Drinks mag first paid-for foray for Edinburgh publisher

A QUARTERLY magazine about drink is being launched as the first newsstand publication in the portfolio of an Edinburgh-based design and publishing agency.

White Light Media ordinarily is a contract publisher – including for Edinburgh University – making Hot Rum Cow its first paid-for, newsstand title, retailing at £4.99 and going on sale mainly in London, with a few outlets in both Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Says managing director, Fraser Allen: “There are lots of magazines about food, and some of them are very good. There are fewer magazines about drinks, and none of them are like Hot Rum Cow. We believe this is a niche that is crying out for a cleverly-written, beautifully-designed magazine – and we’re having a great time bringing it to life. The history of drink is intoxicating. It’s a tale of people, art and amazing ideas; it’s intriguing, amusing and often surprising. It’s the story of our world, through a glass darkly.”

White Light celebrates its tenth birthday next month.

Adds Allen: “We have the skills, the experience and the enthusiasm to create an outstanding consumer magazine and we are quietly confident that this will prove a great success. The new venture will not have any impact on our client work – that always comes first – but a fresh challenge is always good to keep the creative fires burning. Our studio is based in an old converted whisky bond, so it was bound to get to us eventually.”

For a preview of Hot Rum Cow, click here.