In her latter years,  my grandmother used to have a whiskey mac every evening before supper.  The way she mixed it, this was half a tumbler of whisky topped up with Stones Ginger wine, no ice.  Quite amazing that she managed to stagger to the table after downing that, but my mum said that it cheered her up, and that was always a good thing.  Plus she was not the kind of woman who liked to be told what to do, so if she wanted to end her day lightly sozzled, no-one was going to tell her she couldn’t.  The reason I mention this is because I have some new hessonite garnet in, and this stuff always makes me think of my gran’s whiskey macs; that deep, tawny reddish gold, with a slightly cloudy quality; the fine, swirling inclusions giving the stones a silken lustre, as if they are glowing from within.  And don’t tell me that I don’t give you odd and interesting stuff either, because I’ve got this in not just a standard cab, but a rose cut as well!