Article by: Andy Crouch - No season so attracts the attention of beer drinkers as much as the warm days and nights of summer.  With the swells of heat and humidity comes a desire to cool off, whether through dips in the local pool or lake, or with a cold beverage.  To take the edge off, consumers look to refreshing beverages with a bit of a bite – just enough to remain crisp but attention grabbing.  While IPA and its [...] Read More »

Article by: Pink Lady - Consider the Martini.  Iconic, misunderstood, misconstrued.  Of the all drinks in the cocktail cannon, the beverage you are often served as a martini could not be further from its classic incarnation.  Here’s why:1 A Martini is a drink, not a glass.  Referring to the stemmed, conical-shaped vessel that traditionally holds “up” drinks as a Martini Glass is akin to calling a pint glass a Beer Glass, or any vessel you use to drink [...] Read More »

Article by: Harvey Finkel, MD - Although happy to collect the taxes, our federal government has been most uncomfortable admitting that alcohol can provide any benefit, particularly to health.  Divisions of the government, like the National Institutes of Health, and organizations it helps support, such as the American Heart Association and the World Health Organization, try very hard to emphasize the negative aspects of drinking, even moderately, and to discourage giving any credit to alcohol.  I can almost see our rulers [...] Read More »

Article by: Harvey Finkel - SPANISH SHAPE-SHIFTER The grape we usually call tempranillo slyly changes its character and, especially, its name whenever it senses a new ethos.  Probably native to northern Spain, where it is the dominant grape variety, it is Spain’s best grape.  It is best known in the Rioja as tempranillo, and in Ribera del Duero as tinto fino; it contributes to the wines of Catalonia as, in Catalan, ull de llebre, or in Spanish, ojo de [...] Read More »