August 1, 2024 -- Champagne is in the news with falling sales, a ship wreck discovery, and a new bottle that reduces carbon footprint coming on the market soon: Falling Sales According to the business networks, Champagne sales are down 15.2% over this time last year and the slump is...
July 15, 2024 – The Mediterranean Diet has been popular for several decades but the good news is that moderate wine consumption as a part of the diet, is critical to benefiting fully from its healthy effects. The diet is based on the foods consumed by the inhabitants of Southern...
April 17, 2024 -- You’d think Prohibitionists might have learned their lesson with the “Noble Experiment” of the 18th Amendment also known as the Volstead Act in 1919, but no, they haven’t and they are now harnessing the World Health Organization (WHO) to restrict production and consumption of alcohol globally....
November 15, 2023 – Here’s a good guessing game next time you’re downing a few: Which country can boast being the biggest guzzlers of alcoholic drinks? Apparently those fun fellows at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) thought so too. They conducted a study of binging habits in...
August 28, 2023 – Bob Dylan’s classic protest song, “The Times They Are a-Changin” seems as apt today as it did in 1964, but one thing that has stayed constant is the percentage of people in this country who drink alcohol and the number who don’t. It’s been pretty much...
July 28, 2023 – There seem to be a lot of articles lately warning that any kind of alcohol is bad, causing quite a list of unpleasant health issues like cancer. So it was a relief to read that researchers, from Harvard Medical School no less, have found that a...
May 22, 2023 -- May is Military Appreciation Month, and to continue the month-long observance, Crown Royal Whisky, country music star Mitchell Tenpenny and charity partner CreatiVets teamed up to make May the most generous month yet. While filming for a Chefs & Vets segment, linked HERE, Mitchell presented a...
November 18, 2022 -- A popular topic of discussion these days is about reducing our impact on the environment in every conceivable area, including the wine industry. Does it start in the vineyard? Happily, in most wine-growing regions of the world, wine growers big and small, are very conscious of...
August 3, 2022 – First the bad news. A headline in the New York Post on July 26 read “Just five alcoholic drinks a week will age you – and mess up your DNA”. Great. Yet there are a whole lot of studies showing that people who drink moderately live...
May 20, 2022 -- Italians know how to relax as the sun goes down and we get ready for dinner with friends or family. They sip an aperitivo which comes from the Latin word aperire “to open” meaning, in this case, to open the appetite for the meal to come. ...
May 04, 2022 --- As we watch the systematic destruction of Ukraine by the Russian dictator, it is hard to imagine businesses reopening but this is what is happening in parts of Ukraine where the Russian army is still at bay, and President Zelenskyy is encouraging reopening where safe. One...
January 9, 2022 -- Let’s face it, it’s cold, gray and gloomy but rum producers know how to get us cheered and warmed up deliciously. January is the month for hot rum with Hot Toddy Day on January 11th and Hot Buttered Rum Day on January 17. But you don’t...
December 29, 2021 – Kahlúa, the famous coffee liqueur, wants to get couples to switch off their devices and put some fun and playfulness back in their lives. All they have to do is go 30-nights without the internet. Easy, huh? But for the effort, they’ll get $25,000. Hey, I’ll...
December 8, 2021 – Bulleit Frontier Whiskey has completed Year One of its Five Year Plan to plant one million trees over five years in partnership with American Forests, the oldest national nonprofit conservation organization in the United States. Since the partnership's inception in 2020, 427,825 seedlings have been planted,...
November 22, 2021 – It’s time to make the gift list again so here are a few ideas to help in the process. The world of wine and spirits is a great place to shop as there are options at all price points and a huge variety of choices. There...
November 12, 2021 --- Starward Australian Whisky is now the Official Whisky Partner of the globally renowned Michelin Guide. Starward will work with the leading authority in the culinary arts to roll out a 12-month U.S. partnership that complements Starward’s simple brand ethos of being a delicious and versatile whisky,...
October 27, 2021 – What happens when the Jacques Pépin Foundation, Jacques Torres Chocolate and Woodford Reserve come together? You get a box of a dozen yummy chocolates just in time for the Holiday Season. Chef Jacques Torres created a deliciously smooth and silky ganache using the flavorful pairing of...
October 20, 2021 -- National First Responders Day is October 28. To celebrate our first responders, Proper No. Twelve Irish Whiskey has released two limited-run, whiskey-infused doughnuts in collaboration with Dough Doughnuts - The Proper Irish Coffee Cream-Filled and The Proper Irish Coffee Glazed. A portion of the proceeds of...
September 17, 2021 -- Two American companies loved and respected for quality and innovation – Woodford Reserve and Williams Sonoma --have partnered to bring unique cocktail experiences to homes across America. The partnership kicks off with a line of co-branded cocktail mixers, which are now available for the Fall entertaining...
May 27, 2021 – The Memorial Day weekend kicks off the start of the summer season so a new cocktail recipe is a good way to celebrate. We’ve selected four that are “doable” – they taste good, look good, but are not too complicated. You almost certainly have one or...
May 3, 2021 – Still pondering what to give Mom next Sunday? Need a hostess gift in a hurry for that fabulous weekend at the cottage on the shore? Forgot a bestie’s birthday? No worries. Nickel Dime Cocktail Syrups of Oakland, California has just launched a line of cocktail syrups...
April 30, 2021 --- What could be a more amazing and memorable gift than a scenic tour of the Napa Valley in a vintage aircraft followed by a relaxing private wine tasting featuring Aileron Estates Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon. Aileron Estates is a new luxury Napa winery headed by...
April 19, 2021 --- Canned cocktails are the hottest item in the adult beverage business. They have exploded in popularity. Referred to in the trade as ready-to-drink or RTD, the pre-mixed canned or bottled single serve category increased 90% year-over-year in 2020. There are predictions it will reach $1.63 billion...
March 11, 2021 -- Observing traditions keeps us grounded and St. Patrick’s Day is steeped in traditions we love such as wearing green, parades, corned beef and cabbage, green beer (or not) and Irish coffee. And you don’t have to be Irish to enjoy it all. Parades are on the...
February 27, 2021 – Thieves cleaned out the entire inventory of a Manhattan wine and spirits store and it seems nobody knows exactly when. The store has been closed for several months, according to the owner, but when he was last there on January 8, so was the inventory. According...
January 29, 2021 – Getting away from it all has a new urgency after months of lockdowns and isolation. A ski trip to Park City Utah sounds enticing especially with the added bonus of après skiing at High West Distillery’s charming Nelson Cottage. Here guests can enjoy the unique experience...
December 20, 2020 – Imagine being one of just five lucky people to own a Kona Beer hot tub. This exclusive creation brings gorgeous Hawaii to your patio, yard or even the man cave in the garage, and is a must-have for the ultimate staycation. Check it out here and...
October 21, 2020 – Bulleit Frontier Whiskey is teaming up with American Forests, the oldest national nonprofit conservation organization, founded in 1875, to plant one million trees over the next five years. The partnership will reforest eastern landscapes dominated by white oaks, a key species for wildlife, water conservation and...
October 6, 2020 -- It’s like a little United Nations. Australian wine company, Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) owns the historic and highly respected Beaulieu Vineyard (BV) in California’s Napa Valley. The BV label will soon appear on a wine made in Bordeaux, France for the Chinese market. OK, we’re clear...
September 23, 2020 – Sourced Craft Cocktails Is not only a service whose time has come but it is also helping unemployed bartenders and we applaud them for it. Partnering with Balcones Distilling of Waco, TX, Sourced Craft Cocktails has created a special kit in honor of National Bourbon Heritage...
September 18, 2020 – Five straight bourbons, spaghetti westerns and silk pajamas. Yup, sounds kind of crazy but that’s the story of Fistful of Bourbon, a brand new all-American whiskey launched this month by the Scottish family William Grant & Sons. A blend of five straight bourbons – literally a...
July 17, 2020 -- Wine has graced glass bottles, plastic bottles, boxes, cans, and Tetra Pak but a significant advancement is on the horizon with the introduction of the Flat Wine Bottle brought to you by Garçon Wines of the U.K. The saying that “necessity is the mother of invention”...
June 26, 2020 – Those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer are here and so are Bacardi’s ready-to-drink rum cocktails in tall, slim cans. No mixing needed. Just crack the can and enjoy. Made with Bacardi Superior Rum, cane sugar and natural flavors, Bacardi delivers a low alcohol (5.9% ABV)...
June 18, 2020 -- Summer 2020 officially starts on Saturday, June 20 which is the longest day of the year, officially known as the summer solstice. Let summer celebrations begin! Our official solstice celebrants are Hendrick’s Gin where Master Distiller Lesley Gracie takes the start of the summer season so...
May 8, 2020 – Remember that blast you had on St. Patrick’s Day on March 17? Not in 2020. The day before, state Governors started locking down their states closing bars and restaurants, sports events, concerts and travel, all places and events where people congregate and drink. I remember thinking...
February 12, 2020 – So your dream is to start your own craft brewery. Can’t be that hard. There are thousands of them now – over 7,000 in 2019 – and they’re all making money and having fun. Or so it seems and besides, everyone loves your homebrewed beer and...
April 27, 2020 – Have you noticed more hirsute males in the last month or so? Undoubtedly the lockdown is to blame. That’s a lame excuse but we have a really great one for you from Reyka Vodka. The Icelandic vodka maker has just launched a campaign that’s good fun...
April 22, 2020 – As social distancing continues, we were delighted to come across the favorite martini recipe of the lifestyle maven herself, the Martha Martini. If we’re forced to drink alone, then it may as well be special. Martha’s recipe uses Belvedere Vodka, no doubt in a nod to...
April 11, 2020 --- Toilet paper isn’t the only thing being hoarded. People are stocking up on adult beverages too. When the farsighted folks who run the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board announced on March 16 that the state-run stores would be closed effective March 17, they thought it would keep...
April 5, 2020 – A couple of nights ago, a TV commentator scolded the liquor industry for not stepping up to help ameliorate the hand sanitizer shortage. Truth is, spirits, beer and wine companies are rushing to retool their plants to produce required 60 to 80 percent alcohol, and working...
March 8, 2020 – We’re always thrilled to hear about the latest winners of the Annual Tales of the Cocktail Foundation LEGACY Cocktail Competition that Bacardi has been sponsoring for 10 years. Having watched competitors create and present amazing cocktails under really stressful conditions, we’re huge fans of all who...
January 30, 2020 - A study recently released by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health outlines five healthy habits that at middle age may increase years lived free of chronic diseases. Interestingly, one of the habits is to maintain moderate consumption of alcohol, as opposed to no alcohol. Four...
August 22, 2019 -- Drinking pink comes to summer reading with the publication of Hip, Hip Rosé, a delightfully illustrated parody of a well-known children's story portraying Alice, passionate patron of the pink drink who, after a particularly happy, happy hour, finds herself in for a rouge awakening: The next...
August 12, 2019 – Good news on two fronts: Crown Royal Peach Flavored Whisky Crown Royal Peach Flavored Whisky is back by popular demand at least for the month of August which, it turns out, is National Peach Month. This super delicious offering from Crown Royal was a limited release...
July 31, 2019 – Guinness, the storied Irish brewer is marking the first anniversary of the opening of its Open Gate Brewery in Baltimore this weekend and a super celebration is planned. Among the celebratory activities is daily live music at the brewery all week leading up to the anniversary,...
July 25. 2019 --- Well, Comic-Con is over and apparently so is The Walking Dead. But fans can drown their sorrows in The Walking Dead Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey coming soon. The announcement was made at a sneak preview event at Comic-Con in San Diego last weekend. For those...
July 17, 2019 -- The limited edition fourth iteration of Crown Royal’s Noble Collection is now available nationwide. Crown Royal Noble Collection French Oak Cask Finished used new oak casks sourced from the Voges region in France. The tight grain of this oak helps to impart subtle flavors and...
Note: Last Friday was National Diquiri day and we apologize we missed the post date due to a minor technical issue. July 19, 2019 – It’s hot, you’re tired, but TGI Friday. Not only that, it’s National Daiquiri Day. Here’s a recipe (below) from Bacardi that’s so simple you don’t...
July 15, 2019 --- An unparalleled collection of wines and spirits that date as far back as 1796 are now on permanent display at The Liberty Hall Museum at Kean University in Union, N.J. Livingston and Kean Families The wines and spirits in this exhibition were collected by the Livingston...
June 27, 2019 – The past week has been a very interesting and lively one for changes to long-standing laws concerning the sale and distribution of alcohol both in the U.S.A. and Canada. Wisconsin June 26, 2019 -- Did you know that in Wisconsin certain retailers were not...
May 23, 2019 – Things that happen It was a jolly good wine, old chap Hawksmoor, a steakhouse in Manchester, England is in the news for a very costly mistake. Seems a diner ordered a bottle of 2001 Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, which the wine menu lists at ...
April 26, 2019 – For luxury brands, placement in a James Bond movie is worth buckets of money – Champagne buckets when the brand is Bollinger. The UK Daily Mail reports that Bollinger Champagne is thought to have paid £10 million to be in the 25th Bond movie. That’s $13,548,000...
March 22, 2019 –The hazy, lazy days of summer will happen, we promise, so be ready for some sweet sipping with Crown Royal Peach limited edition offering that’s in stores now. The addition of sweet, juicy Georgia peaches to Crown Royal’s signature smoothness and the result is delightful enjoyed on...
March 20, 2019 – Soon making a Margarita will be as easy as dropping a Keurig pod in a machine and pressing a button. The two companies in the joint venture, Keurig Dr. Pepper and Anheuser-Busch InBev, tested the Drinkworks machine in the St. Louis market for four months and...
March 11, 2019 -- If beer is your go to beverage for celebrating, then make it a Guinness on March 17. Black, creamy Guinness has been helping the Irish toast their patron saint since 1759 when Arthur Guinness founded the brewery. According to the London Telegraph, as many as 13...
March 3, 2019 --- It doesn’t matter who you are or where you’re from, on March 17 everyone is Irish. And to help you celebrate in style, Tullamore D.E.W. Irish Whiskey has teamed up with IrishCentral to give you the name change you need to qualify as truly Irish for...
February 22, 2019 -- Imagine owning an entire AVA (American Viticultural Area) in one of the most scenic parts of California. For $3.3 million, it can happen. Viticultural Area Located in Mendocino County, the 150-acre Cole Ranch has just come on the market. It isn’t just a vineyard. It has...
February 1, 2019 -- To celebrate Chinese New Year, The Macallan has unveiled the Lunar New Year Limited Edition Gift Box. The box includes two bottles of The Macallan Double Cask 12 Years Old in beautiful packaging featuring a specially designed label for the Year of the Pig. Somewhere in...
January 17, 2019 – The small country of Georgia, bounded on the north by Russia, on the south by Turkey and on the west by the Black Sea, is the cradle of wine. Justifiably proud of their 8,000-year wine history, the country is now embarking on research to find a...
January 10 – Heineken’s new alcohol-free beer is shipping to stores across the country this week just as Dry January is getting a bit tedious. With Heineken 0-0 you can satisfy that craving for a nice cold one and at the same time, keep your resolution. Fantastic! And if you...
January 7, 2019 --- A Danish man was trying to open a bottle of Champagne on New Year’s Eve by holding the bottle between his legs when it exploded. A shard of glass cut an artery causing serious blood loss. He was rushed to a hospital in Copenhagen where doctors...
January 4, 2019 --- The annual Zinfandel celebration is scheduled January 17 through 19 in San Francisco. If you are a Zinophile then join a couple of thousand like-minded tasters and indulge your passion at ZinEX in the beautiful setting of San Francisco Bay where the temperature is probably warmer...
December 20, 2018 – We want to wish all our readers a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. We hope you’ll watch this touching video “My Christmas Eve” and please share it with family and friends. Have the tissues nearby! Have a wonderful holiday season and please don’t drive...
December 6, 2018 – We’ve rounded up ideas from stocking stuffers to the expensively elegant and plenty in between. These gift suggestions cover the gamut of relatives, friends, co-workers and the client you really need to thank for making another year a big success. Let’s start with the Stocking Stuffers...
November 20, 2018 – Delicato Family Vineyards is a California Winery that was named the USA Wine Producer of the Year at the 2018 International Wine & Spirit Competition Awards Banquet in London on November 14. Now in its 49th year, the prestigious International Wine & Spirit Competition remains more...
September 20, 2018 – If you want to stay somewhere really cool in wine country, get ready for a different experience next summer at the Cass Winery in Paso Robles. The new guest quarters will be made of shipping containers so it will be the sleek, “un-quaint” bed and breakfast...
August 21, 2018 – About 18 months ago a breathless media opined that blue wine was the next big thing for summer 2018. It didn’t happen, at least, not in this country, but blue wine is back causing a stir in France. Last Year Last year Gik from Spain and...
July 30, 2018 – Guinness, the iconic Irish brewer, will open a new brewery in Relay, Maryland this Friday, August 3. It’s 64 years ago that Guinness closed its brewery in New York. The new facility known as the Guinness Open Gate Brewery and Barrel House is located in a...
July 27, 2018 – A member of the family that owns the famous Australian wine brand, Yellow Tail, will be spending a couple of years in the Big House, according to the Brisbane Times. Marcello Casella, described as a winemaker and businessman, changed his not guilty plea to guilty...
July 19, 2018 -- Bulleit Bourbon is teaming up with four trailblazing artists and shaking up tattoo culture with the announcement of Bulleit™ Bourbon Tattoo Edition. The collaboration marks the first time the frontier-inspired Bulleit bottle will be altered and each design is guaranteed to become highly collectible and a...
July 18, 2018 – A new rose pink gin has just been released nationally. After much success in France and Spain, Bosford Rose Premium Gin & Strawberry Liqueur is set to capture the market’s desire for all things rosé. Strawberry and raspberry flavors are blended with the original Bosford London...
July 12, 2018 – New Wine Glass Design You Need to Know About - 1 Wine Glass Wine drinkers who fuss about the shape of the glass are not being pretentious. They know that the shape of the glass affects the taste of the wine. This is something you can...
July 10, 2018 – Jägermeister has just released Mini Meisters nationwide. The 20 ml minis chill quickly and are perfect single shot serves that can be taken anywhere. The 10-pack fits in the fridge and the serving size works well for cocktails or alongside a beer. Jägermeister Price: Jägermeister Mini...
July 6, 2018 - U.K. Running out of Beer There’s a heatwave, it’s the World Cup soccer quarter finals starting today, and the U.K. is running out of beer. It’s unthinkable but true. The reason sounds even more preposterous: There’s a shortage of carbon dioxide, you know the stuff that...
June 24, 2018 -- Smirnoff Ice Launches Contest to Win Five-Day July 4 Weekend Has it dawned on you yet that the Fourth of July falls on Wednesday this year? That means back to work on Thursday and Friday. That’s a bummer, no two ways about it. But Smirnoff Ice...
June 12, 2018 – Reyka Vodka Wants U.S. World Cup Fans to Root for Iceland Since Team USA’s face plant in the World Cup playoffs, who are we going to root for? Reyka Vodka suggests Iceland. Let’s overlook the embarrassing fact that a tiny nation of 335,000 made the cut...
June 6, 2018 – Augmented Reality Sells Wine Are you one of the 1.3 million wine lovers who have downloaded the Living Wine Labels app from Treasury Wine Estates on your smartphone? If so, we can guess that you enjoy a glass of 19 Crimes Australian wine from time to...
May 29, 2018 – Campari Italy’s famous red aperitivo, joins forces once again with Imbibe Magazine for the sixth annual Negroni Week June 4 – 10, 2018. Bars, restaurants and retailers around the world will come together over the classic Negroni – an iconic mix of equal parts Campari, gin...
May 16, 2018 – Royal Wedding Cocktails Fit for a Marriage. The marriage of Meghan Markle to Prince Harry is a real life fairytale come true and Americans are justifiably very excited to watch one of their own marry her Prince Charming at Windsor Castle on Saturday. Wall to wall...
May 11, 2018 – Enjoy smooth-as-hell spiced rum cocktails and top tier musical talent at military bases across the country this summer when Sailor Jerry partners with BaseFEST and USAA to raise money to support on-base family programs. The first concert starring Dustin Lynch will be at Fort Bliss (Army),...
May 6, 2018 – Cocktails for Mom! Let’s wow Mom on her special day with a pretty pink cocktail, or one that is creamy white and delicious, or one that involves coffee in a fashionable espresso shade. We’ve got choices. The Strawberry Mamie Taylor has a wonderful history. It dates...
May 2, 2018 – Two bottles of The Macallan 1926 recently sold for $600,000 each which makes Patrón en Lalique: Serie 2 and Old Rip Van Winkle 25 Year Old look like absolute bargains. Peter Blake and Valerio Adami (PRNewsfoto/Le Clos) The Macallan 1926 The two bottles are extremely rare....
April 30, 2018 – Next Saturday May 5 two of the biggest celebrations of the spring will happen on the same day: Cinco de Mayo and the Kentucky Derby - The stars will not align like this again until 2029. Of course we went in search of a cocktail that...
April 26, 2018 – Spiked flavored water is a great alternative for summer refreshers. Truly Spiked & Sparkling has just released Wild Berry, a delicious new addition to their line up. Wild Berry’s hint of clean, crisp flavor comes from everybody’s favorite summer fruit -- California strawberries, raspberries and Marion...
April 18, 2018 – Matthew McConaughey and Wild Turkey are adding a little Texas to a Kentucky icon with the introduction of “Longbranch Bourbon”. A rare small-batch Kentucky bourbon, inspired by McConaughey’s Texas and Kentucky roots, it is refined with Texas mesquite and oak charcoals – a unique method that deepens the...
April 1, 2018 – Montelobos Mezcal Cocktail celebrates the Mexican gray wolf. The Mexican gray wolf needs friends as there aren’t many of them roaming around the Southwest of the U.S. and Mexico these days. So it is appropriate that Montelobos Mezcal has partnered with the @WolfConservationCenter to bring awareness...
March 21, 2018 – Kona Brewing fans, and there are plenty of you, will be delighted to hear that Kanaha Blonde Ale is being distributed nationally. Previously, if you didn’t live or travel in California and Hawaii, you were out of luck and that’s a real shame as it is...
March 12, 2018 – The collaboration between the famous Camus Cognac family and the 7th Baron of Revelstoke has resulted in a new Irish whiskey. It’s a story filled with history, fascinating anecdotes and decades of expertise as these families come together. Lambay Irish Whiskey debuts in the U.S. market...
Captain Morgan Recipes March 9, 2018 -- The creative crew at Captain Morgan has come up with another doozy of a bottle and flavor to join the Canon Blast released in 2015, the Pumpkin Jack O’Lantern in the Fall of 2016 and last summer’s LocoNut coconut flavored spiced rum in...
March 6, 2018 – Twisted Tea, the top selling hard iced tea in the U.S., has added Blackberry and Huckleberry to its delicious line-up of flavored teas. We’ve sampled both and while we liked the Huckleberry a lot, it was edged out by Blackberry, but just by a tea leaf....
