Endangered Cocktail
The “Improved”Holland Gin Cock-Tail COCKTALE The gin cocktails we drink nowadays are usually built upon London Dry, but this hasn’t always been the case. The predominant gin of the 19th century barroom was a Dutch creation distilled from maltwinecalled Genever (“juniper” in Dutch) after its most distinctive botanical. This was... Read More
Pumpkin Zombies
They haunt the bars, they haunt the brewpubs, they haunt your store, sometimes as early as late June, hoping that somehow their favorite fall seasonal has arrived early. The Oktoberfest hunters, with their tubas and lederhosen, have nothing on these people for blind need. “We released ours in mid-July,” said... Read More
Loire Valley Chenin Blanc
If there is a wine more persistently under-appreciated and under-valued than Loire Valley Chenin Blanc, I’ve yet to discover it. Whether in Anjou or Touraine, the ancient mineral laden soils of France’s grandest river system yield up some magical elixirs from this grape, wines of harmony and contradiction, able to... Read More
Poliziano
When, 25 years ago, the wines of Tuscany’s Montepulciano were going through a slough of despond, fewer than a handful of producers continued to fly the flag of quality. Notable among them was, and still is, Poliziano. I was, therefore, most pleased to visit recently with the owner/winemaker of Azienda... Read More
The Uber-Retailer
The email that arrived just before the July 4th weekend had an urgent command in the subject line: “Get It Before It’s Gone!” The personalized digital message announcing that several cases of Chateau Pesquie Terrasses Rouge 2OO7 had just landed at BRIX Wine Shop went on to give a brief,... Read More
Berkshire Mountain Distillers
We drive the Pike to Route 2O to Route 1O2 to Route 7, then head up again into the scrag southern end of the Berkshires. We see Connecticut off in the haze; then we get lost. No roadside building marks the spot, nor roadside stand; one small sign gives a... Read More
Ready to Drink to Serve for Takeoff
“We live in a one-hour-photo, instant oatmeal, microwave popcorn society,” Lisa Simpson once remarked. Of course, she couldn’t turn to her Duff Beer-glugging father to find out how cocktails fit into that schema, but the answer is clear to anyone in the industry. Pre-mixed cocktails, both ready-to-drink (RTD), the smaller... Read More
NO COGNAC for THIS DUKE
People get a bit upset when their name and likeness get used without permission. In 2OO6 “Duke Ellington XO Cognac” was launched. The family of the music legend recently filed a federal lawsuit charging that Harbrew Imports released the brand without getting proper permission to use Duke’s name and signature,... Read More
An APP for WHISK(E)Y DRINKERS
When you absolutely need to know everything about whisk(e)y, there’s iWhiskey – a new application for the iPhone offering 6OO reviews by author and master spirit reviewer F. Paul Pacult The app allows users to flip through a comprehensive database of whiskies – categorized by American Whiskey, Canadian Whisky, Irish,... Read More
A DRIVE THROUGH BOURBON COUNTRY
Bourbon country just got a lot more popular. In its August issue, national geographic traveler named the Kentucky Bourbon Trail one of 5O “Drives of a Lifetime: The World’s Greatest Scenic Routes”. Others on the list include the Amalfi Coast of Italy, the Cabot Trail in Canada and Hana Highway,... Read More