Endangered Cocktail: Bloody Mary
COCKTALE A staple of brunch menus across America, the Bloody Mary may seem anything but endangered. But we’ll bet you a round that the question of how this morning tipple got its eerie name has crossed your mind at least once. Barman Fernand “Pete” Petiot is credited with inventing this... Read More
Summer Beers 2010
Ah, summertime. Hot weather. Baseball games. Trips to the beach. Backyard barbecues. And thirst. What better way to quench that thirst than with an ice-cold beer? Maybe one served in a well-frosted mug. Then again, maybe not. There’s no need to pigeonhole certain beers as being just for summer. “The... Read More
Chardonnay
Because there’s so much drab, unappealing Chardonnay on the market, sometimes we in the business forget what’s made the grape such a powerhouse. Sommeliers in particular seem to bear a collective grudge against our long reigning champion varietal. There are fine restaurants where aversion to Chardonnay’s magnetic appeal is so... Read More
Still River’s Apple Ice Wine
Wade Holtzman must be a jinni to be able to cram the concentrated essence of 😯 apples, nearly a bushel, into one little bottle. Abetted by his wife, Margot, and son, Leif, he manages that feat 96OO times a year at the family’s Still River Winery in Harvard, Massachusetts. The... Read More
Profile: AARON FRANCISCO
AARON FRANCISCO 48, General Manager, 111 Chop House, Worcester, MA Rangy, keen-eyed, impulsive, Francisco is senior beverage buyer for multiple award-winning Worcester Restaurant Group’s three destination restaurants. These brainchildren of owners Robb and Madeleine Ahlquist are: The Sole Proprietor (since 1979), 111 Chop House (1999, where Francisco is also GM),... Read More
Ultimate Beverage Challenge’s Ultimate Spirits Challenge
was held in New York in March. Founded by award-winning journalist, author, educator, and critic F. Paul Pacult, wine and spirits publishing industry veteran David Talbot, and spirit journal managing editor Sue Woodley, The first annual Ultimate Beverage Challenge was designed to provide both the industry and consumers with a... Read More
The San Francisco World Spirits Competition
celebrated its 1Oth Anniversary in March with a record number of entries, topping last year’s high mark by 17 percent. The competition’s founder and Executive Director, the tasting panel magazine’s Anthony Dias Blue, celebrated the anniversary by introducing mixologist Tony Abou-Ganim as the new Director of Judging. Abou-Ganim joined as... Read More
NEWS FLASH: NEW HAMPSHIRE’S SELLING MORE LIQUOR
Was there ever really any doubt that this would happen? In what perhaps is the biggest non-surprise of the year, state liquor sales in New Hampshire are up 4.62 percent since the beginning of the fiscal year, which started July 1, 2OO9. This, of course, is around the time when... Read More
LIQUOR STORE DELIVERIES: A CAUTIONARY TALE
It may seem like a great way to make extra money, particularly in this economy, but the business of liquor delivery could end up costing a store much more than it’s worth. Not surprisingly, minors frequently attempt to order liquor for delivery. What is surprising is how often they seem... Read More