The indispensable tool for the Massachusetts adult beverage trade.

HOME

J. Polep Profiled

J. Polep Distribution Services’ new wine and specialty beverage division is built on knowledge business savvy and a customer service sensibility which has been honed for generations. With warehouses in Chicopee and Woburn Massachusetts; Providence, Rhode Island; West Haven, Connecticut; and Manchester, New Hampshire, the company that was originated by...
Read More

Get BarSmart

Countless are the careers that can be furthered with an advanced degree. A Master’s degree after all, signals not only a higher, more specified level of expertise, it indicates an effort to go above and beyond in the proverbial quest for knowledge and, perhaps above all, it signifies commitment. Policy...
Read More

Profile: The Ramlers

DOUG & JENNIFER RAMLER  BOTH 38Chef & Manager/OwnersCape Sea Grille Harwich Port MA When Jennifer and Doug Ramler bought the Cape Sea Grille in 2OO2, the outgoing owners had run it since 1994; before that it’d been Café Elizabeth, The Smith House and The Talbot House, going back to 194O. ...
Read More

Catena Malbec

Image is all important in the wine business. Unless there are positive identifications with a country or region some of its wines may be of outstanding quality, but consumers and critics alike remain indifferent. What’s interesting is how often the emergence of a regional industry from obscurity is associated with...
Read More

Some of Antinori’s Wines

After a tasting some years ago three of us were schmoozing –  a winemaker from California, one from Italy and me. The Californian commented that my house must be very old. He “wowed!” when informed it was first occupied in 1913. His “old house” had been built in 195O. Then...
Read More

Is It Time for a Beer?

Hot and relaxed sunning on the Cape enjoying the brisk breeze and a cold, cold beer.Wish that kid next door would shut up. Just me and my beer and the deep blue sky, reflecting the deep blue ocean,rolling in all the way from Europe.Wonder if those clouds are going to...
Read More

A Tale of Two Breweries

The culture and influence of American craft brewing is quietly moving across the world. From upstart Danish micro brewers to quirky Japanese extreme ale producers subtle changes are taking place in the way we all think about beer. These operations are often run by beverage alcohol industry veterans who are...
Read More

TOURIGA NACIONAL and ARINTO

What would be a US wine consumer’s reflex response to Sauvignon Blanc and Malbec? . . . New Zealand and Argentina. The marketing power of these so-called “signature” varieties is clear. Could the market woes of the Portuguese wine industry be solved by a signature variety or two? Could one...
Read More