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Australia, a continent the size of the USA, seems to occupy a virtual space, not a real one, hulking at the fringes just as it appears on our world maps. Last February, we saw images of the devastating brush and grass fires that ravaged the Yarra Valley, one of Australia’s... Read More

Starting in earnest during the early years of the 198Os, few could have guessed just how much the complexion of the American beer industry would change. It’s moved from an era when a small handful of corporate brewers reigned supreme from coast to coast to a time when the plains... Read More

The Daiquiri COCKTALE With frozen, fruit-flavored versions a mainstay of the Island Oasis machine, the Daiquiri might not be the first drink that springs to mind when you think of endangered cocktails.  The original recipe for the drink – a simple mixture of rum, fresh lime juice and sugar –... Read More

Port season is upon us and, although it has not been growing recently on the American market, the venerable fortified wine from the Douro Valley remains one of the world’s classic categories that, from a qualitative standpoint, goes from strength to strength and keeps renewing itself with improved techniques of... Read More

In the far northern reaches of Lombardy, 1OO kilometers north of Milan, so near the edge of Italy that one might fall off into Switzerland, lies the isolated Valtellina, a region unique in its geography, its culture and its wines. Here is grown the noble nebbiolo of a character distinct... Read More

My brother-in-law Curt is a chef, and I love hanging out around the table with him.  He’s nuts about truffles, hates factory-farm chicken, loves fresh-picked fruit.  He’s fearless about what he’ll try, but he’s just as fearless in stating what he doesn’t like. One of the things he doesn’t like... Read More

COCKTALE The obscure cordial and liqueur bottles interspersed among the familiar spirits that line the back bar may be easily overlooked by most bar guests, but LUPEC Boston finds few bottles so intriguing.  Often steeped in history and tradition, many of these strange potions play an important supporting role in... Read More

While technically, both domestic and import numbers were collectively down this year, I’d be surprised if too much sleep was being lost over it.  Behind only vodka and rum, the Cordials+Liqueurs category continues to soar, thanks in part to consumers’ on-going passion for home mixing and the versatility the category... Read More

If any liquor store has a storied past, it’s Pioppi’s Package Store. If any shop has a particularly New England storied past, it’s Pioppi’s. The Plymouth shop is something of an institution in its own right, earning the Best Liquor Store nod from the readers of Old Colony Memorial 11... Read More