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2007 Was Another Solid Year for the Beer Industry

While the biggest players spent a great deal of time transitioning their businesses, imports and craft beers continued to benefit from the trading-up pattern and change in American drinking palates. Building upon trends from the previous five years, 2OO7 showed strong signs that the better beer market remains strong and...
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M.S. Walker 75th Anniversary Special

Photography by David Binder In the midst of this present topsy-turvy era of dramatic change and massive business consolidations that keep escalating in beverage alcohol wholesaler markets all across America, the venerable, family-owned, Somerville-based distributorship and rectifying operation of M.S. Walker is something of an anomaly. Now beginning its 75th...
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Italy’s Riccardo Cotarella

Many journalists believe that this well known Italian consulting enologist is captivated by international-styled wines using the Merlot grape variety. Indeed, the calling card of the Falesco winery, co-owned by Riccardo and brother Renzo, is Montiano, a 1OO% Merlot wine matured in small French barrels. Falesco is located in Montefiascone,...
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Isreal’s Dalton Winery

Dalton hardly seems a likely name for an Israeli winery, but, accent on the second syllable, it is the place – Ramat (“heights”) Dalton – where lies the winery in the mountainous Upper Galilee near the Lebanese border. It is a respected member of the new wave, the Israeli wine...
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Weathering This Economic Storm

A recent wall street journal article noted some possibly alarming content about the economy in the coming years. The article was titled “Stocks Tarnished by Lost Decade”. According to the article, stocks have traditionally been one of the best investments. Conventional wisdom, according to the article, has been to invest...
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Here’s To The Brewers Association

What a difference a decade makes.For craft brewers, the not-so-distant past signified a time when many would-be entrepreneurs wondered about whether their new businesses would survive.  America’s initial flirtations with the colorful new characters on the beer scene quickly soured and things looked dire.  Fast forward ten years and craft...
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Everything’s Clearly About Vodka

There is a legend about the last words of Peter the Great, the brilliant yet half-mad emperor who brought Russia out of the dark ages of backwards isolation. Peter made Russia a European nation, largely on his own energetic efforts, and he built St. Petersburg, his “Window on the West”,...
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Drinking in Angus Winchester

It was nothing short of a summons and it was reasonably straightforward. An email proclaimed: “Leading professionals all agree a bachelor in vodkaology is the best way to advance your career. Join us at the 42 Below campus for tuition with the professor of vodkaology himself.” Granted, when you see...
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Profile: Peter Fiumara

PETER FIUMARA • 35 • Owner • Good Life Bar & Vodka Lounge • Boston, MA Boston’s downtown and our state’s vodka segment both have undergone recent revitalizations, and The Good Life is in the middle of the action.  The Fiumara Brothers bought the cozy corner spot on low-rise Kingston...
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