February 28, 2018 – Glitz and glamour reign supreme at the Academy Awards and so should your Oscar party. From the spicy “Ancho in the Limelight” to the simple but sophisticated “Black Tie Martini”, cocktails have a way of adding a red carpet touch to any celebration. Remember, great cocktails...
February 21, 2018 – There’s quite a brawl going on between two western Canadian provinces involving wine. Down in New Zealand, consumers are up in arms over Australian Sauvignon Blanc. Wine and Oil Don’t Mix The province of Alberta has banned the sale of wine from British Columbia. The ban...
February 16, 2018 – Sounds like a contradiction but it all starts this weekend in Arizona. The Blended Scotch Whisky with the amusing name of Monkey Shoulder and its cement-truck-sized cocktail shaker will cruise into Phoenix for Arizona’s Cocktail Week on February 18. The Monkey Mixer is a 2,400-gallon mobile...
February 14, 2018 – National Margarita Day is February 22, which falls on a Thursday this year. Bummer! Having to get up Friday morning puts a damper on things but you can still relax with a delicious, organic, hassle-free Margarita at home in a matter of minutes. The secret is...
February 15, 2018 – In an effort to staunch the defection of young drinkers from beer to wine and spirits, Miller-Coors is introducing Two Hats, a light fruity beer costing just $5 for a six-pack. The launch flavors are lime and pineapple with an ABV of 4.2 percent. Beer has...
February 9, 2018 – Rock star Jon Bon Jovi wants to be a part of your summer sipping. His new rosé from France will be rolling out across the country this month. Called “Diving Into Hampton Water”, a mouthful of a name, the label features a woman in a gold...
February 1, 2018 – Super Bowl 2018 is nearly here and you’re probably planning your run to the box store or supermarket to load up on all the traditional edibles so treasured by game watchers. But if you’re still wondering about libations, we have some great suggestions below including a...
January 30, 2018 – Whether your team wins or loses, you can still feel good at the end of the game by serving a punch from Trail’s End Straight Bourbon Whiskey because you will be helping the reforestation program of the nearly 48,000 acres that were destroyed in Oregon’s Eagle...
January 26, 2018 – Budweiser has suffered a lot of indignities in the last few years. First it was cannibalized by its offspring Bud Light, which took the top spot as America’s favorite beer. In 2011, it lost its second place status to Coors Light. The latest put down comes...
January 19, 2018 – Drinks International, an influential British publication, surveys the best bars in the world every year to find out who is drinking what. Some trends are surprising. The Number One spirit favored by patrons of these elite establishments is Gin. While the Gin is definitely growing in...
January 18, 2018 – Call it Hog Heaven. Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum and Harley-Davidson are teaming up again, this time with a first-of-its-kind design competition open to the public. Dubbed the “My Works Speaks for Itself” contest, details on how to enter can be found at www.SailorJerry.com/MyWorkSpeaksForItself. The model selected...
January 14, 2018 – Paying homage to Chinese New Year which starts February 16, The Macallan is issuing a limited edition gift box featuring the Year of the Dog. The handsome box contains two bottles of The Macallan Double Cask 12 Years Old Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky. For collectors,...
January 8, 2018 – Joining the Fortune 500 companies that have announced $1,000 bonuses, Jordan Winery in Sonoma County is sharing the bounty of the new tax cut bill with its 85 eligible employees. And its owner, John Jordan is challenging fellow business owners to do the same. Bravo! Created...
January 5, 2018 – It’s always a celebratory moment when we hear a Champagne cork pop but exactly why it happens is probably something most of us have not spent a lot of time thinking about. Leave it to physicist Helen Czerski, a specialist in the physics of bubbles, to...
December 22, 2017 – When that ball drops at midnight you and your guests will want something special to raise a toast to 2018. But before that happens, there’s still Christmas to celebrate, followed by days filled with holiday spirit as we wrap up the final week of the year. ...
December 18, 2017 – We can’t guarantee it, but this just might be the way to save on calories! Skip the pies and indulge yourself with a delicious cocktail. The following recipes are easy to make and any one of them will be a perfect alternative to offer guests at...
December 18, 2017 – Gift Alert! Wine Squirrel, the wine preserver that really works is now available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XB9YVFL Check out our review http://www.wineandspirits.com/2017/11/23/wine-squirrel-perfect-wine-preserver-perfect-gift/...
December 13, 2017 – Calling Zinfandel lovers across America! Once again, January is Zinfandel celebration time in San Francisco. Imagine finding tickets to this extravaganza under the tree! Anything is possible so start planning. January 18-20, 2018 are the dates to circle on the calendar. Zinfandel is very familiar now,...
December 8, 2017 – Flavored vodkas often sound like we’re crashing a kid’s birthday party. We’re grown ups, right, and bubblegum and lollypop flavors just don’t fit the image of an urban sophisticate. Well, we’d like to think we’re sophisticated. But there is a vodka that anyone with taste buds...
December 5, 2017 – The guy with a man cave has plenty of socks and he doesn’t want a tie. What he does want is Sailor Jerry’s Spiced Rum with two collectible oil can mugs featuring Sailor Jerry’s pin up girl. The gift pack, which is a reasonable $14.99 MSRP,...
December 3, 2017 -- Peppermint flavored candy canes are an indispensable Smirnoff Peppermint Twist Fact Sheet part of Holiday Season trimmings and our friends at Smirnoff Vodka have done a wonderful job wrapping their Peppermint Twist – peppermint flavored vodka – in scratch and sniff candy cane stripes. It looks like fun...
November 28, 2017 – In the summer of 1905, Jean Lanfray, a farm worker in the French-speaking Swiss canton of Vaud, started the day with “copious amounts of wine and brandy”. Later he had more wine and brandy for lunch rounding off with a couple of crème de menthes and...
November 24, 2017 – At last we’ve found the solution to saving leftover wine perfectly. Over the years we’ve tried various gizmos, some that sort of worked, others that didn’t. Then we saw Wine Squirrel on Kickstarter and chipped in a few bucks because it sounded really interesting and made...
November 20, 2017 – America’s craft brewers just never take a break, or so it seems with their seasonal releases that keep on coming. The winter months get their own special brews and below is a list of recent releases. Stone Brewing of Escondido, CA: is...
November 17, 2017 – Thoroughly modern man has something in common with Neolithic man who lived in the Near East around 6,000 B.C. Pottery shards found in Georgia bear the residue of Eurasian grapes, the grapes that we use today to make our favorite wines. Known as vitis vinifera, there...
November 14, 2017 – Hosting Thanksgiving is an enormous amount of effort and it seems to create more stress around what liquid to serve than any other holiday. So why not embrace the challenge by serving drinks that offer a new twist on popular brands such as Smirnoff and Cinzano...
November 9, 2017 – In a clever, sassy move the Brewers Association, a trade group for small and independent brewers, has set a goal to raise $213 billion, repeat Billion with a B, to buy AB-InBev, the Belgian parent of Anheuser-Busch and the biggest beer company in the world. You...
November 2, 2017 – The Macallan has just released a unique single malt called Classic Cut. Limited to just 90,000 bottles globally, this is a one time, never to be repeated, collectible expression of The Macallan. Matured exclusively in hand-picked oak casks seasoned with Oloroso sherry from Jerez, Spain,...
November 1, 2017 – Wine in a can has finally caught on and it is a trend that has gone mainstream. Backpack Wines hit the market a year ago with Snappy White and Cheeky Rosé. Rowdy Red is the newest addition just in time for fall and winter tailgate parties...
October 16, 2017 – Major breweries, think Budweiser, Coors et al, have been bedeviled by sluggish sales for a while but now, even craft beer is slowing down. Craft beer sales are actually up but the accelerated growth the category was enjoying is definitely declining. The numbers prove it. In...
October 9, 2017 - October 2017 marks the fifth year of international celebration of the noble grape, merlot. Why? What does “noble” mean? Lots of questions. Merlot is one of the five “noble” grapes of Bordeaux, its royal cousins being Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot. The “noble”...
October 3, 2017 – It’s vodka’s turn to have its day, Wednesday, October 4 to be precise. Vodka is one third of all spirits volume amounting to $6 billion – that’s billion with a B – in sales and just shy of 70 million cases in 2016. Someone out there...
September 19, 2017 – September is Bourbon Heritage month so we looked around for something special and we found Trail’s End. It was like finding the prize in a treasure hunt. This bourbon pays homage to the heritage of the Old West and the end of the trail for the...
September 19, 2017 – Let’s applaud the lonely entrepreneur taking recycling to the extreme. Making flour out of wine pomace surely qualifies and that’s the mission of Finger Lakes Wine Flour of Hector, N.Y. Armed with an environmental science degree from SUNY ESF, Hilary Niver-Johnson founded Sustainable Viticulture Systems in...
September 9, 2017 – If not wearing white after Labor Day is lore (and semi-law) where you live, where does that leave drinking rosé? After all rosé is summer’s sip and never more so than for the summer of 2017. According to Wine Market Council, Nielsen data show that sales...
September 1, 2017 – Saying adios to summer calls for a cocktail. The kids are back in school – whoo hoo! Moms can celebrate. Or maybe the thought of Old Man Winter around the corner demands something special as summer slips away. We searched for fun ways to make Labor...
August 17, 2017 – A recent report published in JAMA Psychiatry claimed a huge increase in alcohol consumption to the point where more than one out of every eight Americans are considered alcoholics. They say alcoholism has risen 49 percent in just 11 years. JAMA stands for Journal of the...
August 4, 2017 – Shipping your favorite wine to friends, family or business associates in another country is now a possibility thanks to the guys in the big brown trucks. United Parcel Service (UPS) has just announced that wineries can now ship to consumers living in 24 of the top...
July 20, 2017 – Wine drinkers in the U.S. like their wine bottle to sport a cork according to a recent poll of 1,549 wine consumers by the Portuguese Cork Association and the California-based Cork Quality Council. Unsurprisingly, nearly all respondents viewed cork as an indicator of wine quality and...
June 23, 2017 – There’s a crisis in America! No, not that crisis de jour. We’re talking about a real crisis of people not using all their vacation time. Last year more than half of workers surveyed by Samuel Adams and Project: Time Off admitted to leaving vacation time on...
May 26, 2017 – As if Jillionaire doesn’t have enough fun already, the internationally acclaimed DJ and music producer is now Bacardi’s ‘Minister of Rum’. And it gets better. He and his Major Lazer colleagues took a trip to the Bacardi distillery in Puerto Rico, where they worked alongside Maestro...
April 24, 2017 – According to recently released research in California, when it comes to recreational drugs, marijuana is quite popular as a substitute for alcohol among millennials. Last November, California voted to legalize marijuana meaning that adults over the age of 21 can now use, possess and share cannabis,...
April 13, 2017 -- In a new book, “How to Drink Like a Billionaire”, author and wine expert Mark Oldman divulges a secret of sommeliers and explains why the cheapest wine on the list is the best. The sommelier or the restaurant’s wine buyer knows that most people feel embarrassed...
April 6, 2017 -- The health benefits of red wine continue to make news. The latest finding suggests that resveratrol, the antioxidant found in grape skins, may slow the ageing process. The study conducted at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Research Institute, shows resveratrol preserves muscle fibers...
March 27, 2017 – It’s known as the Zion Curtain by the citizens of Utah who drink in public places like bars and restaurants. A rule dating back to 2009 prohibiting bars and restaurants from mixing or pouring drinks in view of their patrons has been rescinded. It has been...
March 2, 2017 – Banned for 100 years, March 5 marks the 10th Anniversary of the repeal of the Absinthe ban in the US. Chemist and Master Distiller Ted Breaux was a leading force in disproving the myths which had plagued the storied spirit and helped convince the...
February 27, 2017 – Anyone who is slightly serious about wine is sure to have all kinds of totes and bags for getting the essential bottle or wine gift to its final destination – Enjoyment! But we’ve moved well beyond schlepping a bottle that is really hard to disguise if...
February 27, 2017 – The word is out that Amazon has applied for a liquor license for the super secret grocery store being built in the Ballard area of Seattle. The drive through 9,700 square-foot grocery store lets customers place orders online for pick up in a 15 minute to...
February 27, 2017 – It’s never simple when it comes to alcoholic beverages. As we reported on February 17, Diageo, which owns Guinness, plans to convert the old Calvert distillery in Relay, (Baltimore County) Maryland, into a bre wery with a U.S. version of its famous Open Gate visitor center...
February 17, 2017 – The University of California Davis Department of Viticulture and Enology is one of the most highly regarded institutions in its field in the world. As a part of the winemaking curriculum, the students make wine but until recently, the wine, some made from grapes grown in...
February 17, 2017 – Autumn this year will mark the 200th anniversary of Guinness first being imported in the United States and to celebrate the occasion, Diageo, owners of Guinness, have announced they will be building a new micro-brewery and visitor center at the existing plant in Relay, Maryland. ...
February 17, 2017 – Wine shops in the Washington area are selling out of Trump wine reports Judy Kurtz writing in The Hill. The winery, located in Charlottesville, Va., is owned by Eric Trump Wine Manufacturing LLC. The Trump name is featured prominently on the label. Ms Kurtz interviewed several...
February 9, 2017 – There’s nothing sissy about toasting the love of your life with pink bubbles. One could even say it is the smart thing to do, if you know what I mean. We’ve color coordinated seven different recipes so whichever one you choose, you’ll be on message. And...
February 1, 2017 – You’ve been to Costco and loaded up on all the great stuff that is your tradition for Super Bowl Sunday and now you’re thinking about what to serve to friends who prefer something besides beer. Just about anything poured over rocks will get you by and,...
January 27, 2017 – Wondering why wineries never advertise during the Super Bowl? It’s because Anheuser-Busch has tied up exclusive rights excluding participation by any other alcohol brand since 1989. It’s also darned expensive. But where there’s a will there’s a way. Yellow Tail, Australia’s number one selling wine in...
January 27, 2017 – Sacramento, CA is hosting the USA’s biggest wine industry trade show and conference for about 1,000 attendees. The good news for everyone is that the wine sales continue to grow. In 2016, wine shipments increased by 2.8 percent while revenue from domestic wine sales jumped 4...
January 27, 2017 – A New Zealand vodka, 42BELOW, is saving the planet one cocktail garnish at a time. Rather than chucking the uneaten fruit garnishes adorning a glorious cocktail into the garbage, they collect them from bars in New Zealand and Australia and turn them into soap. 42BELOW, claiming...
January 20, 2017 – When 200 guests join the newly inaugurated President Trump and Vice President Pence for lunch after the swearing-in ceremony, they will enjoy three California wines paired with each course. The first course of Maine lobster and Gulf shrimp with saffron sauce and a peanut crumble will...
January 20, 2017 – We discovered the coolest idea for dressing up cocktails – or any beverage – for Valentine’s Day. It’s called the ChocolateSideCar. It’s a disk of Belgian chocolate, either milk or dark, with a little notch that makes it possible to hang on the rim of a...
January 13, 2017 – The Tesseron family, owners of Château Pontet-Canet in Bordeaux, purchased Robert Williams vineyard estate on Mount Veeder in the Napa Valley. A particular vineyard on the estate was called Pym-Rae, a combination of the middle names of his first two children. The Tesserons announced they will...
January 13, 2017 – The sun has set on Starbucks “Evenings” concept. Introduced in 2014 in Seattle, Starbucks sought to increase evening business by offering wine and beer along with small plates of comfort foods like flatbread pizza and truffle mac and cheese. Since 70 percent of Starbucks customers drink...
January 6, 2017 – A company in the Netherlands claims their technology can produce a shirt that is stain resistant, including red wine. It is also odor free, 2-way stretch, eco-friendly, machine washable, wrinkle resistant, fast-drying and breathable. And you can be an investor via Kickstarter. The creators say the...
January 6, 2017 – If Santa left coal in your stocking, don’t worry. As the saying goes, “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade”. In the case of coal in your stocking, you can be totally fashion forward and make black cocktails. Way back in 2015, black cocktails were trending...
December 30, 2016 – Thank the polar vortex and generally miserable conditions for an excellent ice wine harvest. Wines & Vines, an industry publication, reports that growers in British Columbia, Michigan and Ontario reported excellent conditions for an early 2016 ice wine harvest. The season kicked off on December 6...
December 30, 2016 – Readers of a certain age will recall Don Ho’s famous song “Tiny Bubbles” – Tiny bubbles in the wine/ Make me feel happy/ Make me feel fine. Turns out bigger bubbles would have made him feel even better. The U.K. Guardian reports that researchers in France’s...
December 30, 2016 – Hopefully any deleterious effects of New Year’s Eve partying will have dissipated by Sunday evening in time to watch “60 Minutes” take on the complicated question of who owns the rights to Havana Club Rum. It is an intriguing story that started in 1959 when the...
December 22, 2016 – According to Google, The Old Fashioned is still one of America’s most popular cocktails so being always ready to oblige, we found six recipes to get you through the Holidays. There’s a certain nostalgia to sipping on an Old Fashioned before Christmas dinner and it is...
December 16, 2016 – The bubbles will be flowing but we’ve got a few suggestions for the witching hour as the ball descends in Time Square. It’s a tough choice. We might settle on our favorite cocktail Bacardi Old Cuban but Golden Hour, a cocktail garnished with edible gold leaf,...
December 9, 2016 – Patrón’s third annual “Art of Patrón” Bottle Art Contest was won by Scott Innes of Philadelphia, PA. He was one of 10 finalists chosen from hundreds of entries, which the public was invited to vote on. “Art of Patrón” Bottle Art Contest, is an initiative encouraging...
December 9, 2016 – Anyone who prefers sweet wine knows what it feels like to hear “Oh?” with a raised eyebrow when confronted by a serious oenophile. As a wine connoisseur, said oenophile almost certainly has contempt and pity for the poor person who dares to voice a preference for...
December 2, 2016 – Nine-time Olympic gold medalist, Usain Bolt of Jamaica, has been named CEO at the famed house of Mumm. CEO in this case is Chief Entertainment Officer, a fitting title for a man with a contagious smile, a drive to win and a propensity for antics in...
December 2, 2016 – If Assouline’s Impossible Collection of Wine is on your shopping list for your favorite wino, you’re outta luck. The magnificent book that weighs 10.5 lbs or 15 lbs in its wooden box, chronicles in great detail, accompanied by gorgeous photography, the outstanding vintages of the 20th...
December 2, 2016 – This has got to be the easiest way to support our troops and it doesn’t cost a dime. All you have to do is register with GoodWorld.me and Crown Royal will donate $1 to their longstanding partners at Packages From Home. Between now and the end...
November 25, 2016 – Here’s the solution to the annual dilemma of what to buy Dad/Your Boss/Valued Client/Best Friend – anyone in the “What the heck can I buy them” category. X Flasks of London offers a choice of gold, rose gold and silver flasks that are very compact but...
November 18, 2016 – Inviting friends to share Thanksgiving or volunteering to be the bartender at an ever expanding family get-together seemed like a good idea at the time, but now reality is just days away. Panic sets in. We’ve got you covered with a selection of 24 cocktails that...
November 18, 2016 – We’ve just come across a great tool for home brewers and winemakers who would like to make their products look more professional. It’s a free app called Labeley and it allows users to design unique, professionally looking beer, wine, holiday and other labels without any design...
November 18, 2016 – If you live in Bourbon country, you know the name Joy Perrine. She’s so respected in Blue Grass country that this year she was inducted into the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame. Joy Perrine comes from a colorful background. Her parents and grandmother were rum runners...
November 8, 2016 — The Patrón Spirits Companywants you to vote one more time! But this time it will fun. The company has just announced the top 10 finalists in the third “Art of Patrón” Bottle Art Contest. The iconic Patrón bottle screams “save me” and we’re betting a whole...
November 4, 2016 – The talented employees at Jordan Vineyard & Winery in California’s beautiful Alexander Valley have done it again. Drawing on talent from cellar workers to winemakers they have put together an entertaining video based on Sia’s “Cheap Thrills” and dubbed it “Grape Thrills” celebrating the 2016 chardonnay...
November 2, 2016 – Can’t wait until November 9 and the end of political commercials on TV and mailboxes stuffed with political flyers? If you’ve been paying attention, whether Republican, Democrat, Independent, Undecided or just plain confused, you deserve a drink to relax you. The Danes have the answer....
October 28, 2016 — If you’ve ever looked closely at a Bacardi label you’ll notice it incorporates a bat. The company’s association with bats dates back to its founding in 1862 when Doña Amalia Bacardí, the founder’s wife, spotted a colony of fruit bats in the rafters of the...
October 21, 2016 — The unlikely cast of characters, Captain Morgan, Marilyn Monroe and Hello Kitty have one thing in common: the launch of a new products bearing their famous likenesses. Like Marilyn Monroe, Captain Morgan was a real person who now lives in a bottle. Hello Kitty is, well,...
October 20, 2016 – Those rabble-rousers, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) are running billboards near the University of Wisconsin—Madison, with the message that beer is better for bone and heart health than milk. We’re all for treating animals with respect and kindness but frequently, animals are better...
October 14, 2016 – Can’t quite imagine how it tastes, but Starbucks’ Espresso Cloud IPA looks like something anyone with an ounce of sophistication ought to be drinking. If there’s a Starbucks Evening store near you, you can try it and tell your friends. And tell us too! According to...
September 29, 2016 – A 200-year-old Victorian pub, complete with bottles of brandy, was found buried under a busy street in Manchester, England as excavators cleared the way for a 13-story apartment building. Archaeologists were summoned and they discovered the pub belonged to Thomas Evans, who was the landlord of...
September 28, 2016 – Today is National Drink a Beer Day and Thursday, September 29, is National Coffee Day. We’ve covered coffee cocktails with some great recipes, but here’s a way to kill two birds with one stone courtesy of Sam Adams. They’ve combined the best of both worlds into...
September 28, 2016 – Let’s face it, cocktails can be diet busters. Blue Ice Vodka, the #1 American-made potato vodka has 25% fewer calories than most spirits. What a great way to consume potatoes! And since most of the recipes include fruit, you’ll feel positively virtuous sipping one of...
September 23, 2016 – The first thing that came to mind when we heard about the Brangelina breakup was what will happen to Chateau Miraval? We have our priorities, you know. The couple leased the Chateau in 2008 then purchased it for $60 million in 2012. According to People Magazine,...
September 22, 2016 – When a Kickstarter project gets funded in 14 days, you know you are on to something. That’s the good news Screech Dragon Studios shared about their Loaded Dice game. Loaded Dice reinvents the concept of a drinking game with its specialty tabletop game drinkware, from a...
September 22, 2016 – There’s a day for everything or so it seems, and coffee gets to bask in the national glow of importance next Thursday, September 29. If the rest of the country is unaware of National Coffee Day, you will be ahead of the pack, armed with five...
September 16, 2016 – It turns out that all that sniffing and swirling that wine geeks love to indulge in is not just an affectation after all. New research published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience shows it might just be a very healthy habit. People with acute or heightened olfactory...
