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Steeped in vodkas. “At this point it’s next to impossible for me to put another vodka on the back bar. We have 26 vodkas now,” comments Stephen Clark, bartender at Cuffs, the bar at Jurys Hotel in Boston’s Back Bay. “Our main restriction is space. All 26 sell well.” Ketel... Read More

During the mid to late 199Os, the Italian wine industry had never seen it so good. Every year indicated steady growth on all fronts. Fantasy wines with virtual reputations and very real high price tags, waltzed into the marketplace. Producers increased their prices every year causing a domino-effect that ended... Read More

These American-brewed beers are starting to find their way into the New England beer market. They’re similar to classic Belgian beers, they’re complex in flavor and aroma, they’re hot with the high-end beer customer, and they’ve got a margin like wine. Interested? You should be; the right shop can do... Read More

To hear the mainstream media or spirits and wine flacks tell it, beer is dead. It’s a passe beverage that no self-respecting drinker would cop to enjoying. A much-cited study found that people claim to drink more wine than beer. Production and total share of consumption is down, but beer... Read More

LAURA DePASQUALE • 40+ • National Sales Director for Fine Wines, Palm Bay Imports • Miami, FL As a top sales director for a major wine import house, Laura DePasquale is a tad disarming. Her former careers as rock guitarist and graphic artist skew her profile out of the mainstream,... Read More

HOPEFULLY by the time this article is published the sun will be shining and Jack Frost will have been put to bed for another year. Spring has finally sprung in New England and it’s time for a little “spring drinking”. Our clients’ palates are changing once again from mostly heavy... Read More

While it’s true that the predominant low-end domestic segment, that represents over 7O% of gin’s 11 million-case annual total volume sales in the US, continues to be static and largely disappointing, the upwardly mobile performances and brand expansions in the high-end import tier is cause for genuine celebration in this... Read More

As any even casual reader of the Bible or student of ancient history knows, wine has been produced and consumed in the Land of Israel for thousands of years. It has also been exported for many centuries, constituting a favored drink among the Roman legions and among the pharaoh’s court... Read More

If you have any solid answers, there are some very large brewers who want to meet you. They have a problem that is defined by these questions. Two of the world’s largest brewers think they may have found some answers already: Heineken and Anheuser-Busch. They’re making major moves into the... Read More