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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...
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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...
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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. ...
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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...
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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...
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GIN is IN

Visit a bar and listen closely – above the din of USUAL  conversation and RHYTHMIC rattle of ice in its shakers – you can hear it loud and clear: Gin is in. The spirit that served as one of the core foundations upon which cocktail history is built the spirit...
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REVISITING TANIA OSEGUERA

If any spirit category deserves a party to celebrate how well it’s done over the past year it’s tequila. And if anybody can host that party it’s Tania Oseguera, brand ambassador for Cazadores and Corzo, Bacardi USA’s tequilas. Oseguera was recently in Boston to lead diners through a tasting paired...
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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...
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