September 16, 2016 – We’re not talking about three liter boxes with plastic taps. It’s a trendy idea in the wedding industry that involves ceremoniously placing a bottle of wine in a special box, with or without love letters to each other, sealed and enjoyed at some future date while...
September 16, 2016 – While geeks camped out in front of Apple stores awaiting the release of the Apple iPhone 7, we have to think the creative marketing geniuses at Jim Beam were laughing their heads off with the coinciding release of Jim Beam’s Apple watch. It doesn’t tell the...
September 9, 2016 – There’s good news for beer drinkers or for anyone with aspirations of building strong bones. PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) released a report claiming that beer is healthier for our bodies than milk. The PETA report was based on a study from Harvard’s...
September 9, 2016 – If you prefer black coffee or gin, you’re a psychopath according to a study at Innsbruck University in Austria psychology researchers. Preference for bitter tasting food apparently breeds folks with Machiavellian, narcissistic and sadistic traits. So let’s see: Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother died in 2002...
September 2, 2016 — We wrote about an intriguing device that could remove sulfites from wine back in July 2015. An estimated three million people are sensitive to sulfites, which occur naturally in wine but are also added for preservation purposes. Called Üllo, the clever filter not only removes sulfites...
August 26, 2016 – Beer, wine, booze – you’ve got it all on your weekend shopping list in preparation for the last fling of summer. We decided simple would be best as the point of Labor Day is to not labor. So we’ve got six delish and super simple recipes...
August 24, 2016 – It’s Labor Day in less than two weeks and it always seems like the last gasp for a cookout. It isn’t, of course, but for those of us who feel compelled to make the most of the last long weekend of summer, we wanted to share...
August 19, 2016 – Boxed wine has been the stepchild of the U.S. wine industry for decades. The system for putting wine in an airtight bladder with a spigot for pouring, and stashing it all in a box, originated in Australia. Australian winemakers used very respectable wines and it was...
August 19, 2016 – We’ll admit to being among the seriously challenged when it comes to cocktail creation. We admire and are fascinated by all the mixologists we’ve met, and vow to do better next time, but… Help is at hand in the digital version of the famous Mr. Boston...
August 4, 2016 – On this day in 1693 it is reputed that Dom Perignon, a Benedictine monk, discovered Champagne, a sparkling wine, and cried, “Come quickly! I am tasting the stars!”. It almost certainly didn’t happen like that and the “tasting the stars bit” more than likely was used...
July 29, 2016 – A daily dose of resveratrol, a substance that occurs naturally in red wine, dark chocolate, blueberries and raspberries, has been found to decrease swelling that results from inflammation in the Alzheimer’s brain. According to Medical News Today, resveratrol was given to patients in a trial and...
July 29, 2016 – Tattoos and technology have come together to rat you out via your sweaty arm and send results to your Smartphone. An electronic board, which clings to the skin, can measure the amount of alcohol imbibed by measuring sweat. A “temporary tattoo” is applied to the skin...
July 22, 2016 — The University of Michigan interviewed 2,767 couples between 2006 and 2016 as part of a study of drinking habits and marital quality. They found that couples that have similar drinking habits have more harmonious relationships “Similar drinking habits” also applies to neither partner drinking. Couples in the study...
July 22, 2016 – Believe it or not, it’s a grape you have probably never heard of! According to the University of Adelaide’s list of the 10 most widely planted grapes, No. 1 is Cabernet Sauvignon, #2 is Merlot and # 3 is Airén. Huh? What on earth is Airén?...
July 15, 2016 – We knew rosé was incredibly popular but we were slightly awed to read in Decanter, a British wine publication, that gummy bears infused with Whispering Angel rosé wine sold out within two hours of going on sale and there is now a waiting list of more...
July 8, 2016 – A single bunch of a prized variety of grape brought 1.1 million yen, or just shy of $11,000, at an auction in Japan. Ah, wine lovers, imagine the wine such grapes could produce! Not happening. These grapes called Ruby Roman are sold as fresh fruit. Fresh...
July 8, 2016 — Whew! We were worried that our friends would think we were déclassé but lowbrow has been blessed by Vogue in a recent article titled “The Summer of F’rosé? Why It’s All About the Wine Slushie”. Their recipe included prickly-pear juice and darn, wouldn’t you know it,...
July 8, 2016 – Nothing is sacred it seems. A San Francisco company, cheekily called Ava Winery, is busy replicating wine with nary a grape in sight. According to “New Scientist”, Mardonn Chua and Alec Lee, the founders of Ava Winery, came up with the idea of a hack after...
July 1, 2016 – We’ve done our bit and now the numbers are in: the U.S.A. overtook the U.K. as the number one market for Champagne by value in 2015. According to Shanken News Daily, shipments of lovely French bubbles increased 28 per cent in 2015 representing shipments valued at...
July 1, 2016 – Recent visitors from overseas who wanted to take some California wines home with them, prompted the search for rules and regulations for flying with alcohol. We found a very informative and helpful site from Europe that covers 12 countries, including the United States, and the EU....
June 24, 2016 – The Backyard Axe-Throwing League in Toronto, Canada appears to be a sober but fun group. They’ve been in business since 2006, have six locations in the Province of Ontario and one in Calgary, Alberta. Devotees, which can number from 10 to 15 thousand a month at...
June 24, 2016 – The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina filed a federal lawsuit over unauthorized use of its trademarked logo and slogan in several convenience stores promoting Bud Light. The Tribe’s slogan “Heritage, Pride & Strength” was plastered strategically under the Bud Light logo as a part of a...
June 24, 2016 – You’ve got to hand it to a corporation so fixated on sustainability that they turn their old oak rum barrels into sunglasses. That’s Bacardi and we really should write about all the really important stuff they do but we like fun and their new sunglass line...
June 16, 2016 – Country music legend Merle Haggard held the Guinness World Record for buying the biggest round of drinks since March 21, 1983 when he bought his fans 5,095 one-ounce drinks at a cost of $12,737.50. This happened at Billy Bob’s Texas in Fort Worth, which claimed to...
June 10, 2016 – Here’s another way to get that bottle of bubbly open when you don’t have a corkscrew handy: Hit it with a tricky golf shot. Pretty impressive. And we certainly admire the sangfroid of the woman holding the bottle. ...
June 10, 2016 – An archaeological dig in southeastern Georgia’s Kevmo Kartli region has revealed grape seeds and dust that date back 8000 years confirming Georgia’s claim to be the cradle of winemaking. Vine dust found in ancient ceramic vessels confirmed they were used for wine around 6000 B.C. Grape...
May 27, 2016 – Father’s Day is Sunday, June 19. You’ve have three weeks but they’ll go fast. We’ve got a couple of suggestions that are a bit more imaginative than a new tie. We found a service called ReserveBar www.reservebar.com that ships wine and spirits to various parts of...
May 27, 2016 – Yesterday was John Wayne’s birthday. He would have been 109. We know he loved Wild Turkey Bourbon but it was revealed in an interview with his son, Ethan by Noah Rothbaum of The Daily Beast, that he also enjoyed tequila and cases of tequila as well...
May 27, 2016 – Finding something new, different and affordable can be a challenge but we have the solution for under $20. Martin Cate, owner of Smuggler’s Cove bar in San Francisco, has written an engaging history of rum, rum drinks, the Tiki culture, its revival, and recipes – more...
May 20, 2016 – The Wine Market Council’s recent report continues to fascinate anyone involved in wine production and marketing. As they drill down, what comes to light should gladden their hearts about the future. The Millennial demographic starts with anyone born in 1980 so we’re looking at 20 to...
May 15, 2015 – We’re not drinking more, just better and spending more money to do so. According to Bloomberg News, Americans go out less frequently, order fewer drinks when they do, but the bar tab is getting bigger. That’s because consumers have turned to craft beers, exotic cocktails and...
May 13, 2016 – Research by a team at New York University has found that prayer does help alcoholics minimize the effect of alcohol triggers. The subjects of the study were a group of long-term members of Alcoholics Anonymous. Study leader Marc Galanter, Director of the Division of Alcoholism and Drug...
May 13, 2016 — PR stunts are going to the dogs, literally. In London recently, Kronenbourg 1664 beer created a pop up bar tended by a team of two trained Alsatian dogs, or “bark-tenders”. The bar was dubbed Bar d’Alsace-tian. The dogs delivered chilled beer via a custom dog harness...
May 13, 2016 – After the Bacardi Legacy Global Cocktail Competition featuring 36 bartenders from around the world was over, Bacardi hosted their third “Fuel the Hustle” roundtable discussion, which brings together movers and shakers in music and art to discuss what fuels their hustle in their respective industries and...
May 6, 2016 – Field Agent, a research company that marshals an army of 700,000 “agents” armed with smart phones, decided to look into America’s drinking habits. They zeroed in on just 500 agents who self-identified as qualified drinkers and posed 10 questions. The 500 were evenly divided between men...
April 29, 2016 – Mom deserves some special effort on your part so how about making her everyday coffee the object of your brilliance and creativity. We’re here to help. Check out our selection of recipes that will make Mom’s coffee a Mother’s Day to remember. The best part is...
April 29, 2016 – Gn Chan, a bartender from New York City took home the trophy as his cocktail “Venceremos” was declared the Bacardi 2016 Legacy cocktail. We joined 150 other invited guests and international press at the elegant Bentley Reserve in San Francisco where the grand finals were held....
April 22, 2016 – A press release from Brussels dated April 20 outlined the alliance between the prestigious Institute of Masters of Wine and the Wine in Moderation Program. Both organizations will focus on social responsibility and moderation in the serving, selling, communication and consumption of wine. “The Institute of...
April 16, 2016 –Once again, Napa Valley wineries came through to produce Auction Napa Valley, an event that realized $14.3 million that will be donated to non-profits serving children’s education and community health services. The event was held June 2-5. The wineries donated thousands of bottles of expensive wine, elegant...
April 12, 2016 – Yet another claim against misleading labeling has been filed in Florida, this time citing Leffe beer, owned by Anheuser-Busch. Henry Vazquez, an optometrist filed the class action lawsuit. He claimed the deceptive packaging had caused him to overpay for Leffe beer. The plaintiff is looking for compensatory and...
April 12, 2016 – Beer was invented by the early Egyptians, or so we’ve been told. Excavations on the banks of the Nile reveal at least 3,400 years ago they were drinking beer and burying jugs of brew in the tombs of the dead to help their journey to the...
April 8, 2016 –Whether you have been in the wine business for years or just now hoping to break in, “Business of Wine”, an interactive online course will sharpen your focus and give you the tools you need to stay competitive in every facet of the industry, from vineyard costs...
April 6, 2016 – Wine grape development isn’t what springs to mind when you think about the University of Minnesota, but their horticultural science department has just released the fifth in series of grapes designed to withstand Zone 4 sub zero temperatures, diseases prevalent in grape vines, and short seasons...
March 25, 2016 – A California judge dismissed the lawsuit filed one year ago claiming 83 California wines contained arsenic at levels higher than approved for state water. Judge John Shepard Wiley noted that the wine producers correctly argued that they were in compliance with the Prop. 65 regulatory program....
March 25, 2016 – In the Dutch city of Breda, housed in a former cowshed, there’s a collection of Cognac and Armagnac of extraordinary historic significance that will be auctioned by Christie’s in New York on April 13. The collection of about 6,000 bottles was amassed by Bay van der...
March 24, 2016 – The sale of the late Robin Williams’s 640-acre Villa Sorriso, purchased recently by Alfred Tesseron, the owner of Château Pontet-Carnet in Bordeaux, was another indication of the interest of vintners from Bordeaux in the Napa Valley. Originally on the market in 2012 for $35 million, Tesseron...
March 18, 2016 — The game’s up, friends. An uber-smart group at the University of Rochester, led by Nabil Hossain, has developed a machine to spot alcohol-related tweets. They claim it could have a significant impact on responding and understanding alcohol’s role in public health issues. The algorithm will spot...
March 18, 2016 – That little metal cap held down by wire over a Champagne cork could be quite valuable but only if it once graced an upscale and possibly limited release of Champagne. The cap has been in use since its invention in 1844 and over the years it...
March 18, 2016 – A survey conducted by The Balvenie Scotch Whisky brand found that nearly 10 percent of 2,000 people surveyed in the U.K. think brewing or winemaking would be their ideal job. Surprisingly, these weren’t the most popular choice of dream job being beaten out by illustrator/artist, landscaper,...
March 11, 2016 – The Dos Equis man is no longer “The Most Interesting Man in the World”. He is being dispatched to Mars on a one-way trip where presumably he will stay very thirsty. Heineken, owners of Dos Equis, have decided to use a new persona as the campaign...
March 11, 2016 – Mon Dieu! How could it happen that a Chilean wine named Bicicleta was the official wine sponsor of the Tour de France? The winemakers of the Languedoc-Roussillon area wanted to know too and they were so angry they threatened to block a leg of the race...
March 4, 2016 – Whether your heritage is Irish or not, everyone is Irish on March 17. We’ve got a terrific list of easy-to-make cocktails and even a suggestion for getting the party going. You’ve got two weekends to get organized so no excuses and may the luck of the Irish...
March 4, 2016 – Did you know that March 5 is National Absinthe Day? We didn’t either but it is, so obviously one is obliged to drink some absinthe. And no, it won’t make you go crazy. The story that absinthe drives drinkers mad was a rumor started by the...
February 26, 2016 – Six seasoned bartenders stirred and shook their stuff before an enthusiastic crowd in San Francisco last Monday in the national finals of the United States Bartenders’ Guild (USBG) Legacy Cocktail Showcase sponsored by Bacardi Rum. Each contestant featured the recipe that captured the regional crown, chosen...
February 24, 2016 – Peter Mondavi, Sr. of Charles Krug Winery, died at his home in St. Helena on February 20. He was the last of the Twelve Living Legends of the Napa Valley created by the Napa Valley Vintners Association in 1986. His parents Cesare and Rosa Mondavi, who...
February 19, 2016 – Beer, America’s favorite gulp since Prohibition ended, is losing its dominance to the upstart cocktail culture. The Wall Street Journal reports that for the sixth consecutive year, in 2015 beer lost a portion of its share of alcohol revenue in the U.S. While beer has fallen...
February 17, 2016 – Only one bottle ever existed of Gilbey’s 1947 Orange Gin and for £1,000 you can taste it. That equates to approximately $1,430, plus airfare unless you are already in the UK, and for that you get 25 ml or less than one ounce. The gin belongs...
February 17, 2016 — Vinebox, a wine-by-the-glass club that was launched last fall is now they are starting to ship. It’s an interesting idea albeit an expensive one. Each month their “curators” who are sommeliers select three wines from premium vineyards in Europe, currently from France. Three 10cl glass vials...
February 12, 2016 – If you shop at Trader Joe’s, you almost certainly know about its exclusive line of Charles Shaw wines. Introduced in 2002 and priced at $1.99 a bottle, the were wines dubbed “Two Buck Chuck” by some wag and the name has stuck even though they now...
February 5, 2016 – It’s time to restock the bar after the Holiday debauchery and if you and your friends gobbled up all the Old Turkey bourbon and rye, you’ll appreciate the new look now becoming available across the country. Gruppo Campari acquired the brand in 2009 and after spending...
January 29, 2016 – For Valentine’s Day, traditionally everything comes up roses, or chocolate, but we have cocktails that are both. On our Entertaining page, we have selected nine cocktails to impress the love of your life. They are easy to make and don’t require a second mortgage to buy...
January 29, 2016 – We have to applaud House Beautiful for an excellent article on how to pour Champagne correctly. The headline says, “We’ve All Been Pouring Champagne Wrong This Whole Time”. Well, no, not all of us have. Many of us know to tilt the glass, much as one...
January 22, 2016 – Along with inventing a cure for ebola, Sars, AIDS and cancer, the strange little “Hermit Kingdom” of North Korea is now touting their latest creation of hangover-free alcohol. That’s almost as newsworthy as their explosion, or not, of a hydrogen bomb on January 6. The BBC...
January 22, 2016 – Diageo, which is the biggest alcohol beverage company in the world, has a web site that is really useful if you want to compare the alcohol levels in different drinks, say beer vs. spirits, nutritional content, the number of calories, and find out just how long...
January 22, 2016 – Every January web sites that cover anything related to alcohol or food or health or none of the above feature stories and recommendations about cutting back on alcohol. Did everyone get drunk over the holidays? Gee, what did we miss out on! Recommendations for a “dry”...
January 15, 2016 – Scott Deluca, dubbed the “Bordeaux Bandit” was arrested last week in Smithfield, R.I. He is wanted in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut for stealing very expensive bottles of wine. According to Lettie Teague’s report in The Wall Street Journal, his loot included a 1990 Château...
January 15, 2016 – The headline on Yahoo! was somewhat misleading and we bet we’re not the only people to gasp. It said, “The Owner’s of Jack Daniels Selling Off This Iconic Brand”. Frank Sinatra must be spinning in his grave. Jack Daniel’s remains safely at Brown-Forman but Southern Comfort...
January 15, 2016 – For decades wineries have been battling State laws that make it difficult, even impossible, to ship wine direct to consumers. Some good things happened in 2015. Forty-three states now allow some kind of direct shipping to their citizens. Massachusetts opened up in January of 2015 and...
January 6, 2016 – There’s been a plethora of articles alerting travelers what to expect when flying in the New Year, much of it not very encouraging. So it was a pleasant change of pace to read about Emirates, the Dubai-based airline’s commitment to offer the best wine possible on...
July 1, 2016 – The New South Wales Police Force’s Fraud and Cybercrime Squad is appealing to the public as they search for a missing collection of wines worth $5 million. $5 million Australian is worth US$3,730,000. The missing wines include large quantities of Australia’s most famous wine, Penfolds Grange,...
December 30, 2015 – We think any day and every day is a good time for Champagne or sparkling wine. But it is especially appropriate for New Year’s Eve so we’ve found four recipes which simple folks like us can actually make with a good chance of success! We’ve noticed...
December 30, 2015 — A 750 ml bottle of anything, including Bubbly, is roughly 25 ounces. Depending on the size of a Champagne flute, a bottle serves five glasses quite generously. There are some rare souls that will have just one glass but usually one glass leads to another, and...
December 4, 2015 – It’s the most frequently voiced complaint – “Red wine gives me a headache.” Some ask why. Others declare it is the tannins or the sulfites. Either way, it is a shame not to enjoy a glass of red, especially during the Holiday season when so much...
December 4, 2015 – Using diet soda instead of regular soda as the mixer in an alcoholic drink may get you drunker and affect breathalyzer test readings. A study was conducted of 16 casual drinkers who were given three different drinks: vodka mixed with regular soda, vodka mixed with diet...
November 27, 2015 — It is rare when a wine grape actually has a birthday! The ancient grape from Bordeaux known as Carmenère (car-men-yair) turned 21 on November 24. For 150 years it flourished in the Colchagua Valley of Chile, and was confused with Merlot. Thought to be extinct, the...
November 18, 2015 – Cider is truly the traditional drink for Thanksgiving. We can’t say with any certainty that it was served at the first Thanksgiving feast but it is highly probable since it was the drink of choice in England and the Pilgrims certainly brought the practice with them....
November 11, 2015 – A study at Reading University in the U.K. has found that Champagne can help with dementia and Alzheimer’s. The research suggests three glasses a week can improve spatial memory. Spatial memory refers to recognizing your surroundings, which will help you find your way home, for example....
November 10, 2015 – Captain Morgan dominates the spiced rum category, Cannon Blast being a huge seller for them but Bacardi is on the attack with Oakheart. Their new campaign, targeting millennial males urges “bench the captain” and join the “Brotherhood of Oakheart”. The catch phrase is “All In, All...
November 10, 2015 – Entertaining can be pretty stressful any time of the year but Thanksgiving and Christmas just seem to take it to a whole new level for some reason. Fixing cocktails for a crowd can be overwhelming but not if you check out the recipes we’re featuring on...
November 6, 2015 – With the party season about to get into full swing, this question falls into the Useful Information department. Depending on how much you drink, the answer is “yes”. Dark liquor can result in a bad hangover. One cocktail made with a brown spirit such as rum...
November 6, 2015 – A lot of strange things go into our food and drink behind the scenes. Who knew that the venerable Guinness has been using fish bladders for over 250 years to settle the yeast in its famous porters and stouts. This puts the lovely beverage out of...
October 29, 2015 – We’ve all had that moment of wondering if we should plonk down our hard earned moola on a bottle of wine, only to be disappointed when we taste it. Worry no more. The uncertainty of choosing a wine is a thing of the past if you...
October 27, 2015 – Cancel your plans for November 5-7 and instead head to Paso Robles for one of the best wine festivals ever. It’s the Fifth Annual Garagiste Wine Festival held in Paso Robles and Atascadero. There will be more than 65 “garagiste” winemakers pouring over 200 wines; a...
October 23, 2015 – A judge in Miami agreed with plaintiffs that the labeling of Beck’s Beer made it appear the beer was made in Germany when it is actually made in St. Louis, Missouri. Beck’s has been made in Bremen, Germany for more than 100 years. In 2002 it...
October 23, 20115 – October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and a winery in Paso Robles, CA does more than wear pink ribbons. Since 2004 they have been raising money, which this year will reach an amazing grand total of $22 million. The campaign is called “Tough Enough to Wear...
October 22, 2015 – Captain Morgan Cannon Blast comes in a bottle that was surely designed with Halloween in mind. The black bottle is shaped like a cannon ball and Captain Morgan has his foot on a cannon, instead of a cask of rum. Shine a black light on the...
October 22, 2015 – Tomorrow, Friday October 23, is #ChampagneDay and the Champagne Bureau would like you to celebrate by opening a bottle of the real stuff – from France. This is the sixth annual call to celebration and as Champagne-o-philes, we’re wondering what happened to the previous five since...
October 20, 2015 – In 2012 China’s President Xi Jinping made it clear that the good life was over. No more lavish expense account entertaining and no more bottles of Cognac at $150 a pop. Gloom set in, not only for the deprived Chinese executives and bureaucrats, but also for...
October 20, 2015 – The Centers for Disease Control claims that excessive drinking costs the U.S. economy $249 billion in lost productivity, health care costs, absenteeism, car crashes and so on per year up from $224 billion in 2006. How do they come up with these figures? Does CDC employ...
October 16, 2015 – Big Beer’s sales have been slipping, in no small part as a result of the American beer consumer discovering and preferring craft beers. With 3,464 craft breweries now operating in the United States, how does the merger of Anheuser-Busch InBev with SABMiller affect the thriving craft...
October 15, 2015 – The latest research released by Ben-Gurion University in Israel shows that cardiac health and cholesterol improve when people with Type 2 diabetes consumed five ounces (150 ml) of red wine with dinner every evening. The study of 224 people was conducted over two years. Divided into...
October 15, 2015 – Whiskey lovers and collectors, listen up. On October 24 rare Pre-Prohibition whiskey will go under the hammer at Christie’s at Rockefeller Plaza, New York. The Old Overholt rye collection is from 1905, 1906, 1908, 1909, 1910, and 1912 in their original wooden cases, estimated to be...
