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Wine needs Alcohol.

There’s been a lot of talk lately about avoiding alcohol – the bete noire of many – while still preserving the health benefits of wine, a sort of having your antioxidant and not drinking it too. Grape juice, dealcoholized wine, and resveratrol capsules are being promoted as more temperate, more...
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US beers go south of the border.

The folks at Miller Brewing have evidently been thinking about that cultural trend, the booming success of both Corona and tequila, and a previously little-known Mexican beer ‘cocktail’ called the chelada: a salt-rimmed glass of light lager with ice and a squeeze of fresh lime. Throw that all in the...
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The Blends

Although low end, bottled in the US Scotch sales appear to be ebbing, in the premium and higher segments, a two percent yearly growth in dollar sales and a 1.2 percent growth of foreign bottled scotch volume are certainly cause for optimism. Some insiders are even predicting that brown spirits...
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Profile: Joe Gomes

JOE GOMES • 49 • Spirits Buyer/Store Manager • Blanchard’s • Allston, MA SELF-STARTER After a varied career (construction, high tech, manufacturing, engineering) I’ve been at this store over 17 years. It was a challenge at first: all I knew about wine and liquor and beer was what you come...
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Old School Warmth

As winter is upon us again it’s time to revisit drinks that ward off the chill. And for this article its time to go back to the near-forgotten originals. The oldies are goodies for a reason and this certainly goes beyond my beloved Side Car. Recently I found some very...
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Winter Beers

Winter beers! Just the tonic for cold weather: big and hearty, sweet and spiced, something special to celebrate the holidays. Just thinking about them makes you feel warmer; you don’t even need a sweater. Brewers move to a different calendar. They do winter beers way before it’s wintertime. “It’s a...
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Interview with Jeff Becker

ANDY CROUCH How is the Beer Institute’s relationship with smaller brewers? JEFF BECKER I’d like to say that one of the things we’ve been able to do, at least over the last seven to eight years, is the policy stuff where there is interest among the smaller guys at getting...
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The Single Malts

If you’re a consumer of single malt whiskies, the American market happens to be a remarkable place to be at the moment, and apparently will continue to be so for some time to come. You’re seeing not only an extraordinary increase of innovation and exciting ideas coming through with the...
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Overview of the Champagne Market

According to the CIVC’s (Comite Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne) bulletin of information for the first trimester of 2OO7, sales have risen steadily from a base of 263 million bottles in 2OO1 to 322 million sold in 2OO6. There were 11.3 million more bottles sold in 2OO6 than in 2OO5....
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