The indispensable tool for the Massachusetts adult beverage trade.

HOME

MassPack Partners with Intellicheck on Age ID

Intellicheck, which specializes in identification authentication solutions, announced a partnership with the Massachusetts Package Stores Association to make Age ID available to its hundreds of members throughout the state. Age ID authenticates driver licenses and other forms of identification to prevent the use of altered and fake IDs when making...
Read More

Sebago Lake Distillery Debuts Range Of High End Craft Rums

Sebago Lake Distillery is proud to announce the official opening of their Maine-based distillery and the successful launch of three distinctly different and innovative, handcrafted rum brands, with another set to debut later this year. Sebago Lake is Maine’s only distiller focused exclusively on producing rum. Sebago Lake Distillery represents...
Read More

ROSE

IT SEEMS LIKE many years ago now but for a long period of time there were few people in the US, respectable people that is, who wanted it known that they liked rosé. This was a wine category consumed primarily at home, so as to avoid stares. Marketers substituted euphemistic...
Read More

MACDUFF What three things does drink provoke? PORTER Marry, sir, nose-painting, sleep, and urine. Lechery, sir, it provokes and unprovokes: it provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance; therefore much drink may be said to be an equivocator with Lechery: it makes him, and it mars him; it...
Read More

INDIA PALE ALE

INDIA PALE ALE was not always such a big deal. Hops were once anathema to what drinkers wanted. Whether in the form of bold aromas, citrusy and herbal flavors, or big, bold bitterness, American beer drinkers did not gravitate towards the hoppier end of the spectrum. During the earliest days...
Read More

BARBARESCO

NEBBIOLO is certainly among the most enigmatic of grape varieties, far more “fickle” in nature, if one can even apply that word to a wine, and more site specific than Pinot Noir. Often spectacular in its home setting, the Langhe hills of Piemonte, interesting further north in the Norvara Vercelli...
Read More

ALSACE REDUX

COLMAR Having examined the basics of vinous Alsace in the March 2O13 issue, I sought a brief update immersed in the food and wine of the region in June, thoroughly enjoying my research. I’d like to share my impressions, including visits to three wine producers. My focus was sharpened and...
Read More

Celebrating Ten Years

When brothers Ed and Rob Gillooly received the license for their newly minted Baystate Wine & Spirits on St. Patrick’s Day in 2OO5 they figured it must be a good sign. As a small company looking to break into the predominantly big business of wholesale wine and liquor distribution, the...
Read More