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WITH THE legalization of homebrewing in 1978, the US craft brewing industry began its climb from as few as ninety breweries to its 2O13 record high of 2822.  The craft distilling industry remains about twenty years behind the brewing curve, yet a similar pattern of booming growth cannot be denied. ... Read More

WHAT COULD BE more refreshing on a sweltering August afternoon than an ice cold beer?  A Shandygaff!  Beer aficionados (like whisky aficionados and tequila aficionados) shudder at the mere mention of mixing “stuff” in with their perfect brew.  We LUPEC ladies do not.  If you’ve never tried it, now’s the... Read More

IT’S BECOME almost a reflex among segments of the wine community to dismiss domestic Chardonnay.  How could something this popular be any good?  A common prejudice I hear sommeliers express regards Chardonnays whose aromas or flavors reflect even a trace of oak contact as examples of the wine industry using... Read More

No question that Champagne sets the standard, but sparkling wines of character and elegance – and price – are also made in other places, even places not French.  Today we’ll consider those of Cantine Ferrari in Trentino. Located in Italy’s far north, the vines grow on south-facing slopes at between... Read More

THE CRAFT BREWING revolution  has always been about one beer, a single experience that shatters decades of programming from big brewery advertising and changes the way people perceive beer.  No longer is beer a drink of last resort, something to settle for, a mere interchangeable widget easily replaced with another... Read More

HIGH-PROOF SPIRITS are making the rounds at the local cocktail dens in our fair city: shots of overproof rum served with questionable judgment at last call, Navy strength gin making its way into martinis.  Building cocktails with these boozy potations presents an interesting challenge for bartenders who must muscle the... Read More

A DRINK WITH DONAL O’GALLACHOIRBrand Manager for Glendalough Irish Whiskey IF YOU HAVE YET TO meet Donal O’Gallachoir, you soon will.  This Irish-born brand ambassador and self-described whiskey nerd is spreading the gospel of his country’s original spirit: poitín (pronounced “potcheen”).  He recently moved to Boston and is finding a... Read More

Contrary to the general expectation that WHO, the World Health Organization, is imbued with objective medical science, once again it has issued a document, its world cancer report 2o14, that, in the section on alcohol, seems to me more a prohibitionistic, political polemic than dispassionate, professional and helpful.  This is... Read More

When Suzanne Schalow and Kate Baker opened Craft Beer Cellars in Belmont Center three-and-a-half years ago, they were dedicated, hard-working, knowlegdeable, and somewhat business savvy.  But the amiably driven co-owners never did expect the brew-nami of beer and steep fan-to-geek-to-business partner trajectories that have followed in the wake.  Today they... Read More