The indispensable tool for the Massachusetts adult beverage trade.
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December 31, 2009

JAMESON a HOT BRAND

advertising age has honored Jameson Whiskey as one of America’s “Hottest Brands”. It was the only spirit to be honored in the category. Not only did Jameson’s on-premise sales rise 2O% last year, but retail sales were up 28% through August, according to Nielsen. ad age noted that much of...
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NEW RULES for the WHISKY INDUSTRY

The Scotts take their whisky laws seriously and with good reason. As part of a campaign to protect the industry, new rules outlawing the bottling of single malt whiskies outside Scotland have been introduced. They are part of a number of regulations which were recently announced by Scottish Secretary Jim...
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CHILLED SCOTCH WHISKY

What will 1OO years do to whisky frozen in ice? Probably nothing good but that doesn’t diminish the excitement over excavating two long-lost crates of McKinlay & Co. Scotch. Specialists from New Zealand have plans to recover two crates of Scotch whisky left more than 1OO years ago by the...
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Endangered Cocktails: The Widows Kiss

COCKTALE The obscure cordial and liqueur bottles interspersed among the familiar spirits that line the back bar may be easily overlooked by most bar guests, but LUPEC Boston finds few bottles so intriguing.  Often steeped in history and tradition, many of these strange potions play an important supporting role in...
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Malt Bombs

My brother-in-law Curt is a chef, and I love hanging out around the table with him.  He’s nuts about truffles, hates factory-farm chicken, loves fresh-picked fruit.  He’s fearless about what he’ll try, but he’s just as fearless in stating what he doesn’t like. One of the things he doesn’t like...
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The Nebbiolos of the Vatellina

In the far northern reaches of Lombardy, 1OO kilometers north of Milan, so near the edge of Italy that one might fall off into Switzerland, lies the isolated Valtellina, a region unique in its geography, its culture and its wines. Here is grown the noble nebbiolo of a character distinct...
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Port

Port season is upon us and, although it has not been growing recently on the American market, the venerable fortified wine from the Douro Valley remains one of the world’s classic categories that, from a qualitative standpoint, goes from strength to strength and keeps renewing itself with improved techniques of...
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2009 Retailer of the Year

If any liquor store has a storied past, it’s Pioppi’s Package Store. If any shop has a particularly New England storied past, it’s Pioppi’s. The Plymouth shop is something of an institution in its own right, earning the Best Liquor Store nod from the readers of Old Colony Memorial 11...
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Cordials and Liqueurs

While technically, both domestic and import numbers were collectively down this year, I’d be surprised if too much sleep was being lost over it.  Behind only vodka and rum, the Cordials+Liqueurs category continues to soar, thanks in part to consumers’ on-going passion for home mixing and the versatility the category...
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NEWCASTLE BROWN ALE

is running its Your Beer. Your Label. promotion.  Beginning in February, they’ll give consumers the canvas, tools and forum to express their “one and only” self by creating their own personalized Newcastle Brown Ale labels.  Newcastle destinations will be created at retail and online where consumers will have the opportunity...
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