October 13, 2015 – If at first you don’t succeed . . . turn your marijuana bong into the newest way to drink Champagne and sell it for $25. The creators got their idea for a super sized bong around Super Bowl. Get the connection? But the super sized bong...
October 13, 2015 – The famous Rock of Gibraltar will soon become an international site for wine storage according to The Guardian, a British newspaper. The Royal Engineers prior to the Second World War carved miles and miles of tunnels out of the limestone. The developer, Tracy Lee, heard about...
October 13, 2015 – Light beer sales have cratered 12% since their high point in 2007. The Wall Street Journal reports that the market loss is so serious that it is a factor in the merger mania going on in the beer industry, including the potential merger of the world’s...
October 8, 2015 – Prohibition ended 82 years ago but sometimes it feels like a time warp when it comes to buying a drink. Take Happy Hour. Massachusetts is an unhappy place being the first state to enact a law in 1984 banning Happy Hour. Others followed including Vermont, Maine,...
October 8, 2015 – The clever wine opener that allows wine to be extracted from a bottle without pulling the cork, has launched a new sleek model with some improvements gleaned from home users, as well as professionals, around the world. We first wrote about Coravin when it was introduced...
October 8, 2015 – Srigim Brewery in Israel is brewing beer using chickpeas, dates and buckwheat, reports The Daily Meal. The unfiltered, unpasteurized, gluten-free beer was very popular at the recent Jerusalem Beer Fest. The local craft beer movement is new to Israel, getting its start less than 20 years...
October 2, 2015 – The fourth largest winery in the U.S., Bronco Wine Co., Ceres, CA, is testing two leading brands, Green Fin and Hacienda, in 750 ml PET bottles. PET stands for polyethylene terephthalate, but we all knew that. It is lightweight, and shatter resistant and recyclable. Plastic bottles...
October 2, 2015 – The Brewers Association reports that the number of breweries in the United States is now 4,000. That’s just shy of 4,131 recorded in 1873 but way better than the less than 100 in 1970. The majority of these new breweries are small, local businesses brewing beer...
October 2, 2015 – Kabateck Brown Kellner LLP, a Los Angles firm that has joined the suit filed last March by Burg Simpson Eldredge Hersh and Jardine, has amended the class action lawsuit against several California wineries concerning the presence of arsenic in their wines. The amended complaint filed in...
September 30, 2015 — When the most famous man in the world says he enjoys wine, it is something to celebrate. That’s how Franco Maria Ricci, the president of the Italian Sommelier Association felt when Pope Francis hosted a group of 180 wine producers, vintners, sommeliers and wine writers at...
September 30, 2015 – Burger King has created Whopper Wine to celebrate its 40th anniversary of operations in Spain. They advertise that the barrels used in winemaking have been “flame grilled” to complement their flame grilled burger. Most wine barrels are “charred” to specifications of the winemaker. Burger King has...
September 30, 2015 – Movie star Matthew McConaughey’s brother, Mike “Rooster” McConaughey has a nine-year-old son named “Miller Lyte” in homage to his father’s favorite beer. Miller Lite heard about it recently and rewarded Dad with a year’s supply of free beer. Miller Lite’s idea of a year’s supply is...
September 25, 2015 – The wines that will be used during Pope Francis’ two-day visit to New York City will be supplied by O-Neh-Da Vineyard from the Finger Lakes region of New York state. The winery was founded in 1872 by the Bishop of Rochester, NY, Bernard J. McQuaid. Seneca...
September 24, 2015 – Sales of marijuana in Colorado brought in $70 million against $42 million in state taxes in fiscal 2014-2015. Jim Smith of Republic National Distributing Co. in Colorado told the 24th Wine Industry Financial Symposium earlier this week that the legalization of recreational cannabis put a dent...
September 24, 2015 – The old adage about news stories “If it bleeds, it leads” doesn’t apply here. This is a story of a terrible accident leading to a happy ending and a lot of money being raised for a worthwhile cause. And the Queen of England helping out. It...
September 22, 2015 – Earlier this month, the Institute of Masters of Wine graduated 19 new Masters, a record for this organization whose first examination was held in 1953. It doesn’t sound like many but only 391 have qualified for the title over the past 62 years. It’s a course...
September 22, 2015 – Winegrape growers in Lake County are testing their grapes for smoke taint from the Valley Fire and so far the results indicate that about 85 percent of the county’s grapes have not been affected. There are no elevated levels of 4-methylguaiacol and guaiacol, which relate to...
September 22, 2015 – When tasting wine, the size of the sip matters according to new research from the University of Naples. Just another esotericism to confound the novice who is gamely trying to learn about wine. But it is interesting, so stay with me. We all know that smell...
September 18, 2015 – Juice, beer, soda. They all come in cans and nobody thinks twice. So why not wine? It’s happening, albeit slowly. Francis Ford Coppola pioneered wine-in-a-can with his single serve Sofia Blanc de Blancs in the pretty pink can with a straw. It’s been around since at...
September 18, 2015 – Move over Scotland. A whiskey made in 1960 by Japanese distiller Karuizawa just set a new record as the most expensive 700 ml bottle ever auctioned. The Bonhams auction in Hong Kong fetched $96,774 (HK$750,000) for a single bottle. Only 41 bottles were released when the...
September 17, 2015 – In just five days consumers will be able to down wine, beer, Sangria or spiked frozen drinks as they munch on their tacos at Taco Bell’s newest location in the Wicker Park area of Chicago. The official opening is September 22 and the store will be...
September 16, 2015 – New Yorkers have all the luck. If you live in the city or its environs, you can be a part of Harriet Lembeck’s Wine Program and Spirits Program celebrating its 40th anniversary this Fall. Run by Harriet Lembeck, Certified Wine Educator (CWE), and Certified Spirits Educator...
September 10, 2015 – Maine’s Portland General Store knows how to cash in on a craze. Not to be left out of the surging popularity of whiskey, this manufacturer of grooming products for men has introduced a line of after-shave and shaving soaps that combine strange things from the sea...
September 9, 2015 – When you think of Kentucky, what comes to mind? Bourbon? Horses? The Derby? Of course. But thanks to Allison Levine in the Napa Register, we now know that our country’s first commercial winery was founded in Kentucky in 1799. The owner was John James Dufour of...
September 9, 2015 — Tim Hanni, one of the first two Americans to become Masters of Wine in 1989, and wine educator par excellence is fed up with the wine industry and the community of wine educators in particular, for their snobbery and contempt for sweet wines and the consumers...
September 3, 2015 – Wine by the glass can be a risky business both for the restaurant/bar offering the wine and the consumer purchasing it. Once opened, wine begins to oxidize and the longer it is open, the more oxidation occurs and the worse it tastes. Because of spoilage costs,...
September 3, 2015 – Imagine calling your girlfriends to meet you at Target for a cocktail. It might happen in Chicago because the word is that a new Target store in Chicago, scheduled to open this fall, has applied for two liquor licenses. One is to sell beer, wine and...
September 3, 2015 – Big distillers are keeping an eye on the growth of craft distillers, determined not to be caught off guard like the beer industry. The Wall Street Journal reports that while craft spirits are only one percent of the market now, they could corner eight percent by...
August 27, 2015 – A federal just in San Diego dismissed a suit against Jim Beam Bourbon for false advertising. The plaintiff, Scott Welk, claimed in his suit filed earlier this year that the term “handcrafted” on the label led him to pay a premium price for a product which...
August 27, 2015 – Busy thieves broke into a store in Muelheim an der Ruhr in the west of Germany and stole the caps off 1,200 bottles of Koenig Pilsner. They didn’t drink or take any beer and they were selective about which caps they took. Only ones with points...
August 27, 2015 — Live in Seattle and need one hour delivery of beer, wine or spirits? Amazon can do it. It is a part of Amazon’s Prime Now service, which has an annual membership fee of $99 for same day delivery. Prime Now is in a number of U.S....
August 24, 2015 – The Associated Press reports that Budweiser, “The King of Beers” is not amused by She Beverage Co. of Lancaster, California attempting to trademark “The Queen of Beer”. She Beverage uses the phrase “Queen of Beer” in marketing on social media and its web site. She Beverage...
August 24, 2015 – You know a trend is serious when The Wall Street Journal has a big article on the front page of its Business & Finance section. The most amazing bit of news is that Small Town Brewery, maker of Not Your Father’s Root Beer has catapulted to...
August 21, 2015 – The independent, creative entrepreneur is as American as apple pie and we love to celebrate their success. We saw a review of beer jelly on Bloomberg and decided to investigate. We were especially interested because last October we found Birra Spalmabile, an Italian spread combining chocolate...
August 21, 2015 – The “Beer Mile” competition has a new world champion, Lewis Kent of Canada. Don’t know what the “Beer Mile” is? Don’t feel bad. Neither did we. In as few words as possible it is a race in which the participants have to drink a beer then...
August 21, 2015 – The leftovers from winemaking could make competitive biofuel according to researchers at the University of Adelaide. Global wine production results in an estimated (and astounding) 13 million tons of grape pomace or marc per annum. Pomace or marc is the leftover skins, stalks and seeds of...
August 19, 2015 – A piece of Prohibition history can be yours for $3 million. Whiskey Island, a part of Thousand Islands located in the St. Lawrence River, was a drop off point for alcohol being smuggled into the States from Canada during Prohibition. The 18th Amendment went into effect...
August 19, 2015 – So far so good. The fires raging in Lake County and on the northern border of Napa County are not threatening the grape crop. As you can see from the nearby map, the inferno known as the Jerusalem fire is quite north of the grape growing...
August 19, 2015 — Since 2010 Starbucks has been cautiously testing offering wine and beer at various stores in Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Florida, Oregon and Washington. The program known as “Evenings” is designed to attract customers after 4:00 p.m. when most people avoid a caffeine jolt. The new locations...
August 14, 2015 – Diageo North America, owner of the Captain Morgan brand, has filed a lawsuit against Prep Enterprises LLC, in New York, for infringement of their trademark by use of Captain Amsterdam on their products. Captain Amsterdam sports a large red hat, long black hair, mustache and a...
August 14, 2015 – Located in Kalamazoo, Western Michigan University (WMU) prides itself on offering its students education and degrees that are relevant to the current and predicted employment market. The fantastic growth of craft beer caught their attention, especially since “south west Michigan is a craft brewing Mecca” in...
August 14, 2015 – Someone called Biscuit vented his frustration with Tom Brady and DeflateGate by stamping the bottom of 20,000 cans of beer with “Tom Brady Sux”. At Sun King Brewery in Indianapolis, which sells its beer at Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Colts, there’s a practice of...
August 12, 2015 – Over the last week, a story has gone around the globe about the world’s most expensive wine documented by UK web site Wine-Searcher.com. We first spotted it in Time but decided we’d do a little research of our own. The story of Burgundy’s 1985 Richebourg Grand...
August 7, 2015 – Rye has had a bad rap for the longest time but its fortunes are rising. It was the quintessential American drink prior to Prohibibition but like so many cultural icons, 13 long, dry years saw tastes change and the market moved on to something else. Rye’s...
August 7, 2015 – A year ago, September 1 to be precise, we declared that drinking beer is patriotic because of the industry’s contribution to the U.S. economy. It is still a patriotic pastime when the numbers are analyzed. Fortune magazine offered a great perspective showing that this $252.6 billion...
August 7, 2015 – Pre-pear yourself, literally. Researchers at the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) in Australia have discovered that the Asian pear, also known as the Korean or Japanese or Chinese pear has benefits beyond lowering cholesterol, relieving constipation and having anti-inflammatory effects. Drinking Asian pear juice...
August 5, 2015 — Long before art directors and focus groups, packaging has always been a science, an endeavor to attract buyers and tell a story, even if it was nothing more than a pretty label. In his latest book “The Art of American Whiskey”, spirits and wine writer Noah...
August 5, 2015 – What took them so long? Red Stripe was on our list of beers from elsewhere brewed in the good old U.S. of A. But not to worry, the fearless legal profession in San Diego, home of lawsuits against the alcohol industry, has now filed a suit...
July 31, 2015 – You may recall that Maker’s Mark was sued in California for using the term “handmade” on its label. We reported on it last January. The class action suit was dismissed by Federal Court Judge John Houston. He said that no reasonable consumer could have been misled...
July 31, 2015 – The craft beer craze shows no sign of slowing down. The Brewers Association, a craft beer trade organization, reports that volume rose a healthy 16% in the first half of 2015. That’s about 12.2 million barrels of beer. The number of breweries is not diminishing either....
July 31, 2015 – The palace of Tel Kabri in northwestern Israel is an amazing find and a window into life in the Bronze Age. In November 2013 we reported on an announcement by archaeologists that they had found 40 jars that appeared to hold red wine in the ruins...
July 24, 2015 – Everyone knows most wine improves with age. But so does beer. We first heard about it via NPR and more recently saw more about it in the Denver Post. It’s not a new thing. Back in 1970, beer enthusiast Bill Sysak was stashing beer in his...
July 24, 2015 – It is estimated that three million Americans are sensitive to sulfites, a necessary additive to wine. For most people, sulfites are undetectable but for some they are blamed for headaches, itching and difficulty breathing. All wine has some naturally occurring sulfites. However, adding sulfites is a...
July 23, 2015 – Almost two years ago to the day, we wrote about the Postmaster General’s high hopes that the struggling US Postal Service would be allowed to deliver beer, wine and spirits. The Senate had passed a postal reform bill in 2012 but it died on the vine...
July 22, 2015 — Back in March we reported on a lawsuit filed against 28 California wineries for the levels of arsenic in their wines. The class action suit was brought by Burg Simpson Eldredge Hersh & Jardine, P.C. in Los Angeles. None of the wines named in the suit...
July 22, 2015 – Root beer is the flavor of the month this summer and aptly named “Not Your Father’s Root Beer” is flying off the shelves according to retailers. Created by specialty brewer, Small Town Brewery of Wauconda, Illinois, it has been around for a couple of years but...
July 22, 2015 – Saw a rave review for wine ice cream on Spoon University, which appears to be a site for recipes and tips for college students. It’s actually pretty good and interesting. Further research about wine ice cream unearthed a good review from Food & Wine magazine. Now...
July 18, 2015 — No business is safe. A hacker who understands that people of substance buy expensive wine and join wine clubs, has stolen names, addresses, birth dates, debit and credit card numbers of about 250,000 customers of wineries in Napa, plus two in Sonoma and one in Santa...
July 18, 2015 – It’s true. If you’re using marijuana from California, you are contributing to the water shortage. John Kelvey writing on the web site Nautilus, compares water use by California’s three intoxicants – wine, beer and pot. I’m offended that wine is lumped in with pot, but we’ll...
July 18, 2015 – Remember the furor among craft beer fanciers over A-B’s shot at Pumpkin Peach ale in their Super Bowl ad? Maybe the marketing team at Budweiser thinks any publicity is good publicity so they’re at it again this time taking a shot at 21st Amendment Brewery and...
July 10, 2015 – The long-suffering Pennsylvania consumer will continue to shop at government run liquor stores even though both houses of the State Legislature voted to end the monopoly of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board and allow the industry to privatize. Governor Tom Wolf vetoed the legislation claiming that...
July 10, 2015 – We’ve told you about the shoes with hidden miniatures in the heels http://www.wineandspirits.com/these-shoes-are-made-for-boozing/and the glass that produces music when it touches your teeth http://www.wineandspirits.com/johnnie-walkers-revolutionary-glass/, now the creative team at Johnnie Walker has come up with yet another gimmick — a mustache wax flavored specifically to enhance...
July 10, 2015 – What sound is sweeter than the clink of ice cubes in your drink after a hard day? Or any day. We like Chivas but no clink in your drink is like banning bubbles in Champagne. We are impressed, however, that Chivas Regal 18 teamed up with...
July 8, 2015 — The Champagne flowed as more than a thousand people gathered in the streets of Hautvillers, the birthplace of Dom Perignon, on Sunday to celebrate the announcement by UNESCO, the cultural arm of the United Nations, that Champagne and Burgundy had been selected for “world heritage status”. ...
June 22, 2015 – Looking for something different and special for your Fourth of July cookout? How about serving Uncle Bob’s Root Beer Flavored Whiskey. What could be more American than Root Beer and American whiskey? Uncle Bob’s was launched earlier this year and is taking the college crowd by...
July 3, 2015 – It could only happen in the U.K. Rostam Notarki, owner of the Cardinal Wolsey pub close to Hampton Court palace, followed his customer, Charles Hickox, an American, down the street and hit him with an ironing board knocking him into the path of an oncoming van. ...
July 3, 2015 – Some time ago, when Trader Joe’s Two Buck Chuck was a $1.99, I used to run into a gentleman at a group I belonged to who would buttonhole me every time with the same question: “How can Trader Joe’s make and sell wine for $1.99 a...
June 29, 2015 – A settlement has been reached between Anheuser-Busch and three plaintiffs concerning Beck’s German beer being brewed in St. Louis, Missouri, not Bremen, Germany. Since it was a class action suit, anyone who has purchased Beck’s since May 2011 is entitled to a refund. If you have...
June 29, 2015 – The on-going investigation into missing cases of Pappy Van Winkle and other high-end bourbon has come to an end with the indictment of nine people, two of whom were employees of the distilleries involved in the theft – Buffalo Trace and Wild Turkey. The Franklin County...
June 25, 2015 – Last year’s collaboration between Jameson Irish Whiskey and KelSo Beer Company of Brooklyn was so successful that it is being expanded to five more breweries across the U.S. The breweries were chosen based on their dedication to the spirit of their neighborhoods that matched Jameson’s own...
June 15, 2015 – Bombay Sapphire, the famous London Dry gin in the elegant blue bottle is a part of the Bacardi family of brands. Bacardi’s iconic logo of a black and gold bat has been on their bottles since 1862. So it was considered good luck when a colony...
June 10, 2015 — The U.K. Telegraph is reporting that a stash of Cognac and Champagne has been found hidden in cellars under a part of the Moritzburg Water Palace near Dresden. Along with the good stuff, Hitler’s staff also hid cheese, salami, chocolate, coffee and cigarettes to protect them...
June 10, 2015 – Once again, wealthy wine lovers – very wealthy wine lovers – came through last weekend raising $15.8 million at the gala wine auction held every June since 1981. Amazing wines flowed accompanied by amazing food for 850 guests who were amazingly generous. It didn’t set a...
June 10, 2015 – Major League Baseball isn’t about beer and peanuts anymore. Craft beers, maybe, but wine is the hot new trend. We happened to see something about the Washington Nationals new Cabernet Sauvignon. Clicking on the where-to-buy information, we were surprised to find ourselves on The Bounty Hunter...
March 6, 2015 – As far as anyone knows, Dolly Saville was the oldest working barmaid in the world. She died February 26 less than a year after she celebrated her centenary. Dolly started at the Red Lion Hotel in Wendover, Buckinghamshire, U.K. in 1940 and held the job for...
June 5, 2015 – Another lawsuit filed in San Diego this time against Diageo, owners of Bulleit Bourbon. The lawsuit claims false advertising over the phrase “Distilled, Aged & Bottled by the Bulleit Distilling Co. in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky,” which implies it was distilled in Lawrenceburg, KY but Diageo does not...
May 29, 2015 – It’s a little unusual to go fishing after a night on the town but a Massachusetts man did just that and landed in a world of trouble because he caught 122 fish. And he did it while drunk. Fish tales are often exaggerated but in this...
May 29, 2015 – Craft beers are on fire so it was somewhat surprising that research by MorganStanley revealed that 24 percent of consumers across all age groups say they will decrease their beer consumption next year. Only eight percent thought they would drink more. Millennials in particular said they...
May 21, 2015 – We all know that the age of a whiskey denotes quality and price. It means the whiskey has matured in a barrel and the longer it is left there, the smoother and mellower it becomes and the flavor is more nuanced. Aging in barrels is expensive,...
May 21, 2015 – We saw an article in The Wall Street Journal recently about the growing popularity of hip flasks used by women. So we decided to do a bit of research of our own. We have one in a drawer somewhere that was handed down by a male...
May 19, 2015 – For the past 14 years, Sacramento has hosted “Grape Escape”, a very popular event held outdoors in downtown Sacramento, organized by the Sacramento Convention & Visitors Bureau. Last year more than 4,000 attendees enjoyed samples from 40 plus wineries and a dozen breweries. This year’s event...
May 15, 2015 – There’s been quite a flurry of reports recently regarding a looming shortage of bourbon, or maybe not. In a long article on May 12, the Wall Street Journal looked behind the production of bourbon to its maturation and storage — in white oak barrels. Yes, there...
May 15, 2015 – Vodka has other uses besides as a cocktail concoction. We’ve covered this before http://wineandspirits.com/more-crazy-uses-for-vodka/ but Yahoo has come up with a list of 13 different ways to use vodka, several of which are new to us. If making flaky pastry has you flummoxed, substitute a tablespoon...
May 8, 2015 – A Florida Judge ruled in favor of Beam Suntory, owners of Maker’s Mark bourbon, in a lawsuit brought by two consumers over Maker’s Mark being labeled “handmade”. The Florida lawsuit followed a suit filed in San Diego by two consumers who filed class action suits over...
May 8, 2015 – Would you spend $199 to enhance your glass of beer? As of writing 339 people would, and between them they have pledged $45,590 of the $50,000 goal to fund the manufacture of Fizzics on crowdfunding site Indiegogo. This is a neat, countertop machine that will make...
May 5, 2015 – Happy Cinco de Mayo from Justin Timberlake dressed as a lime. If you like tequila or Justin Timberlake or enjoy the absurd, check the commercial for Sauza tequila on YouTube Timberlake dressed up as a giant lime, Rick “Sour” Vane, mourns the end of lime’s popularity...
May 5, 2015 – Here we go again. MillerCoors, maker of Blue Moon beer, is being sued by Evan Parent, a beer fancier from California. What is with our fellow Californians that impels them to file lawsuits claiming damages when they purchase products they feel don’t fit their perception of...
April 30, 2015 – Ready to try something new this Mother’s Day? Instead of the predictable mimosa, how about getting creative with bourbon drinks that are sophisticated, pretty to look at delicious to sip. Plus we have recipes for an amazing steak, salmon with a different twist, and a beautiful...
April 28, 2015 – Miami-based Norwegian Cruise Line will be offering passengers beer, wine and spirits for free as a part of cruise packages from Miami to the Bahamas. The all-inclusive offer starts January 2016 on the Norwegian Sky. The cruise line is testing the concept on three- and four-day...
April 28, 2015 – After all the drubbing they have taken lately for their snotty poke at craft beer, we can report that the King of Beers is courting Lady Liberty with some pretty creative packaging and a $2.5 million donation to the National Parks Foundation. The announcement was made...
