema Bético) mountain range sprawls as far as the eye can see.

Some two and a half hours later, and the sky, sea and land had taken on very different shades as we descended over the south coast of Wales and into the tail end of Storm Claudia that had buffeted much of the country earlier.

All grey out to sea and then a glorious carpet of green as we flew in over Bridgend and Ogmore-by-Sea on the Glamorgan Heritage Coast.

Alas, after landing at Cardiff Airport and having picked up our hire care in pitch dark and driving rain, its (paid for) Sat Nav failed to work (or, quite possibly, I failed to work it).

This, in turn, meant we saw rather more of Wales than we had planned on what should have been an 80-minute drive to Ystradgynlais. By the time we got there, I was practically speaking Welsh, or at least its expletives.

Earlier, I did my usual store tour at Alicante–Elche Miguel Hernández Airport, particularly the bright, inviting and exceptionally well-ranged Avolta-run Alicante Duty Free walk-through store.

You can see more of my photos in our popular Images of the Day column (sponsored by Duty Free Global) in coming days but I offer a few of the standouts below.

Taking as many photos as I do tends to attract the attention of store employees and/or managers. Alicante Duty Free was no exception and I was told pleasantly but firmly by two female staff that photos were not allowed.

I explained why I was taking them and to my great delight both nodded and one said, “Ah Moodie Davitt Report, ok.”

“Do you read The Moodie Davitt then – our website?”

“Si, always, very good,” she replied with a broad smile.

I explained how much pleasure such conversations bring me, justifying my decision all those years ago to keep our website free of padlocks, passwords and fees, knowing that anyone from the shop floor to the boardroom could access the ‘Fast. Factual. Free’ content.

“Thank you, muchas gracias,” I said bidding farewell. “This is a beautiful store.”

Which indeed it is. I went on my way, snapping more photos of the expansive walk-though store and also snapping up my fair share of duty-free goods, including some fine Spanish chocolate and a Torres 15 Reserva Privada Imperial Brandy.

Later that night, tired from a long day of travel, I picked up my Kindle to continue reading The Human Stain by the great American writer Philip Roth. A nightcap was called for, Torres 15 Reserva Privada Imperial Brandy to be precise.

But could I open the unusually shaped top? Answer, an emphatic no. It looked like a simple twist and turn exercise but the only thing that was simple was my bafflement. Pretty soon, the number of turns rivalled the total I had taken in my hire car earlier that day.

Then a brainwave (I know it was a brainwave as at my age they don’t come along so often). If I was having the problem, surely there were equally dim-witted people out there who had experienced a similar dilemma?

When in doubt, go to social media. And, believe it or not, all over YouTube, TikTok and Google, solutions to my problem abound. There is even a video tutorial titled ‘How  to open a bottle of brandy’, showing an image of a Torres 10 Year Old. Different age, same stopper in more senses than one.

The tutorial and (eventual) tasting came courtesy of ‘It’s Paul & Marcus’, a regular YouTube programme run by Paul and Marcus Man, a married couple who specialise in travel vlogs, cookery shows, hotel reviews and… Torres brandy bottle opening tips.

I nearly gave up after 23 seconds when Marcus asked his husband, “So what is brandy, Paul?” and one Man replied to the other Man, “Brandy is a liqueur.”

Er… no Paul, it certainly is not. Yes, one could call it a liquor but that sounds like a term from a prohibition era speakeasy. Spirit is the word, and brandy, at its best, is high in any spirit sector ranking, and not only when it carries the famous moniker of Cognac.

However, still struggling to open my bottle, I stayed with Paul and Marcus and their Man to Man talk for a few moments.

To my great satisfaction, I solved the problem quicker than they did, and enjoyed my first pour of a very fine 15 Year Old non-liqueur while they continued to struggle. Without giving the game away, the technique is what Bob Dylan might call A Simple Twist-off Feat.

I will let Paul and Marcus fully explain the trick that comes before the treat but think olive oil bottle and you will be on the way to a breakthrough, as it were. The wait is worth it, for as our genial YouTube hosts discovered, Torres 15 Reserva Privada Imperial is a showstopper of a brandy. ✈

{Perhaps Paul and Marcus should take a tip from Mirabeau en Provence Founder Stephen Cronk who, in just 50 seconds, explains how to open a bottle of wine without a corkscrew. The video has racked up 12 million views. Single shoe purchases are also understood to have soared.}