January 2, 2011

5OO YEARS IN THE MAKINGCOCKTALE New spirits and liqueurs spring up all over these days, each with stories and talking points designed to build intrigue.  Yet few stories are so beguiling as that of Bénédictine.  This mysterious liqueur was invented by a monk in 151O in the Abbey of Fécamp,... Read More

When it comes to stout, a single beer defines the style for most drinkers. With its cascading layers of nitrogenated foam and alternating hues of mocha and cream, Guinness draft beer is a world classic. The growing wait for the pour to complete, whether marketing hocus pocus or based in... Read More

HOT WATERBrandon Mayes waves his hand towards the burbling, rock-strewn brook that is the Ottaquechee River in August. “After you’ve been through a long work day, enjoying a pint of ale out here makes it all seem easy again.” We’re on the brewpub’s dining porch at Long Trail Brewing Company... Read More

Greece was the conduit of many essential elements of western civilization: philosophy, poetry and drama, painting and sculpture, architecture, mathematics, medicine, democracy, athletics, and wine.We have evidentiary traces of wine production from at least 65OO years ago, and a prominent viticulture dating back as much as 4OOO years. It likely... Read More

True or false: Champagne is a wine? Absurd as this question might sound to any professional, a significant percentage of consumers would answer incorrectly. Why? Because as a primarily blended product whose attributes are consistent from year to year, Champagne appears on the surface to share more with spirits, beer... Read More

It gets tiresome fighting the same battles all over again. To no one’s great surprise an outfit in the UK – calling itself the Institute of Alcohol Studies – is focusing its concern, and urging the rest of us to join in, on a problem that I, here in the... Read More

Coatepec is in the mountainous part of Mexico’s state of Veracruz. Trucks rumble through the streets, there’s a market in the square where you can buy fresh-roasted ears of corn slathered with mayonnaise and sprinkled with powdered chiles, and the cantinas serve smoky mezcal and ice-cold beers to wiry, calloused... Read More

With any luck, 2O11 will see many umbrellas being stowed away as economic storm clouds start to give way to sunnier skies, and may these rays warm the world of cordials and liqueurs. One can only hope that the timeless classics and newly crafted concoctions will brush away the ashes... Read More