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Despite its relative late start compared to other great brewing nations, America has quickly, over the course of thirty years, become one of the world’s pre-eminent brewing nations.  Mixing a healthy respect for traditional practices with a New World curiosity for experimentation, bundled together with passion for their craft, brewers... Read More

IT’S NOVEMBER. The trees are beginning to shed the last of their leaves and, as the month wears on, it will be more and more challenging to shake the chill from your bones without a good, stiff drink.  We’ll save the Hot Toddies for January and February and discuss a... Read More

Since our founding fathers gathered around a punch bowl to sketch plans for the Revolution, this city has shown a fondness for beverage alcohol.  This fall, Bostonians can raise a glass to our unique and special beverage scene at Thirst Boston, a two-day celebration of all the things Bostonians drink... Read More

MORGAN FIRST and TYLER BALLIET of SECOND GLASS are REINVENTING WINE  EDUCATION ONE RIOT at a TIME FOR THE NOVICE DRINKER, learning about wine can be nothing if not intimidating.  And for many young people, it has an air of the unattainable.  It’s not that there aren’t countless approachable wines... Read More

SCOTCH AFICIONADOS can be quite particular about how they sip their single malts.  “Just one rock” please, or a splash of water.  Mention mixing with soda water, lemon juice or – GASP! – simple syrup and you’re sure to receive a suspicious glance.  We know, we know – scotch is... Read More

ONCE a fashionable name on the us market, Pouilly-Fuisse has not been a “go to” wine for decades, but remains nonetheless an advantageously situated Burgundy appellation nestled among hills and jagged outcroppings at the southernmost end of the Macon district.  The Chardonnays produced on its rocky vineyard amphitheaters vary considerably... Read More

IN FEBRUARY 2O13, Massachusetts-bred (Newton Highlands), California winemaker Merry Edwards appeared at the Boston Wine Expo to present her single-vineyard Pinot Noirs.  The seminar featured a tasting of six different wines all from the Russian River Valley where Merry Edwards Winery is located.  Her partner in this project, which began... Read More

HOW MUCH ONE DRINKSis strongly influenced by whether the drinkingis reinforced bypleasurable sensationsor punished by torment.The outcome islargely decidedby inheritance. Key aspects of drinking are how the body – especially the brain – metabolizes, degrades, neutralizes alcohol, and whether the process rewards or punishes the drinker.  Genetic variability plays a large... Read More

UMBRIA, called the “Green Heart of Italy”, has long been shaded vinously by Tuscany, its immediate neighbor to the northwest.  The white wines of Orvieto were the first to attract outside notice, then Lungarotti’s array from Torgiano.  Now, however, Umbria has conjured up a wine fit to stand with any... Read More