DIAGEO
KAITLYN STEWART, Bar manager at Royal Dinette in Vancouver, has been crowned Bartender of the Year 2O17 at the global competition in Mexico. As the winner, she will serve as a Diageo Reserve Brand Ambassador making cocktails at bars around the world. She’s the ninth member of the World Class... Read More
FEVER TREE
THE ART OF MIXING SIMPLE LONG DRINKS+COCKTAILS FROM THE WORLD’S LEADING BARS CHARLES ROLLS+TIM WARRILLOW MITCHELL BEAZLEY/AMAZON.COM HARDCOVER $2O THE FIRST cocktail title to put the mixers center-stage. Rather than starting with the spirits, this book focuses on key mixers – including tonic, lemonade, ginger ale, ginger beer and cola... Read More
SESSION BEERS: BREWING FOR FLAVOR AND BALANCE
JENNIFER TALLEY BREWERS PUBLICATIONS HARDCOVER $19.95 THE LATEST release from Brewers Publications explores the history behind some of the world’s greatest session beers, past and present. In recent years, brewers have reinvented traditionally stronger classic beer styles to something more suitable for casual drinking sessions – giving beer lovers the... Read More
THE AMAZING BEER-PROOF SNEAKER
IT’S THE PERFECT Oktoberfest accessory: liquid-repellant sneakers! The annual German beer festival will soon be here and with it all of the traditional merriment . . . and messes. Nothing can bring down a beer buzz quicker than one’s shoes being soaked in lager, or worse. Now you don’t have... Read More
A BONUS FOR SENIORS WHO INDULGE
HERE’S A LITTLE something to look forward to in the senior years! A 3O-year study by the University of California, San Diego has concluded that over-65s who indulge in up to three alcoholic drinks a day can look forward to a happy and healthy retirement. In fact, they said, moderate... Read More
BUSY DAYS FOR BRANDY
PERHAPS YOU HAVE missed it but the “big thing” in the spirits world these days is . . . brandy. Category sales are way up; the brandy boom is currently bigger than the market surges for American whiskey and Tequila. And while so much focus has been on premium rosé,... Read More
A TASTE FOR AMERICAN SPIRITS
WE AMERICANS certainly enjoy our domestic spirits (bourbon in particular) but it seems the rest of the world is developing quite a thirst for tipples from the US. The value of American spirits exports increased by 1O.6% in the first half of 2O17 – up more than $67 million to... Read More
BORDEAUX 2O16 A Classic Vintage
by HARVEY FINKEL THERE SEEM to be no dismal vintages any more in Bordeaux, and perhaps surprisingly too many hailed with superlatives. But the latter are, to me, usually over-extracted, dense, and lacking in grace – echoes of wines made with more enthusiasm than finesse in northern California. Now, however,... Read More
PINK LADY’S ENDANGERED COCKTAIL OF THE MONTH: THE MODERN COCKTAIL
by PINK LADY A CURIOUS BLEND of Scotch, sloe gin, citrus, and absinthe, The Modern Cocktail is one of those drinks that is greater than the sum of its parts. This seems to be the case for several Scotch whisky cocktails: the Blood & Sand, for example, which mixes Scotch,... Read More
A FINE 6OOO-YEAR-OLD WINE
THIS TAKES THE concept of “old world” to a whole new level. Researchers have found traces of 6OOO-year-old wine on ancient pottery recovered in a cave in Sicily. It has long been thought that wine production developed in the region in the Middle Bronze Age, between 13OO and 11OO BC. ... Read More