April 28, 2015 – Imagine sipping Johnnie Walker Red Label mixed with ginger in a glass that produces music when it touches your teeth! Johnnie Walker, the brand that brought you ugly brogues with concealed mini bottles in the heels http://wineandspirits.com/these-shoes-are-made-for-boozing/ is testing the concept in the U.K. The glass has an...
April 24, 2015 – Next time you are waiting in line and feeling frustrated, don’t get mad. Get creative like Josh Goodman did. Josh and his friends were at a Baltimore sports bar in 2008 waiting to get a beer before an Orioles game. It occurred to Josh there had...
April 24, 2015 – Sometimes it is just plain exhausting. With few exceptions, we’re all obsessed with weight, calories, carbs, blah, blah, blah. How much can we drink and still fit into our clothes? How many push ups to repair damage from one beer? You know the drill. So we see...
April 24, 2015 – We all know the ad for Dos Equis but who is “the most interesting man in the world”? We thought it was our neighbor. At a Halloween party a couple of years ago, “Bruce” came as himself, “the most interesting man in the world” and by...
April 21, 2015 – Two developments in the brewing industry involve treated sewage in one case and leftover bread in another. The second sounds more palatable, for sure. Oregon, home to a vibrant craft beer industry, has given the green light to beer brewed using recycled wastewater, also called sewage....
April 21, 2015 – Creating black cocktails by adding charcoal is the latest trend at some of London’s famous bars. It doesn’t seem to have caught on in the U.S. as yet although there are a few bars in Washington, D.C. and New York that have developed creations beyond Halloween...
April 21, 2015 — Wisconsin is home to New Glarus Brewing, which produces “Spotted Cow” beer much coveted in neighboring states like Minnesota and Illinois. But it’s only available in Wisconsin. The manager at the Maple Tavern in Maple Grove, MN drove over the state line to a liquor store...
April 21, 2015 – Franklin County, KY Sheriff Pat Melton announced the indictment of nine suspects in the theft of Kentucky bourbon. Among the nine were two employees of Buffalo Trace Distillery and one from Wild Turkey. The investigation has been going on since 2008 and included the headline grabbing...
April 17, 2015 – Collaboration between these two well-known companies has the beer world agog with excitement. Will it be an ice cream flavored beer or a beer flavored ice cream? Judging from the press release, this is a marriage based on their common B Corporation status, the “B” standing...
April 17, 2015 – It’s the weekend and what’s not to like about watching the Bottle Boys, the group from Copenhagen, play the toe tapping Radetzky March using Kirin beer bottles while chefs make sushi. Kirin beer flew the fivesome to Tokyo to make this commercial. The Japanese sure make...
April 16, 2015 – Cinco de Mayo is around the corner and tequila will be flowing. But what about mezcal and that pesky worm? What’s the difference in the two? The term “mezcal”, an Aztec word, refers to any alcohol made from agave. So all tequila is mezcal but not...
April 15, 2015 – Reality shows are hot stuff! Everything from renovating the bathroom to saving failing bars has a TV show. One very popular pastime that doesn’t have a show is wine, but that is about to change. Our good buddy in the Napa Valley, Jason Elkin is ready...
April 14, 2015 – Five hundred wines, 160 “evaluators”, over 4,000 glasses, an entertaining seminar and 75 helpful volunteers added up to a great day at the Ninth Annual Consumer Wine Awards held on Saturday, April 11 in Sacramento. The emphasis is on the consumer. The program’s founder, Tim Hanni,...
April 14, 2015 – There’s been “a storm in a still” going on for a couple of years now and it’s all about who can use the term “Tennessee whiskey”. Jack Daniel’s has been using it for a long time and they want to keep the term exclusively theirs. It...
April 10, 2015 – This story gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “Champagne House”. It really is a house, not an estate producing Champagne. Located in Chelyabinsk, Russia, the house is 99 square meters, about 1,000 sq. ft., and has been dubbed by locals, rather appropriately, as “Palace...
April 10, 2015 – There are plenty of weirdly flavored beers out there. Pizza. Key Lime Pie. Coconut Curry. Maple Bacon Coffee. Coffee turns up more than a few times. We just read about Kentucky Breakfast Stout from Founders Brewing Company in Boston. If you like bitter, burnt coffee flavors...
April 10, 2015 – Kudos to Japanese whisky maker Suntory and their ad agency TBWAHakuhodo for creating an award-winning ad featuring amazingly carved ice cubes. Forget the current fascination with spherical ice cubes. These are teeny tiny sculptures of famous landmarks, characters or just interesting items such as the Statue...
April 6, 2015 – Keeping everything up to date in Kansas City means offering fans at Kauffman Stadium 75 choices of craft beer. Craft & Draft can be found in the old .390 Club location on the loge level down the left field line. Local Boulevard Brewing Company and their...
April 6, 2015 – We kid you not. Why would Region 8 of the Forest Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture produce a “Cocktail Construction” chart in 1974? We don’t know but suspect some engineers had time on their hands. The drawing is from a series labeled “Engineering and...
April 6, 2015 — The Wall Street Journal reports that Scotch whisky sales to the U.S. fell nine percent last year due to a shift to bourbon and other American whiskeys. Scotch whisky exports have dropped worldwide, not just to the USA. China, once a promising market, has declined since...
They are legion and they keep getting better. Here are three that we like: Wine Dictionary This is really useful, especially if you are beginning to explore wine but are still overwhelmed. It is available for both iPhone and Android, and it’s free. With this app you can learn the...
April 1, 2015 – When you are 153 years old, it’s time for a facelift! Returning to its youth, Bacardi has revamped the packaging for its world-famous rum borrowing details from El Edificio Bacardi, the brand’s former sales office and iconic bar in Havana, Cuba. Heavily influenced by Art Deco...
April 1, 2015 – Reading about alcohol is never dull! Take the following news stories, which we found all in one day: A company in Australia was flogging beer in a package that included a map of Australia, and the wording “100% owned” and “made from Australia’s finest malt” on...
April 1, 2015 – The Brewers Association, a trade group for the craft beer industry, has just published its list of the top 50 breweries for 2014 based on sales volume. They also published a list of the top 50 overall brewing companies of which 42 are craft brewers. In...
It happens all the time, perhaps while enjoying a lovely glass of wine, or especially when visiting wine country, wherever it may be. The romance of the wine industry inspires heady visions of owning a vineyard. When you come right down to it, winegrowing is farming and it is fraught...
March 30, 2015 – Craft beer stories emanate from both coasts, the mid-west and Texas. Now the southern states are catching up. Fifteen years ago Diamond Bear brewery opened in Arkansas and it was a struggle. It won awards but failed to break even most of those years. After all,...
March 30, 2015 – In a professional sports team first, The Brew Kettle brewery of Strongsville, Ohio and the Cleveland Cavaliers have come together with a special beer named for the team’s tagline “All For One”. The beer is a session IPA or India Pale Ale. “Sessionable” beer typically refers...
March 30, 2015 –The bad news first: Three or more alcoholic drinks a day significantly increase the risk of liver cancer according to research published by the London-based World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF). The good news: Drinking coffee daily helps to reduce the incidence of liver cancer for daily drinkers...
March 27, 2015 — University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign scientists have engineered a yeast that could greatly increase the health benefits of wine while reducing the toxic byproducts that cause your morning-after headache. They dubbed it “Jailbreaking” yeast. “Fermented foods–such as beer, wine, and bread–are made with polyploid strains of yeast,...
March 27, 2015 – Besides the joy of leaving the snow and cold behind, attendees at the Minnesota Twins’ Spring Training at Hammond Stadium, Fort Myers, are enjoying a new taste experience – a Blue Moon Creamsicle shake. Or maybe their choice was a Key Lime Beer Shake or Young’s...
March 27, 2015 – It isn’t just the domestic market that is seeing soaring sales for craft beer. Browsing around the Internet we came across a report on CNBC about the growth of craft beer exports. According to the Brewers Association, craft beer export volume rose 35.7 percent in 2014,...
March 25, 2015 — Latah Creek Winery near Spokane, WA seems an unlikely target for terrorists but the bizarre and unthinkable happened last Friday afternoon when their Home page was taken over by a hacker proclaiming “I am Muslin & I love jihad”. Written in poor English, the hacker(s) “Team...
March 23, 2015 – This idea for storing beer in the fridge is so clever you have to wonder why someone didn’t think of it before! Fortunately, someone did and you can buy it. BottleLoft – even the name is clever – is a system for hanging beer bottles above...
March 23, 2015 – A number of popular inexpensive wines were found to contain quite high levels of arsenic when tested recently. The news has lead to hyperbole by some news organizations. Suggesting something like “a glass of wine may not be healthy; it may kill you” grabs attention but...
March 20, 2015 — The week of St. Patrick’s Day seems like an appropriate time to report that craft beer in 2014 rose a whopping 42 percent and for the first time, reached double digits as a percentage of beer sales. Eleven percent, to be exact. In 2013, craft’s share...
March 20, 2015 – British drinks giant, Diageo, has just announced it would begin publishing nutritional and alcoholic content per serving on its labels and on line. It is being applauded in the U.K. trade as well as in Europe where it will take longer to implement. The voluntary move...
March 20, 2015 — Remember we told you about Mira Winery of Napa aging its wines in Charleston Harbor last year? You can read all about the experiment and the subsequent tasting here. The wine named “Aquaoir” turned out well, as we reported, and the 12 bottles that were released...
March 16, 2015 – Budweiser should hire this guy if he’s not in jail. It all went down in New Orleans. Clarence Sturdivant, 64 and his neighbor Walter Merrick, 66 were hanging out in the parking lot of their apartment building, reportedly discussing which beer was the better. Studivant asked...
March 16, 2015 — The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau has approved the production and sale of powdered alcohol. The approval was actually given last April but withdrawn because of issues with the labeling. It caused a lot of angst then and even more now. We wrote about...
March 16, 2015 – St. Patrick’s Day calls for something special so we turned to our friend mixologist Robert Newhouse at Fat’s Asia Bistro in Folsom. His customers will be drinking some very creative and delicious concoctions that look so good you might want to repeat them at your summer...
March 16, 2015 – Imagine having a nice cold one but no opener. It seems there is no end to creative solutions. Some improvised openers we’ve seen include keys, a spoon, knife, bullet, gun (preferably unloaded!), table edge, another bottle of beer, a lighter, teeth, even a cell phone. We’re...
March 13, 2015 – It would have been a hell of a party, but unfortunately for Gilbert Curtsinger, someone tipped off the Franklin County Sheriff in Frankfort, Kentucky and he was arrested Wednesday evening. When Deputies searched Curtsinger’s home they found five barrels of stolen Wild Turkey bourbon stashed behind...
March 13. 2015 –Johnnie Walker and a London shoemaker have collaborated to make a pair of shoes, Oxford brogues to be exact, that conceal a bottle of Johnnie Walker Scotch Whisky in each heel. (We couldn’t resist borrowing from Nancy Sinatra’s hit song “These Shoes are Made for Walkin’”) They’re...
March 12, 2015 – Spring starts in just one week – March 20 – which means summer and swimsuits are not far behind. So, if your goal – you know, the one you set every year – is to look trim, taut, terrific, you’d better get started. We found a...
March 9, 2015 – An intact bottle of wine that was found on a shipwreck off Bermuda dating back to 1864 was opened and tasted recently as a part of the Charleston, S.C. Wine and Food Festival. But sadly, unlike the Champagne from1839 found on a wreck in the Baltic...
March 9, 2015 – Message to party animals: One drink and you look good. Make it two and you are an unattractive mess. That’s according to experiments conducted by the University of Bristol in the U.K. and reported in the Alcohol and Alcoholism journal. Forty noble students volunteered to get...
March 9, 2015 – America’s turbulent relationship with alcoholic beverages is now on view at the National Archives Museum’s “Spirited Republic” exhibit, which opened March 6, 2015. The exhibit tracks the history of alcohol from the early settlers to the present day. Beer, hard cider, spirits and wine were consumed...
March 6, 2015 – Chateau La Paws is a brand dedicated to helping shelter dogs find their forever homes. No bow wow, the wines are made by Rosenblum Cellars of Sonoma. The labels of the three wines that have just been introduced to the marketplace feature the faces of a...
March 6, 2015 – Are you in the wine business and would like to be more knowledgeable? Are you a wine enthusiast who would like to improve your knowledge? If the answer is “yes” to either question, you might want to consider a course at the Napa Valley Wine Academy....
March 2, 2015 – The growth of the craft beer industry is one of those stories that fuel our proclivity to root for the little guy. We enjoy the idea of David taking on a Goliath like Anheuser-Busch and even better, winning. In 2013, the latest year for data, craft...
March 2, 2015 – We’re familiar with Madeira and even visited the Portuguese island many moons ago but Lettie Teague’s article in The Wall Street Journal this past weekend taught us a thing or two. Madeira never deteriorates. Even a bottle that has been opened will last for years, even...
March 2, 2015 – The Highway Patrol pulls you over and the officer asks if you’ve been drinking. “No sir. My car has.” That’s not quite as ridiculous as it sounds. A company in Scotland, Celtic Renewables, has found a way to convert waste from whisky distilleries into fuel for...
Feb. 27, 2015 –Smart phones, smart houses, smart just about everything. How much more “smart” do we need? Apparently we need a smart Scotch bottle. Diageo, the biggest beverage alcohol company in the world has teamed up with Norway-based Thin Film Electronics to create a bottle label that communicates with...
Feb. 27, 2015 – For many of us, the image conjured up by the mention of Cognac is a brandy snifter, cigar, a fireplace, or at least candles, and possibly a handsome dude in a silk smoking jacket. It’s not a bad image but it’s about to change big time....
Feb. 27, 2015 — Here’s a fun test for yourself and/or your friends. No one has to be a knowledgeable wine lover, or even drink wine for that matter. It’s all about how glassware changes the taste of the wine. It works with just two different glasses but can also...
Feb. 23, 2015 – The craft beer segment grew about 18 percent last year but IPA style beer grew an amazing 50 percent making up about a quarter of all craft beer sales. The information comes from IRI, a respected market research firm. Lovers of hoppy suds will be pleased...
Feb. 20, 2015 – Here’s a good laugh. In case you missed it, The Huffington Post has a video of a man trying to sneak beer into a stadium in Turkey. What gave him away? Could it be his big coat and scarf when everyone else was dressed in T-shirts? ...
Feb. 20, 2015 – It’s good to know both Carnival and Delta take their drinking customers seriously. Carnival will be launching their biggest ever liner, the 4000 passenger Carnival Vista, with many revolutionary features, but the one that caught our attention was the RedFrog Pub. It’s not just any old...
Feb. 20, 2015 — Judging at the Consumer Wine Awards is a unique opportunity for average wine consumers to have their say, and in the words of Tim Hanni, co-founder of CWA “to break the tyranny of wine critics”. Becoming an Evaluator at the next Consumer Wine Awards scheduled for...
Feb. 16, 2015 – The Wine Market Council, a non-profit trade group for growers, winemakers, wholesalers – anyone seriously involved in the wine industry – recently held a seminar in Napa, CA. The market research was intense and unless you like to read and digest statistics for fun, we’ll spare...
Feb. 16, 2015 – The California Craft Brewers Association has announced an exciting event for craft beer brewers and enthusiasts to rub shoulders with the beer brotherhood September 11-12, 2015 in Sacramento at the Sacramento Convention Center. The Craft Beer Summit will be a part of the third annual Farm-to-Fork...
Feb. 13, 2015 – Listen up, cider fans, Original Sin Hard Cider has just shipped a limited release of their latest hard cider made with Northern Spy apples. The cider will be available in selected markets in kegs. Northern Spy Dry Cider is the latest addition to their line of...
Feb. 12, 2015 – Despite their Super Bowl ad putdown of craft beer, which caused a huge brouhaha, there are reports that Anheuser-Busch InBev is still sniffing around the industry looking for breweries to acquire. The latest report comes from Florida where Cigar City Brewing of Tampa confirmed A-B InBev...
Feb. 9, 2015 – It’s too early to say whether beer offers protection against neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s but research at Lanzhou University in China found that xanthohumol (Xn), a compound found in hops, protected brain cells in rats from oxidative stress. Rats. It’s a long way...
Feb. 9, 2015 – The good news just keeps coming for beer and other types of alcohol. We’ve covered the possible positive effects of xanthohumol, a compound found in hops, on the brain http://www.wineandspirits.com/could-beer-be-good-for-alzheimers/ but there’s the heart, diabetes, bones and more. An Italian study showed that moderate beer drinkers had 42...
Feb. 6, 2015 – We’re not talking about the lost-puppy-rescued-by-Clydesdales ad but the one that was sort of anti craft brewed beers. We thought it was just us, but it turns out a lot of other people found it curious, too. The ad talks about Budweiser as “not brewed to...
Feb. 6, 2015 – About 22,000 acres of vines have been bulldozed in California’s Central Valley. Also known as the San Joaquin Valley, the area produces two thirds of the State’s wine production. Nut trees, primarily almonds, walnuts and pistachios, which yield higher returns to the farmers, are replacing them....
Jan. 30, 2015 – Valentine’s Day is just two weeks away so it’s time to shop for the fixings for a special martini to surprise your loved one. We spoke to mixologist Michael Skinkle-Hill of Charlie’s Café in Elmira, N.Y. He’s been creating a special drink for Valentine’s Day for...
Jan. 30, 2015 – Unless you’ve been living in Siberia, everyone knows the craft brewing industry is exploding in this country. We reported just a few days ago there’s an average of 1.5 new breweries opening every day. There’s lots of competition and more to come. In order to keep...
Jan. 30, 2015 – We came across an interesting post on Yahoo that we want to share. Bars are going niche and there’s an exciting trend across the country you need to know about. You never know when you’ll be overcome with a desire to explore a huge gin selection...
Jan 26, 2015 — The stats tell the story. According to the Brewers Association, a trade group for the craft brewing industry, overall beer sales are down 1.9% but craft brewing is up 17.2%. Imports lost a bit at -0.6% but U.S. craft beer exports rose a healthy 49%. These...
Jan. 26, 2015 – If you’ve had more than your share of “Deflate-gate” there’s something a whole lot cuter coming up on Super Bowl Sunday and it’s Budweiser’s commercial starring the puppy and the Clydesdales. It’s a year later and the puppy is still a puppy, but we’ll overlook that. ...
Jan. 23, 2015 — Gotta love this story! Those two fantastic, intrepid climbers who climbed the sheer granite Dawn Wall of El Capitan in Yosemite, using just their hands and feet and ropes, enjoyed an occasional nip of their favorite Kentucky Straight Bourbon on their way up. The climb took...
Jan. 22, 2015 – We are very pleased to bring you the top wine picks of top wine retailers compiled by Beverage Dynamics, the leading publication of the wine and spirits retail industry since 1935. The list, along with tasting notes and prices appeared in the November/December issue. The complete...
Jan. 22, 2015 — When a giant brewery, a dedicated entrepreneur and a high profile Hollywood star come together to help bring clean water to millions in the third world, it is worth writing about, especially when it takes so little to make one life better and happier. Stella Artois,...
Jan. 19, 2015 – Never underestimate the power of Twitter! Lagunitas Brewing Co. has dropped its suit against Sierra Nevada Brewing Company for trademark infringement. Lagunitas founder Tony Magee withdrew the suit after some of his fans hit the …t on Twitter. The suit was over the typeface used for...
Jan. 19, 2015 – Shanken News reports that a whole lot of big guns are going after the craft brewers with a lawsuit challenging tasting room sales. Retailers and distributor groups, including associations representing Anheuser-Busch and Miller Coors distributors, have filed a suit against Florida’s Department of Business and Professional...
Jan. 19, 2015 – At the end of last year, the Food and Drug Administration’s new rule requires chain restaurants to list the calories of alcoholic drinks on their menus http://wineandspirits.com/fda-requiring-calorie-count-in-alcoholic-drinks/. In an effort to get ahead of the issue, WineAmerica, a trade organization with 600 members nationally, has hired...
Jan. 16, 2015 – Bordeaux producer Gérard Descrambe commissioned three of the murdered Charlie Hebdo cartoonists to create labels for his estate Château Barrail des Graves starting in the early 1970s. The cartoonists whose work mocked everything from drunkenness to sex were editor-in-chief Stéphane Charbonnier (Charb), Georges Wolinski and Bernard...
Jan. 16, 2015 – MillerCoors announced this week that a gluten free beer called “Coors Peak Copper Lager” will launch next month in Portland and Seattle. Production limitations preclude a broader roll out for now. To make the beer gluten-free, Coors will replace barley with brown rice, malted brown rice...
Jan. 16, 2015 – “Here’s mud in your eye.” How did this saying come to be a drinking toast? It’s not clear but we’ve heard three explanations. One we’ve never heard before suggests it originated at the track where every horse and jockey behind the winner ends up with mud...
Jan. 13, 2015 — Hardly a week goes by that we don’t hear of a new distillery breaking ground or having a grand opening. We’re all for entrepreneurship and very interested to see that another entrepreneur has figured out that aspiring distillers need help. Moonshine University located at the Distilled...
Jan. 13, 2015 – Drug company Pfizer thinks it is on to something with a pill to help alcoholics beat their addiction. Working with the National Institutes of Health they are setting up tests in the form of fake bars that replicate a real bar environment but serve colored water. ...
Jan. 9, 2015 – Sunday, January 11 is National Hot Toddy Day so it is absolutely obligatory that we all support the movement or whatever it is. It’s also Milk Day and all of January is National Oatmeal Month. We’ll take the toddy. The origin of the toddy isn’t clear. ...
Jan. 5, 2015 – As wine sales slip in China as a result of the Government’s crackdown on high priced entertainment and gifts, another Asian market looks promising. Wine is making inroads in Japan as the younger generation rejects the traditional drink of sake. The 4,000 or so breweries producing...
Jan. 5, 2015 – Thousands of new laws went into effect January 1, California topping the list with a total of 930 (how have we managed to have an orderly society in all the years prior to 2015 one wonders!) The new law that’s had the most media coverage wasn’t...
Jan. 5, 2015 – Maker’s Mark is being sued and in a separate story, Maker’s Mark has historic links to the James gang. Let’s start with the lawsuit. The plaintiffs are from San Diego and say they were ripped off (defrauded in legalese) by the claim of “handmade” on the...
Jan. 13, 2015 — If you bought Kirin beer between October 25, 2009 and December 17, 2014 and still have the receipt, you may be entitled to $50 from Anheuser-Busch. A lawsuit by two Miami residents alleged the packaging was deceptive implying the beer was made in Japan when in...
Dec. 30, 2014 — No need to think about this one. The drink of choice is bubbly. What you do have to think about is your wallet. The big trend that’s getting lots of media attention, and we’re as guilty as anyone as we wrote about it ages ago, is...
Dec. 29, 2014 – We love wine, spirits and beer and we have a good time tasting them and writing about them. But we also respect them. Sometimes wisdom really does come with age! We want our readers to have a great New Year so here are a few tips...
Dec. 24, 2014 – The latest statistics we have seen put the citizens of Belarus at the top of the list for the highest per capita consumption of alcohol in the world. Hard liquor is the drink of choice and they down 17.5 liters per person. Hard on their heels...
