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We drive the Pike to Route 2O to Route 1O2 to Route 7, then head up again into the scrag southern end of the Berkshires. We see Connecticut off in the haze; then we get lost. No roadside building marks the spot, nor roadside stand; one small sign gives a... Read More

The email that arrived just before the July 4th weekend had an urgent command in the subject line: “Get It Before It’s Gone!” The personalized digital message announcing that several cases of Chateau Pesquie Terrasses Rouge 2OO7 had just landed at BRIX Wine Shop went on to give a brief,... Read More

When, 25 years ago, the wines of Tuscany’s Montepulciano were going through a slough of despond, fewer than a handful of producers continued to fly the flag of quality. Notable among them was, and still is, Poliziano. I was, therefore, most pleased to visit recently with the owner/winemaker of Azienda... Read More

If there is a wine more persistently under-appreciated and under-valued than Loire Valley Chenin Blanc, I’ve yet to discover it. Whether in Anjou or Touraine, the ancient mineral laden soils of France’s grandest river system yield up some magical elixirs from this grape, wines of harmony and contradiction, able to... Read More

They haunt the bars, they haunt the brewpubs, they haunt your store, sometimes as early as late June, hoping that somehow their favorite fall seasonal has arrived early. The Oktoberfest hunters, with their tubas and lederhosen, have nothing on these people for blind need. “We released ours in mid-July,” said... Read More

The “Improved”Holland Gin Cock-Tail COCKTALE The gin cocktails we drink nowadays are usually built upon London Dry, but this hasn’t always been the case. The predominant gin of the 19th century barroom was a Dutch creation distilled from maltwinecalled Genever (“juniper” in Dutch) after its most distinctive botanical. This was... Read More

“We live in a one-hour-photo, instant oatmeal, microwave popcorn society,” Lisa Simpson once remarked.  Of course, she couldn’t turn to her Duff Beer-glugging father to find out how cocktails fit into that schema, but the answer is clear to anyone in the industry.  Pre-mixed cocktails, both ready-to-drink (RTD), the smaller... Read More

Matt Steinberg is a rare breed in the beer business, an individual who understands the intricate details of how to both brew and sell beer. Derived from entrepreneurial stock – his father, Barry, founded Direct Tire and Auto – Matt understands the artistic and economic sides of the business and... Read More

Though LUPEC Boston ladies are egalitarian imbibers, rye whiskey holds a special place in our hearts,largely because the spirit itself was endangered for a good chunk of the last century. COCKTALE  Rye was the preferred spirit of colonial America, innovated by Scots-Irish immigrantswho brought the grain with them to the... Read More