Dec. 23, 2014 — You’re hosting a party and suddenly you have to figure out how much booze to buy. You want your guests to have enough but you don’t want them getting blitzed. Here are a few quick tips. A 750 ml bottle of wine or any other beverage...
Dec. 18, 2014 – The Food and Drug Administration wants you to know the number of calories in alcoholic drinks but only if the drink is on a menu in a chain restaurant with 20 or more outlets. This new rule, due to go into effect November 2015, does not...
Dec. 18, 2014 – Lake Tahoe is a year-round tourist destination. Right now ski season is in full swing and after years of drought, Californians are grateful to welcome the snow and rain. There’s nothing like a roaring fire and a convivial bar scene to make a relaxing evening after...
Dec. 18, 2014 – A recently released federal study on underage drinking and binge drinking showed that both are at their lowest levels since 1975. The survey of more than 41,000 students was conducted in 377 public and private schools throughout the United States. The Monitoring the Future Survey for...
Dec. 11, 2014 – If you want to make your fans really mad, really, really mad, sell your craft brewery to Anheuser-Busch InBev. That’s what the owners of 10 Barrel Brewing in Bend, Oregon, did last month and the fans are reacting on Facebook describing the owners as greedy and...
Dec. 11, 2014 – Rock star Melissa Etheridge has a line of marijuana-infused wines in partnership with Greenway Compassionate Relief, a Santa Cruz, California dispensary for medical marijuana. The singer used medical marijuana after undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer in 2004. The wine can only be sold as a “wine...
Dec. 11, 2014 — Looking for something different, easy and do-ahead? Look no further. Raging Grasshopper is pretty, delicious and sure to impress your guests. The recipe is courtesy of mixologist, party planner and consultant Rob Newhouse of Fat’s Asia Bistro in Folsom, California. We can guarantee its deliciousness. The...
Dec. 8, 2014 – The news is good but as always, there are caveats. A team at the University of Colorado Cancer Center led by Robert Sclafani, PhD, has determined the how and why a compound in red wine has a favorable effect on head and neck cancers. The compound...
Dec. 8, 2014 – Virginia is a wonderful state for anyone with a taste for history and now, a taste for beer made from 300-year-old recipes. The Virginia Historical Society, a privately funded non-profit, has collected and saved recipes for beer, food and medicinal remedies that otherwise might have been...
Dec. 8, 2014 — Wine and Spirits educator, Harriet Lembeck has reviewed four new wine books plus a book about whiskey that will increase your knowledge and add to the enjoyment of wines from both hemispheres. With whiskey’s popularity soaring, Tasting Whiskey is an affordable guide for those just starting...
Dec. 5, 2014 — We receive many inquiries about William Wolf Pecan Bourbon http://wineandspirits.com/whats-better-than-pecan-pie-pecan-bourbon/ asking where to buy it. We checked the current status of distribution and these lucky states currently have distribution: NY, FL, TX, SC, IL, MN, WI, NE, MD, DE, DC, LA Ten more states will open...
Dec. 5, 2014 — It’s described as the first-of-its-kind social media-based White Elephant party called “Tw’elf Re-Gift-O-Rama” in which everyone is a winner. Embracing the popularity of selfies, the re-gift-o-rama encourages you to capture and share your Mike’s Hard Lemonade holiday moments with a #Twelfie (a selfie taken with any...
Dec. 5, 2014 – Our ancestors, the ones that were still living in trees, almost certainly evolved the ability to break down alcohol by snacking on fermenting rotten fruit on the ground. Eventually, they moved out of the trees permanently so were they the first, genuine party animals? That’s not...
Nov. 30, 2014 – Two new shows dedicated to bar crawling around the world are competing in the 10:00 p.m. slot on Monday nights. “Booze Traveler” hosted by Jack Maxwell debuted on the Travel Channel on November 24. The same night at 10:30 p.m. National Geographic rolled out “Chug” hosted...
Nov. 30, 2014 – A recent study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention contradicts the widely held belief that heavy drinkers are alcoholics. Only 10 percent of adults met the criteria defining alcoholism. The study analyzed self-reported data from 138,100 adults. The standard measure identifying heavy drinkers...
Nov. 30, 2014 – Forget the mammoth TVs and other whizz bang electronics. If you live in Wisconsin and have your priorities right, you stood in line for beer. For the past four years the Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee has produced a limited edition Black Friday beer that diehards line...
Nov. 27, 2014 – The King of Beers is losing its throne. The Wall Street Journal reports that shipments of Budweiser in 2013 dropped from 30 million barrels to 16 million. Another amazing statistic is that 44 percent of people aged 21 to 27 have never sipped an ice cold...
Nov. 27, 2014 – We saw a headline on Yahoo! touting natural hangover remedies so of course we were interested, not that we ever over-indulge you understand. Reading through it made us practically bilious. First off, before heading to the party you should take a couple of Prickly Pear pills,...
Nov. 24, 2014 – Every year it’s the same old conundrum: what wine to serve with the Thanksgiving meal. We have a couple of our own preferences but we decided to see what the “experts” were recommending. Turns out there is absolutely no consensus. After finding 18 different recommendations for...
Nov. 21, 2014 – We’ve admired and followed celebrity chefs for several decades. Now there’s a new star with increasing celebrity status and that’s the mixologist. This is someone with the creativity and talent to take bartending to new heights. How many of us can take three or four really...
Nov. 17, 2014 – Every now and again you taste something that puts a big smile on your face. This was our reaction to Kerrygold Irish Cream Liqueur, a smooth, luscious new liqueur blended from rich Irish cream, aged Irish whiskey and the finest quality chocolate. Mixologist will go nuts...
Nov. 14, 2014 – As the saying goes, everything is bigger in Texas and the brand new Ironroot Republic Distillery in Denison is no exception. The Distillery officially opens it doors in its new location, in a former boat dealership, on November 15 with a big party and Texas barbecue....
Nov. 14, 2014 — Eight hundred bottles of Peach Brandy Eau de Vie made at George Washington’s Mount Vernon Distillery go on sale today. If you want a bottle, you’d better hurry up. The first rye whiskey made at the distillery sold out in two hours. Be ready to pony...
Nov. 14, 2014 – The many fans of Drew Barrymore will be delighted by her new wine launched in time for the holiday season. The “bright and crisp” Barrymore Carmel Road Pinot Grigio 2013 is sourced from Monterey vineyards owned by Jackson Family Wines and will retail for around $14.99....
Nov. 6, 2014 – Peter Mondavi, the patriarch of the Charles Krug Winery in the Napa Valley, will celebrate his 100th birthday on November 8. Always courteous and gentlemanly, Peter Mondavi headed up winemaking at the Charles Krug winery purchased by the family in 1943. His effervescent brother, Robert Mondavi,...
Nov. 6, 2014 – In what must be a huge blow to the national psyche, the Scots not only lost the title of best whisky in the world, they didn’t even make it into the top five. The winner was Yamazaki Single Malt Sherry Cask 2013 from Suntory, Japan’s oldest...
Nov. 6, 2014 – Ardbeg Distillery in Scotland may have been founded the same year as the Battle of Waterloo, but they are certainly not resting on their laurels. They are so forward thinking that some of their whisky has spent three years in space. A number of earthling whisky...
Nov. 1 — We love it when the gossip is about important things like wine. According to celeb watchers who never miss a thing, Rihanna was spotted leaving classy Italian restaurant Giorgio Baldi in Santa Monica, California recently, a half-drunk bottle of Sassicaia in hand. A popular Super Tuscan, the...
Nov. 1 — The American College of Cardiology recently published results of a new study showing how a healthy lifestyle, including moderate alcohol consumption, reduces heart attack risk. The study involved more than 20,000 Swedish men and the five key lifestyle behaviors for low risk were a healthy diet; no...
Nov. 1 – Vodka, long the best-selling spirit, is about to be replaced by whiskey, possibly by the end of this year, as the biggest selling spirit in the U.S. The increase in sales of whiskey, especially the made-in-America variety, has been confirmed by the industry trade group DISCUS (Distilled...
Good news for the over-65 population. The American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias reports that moderate imbibing later in life improves the ability to remember specific things compared to abstaining. The research, conducted over decades, followed 664 people who were 42 when it started and 75 when it...
If you love beer and want to know more, a new course about beer and food might be fun to explore. The Brewers Association, a trade association dedicated to small and independent brewers, has created the new course to educate culinary institutions, restaurants, beverage students and beer educators. While it...
No reason why the kids should have all the fun. Besides, too much candy is bad for them and it is your responsibility to eat some of it. And after dealing with ever changing costume choices, traipsing the cold streets and pretending to enjoy every minute, you deserve a reward....
Creators of the Whiskey Element claim their wooden stick will “age” your-run-of-the-mill whiskey purchase and make it top shelf in a matter of hours. So far, 3,808 people agree and have contributed $141,588 (as of writing) to their Kickstarter fund. Their goal was $18,000. Whiskey ages in barrels and picks...
The international beer world no longer snickers and rolls their eyes at the mention of American beer. As we wrote recently, American craft breweries are invading the bastions of brewing in Europe http://wineandspirits.com/craft-beers-find-a-new-market/. Now it is the Scots turn to visit America and learn from the expertise of craft brewers...
After two consecutive years of 4 million ton harvests, this year’s harvest is predicted to be nearer 3.7 or 3.8 million tons, according to industry publication Wines & Vines. There are numerous reasons for the decline. The drought in California has affected the size of the harvest but the quality...
The point of a recent long article about why men admire women who order whiskey rather than a pretty cocktail got us thinking about tastes and trends in alcohol in the U.S. since the end of Prohibition in 1933. What did the wives and girlfriends of the “Greatest Generation” drink?...
Students at the University of Washington have come up with a non-working prototype for a bracelet that monitors the wearer’s levels of alcohol and dehydration. The wristband vibrates alerting the wearer to squeeze the device showing he or she is conscious. As alcohol levels rise, vibrations become more frequent. If...
Move over marmalade. Bye bye peanut butter. There’s a new spread from Italy called Birra Spalmabile – that’s Italian for “spreadable beer” – and we’re assured it tastes delicious on toast and just about everything else, including ice cream. A chocolate maker and brewer got together and concocted a sticky-but-smooth...
Georgia can be described as the cradle of winemaking with 8,000 vintages under its belt. They also had 525 grape varieties, including clones, of which 440 are still in use! This is a country that has been serious about wine since 6,000 B.C and some of their wines are available...
“Will Drinking Vinegar Actually Boost Your Health?” was the headline of a story someone sent us, and it went on to enumerate all the good things that might happen if you do. It wasn’t exactly what we had in mind when we decided to explore Drinking Vinegar also called a...
A judge in Santa Ana, California dismissed the lawsuit brought by John Wayne’s heirs seeking to trademark the actor’s moniker, Duke, for use on alcoholic beverages, excluding beers. Duke University in North Carolina argued that allowing the trademark would be confusing and deceptive. The judge said the venue was improper...
Is there such a thing as “southern” beer and if so, what makes it special? Local ingredients, that’s what. This is the season for pumpkin flavored beer but head to North Carolina, or Mississippi and you’ll find some truly unique flavors. At Fullsteam Brewery in Durham, N.C you’ll find native...
As we write, Sky News in the U.K. is calling the Scottish election in favor of Scotland staying in the United Kingdom. Whew! We’re definitely not getting into a debate about the merits or not of separation. We’re focused on what’s really important and that’s an uninterrupted supply of Scotch...
The Sons of Liberty, a distillery located in South Kingstown, RI, has won a coveted award from Whisky Magazine in the U.K. for the “World’s Best Flavored Whiskey”. This is the first time a U.S. craft distillery has won a “World’s Best”. Whisky Magazine started the awards in 2007. The...
Comrade Putin has sicced his food police on Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey Liqueur. The consumer watchdog apparatus Rospotrebnadzor claimed it had found potentially hazardous chemical substances and the product did not conform to Russian labeling regulations. Brown-Forman, owner of Jack Daniel’s, has been selling spirits in Russia for 15 years...
A sinkhole discovered near an I-380 access ramp in Cedar Rapids, IA may turn out to be an old beer cave used by the Magnus Brewery built in 1859. Subterranean caverns were used as cool storage spaces for beer and some were large enough for a truck to enter. The...
The “everything” in this case is dessert. “Bourbon Desserts” (University Press of Kentucky, $19.95) by Lynn Marie Hulsman has more than 100 American recipes for cakes, cookies, ice cream, custards, eggnog and so on, all enhanced by bourbon. She includes a short background about each dish and the instructions are...
Everything’s bigger in Texas. Texas-based brewery Austin Beerworks has released a special 99-pack of its Peacemaker Anytime Ale, packaged in a 7-foot-long cardboard box. That’s just over half-a-keg’s worth of beer. If you are thinking of a quick trip to the local market, it takes at least two people to...
Home brewers start packing! San Diego is in your future in June 2015. But it nearly didn’t happen. The California Assembly and the Governor came together to pass Assembly Bill 2609 amending an earlier bill that caused the cancellation of the Southern California Homebrewers Festival and the AHA National Homebrewers...
Do not put plans on hold for visiting the Valley’s many attractions over Labor Day and the following weeks of crush. Napa Valley is open for business. Tasting rooms are open, restaurants are serving their splendid food, and hotels are geared up to welcome you. Parts of downtown Napa were...
In the spirit of neighbor helping neighbor, the Napa Valley Vintners, a nonprofit trade association with 500 members, has pledged $10 million to create a Napa Valley Community Disaster Relief Fund to help the hundreds of local residents and businesses impacted by the August 24 earthquake. Individuals and businesses from...
Winemakers are always ready to help fellow winemakers in times of crisis and the “Wine Country Earthquake” as it has been dubbed, is no exception. The well-organized and efficient staff of the Napa Valley Vintners (NVV) is gathering information and coordinating assistance for its 500 members. Information is still coming...
Government is good at creating unintended consequences. Recently the state of Maryland made it illegal to sell grain alcohol that is 190 proof or more (95% abv). University presidents felt is led to sexual assaults and binge drinking, bad things that they wanted to reduce. That’s reasonable. However, now life...
Columbia Crest Winery, set high above the Columbia River in Paterson, Washington, has a very clever program for its Cabernet Sauvignon. The 2014 vintage will be Crowdsourced Cabernet. What a great opportunity for neophytes and nerds alike! Here’s your chance to be a part of the whole production from harvesting,...
Total damage from the 6.0 earthquake that struck Napa at 3:20 a.m. Sunday morning will take a few days to assess. Early reports indicate limited damage to tanks and crush equipment, a good thing with the 2014 harvest about to begin. However, it might be a different story if barrels...
It’s only mid-August but the 2014 harvest has started in various parts of the State, especially for whites that will go into bubbly. We just wrote about the new Malibu Coast AVA and already Casa Dumetz is picking grapes for their sparkling wine. A bit further north in the Santa...
A bottle of ’92 Dom Perignon was causing our friend anxiety. It had been dragged around California during multiple moves – always in an ice chest, he assured us – but he couldn’t decide which occasion was special enough to drink it. How about just to celebrate being alive, happy...
Rudy Kurniawan, the wine counterfeiter, was recently sentenced to 10 years behind bars and ordered to pay restitution of $28.4 million, and forfeit an additional $20 million as punishment. Who gets the $20 million? We don’t know. Probably the government. Over an eight-year period, Kurniawan sold about $50 million worth...
Even when you are the biggest drinks company in the world, you can still lose in a battle with a small but iconic Club based in New York. The prestigious Explorers Club sued Diageo, makers of Johnnie Walker Whisky for using the term “Johnnie Walker Explorers’ Club” for a line...
If you can’t find that delicious under-$10 Malbec from Argentina that you’ve grown to love, don’t blame the retailer, or the importer, or the winery. Blame Argentina’s economy. Rampant inflation has sent labor costs soaring making it unprofitable to produce less expensive wines. According to The Wall Street Journal, wine...
It all started in November 1991 when 60 Minutes aired The French Paradox questioning how the French with their diet of rich food and smoking suffered fewer heart attacks, had less obesity and lived 2.5 years longer than Americans. The answer posited was their consumption of red wine. After being...
The Napa Valley is not a very big place being just 30 miles long and only five miles across at its widest point. The Napa River bisects the Valley from north to south, flowing through the world-famous vineyards. Every inch is valuable to vineyard owners so it is truly commendable...
We found seven uses for vodka on Buzzfeed and since the video opened with a nice shot of a Smirnoff bottle, we’re just a tad suspicious. In no particular order, here are the seven recommendations: Rinse your razor in a beaker of vodka to prevent rust and clean the blade. ...
The “link” is literal. It’s the alcohol-monitoring tag dubbed “the booze bracelet” that she was ordered to wear in 2007 and again in 2010. The London newspapers are all a-twit about the introduction of the U.S. made device to drunken thugs in the U.K., starting in four London boroughs. Alcohol...
Malibu isn’t just for sun, fun and movie stars anymore. “Malibu Coast” is now the latest American Viticultural Area, or AVA. Hidden away in the hills and canyons of the Santa Monica Mountains that rise over 3,000 feet above sea level, are the vineyards of Malibu, some as small as...
California’s crippling drought, now in it third year, is a serious issue for the State’s 400 craft brewers. It takes four to seven gallons of water to make a gallon of craft-made beer. Some of this is the result of inefficient production techniques but the smaller the brewer, the fewer...
An Israeli study has found that a small amount of alcohol can improve the sense of smell. Twenty volunteers were asked to smell three different liquids. Two were a mixture of the same six odors while the third had one of the odors replaced. The volunteers had two seconds to...
Craft Brewery seems to be a catchall term for breweries that aren’t one of the major players such as Anheuser-Busch InBev or MillerCoors. But what exactly do other descriptors mean? We’re thinking Micro and Nano. We found a convenient table in The Wall Street Journal. Large is as above –...
The newest fragrance trend for household cleaners is to make them smell like cocktails. A dish liquid that smells like a daiquiri or a piña colada will help you mellow out in a tropical paradise while slaving over a hot sink. Thus dishwashing and other monotonous household chores are suddenly...
A Gallup survey of Americans who drink alcohol published July 23 confirms that beer remains the most popular choice among those who imbibe. For 41 percent it is first choice followed by wine at 31 percent and spirits in third place at 23 percent. That adds up to 95 percent...
In a recent article about the shortage of hops, we quoted beer expert and author, Tom Acitelli who wrote in The Wall Street Journal “American beer stylistically is now the envy of the drinking world.” Proving his point, there’s news about American craft breweries opening up in Europe. This is...
Kickstarter is a great place to browse for creativity and “why didn’t I think of that” awesomeness. Take a look at Coolest, a multi-functioning cooler that has already surpassed its $50,000 goal with 37,076 backers pledging $7,266,997. By the time you read this, the totals will be way beyond that...
Constellation Brands, one of the biggest wine companies in the U.S., conducted a survey of approximately 7,000 wine consumers, which they called “Project Genome, The Evolution of the Wine Consumer”. This is the second time in 10 years that they have done such a survey. Based on the results, Constellation...
Check out our New Hot Products section. There’s a wonderful new premium Gin from Canada that looks and tastes amazing. Ungava is the product of the tundra’s fragile eco system, hand picked by the ancient Inuits who have inhabited this land for thousands of years. Close your eyes and picture...
This is crazy but it’s true. A Glasgow-based mixologist, Mal Spence, created this drink to celebrate the British Commonwealth Games starting in Glasgow July 23. The Scotch whisky-based cocktail was stirred in partnership by Spence and the Glasgow City Marketing Bureau to commemorate the Commonwealth Games, which will see 4,500 of...
With apologies to “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Here’s what just happened – in Germany. A truck carrying Bitburger, a popular German beer, overturned and flooded the autobahn causing it to close down. If you have ever driven on an autobahn, you can imagine the...
It must be serious when Smithson writes about it. How did this happen and why? A couple or three decades ago, the spirits people were really glum. Spirits sales were flat because the drink of the moment was wine and wine consumption soared. The wine drinkers had kids who, naturally,...
The Wine Spectator Scholarship Fund has pledged $3 million to Sonoma State University at Rohnert Park for a new home for the Wine Business Institute. It will be known as Wine Spectator Learning Center. SSU’s Wine Business Institute was founded in 1996 and was the first program to focus exclusively...
Automation is invading the sacred turf of beer at the ballgame. Target Field, home of the Minnesota Twins, recently debuted two self-serve machines behind first and third bases this past week. The technology has been available in hotels, casinos and restaurants but this is the first time it has made...
There’s no question that John Wayne remains an American hero. The outpouring of response to our story back in mid-April about the release of DUKE Kentucky Straight Bourbon attests to his iconic stature, not just in this country but also in many places around the world. The founders of Duke...
When it comes to white wines, Sauvignon Blanc is our favorite hands down, although we’ve been known to rave about Semillon, Viognier, dry Rieslings and other lovely varietals, including un-oaked Chardonnay. But back to Sauvignon Blanc. We found a lovely Reserve, just released on the U.S. market from the famed...
Forbes Magazine, which compiles important lists such as who are the richest people in the world, has just published a Top 100 list that includes the most successful traders in alcoholic beverages in the U.S. The list also shows where they rate in the Top 100 Richest People in the...
It is hard to believe just how much alcohol was consumed daily by our forefathers back in the late 18th Century. Perhaps it made them cranky and argumentative, especially with the British government. Water was not on the menu. OJ was not the juice for breakfast. It was hard cider. ...
Beer seems to be on the mind of the editors of The Wall Street Journal. Another story tells the tale of Big Beer’s hopes for summer 2014. Roughly a third of beer sales take place between Memorial Day and Labor Day with the week of July Fourth as the big one. ...
An article about a coming hops shortage by Tom Acitelli, the author of “The Audacity of Hops: The History of America’s Craft Beer Revolution” actually appeared on the Op Ed page of The Wall Street Journal. So listen up pilgrims. This is serious stuff. Mr. Acitelli dates the rise of...
The California law requiring employees of bars and restaurants to wear gloves or use utensils when touching anything that goes on a plate or in a drink has been repealed. Using gloves sounded like a good idea until it was pointed out that gloves themselves become contaminated and may pass...
This is scary. Apparently hospitals can track your buying habits and will know if you are loading up on candy and calories that can affect your health. Why would they do that and how do they get the information? Under Obamacare, hospitals are rewarded for good outcomes. Your pigging out...
Winemakers in Europe, California and Australia are concerned about new domain addresses such as .wine and .vin proposed by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). Vintners believe that .wine and .vin will confuse consumers. The Wall Street Journal reported that Linda Reiff, president of the Napa Valley Vintners,...
We love sparkling wine, as we’ve mentioned more than once, and the category is doing very well thanks to Italian Prosecco It’s quite fascinating that less than 20 years ago, Prosecco sales in the whole of the U.S. were about 500 cases. Last year they came in at 2.3 million...
Fancy yourself a filmmaker? Here’s your chance to enter the “It’s Your Town” film competition. Check out The 48 Hour Film Project (48HFP) web site http://www.48hourfilm.com/ which has detailed information on the 120 cities around the world participating in 2014. We’re past the date for a few of them, but...
Since 2011 the number of microbreweries in New York state has increased from 40 to 100; farm distilleries from 10 to 52; and farm wineries from 195 to 289. The Governor and legislators have taken note of this thriving industry and are working to remove restrictions that shackle their growth. ...
In response to a blogger, Anheuser-Busch and Miller Lite have listed the ingredients in their beers online. For Bud and Bud Light the ingredients are about the same – water, barley malt, rice, yeast, hops. To see for yourself, go to www.tapintoyourbeer.com. You can also find nutritional information there. Bud,...
Every June for the past 34 years, well-heeled wine lovers descend on Napa Valley for the annual wine auction. This year a new record was set with $18.7 million raised for non-profits in healthcare and children’s education. Over its more than three decades, Auction Napa Valley has raise $120 million...
Never thought we’d see this: Red wine could be good for your teeth. Halleluiah! Mostly we hear complaints that red wine stains the teeth, but research published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry says that red wine contains antimicrobial elements found to kill bacteria in lab tests. Grape...
The Wall Street Journal reports that Johnnie Walker’s master blender, Jim Beveridge, will create a bespoke blend of Scotch Whisky just for you. A case will set you back a mere $130,000 or thereabouts. If its rarity you’re after, you could save a bundle by joining The Scotch Malt Whisky...
We enjoyed a red blend from Stack Wines – the folks who package a bottle of pretty decent wine in four individual plastic serving cups for wine-on-the-go – and pondered what to do with the empty cups. They were too cute to throw in recycle right away and sure, we...
We told you about the Coravin Wine Access System, a clever device that allows you to pour wine without removing the cork. Unfortunately, there are some safety issues and the manufacturer has voluntarily withdrawn the device from sale and is urging people not to use it until further notice. The...
Ever wished you could, just once in your life, taste some Moonshine? Well you can except now it is legal so it ain’t Moonshine. Too bad, but it is still an experience not to be missed by anyone curious about Tennessee White Whiskey. We just sampled Popcorn Sutton’s Tennessee White...
Does Dad enjoy a good Scotch Whisky? Really, really good Scotch Whisky? Well, we have just the gift for him. It is so darned good it might even earn you a special mention in his will. We’re talking about a membership in The Scotch Malt Whisky Society of America. Never...
We can’t believe 25 years have gone by since Gordon Biersch revolutionized the brewpub industry with its first location in Palo Alto, California in 1988. It was the first German style brewery serving only authentic German beer. Co-founder Dan Gordon studied at the Technical University of Munich where he got...
The famous Japanese beverage is often referred to as rice wine. But as educator Harriet Lembeck points out, it is fermented grain and therefore more akin to beer. It is growing in popularity in this country, possibly because it is being served cold instead of hot in those tiny carafes...
What’s the next trend for craft beer brewers and their loyal fans? It’s high alcohol beers that compete with spirits for alcohol content. High alcohol beers got their start in Belgium about four years ago at the De Struise brewery. Their Black Damnation can be as high as 26% abv...
Thirstie is a wine and spirits delivery company. They started less than three months ago in New York and are already expanding to West Hollywood and Los Angeles as well as downtown Chicago. How does it work and why would you use the service? Well, maybe you just hate to...
Toting wine to picnics and places where glass is banned can be a real pain. Even if you use bag-in-the-box (which can be heavy) or Tetra-Paks, you have to remember to pack plastic glasses. The latest in single serve wines is the solution and there’s plenty of choice at reasonable...
Premixed Sangria is the latest hot trend according to Shanken News Daily. The 21 to 35 age group “are buying it by the boatload.” Older drinkers see it as a way to have some wine but not get drunk. Costco says it does well for them. Not so fast, says...
We’re delighted to welcome Harriet Lembeck as a contributor to this web site. Harriet’s long career as a respected wine educator and author has earned her accolades such as “one of the deans of wine education in America” from The Wall Street Journal. She is a founding member of the...
The no-drinking-before-21 law has been in effect in California for students studying winemaking and brewing. That makes it very difficult to understand and appreciate how many techniques change taste, quality, etc. For some students, it has meant delaying graduating as they have to wait to turn 21 to take specific...
The Society of Wine Educators is a highly respected organization that has been around since the mid-70s. It offers training courses and certificates of competence primarily for people in the wine trade but not necessarily. An individual wishing to improve his or her wine knowledge can also take the tests. ...
Usually a crime report of breaking and entering involves stolen money, jewelry, electronics, etc. Not in the Napa Valley. Ryan Michael Patterson, a 31-year-old transient, was arrested for breaking into a house on Dunaweal Lane in Calistoga. He was seen running away from the house with several bottles of wine. ...
The Murree Brewery, originally started to provide British forces in India with good beer, continues to succeed and profit despite it now being in Pakistan, a Muslim country where alcohol is forbidden. (India was partitioned into Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan in 1947.) Located in Rawalpindi, the heart of Pakistan’s...
The Wall Street Journal reports that last year China became the world’s top consumer of red wine, according to International Wine & Spirit Research in London. China has become a very important market for wine exporters everywhere, including South Africa. The story covered a winery called L’Huguenot that had given...
As we’ve reported, Cider’s popularity just keeps growing. But there’s a sour apple shortage. To make the type of hard cider desired by restaurants and retailers, the shortage of sour or bittersweet apples, suitable only for cider, is especially problematic for small producers. The big guys can afford to import...
Lawmakers are clamoring to put the kibosh on Palcohol, a powdered alcohol product. Invented in Japan in the 1970s, powdered alcohol was originally meant as an additive in food manufacturing. Today’s product from Lipsmark comes in six flavors producing cocktails when mixed with water. The big danger is that a...
Apparently saving their hides from the nasty “isms” that plagued Europe in the last century doesn’t count when it comes to criticizing Americans. The European collective opinion of us on a range of subjects was not flattering, but when it came to eating, we found ourselves reluctantly agreeing with them....
Did you know that beer can be distilled into whiskey? We’ll admit we didn’t until we read about it in The Wall Street Journal. If you think about it, which most of us haven’t, both are made from grains so why not. The WSJ article referred to Charbay Distillery in...
Napa native Jason Elkins is going full throttle with a new series on the good life – wine, food, travel and adventure – and you can be a contributor via Kickstarter, the world’s largest funding platform for creative projects. “Jason Elkins: Uncorked” is a great name for the series because...
Stolichnaya Vodka has a new education program for bartenders but there’s no reason why the rest of us can’t learn a thing or two. Check out Start With Stoli on the web for new cocktail recipes and riffs on old ones from bartenders around the world. There’s news on cocktail...
Knob Creek Bourbon is launching a new TV campaign featuring brand creator Booker Noe’s “Bookerisms”. Viewers are told if they are not satisfied “send back the unused portion and we’ll drink it for you.” Will they pay the postage?...
Ever been to a winemaker’s dinner? Wine and food are made for each other, right? Not so fast. The latest trend is Scotch and Bourbon dinners and famed chefs are finding ways to pair their fine cuisine with brown spirits, both in the glass and in the sauces, marinades and...
Wondering where to go this summer for a different kind of getaway? How about a lazy sojourn along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail? A new attraction is Wild Turkey’s new visitor center. Cost about $100 million, which is pretty wild. It’s over 9,000 sq. ft. situated on the Kentucky River and...
John Wayne, one of America’s most loved and admired film stars, graces the soon-to-be-released DUKE Kentucky Straight Bourbon. Sure to be enjoyed by his many fans it will certainly become a collector’s item, too. For the full story please check out our Hot New Products....
Americans seem to be embracing cider as an alternative to beer and wine. This is especially good news for Boston Beer makers of Angry Orchard Cider. In just three years since it was launched, Angry Orchard has half the cider market selling eight million cases in 2013. Cider isn’t just...
We had the good fortune to discover a rum that has just been introduced to the U.S. market. South Bay Rum is not just another fun rum, the kind we admit to drinking, but a rich and amazingly smooth rum that can be enjoyed as a sophisticated sipping option. Read...
We told you about the shoot out between Diageo, owner of George Dickel Whiskey and Brown-Forman makers of Jack Daniel’s and specific production methods entitling the use of the term “Tennessee Whiskey”. The Legislature has taken the summer to think about it. The next legal wrangle is Diageo’s lawsuit against...
Back in January we wrote about the new “glove law” imposed on restaurants and bars in California. We pointed out numerous reasons why the law was costly and unworkable. http://www.wineandspirits.com/california-bartenders-must-wear-gloves/. Well, guess what? The author of the law, Assemblyman Richard Pan, D- Sacramento is proposing an emergency measure to restore...
London based global drinks giant, Diageo has launched a new whisky, Haig Club Single Grain Scotch Whisky and signed soccer star David Beckham to represent the brand. Joining him is entrepreneur Simon Fuller whose extensive claim to fame includes managing the Spice Girls and introducing Victoria Beckham, known as Posh...
The Consumer Wine Awards is a one of a kind event. Organized by Master of Wine, Tim Hanni, the sixth annual tasting was held recently in Lodi, CA and we can recommend it to wine lovers who are willing to escape the snow and ice in other parts of the...
Forty years ago, boutique wineries sprang up. About 20 years ago craft breweries came on the scene. The latest addition is micro or craft distilleries. In 1890 there were 5000 distilleries in the U.S. After Prohibition, just eight (that were legal!) The first on the scene was St. George Spirits...
Brewers steep grains such as barley and wheat in hot water then send the leftovers to farmers to feed their livestock. Sounds like a plan, doesn’t it? Now the Food and Drug Administration’s proposed rule change means brewers will have to meet the same standards as livestock and pet-food manufacturers,...
Ever wondered what passengers prefer to drink while flying? According to GuestLogix, a company that processes about 90 percent of credit card transactions on flights, it is spirits. In a five-month period in 2013, the totals for six North American airlines were liquor with sales of $38 million, wine with...
For the non-Bourbon drinker, William Wolf’s Pecan Bourbon will be a revelation. The sassy, banjo-strumming wolf on the label will see to it! Try it and be prepared to dance with the Wolf. Check our Spirits page http://www.wineandspirits.com/whats-better-than-pecan-pie-pecan-bourbon/ for more about this delicious new Bourbon and serving suggestions....
Airlines are paying attention to their customers and more and more of them are serving craft beers. “They want to drink in the air what they’re drinking on the ground,” said Jim Koch, co-founder of Boston Beer Co., maker of Sam Adams. In addition to passenger demands, one of the...
We recently downloaded spring cleaning tips from Yahoo! We’ll take any shortcut we can but we weren’t ready for the tip about cleaning the shower and bathtub with vodka! The comments from readers were hilarious. Who in their right mind is going to spend $25.00+++ on a bottle of vodka...
Lawmakers in Tennessee decided to put off a decision on what it takes to call a whiskey “Tennessee Whiskey”. The dispute is between Brown-Forman Corp. makers of Jack Daniels and Diageo PLC owners of George Dickel. Brown-Forman likes the law the way it is requiring whiskey to be made in...
The Wall Street Journal reports that AB InBev is shutting another Russian plant, the third in 18 months. No, it’s not because of Comrade Putin’s Crimea adventure, but because of steep declines in consumption as a result of higher taxes and tighter regulations. Production will be shifted to one of...
We were fortunate to taste a new Scotch whisky blend called SIA recently. The story of why it was created, and by whom, is quite fascinating and whether or not you drink or even like Scotch whisky, it will change your perception of this time honored spirit in today’s world....
Craft brews cost more but the numbers for 2013 show a volume increase of 18% in 2013 with actual retail sales rising 20%. Craft brews make up slightly less than 8% of the total beer market....
We recently learned about a terrific online course, open to professionals and enthusiasts alike, that will be starting on March 31, 2014. There’s still time to sign up from anywhere in the U.S., even internationally. For more details click here http://www.wineandspirits.com/online-california-wine-course-offers-credentials/...
The Most Interesting Man in the World wants you to stay thirsty for his new flame – Rita as in Dos-A-Rita. It’s a combination of an imported blend of Dos Equis Larger and classic Margarita flavors sweetened with 100% agave nectar according to Shanken News Daily. We wrote recently about...
We saw it on a home improvement show recently. A man used an airline drink cart as a portable bar in his newly remodeled home. It was a creative solution and a conversation piece but an airline drink cart is not a thing of beauty, plus they look heavy when...
If you are lucky enough to live in one of the 16 states where there are Total Wine & More stores, you can improve your knowledge and appreciation of your favorite type of libation by attending the classes held in the stores. Every week there are free tastings of three...
It’s not a requirement (yet) but Miller64 will soon have nutritional labeling according to the guidelines of the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. You still with me? Much like familiar food labels, the beer label will cover information about serving size, servings per container...
You’ve probably heard the dire predictions of California’s drought on the price of fruit and veggies this summer, but don’t forget the $61 billion wine industry is also threatened. Vintners are worried. Bumper crops in 2012 and 2013 means there will be a lot of good, reasonably priced wines available...
California isn’t the only state with growth in the wine industry. The 2013 harvest increased by 13%. The number one grape varietal was Cabernet Sauvignon, followed by Chardonnay, Riesling and Merlot. Lots of lovely wines coming out of Washington....
Since the California wine industry is worth about $51.8 billion to the State’s economy, and has $103 billion impact on the entire country’s economy, what happens in California is invariably significant, and at the very least, interesting. So here’s a round up of a few stories that you may...
For Chinese distillers, it’s the Year of the Hungry Horse. Chinese President Xi Jinping, in an effort to cut back on the appearance of government and military officials’ high living and corruption, has severely cut back on lavish banquets and heady toasting rounds using the national drink called baijiu. Baijiu...
We listed some of the stories we’ve covered regarding alcohol and health, especially the beneficial consumption of red wine, under the heading “More Good News for Red Wine”. Here’s one we missed, dating all the way back to 2007. From the June 2007 issue of Harvard Men’s Health Watch,...
Can red wine inhibit growth of lung cancer cells? Sounds amazing but a study reported in “Cancer Cell International” suggests that it can. A research team experimented with both red and white wine on six different cultures of human lung cancer cells and found 60% inhibition of cell reproduction. The...
It’s always fun when web surfing leads to something unique and interesting. We were browsing Kegworks – these people have everything you can think of plus a whole of things you haven’t thought of when it comes to beer and winemaking equipment, barware, entertaining and so on – and we...
We’ve often wondered why the regular wine drinker is ignored when it comes to judging. After all, they are huge purchasers of wine but how many of us really know what “green gooseberries” and “crushed violets” really taste like? For many, the pretentiousness, sophistication and mystery surrounding wine tasting are...
What’s a Master of Wine and how does one get the title? We’ve been asked that question several times so we decided to go to one of the best sources in North America for the answer. Joel Butler, one of the first Americans to earn this prestigious title is...
According to Wine Spectator magazine, tawny port is seeing an increase in popularity in the U.S. and the U.K. Ruby ports, which are darker and sweeter, still lead the category, which deserves more attention from consumers. The story also mentioned a cache of tawny from 1855 that was found in...
A research team at the Gustave Roussy Institute in Villejuif, France. led by Dr. Guido Koemer, has found that a combination of resveratrol and aspirin may knock out abnormal cells that lead to cancer. Resveratrol is found in the skin of red grapes (and red wine) and much has been...
Jim Beam has an Irish whiskey called 2 Gingers. It started off in the Midwest but is now going national. St. Patrick’s Day is March 17 so they’d better hurry up! We were interested in knowing how it got its name. It is twice distilled. Could that be it? Someone...
We read it in Decanter, the respected British wine magazine. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s second vintage of Miraval rosé was released February 7. The 2012 vintage sold out in five hours. Like 2012, the 2013 vintage has received high marks from the Decanter reviewer. This year’s 200,000 cases will...
So you’ve got your date, picked the best restaurant and you are ready for a perfect evening. But there’s that nagging doubt that you’ll look like an amateur or worse when it comes to ordering the wine. We well remember dealing with snooty sommeliers who made us want to...
Cider is a popular drink in Chicago and the owners of two successful bars Fountainhead and The Bar on Buena will open The Northman, Chicago’s first bar dedicated to cider, this Spring. The Northman will have more than 100 ciders on draft, cask and in bottles. While the focus...
Who would have guessed it? China is now the biggest consumer of red wine surpassing France and Italy. In 2013 the Chinese market, which includes Hong Kong, consumed 1.865 billion bottles of red wine. Why red wine? Possibly because red is a very positive color in the Chinese culture...
Ever heard of the “Zion curtain”? That’s the cynical name applied to Utah’s law requiring a bartender to disappear into a back room or behind screens to mix a cocktail. State lawmaker, Kraig Powell (R) wants to ease up on this law as well as allowing restaurant patrons to order...
Gung Hey Fat Choy Black Stallion Winery was the very appropriate venue for a simultaneous wine tasting in Napa and Shanghai to celebrate the Year of the Horse. The tasting arranged by the California Wine Institute is the fourth such “virtual” tasting. In the Napa Valley it was 7:00...
A Relic of the British Raj Craft beer drinkers are very familiar with the term IPA – or India Pale Ale. But how did the beer get its moniker? William Bostwick writing in The Wall Street Journal recently explained that in centuries past, beer was brewed with hops...
We’ve heard of this trick before but watched the video anyway: What we enjoyed more were the dry comments posted by readers. Good for a chuckle if like the British sense of humor. If anyone tries the knotted string trick, let us know, please....
The good news and the bad news just keep on coming. Browsing the UK Telegraph, we found a story about the good effect of moderate alcohol consumption has on the immune system. After acknowledging that a glass of red wine can be good for the heart and protect against cancer,...
A study from East Anglia University in Norwich, UK, found that adding red wine, dark chocolate and berries to the diet can reduce the risk of diabetes. The key ingredient in all three is flavinoids and consuming high levels of flavinoids helps the body regulate sugar levels. The research...
The British government is taking steps to protect the $6.6 billion Scotch whisky industry, the 10th biggest manufactured product in the U.K. Fake Scotch whisky is costing the industry about $820 million a year, according to The Scotsman newspaper. The industry is supporting voluntary registration guaranteeing that the whisky...
A study at Johns Hopkins found that heavy drinking by middle-aged men can speed up memory loss. Heavy drinking was defined as two and a half drinks a day. Moderate drinking appeared to have no adverse effect. Conversely, women who had abstained from drinking for 10 years had more...
From Paul Mabray, CEO of winetech company VinTank, “What we’ve found is that it’s one of the most discussed consumable products. There are 1.5 million to 2 million conversations a day about wine on social media. No one on social media is saying, ‘I love my Dove soap bar in...
Silicon Valley Bank, the leading financial institution for the wine industry, forecasts in its annual State of the Wine Industry Annual Report that wine sales will increase six to 10 percent in 2014. Just last year, Morgan Stanley was predicting a global wine shortage. The wine industry has bounced...
A new state law that went into effect January 1 requires anyone handling raw food that will not be cooked to wear disposable gloves. Apart from sushi, it includes such tools of the bartending trade as olives, twists, fruit, ice and so on. Think of a busy bar where...
Florida’s spirits retailers are up in arms over Walmart’s push to add spirits to their beverage alcohol line-up. In Florida, spirits retailers can only sell alcoholic beverages, mixes and tobacco. They must be separated from stores selling non-alcohol goods and cannot have doors connecting to any such establishment. If...
We reported that the on-premise or restaurant/bar category was down for wine sales in 2013 but there’s good news on the single malt front. Restaurant Sciences LLC, a firm that tracks food and beverage sales in the food service industry, says that Single Malt Scotches, the expensive stuff, grew 3.1%...
We wrote about the introduction of AB In-Bev’s Stella Artois Cidre last May. A crisp, drier cider in the European style, it rolled out in 26 states and is now going nationwide. The cider market is lively, doubling each year. Seems it appeals to white wine drinkers so the...
No, not that CIA. We’re talking about the famed Culinary Institute of America (CIA) at Hyde Park, NY. Brooklyn Brewery is collaborating with CIA to develop a small brewery on the college campus. Operation of the brewery will be a part of the degree curriculum. Read the full story...
Here are few interesting facts about California wine. Could be useful icebreakers next time the conversation gets stuck. California makes 90% of all U.S. wine and is the world’s 4th leading wine producer after France, Italy and Spain. 20.7 million tourists visit California wine regions, about five million more...
Despite the tough economy, the U.S. wine market continued its decade-long growth with 1.5% increase in 2013. That is slightly lower than 2012, which showed 1.7% growth. The segment that lagged was on-premise or restaurant sales, which actually declined. The bar/nightclub sales fared the worst. Sales at retail (or...
A decision by the US 6th Circuit Court of Appeals means Kentucky will return to a law written in 1938 prohibiting sale of wine and spirits at grocery stores, gas stations and other retail outlets. A lawsuit in 2011 overturned the ban allowing grocery stores to sell wine and...
We recently quoted the president of the California Artisanal Distillers Guild saying, “Basically, we drink half the booze in the country.” We thought that might be a slight exaggeration and decided to check it out. According to DISCUS (Distilled Spirits Council of the United States) a trade group, for...
World’s Biggest Drinks Company Hip Hopping A Diddy/Diageo combo sounds like a bizarrerie. Yes, that is a word. Diddy is a rapper while Diageo is the biggest alcohol drinks company in the world. They have formed a joint venture to buy DeLeón tequila that, according to the Wall Street Journal,...
We’ve noted many times that bourbon is in demand. Here’s $13.6 billion proof. Suntory Holdings Limited of Osaka, Japan has offered that sum of money to Jim Beam Inc., the maker Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark and Knob Creek American whiskeys. The deal includes other major Beam brands such as Courvoisier...
Prohibition ended 80 years ago but it has taken that long for California to change the rules for its boutique distillers. Effective January 1 this year, distillers may now charge customers for tastes of their products. Unlike wineries and breweries, which have been allowed to charge customers a fee...
Napa Valley the Center of Newest Quack-up The Robertson family of Duck Dynasty fame has a deal with Trinchero Family Estates, a large Napa Valley winery that owns Sutter Home, to make and market Duck Commander brand of wines. This has laid an egg with Duckhorn Wine Company, another...
Craft Brewery Takes on Anheuser-Busch Big Sky Brewing Co. based in Montana has filed a suit in U.S. District Court in Missoula against Anheuser-Busch over the use of the phrase “Hold my beer and watch this” which they say violates their trademark. Three videos from Bud Light on YouTube...
Prosecco Sales Soar When measured in increased sales, the American market for sparkling wine seems to be saying it likes its bubbles with an Italian accent. From January to December 1, 2013, sales of Prosecco increased by 38%. In the same period, Champagne increased just .08%. Prosecco is light...
It is rare to find good news about drinking so let’s end the year with some positive news about moderate alcoholic beverage consumption. The operative word here is moderate. Time magazine’s John Cloud reported on an article in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research suggesting that – for...
Analysts at London-based MarketLine forecast the global alcoholic drinks industry will exceed $1 trillion in 2014. In terms of volume, the liquid kind, it will amount to about 210 billion liters. For the US and Canadian markets, a team at Technomic, a research and consulting company in the food...
The traditional drink for New Year’s Eve is something with bubbles, whether it is true champagne, from the Champagne region of France, or sparkling wine from other countries of Europe or the USA. We refer you to our posting the week of December 8 “Affordable Bubbly”. Of course, Champagne being...
We reported on growlers in the craft brewing industry back in July 2013 (Growlers Going Gangbusters). Now a winery in the Napa Valley is offering wine on tap to tasting room visitors. Jamieson Ranch Vineyards, the southernmost winery in the Napa Valley, has launched an innovative program of using...
Another screaming headline that is an attention grabber for sure, but not entirely accurate. The arsenic is in the water! Well, some of it. The story came from News.Discovery.com and it quotes a study by researchers in New Hampshire of the toenails of 852 people. Turns out that those whose...
A recent headline screamed that 20% of wine was counterfeit. The question is, 20% of what? Counterfeit wines are not a problem for mere mortals like most of us. It is the bane of über wealthy collectors who know their wineries and vintages and are tempted by a prize...
Dating back to 1940, the Moscow Mule has made a comeback. The recipe is basic – vodka, ginger beer (not ale) and a lime wedge. The secret ingredient is the copper mug it is served in. The mugs are wildly popular so much so that some bars will only...
Amazon Wine has added Ohio and Montana to its list of states for wine shipments bringing the total to 22 states and the District of Columbia according to Shanken News Daily. Check Amazon.com to find wineries participating in the new one cent shipping promotion. There are some fine wines...
As consumers switch to wine and spirits, beer consumption continues to slide, at least as far as the big brands are concerned. There’s plenty of activity in craft beers but overall, the category slipped 2.3 percent between 2007 and 2013. Nine beers made the infamy list of lost popularity. ...
When you think of vermouth, the brands that most likely come to mind are Cinzano and Martini & Rossi, both from Italy, or perhaps Noilly Prat and Dubonnet from France. Of course there are many other well-known imported labels and you’ll find them listed on a web site devoted to...
There’s always the need for a last minute gift. If the recipient is interested in wine, history, religion or simply someone who enjoys learning something new, then your gift problem is solved with “Divine Vintage” a book written by a Biblical scholar and a Master of Wine. “Divine Vintage” follows...
Mark Twain said, “Too much of anything is bad, but too much champagne is just right.” In the US, champagne is thought of as a special occasion drink, which is too bad. Every day is a good day to have champagne. Both Napoleon and Winston Churchill are quoted as...
For the finer things of life, the folk at Gayot have their finger on the pulse. Just in time for Christmas and New Year they are sharing their list of the top 10 spirits in the world. For an investment of $8,060 you can find out if you agree. ...
New Zealand produces some truly delicious wines but now the industry has set its sights on becoming the leading producer in the world of lower alcohol, lower calorie wines. With help from the government through their Ministry of Primary Industries, the equivalent of USDA in America, the $NZ17 million...
According to Brett Arends in The Wall Street Journal, most of us are lousy gift givers. Of course he was quoting research, which just proves our contention that there’s no human activity too small to go unnoticed by researchers. The premise of the article is that we tend to...
Now that Thanksgiving is over, can we stop worrying about what wine to serve with dinner? Food and wine pairing can be a challenge but there’s help at hand from Gayot.com. The editors have compiled “best of” for a dozen different varietals at varying price points. Wine types covered...
Samples found in ceramic jars in a 3,700-year-old cellar in the ruins of a Canaanite palace reveal that fine winemaking has been a sophisticated art for millenia. Researchers call the finding significant. The 40 jars, all found in one room, each held about 13 gallons. The quantity suggests it was...
It is certainly the season for tips on drinking! For those on a diet or simply calorie conscious, NYC dietician and best-selling author, Tanya Zuckerbrot, offers five common sense suggestions: Lighten your usual drink – use club soda as a mixer with spirits. Wine diluted with club soda, called...
There’s a long list of gripes about aging but one that is often overlooked is the declining efficiency of an aging liver, which is pretty important when it comes to metabolizing alcohol. Recently The Wall Street Journal’s Andrea Peterson took a sober look at how after 40, men and...
Tired of drinking alone? A Japanese company, B & H Lifes, has come up with a wine for cats. Some of the ingredients are fructose glucose liquid sugar, catmint, cabernet grape juice and vitamin C, caramel coloring. But there is no alcohol so why are they calling it wine? Its...
A report from financial services giant, Morgan Stanley lists the top 10 wine producing states in the US based on 2012 production. We were surprised by a few and we bet you are too: Texas – 1.2 million gallons New Jersey – 1.6 Florida – 1.9 Kentucky – 2.4...
One of our favorite pet peeves is stemware that does not enhance the flavor of the wine. This is especially egregious in restaurants that use cheap glasses to serve costly wine. Now there is word that using glassware that matches the wine increases the likelihood of pouring too much wine...
French wines have always had to operate under very strict rules sometimes making it difficult for French winemakers to compete against the New World. For example, in the US, it is permissible to blend wines from different areas. Not so in France. In 2009, the French government relaxed the...
Every year, Wine Spectator names a Wine of the Year. The coveted award for the 2012 went to Shafer Vineyards in the Stags Leap district of Napa Valley. The winning wine was the 2008 Relentless, which, incidentally is sold out. The story of Shafer Vineyards is a delightful one. ...
Margrit Mondavi and Sandra Jordan have come together to support the herders of alpacas in the Peruvian Andes. The luxurious and ancient fabric from alpacas is sometimes called “the gold of the Andes”. Margrit Mondavi is VP of Cultural Affairs at the Robert Mondavi Winery. Sandra Jordan, a native of...
Pumpkin Wine Contest Announced A local Napa gardener has grown the biggest pumpkin in the world weighing in at 2,032 pounds. Tim Mathison and his ton of pumpkin were the toast of New York recently appearing on TV with his wife ,Suzie while the famous pumpkin was the focal...
Anyone who cooks likes to joke about “A glass of wine for the stew and a glass for the cook”. How times have changed. Now it’s a glass for you and one for the microprocessor. The inventive folk at Intel demonstrated recently in San Francisco that red wine poured into...
First it was the theft of a copper sculpture of an artichoke from the Robert Mondavi Winery in Napa valued at $10,000. Then there’s the still unsolved mystery of the missing bottles of 20-year-old Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon worth about $25,000. We’ve also reported on several schemes to outwit the...
We’ve written about organizing wine tastings but for a fun twist why not cash in on bourbon’s increasing popularity and hold a bourbon tasting for your friends? Janet Patton at the Lexington Herald-Leader called on two experts, Mike Veach and Susan Reigler to give her readers pointers on how...
Five Reasons Why Fred Minnick, who blogs on anything whiskey (or whisky since he covers Scotch), and who recently wrote a must read book, “Whiskey Women: The Untold Story of How Women Saved Bourbon, Scotch & Irish Whiskey”, dared to opine on Parade.com that Bourbon is better than Vodka....
A widely published report by Morgan Stanley Research concluded that in 2012 global wine production was short about 300 million cases. The reason for the undersupply was diminished vineyard acreage in three major wine producing countries – France, Spain and Italy. Wine consumption has also fallen in these countries,...
Amazon announced the expansion of wine shipments to New York, Michigan, Arizona and Louisiana bringing the total number of states covered to 20 plus the District of Columbia. This news comes just in time for the busy holiday season. Consumers shopping online have a choice of more than 5,000...
Buena Vista Winery was awarded the 2013 California Preservation Design Award for Craftsmanship/Preservation Technology at the 30th annual California Preservation Awards ceremony in San Francisco recently. Beuna Vista was founded in 1857 by Count Agoston Haraszthy and is regarded as California’s first premium winery. Over the decades it has...
Around two hundred bottles of Pappy Van Winkle bourbon have vanished from a locked area in a locked warehouse in Franklin County, Kentucky according to The Wall Street Journal. The reason this is big news is because only six to seven thousand cases are distributed each year with some retailers...
The Napa Register reports that a copper sculpture of an artichoke was stolen from outside the tasting room at the Robert Mondavi Winery in Oakville some time last week. The sculpture disappeared between noon Wednesday and 7:00 a.m. Thursday. Worth about $10,000, the sculpture was two feet tall and weighed...
We came across an interesting way to combine and serve whisky and coffee. It has the makings of a fun thing to do for a few friends so click here to learn more and see the video....
A bottled water outfit cleverly called Beverly Hills 90H20 has really annoyed the Champagne Bureau USA, located in Washington, DC. The Beverly Hills Drink Co. described 90H20 as the “Champagne of waters” on their web site. Using the word “Champagne” for anything other than the sparkling wine from the Champagne...
The provenance of vodka is debatable with both Russia and Poland laying claim to its creation. We do have proof that it was available in Poland in the eighth century and it is certainly the most widely consumed alcoholic drink in Eastern Europe and Russia where it is usually imbibed...
We saw the headline on FoxNews.com and thought we were reading Twinkle as in twinkle, twinkle little star. No, it really was all about Twinkie inspired cocktails. They look very pretty and surely taste sweet. For the recipes for seven Twinkie cocktails go to http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2013/10/02/7-twinkie-inspired-cocktails-to-prove-that-twinkies-are-still-awesome/?intcmp=related....
The search for the perfect wine rack has a new contender. Award winning industrial designer, John Paulick, watched a documentary on bees building their hive and realized that their 120 degree joints could be applied to wine racks. Bees use minimum space and materials yet cleverly retain optimal weight distribution....
Humankind has been making and imbibing wine for thousands of years so it stands to reason that we know all that there is to know. Not quite. A couple of financial whiz kids have come up a new and useful twist on labeling. Greg Scheinfeld and Jay Levy, partners...
A combination of pecans and bourbon sounds like a winner. The folks at Heaven Hill Distilleries are hoping so. William Wolf Pecan Bourbon is rolling out in the New York market. The whiskey is made in America then infused in Holland with a pecan distillate. It is the brainchild of...
The Ceja family, owners of Ceja Vineyards, has opened a craft brewing facility in Carneros, an area that stretches across the southern part of both Napa and Sonoma Counties. Pablo and Juanita Ceja came to Napa from Mexico in 1967. In the early 1980s, the family bought 15 acres in...
Costco is famous for saving you money, right? Believe it or not, a bottle of Scotch whisky for $16,999 is a bargain, sort of. A Costco store in Scottsdale, Arizona has one bottle of The Macallan single malt, which has been barrel aged for 60 years. Only 400 bottles of...
We love to hear about entrepreneurs in the wine and spirits business. Hats off to a letter carrier in Holstein, Iowa who is distilling rum. Holstein Rum is already in local stores and its creator, Greg Brunelle along with wife, Karen, hopes to have it in 300 stores by the...
The annual beer-a-thon has started in Munich. The city expects to attract about seven million beer drinkers who will down an estimated 15 million glasses of beer. That’s only a reasonable two glasses per person but a glass holds one liter and costs about $14.00. Officials have warned purveyors not...
CREATIVE SMUGGLING Harpers, a wine and spirits magazine in the UK, reports that border agents in Kyrgyzstan recently discovered an eight inch pipeline for smuggling vodka from neighboring Kazakhstan. The pipeline ran for about a third of a mile under the Chu River depositing who knows how many thousands of...
Scarcely a week goes by without an announcement of a new product/flavor/package from a major distiller. Three that got our attention: Wild Turkey’s Spiced bourbon is positioned to take on rum. The flavor profile, slightly sweet and spicy, means it can be mixed with cola or consumed neat. Either...
You know it’s fall when brewers are thinking about this year’s pumpkin beer. Do they really put pumpkin in beer? Not necessarily but the spices they all use taste a lot like pumpkin pie. Fermenting pumpkins dates back to the earliest days of the settlers. Malt was in short...
The point system used in wine reviews is a mixed blessing. Awarded by the wine critic, it can make or break a wine, especially if the reviewer had credibility. But here’s one that’s guaranteed to make the folks at David Fulton Winery & Vineyards blush with pride and joy. Their...
Next time you and your pals are downing a few brewskis, see if they can name which state consumes the most beer per capita per year. You can win this one! Here are the stats from the Beer Institute reported by Fox News: North Dakota is #1 at 45.8...
The parade of flavored vodkas has been joined by an outlaw – well, not exactly an outlaw but an outcast at least. International Spirits has created the first ever tobacco-flavored vodka, imported from the Netherlands. Being controversial is the cheeky hallmark of their brand Ivanab*tch, which includes other vodkas, gin...
For the past 44years, London has been the venue for the annual International Wine and Spirit Competition (IWSC). Producers of wine and spirits all over the world covet recognition by IWSC. The unique combination of detailed technical analysis and specialist judging panels means that gaining an IWSC ‘Competition Award’ is...
Dick Vermeil who grew up in Calistoga at the very north end of Napa Valley, has always stayed in touch with his roots even as his career as a football coach became the stuff of legends. Since 1999, he has dabbled in wine, producing about 150 cases with winemaker and...
Charles Boisset, head of the famous French wine family that claims the title of Burgundy’s biggest producer, is heavily invested in wineries around the world, including California. He has created a clever Ambassador program along the lines of Tupperware and Mary Kay cosmetics. Ambassadors arrange parties or wine tastings...
There were some red faces and sweaty palms at Wild Turkey recently when barrels of rye and bourbon were dumped into one another accidentally. Eddie Russell, Wild Turkey associate master distiller was not amused until he tasted the blend and decided it tasted pretty darned good. He said all was...
United States Beer Consumption Declines While Wine and Spirits Trend Upward. A recent survey by Gallup confirms what major beer producer know – Americans are drinking less beer every year since 1992. Of drinkers surveyed, beer was still the first choice of an alcoholic beverage (36%) but its lead...
Exciting New Invention for Accessing a Wine Bottle Without Spoilage It doesn’t seem possible to pour a glass of wine without first removing the cork, does it? But thanks to Greg Lambrecht, a medical device inventor and executive with a passion for wine, it is now possible. His...
In an effort to raise revenue for the ailing US Postal Service, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe has proposed allowing the Postal Service to deliver wine and spirits and beer. The potential revenue could be as much a $50 million a year. Currently, Fedex and UPS dominate the highly regulated...
Creating magical wine and spirits pairings with truffles is a subject worthy of a book. We recently wrote about the availability of fabulous Périgord truffles from Australia during our summer months and offered comments and recipes from the importer, Frank Brunacci of Chicago. His Dirty Truffletini is a winner and...
It’s never too late to bone up on grill skills. Two new tomes are on the market that will take your grilling and entertaining efforts to new heights. Bon Appétit ‘s editor-in-chief, Adam Rapoport, has collected 350 foolproof recipes for “The Grilling Book” (Andrews McMeel Publishing $45). It comes...
We recently wrote about Mira Winery in the Napa Valley experimenting with aging four cases of Cabernet Sauvignon in 60 feet of water in Charleston Harbor. Ocean effects have extended to Jefferson’s Bourbon known for their “ridiculously small batch” bourbons named to honor Thomas Jefferson. Aged in barrels that traveled...
If you are a craft beer fan or know someone who is, “The Audacity of Hops” is a must read. Written by Tom Acitelli and published by Chicago Review Press ($19.95), this book traces the advent of craft beers from Fritz Maytag’s purchase of Anchor Steam in 1965 to the...
What in the world are we talking about? Truffles, that’s what. Highly prized and often referred to as “black diamonds”, Black Périgord Truffles from France are not an everyday item in the kitchen unless you are a chef at a higher end restaurant. We were intrigued to read recently...
The theory is that women are woefully ignorant about spirits and that it’s a man’s world. Here’s a test: What’s the difference between bourbon, rye, and Canadian rye whiskey? We’re betting this isn’t just a girl thing. Enter professional journalist Kayleigh Kulp and the book she is writing called...
Please sign in to Facebook to watch the video. Found the following on Alaska Distillery’s Facebook Timeline: Back in the old days, a trapper would go to a trading post to quench his thirst for booze. However, the savvy woodsman would require “proof” that the booze he was...
We insist the best way to learn about wine is to taste it, especially in the company of knowledgeable people. The New York Wine Experience is made to order for anyone seriously interested in furthering their knowledge and appreciation of wines from great producers. The Wine Spectator’s three-day event will...
How about a vodka made from milk? It’s true. Made by Vermont Spirits of Quechee, VT it really is made from milk, it has a cow on the label, and it is lactose free. Huh? Inspired by Araka, the traditional Tuvan drink distilled from fermented mare’s milk, Wine Enthusiast...
Aperitifs can be complicated. Some are made with wine; some with spirits. All incorporate botanicals such as wormwood, hyssop and gentian for example. Not exactly everyday items in the pantry. Aperitifs – the word means “opener” served prior to a meal – have long been popular in Europe. In Italy,...
No, we’re not talking about bad tempered folk. Craft beer fans know all about growlers. They are containers, usually glass, that hold 32 or 64 ounces of beer that can be filled and refilled from a beer tap station and sealed with a screw cap. As with everything concerning...
We all heard those words of praise and encouragement growing up but that’s not what we have in mind. We came across some fascinating statistics in The Economist that could be a fun party quiz or at the very least an icebreaker. So what country drinks the most vodka?...
James Bond’s famous “shaken not stirred” martini was introduced in Ian Fleming’s 1953 novel, “Casino Royale”. It was three parts Gordon’s gin to one part vodka. Will future Bonds have to switch to straight vodka? The British magazine The Spirits Business reports that a fungus may destroy the native...
There’s still time to buy tickets to WhiskyFest in either San Francisco September 27 or New York October 11 and 12, 2013. Produced by Shanken Communications, the experts when it comes to wine or whisky tastings, participants will have the opportunity to taste more than 250 whiskies from around the...
There’s an article worth reading on Smithsonian.com about a new book on bourbon. The book’s author, historian and bourbon lover Michael Veach poses a new and plausible theory about how bourbon got its name; you will also learn how Prohibition contributed to the Great Depression; and which American President liked...
Bag in the Box, and it’s younger cousin Tetra Pak, means wine can go anywhere, including where glass is banned. Apart from keeping wines fresher, this type of packaging is environmentally friendly. Some of the advantages are: You don’t need a corkscrew Easy to reseal so wine stays fresh...
In Europe they sure do and have for generations. In the US, well it is evolving. Rosé is more than just a pretty face. It is the perfect summer wine. If it is really hot, red wine is problematic but a chilled rosé is the perfect partner for many...
Icebergs aren’t the friendliest things so we were curious how they ended up in vodka. Luckily, the Wall Street Journal was curious too running an in-depth story on harvesting wayward icebergs in the Atlantic Ocean off Canada’s Newfoundland coast. Every summer, Ed Kean, an intrepid fifth-generation sea captain, searches the...
It’s sake. One of the delights of dining in a Japanese restaurant is the little, individual flagons of hot sake served with the meal, especially in winter. Sometimes the sake is really pretty awful, even to amateurs like us, but if it’s raining or snowing outside, it tastes pretty...
Scholars have been almost certain that the Etruscans, a seafaring people from central Italy, brought their winemaking skills to France around the fifth century B.C. Now analysis of scrapings from 2,500-year-old pottery amphorae found near Montpellier in Southern France confirm they held a type of wine flavored with basil, rosemary...
Since 1990, Sutter Home Family Vineyards in the Napa Valley has held an annual contest to find the best burger recipe. With a generous grand prize of $100,000 for the winner of the best beef burger, it is certainly worth honing your creative cooking skills. The contest for 2013...
Since 2010, Budweiser has raised more than $5 million for the Folds of Honor Foundation and provided more than 1,000 educational scholarships to the families of soldiers killed or disabled in service. For every case of Budweiser sold from now until July 4, a donation will be made to...
Cider has always been something of a stepchild but suddenly it is growing at the impressive rate of 110 percent in 2012. The major brewers have noticed, too. Boston Beer Co. launched Angry Orchard 2011 and is already at a whopping two million plus cases. Miller Coors purchased Crispin...
Sales of beer slowed in the U.S. for the four weeks up to mid-April over the same period last year according to Forbes. The losers were Budweiser and Coors while imports Heineken and Corona as well as craft beer Sam Adams, gained. Over the past 12 months Budweiser and...
The idea of a Woodstock-like event happening in the Napa Valley made a lot of locals nervous. Bottlerock, the four-day rock concert at the Napa Fairgrounds turned out to be not so bad after all, unless your house was in the immediate vicinity. The deafening decibels definitely caused some headaches....
If you haven’t visited Healdsburg at the north end of Sonoma County, California, you should add it to your bucket list. The charming town is centered on a 19th century plaza beckoning the visitor to enjoy galleries, fine dining and wine tasting. If you are fortunate to be there on...
Wine nerds have known it for years. Finally, beer drinkers can enjoy it too. We’re talking about glassware designed to enhance the flavor of the brew. Spiegelau, a German glassware manufacturer, teamed up with Dogfish Head and Sierra Nevada breweries for a taste test of their India Pale Ale glass,...
If you are anywhere near Phoenixville, PA (which isn’t far from Pottsville, PA) on May 5, drop by the Sly Fox Bock Fest and Goat Race. The race takes place at the back of the Brewery & Eatery and attracts a crowd of several thousand. If you have a spare...
Chill and serve! That’s all that’s to it for a perfect Malibu rum and cola, rum and pineapple or rum and cranberry cocktail. The newly introduced Malibu Cans come in 200 ml single cans or four packs. Malibu has also expanded its pre-mixed cocktail pouch line. Check it out at...
Vodka makers aren’t the only ones intent on reaching the female drinker. So are tequila marketers. Sauza Tequila has added bubbles and a Champagne style bottle for a new range of premixed Margaritas in three flavors: Original Lime, Wild Berry and Mango Peach. Invite your BFFs over and effervesce together!...
Green extreme might be the name for a trend in the UK where a vodka maker has a series of cocktail recipes using foraged ingredients. For those with time on their hands, wash and chop fresh nettles and borage leaves then stew with vodka for five days in a covered...
Quick! What does a vineyard, a beer, a washing machine and a cheese have in common? You guessed it: the name Maytag. The patriarch of the family behind the wondrous washer that changed they way Americans did laundry was Frederick L. Maytag. In the 1940s, Frederick L. Maytag II began...
Planning a trip to Finland? Wait until June 2014 and you might be able to have a beer based on a brew from 170 years ago. Five bottles were salvaged from a Baltic Sea shipwreck from around 1840. The Finnish brewery Stallhagen will try to replicate the recipe based on...
Now your vodka bottle comes with clothes? Pernod Ricard, owner of Absolut Vodka has a limited edition bottle dressed in denim. The tight fitting denim skin is lined with a special high tech fabric that keeps the contents cold for up to two hours. Absolut Denim is available only at...
There are more than 140 vodka brands available worldwide and dozens of sub categories within the brands. So how does a vodka product stand out in this crowded field? Bob Probert writing at www.northjersey.com has some interesting thoughts on this....