by Lou Bustamante
As I was having an email conversation with an old friend I’d reconnected with on Facebook, I was struck by the difficulty of describing my interest in spirits (and my profession) without conjuring up images of the movie “Leaving Las Vegas.”
Drunk. Lush. Alcoholic. Bar fly. Boozer. Lubricator. Those are some of the nicer names to describe people who enjoy fine spirits and cocktails, but those words don’t adequately define people like me. All those expressions characterize overindulgence instead of a refined interest in liquor. It would be like using the word glutton to describe a gourmet. It’s clear that we need a suitable name for ourselves.
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Posted on Monday, March 8th, 2010
Filed under: Culture, Spirits by Heather
Notes from the South Beach Wine & Food Festival
by Emily Nordee (www.emalamode.com)
Each year over 50,000 people flock to Miami’s Beaches at the end of February to attend the cool gastronomical event known as the SOBE Wine & Food Festival. Many festival guests travel from as far as California, while others come to escape the chilly East Coast temperatures, to indulge in the 4 days of epicurean delight. Now in its’ 9th year, the festival has become a major attraction to industry professionals and culinary enthusiast alike.
When an event is hosted by a tri-fecta of industry leaders, in this case; Southern Wine & Spirits, one of the nations largest liquor distributors, The Food Network and Food & Wine Magazine, you know it’s going to be a great party!
So, as the event kicked-off on Thursday, February 25th and the crowds of people started to populate the beachfront hotels hoping to catch a glimpse of their favorite food personality or chef, I reviewed the schedule of my “liquid” journey ahead! (more…)
Posted on Friday, March 5th, 2010
Filed under: Culture, Spirits by Daniel
Howdy, folks! Welcome back to Booze In The News, where you’ll find the latest, funniest and most obscure newsworthy, alcohol-related bits all in one place.
1. Apparently you weren’t the only person disappointed by the U.S.’s loss to Canada in Olympic Hockey. President Barack Obama made a bet with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and after losing it had to buy him a case of Molson Canadian beer.
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Posted on Thursday, March 4th, 2010
Filed under: Beer, Culture, Spirits, Wine, news by Heather
by Kevin Blum, City Dish
It’s that time again… luella restaurant on Russian Hill is celebrating its five-year anniversary with $5 wines by the glass.
Guests can enjoy this celebratory pricing Sunday – Thursday in the dining room and at the bar. General manager Leah Lidsky manages luella’s eclectic wine list, featuring a mix of countries and varietals chosen to pair with chef Ben de Vries’ contemporary American menu. The wines will change throughout the month.
WHEN: Sundays – Thursdays (in March). 5:30pm – 10pm.
WHERE: luella
1896 Hyde St. @ Green
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Posted on Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010
Filed under: Beer, Culture, Spirits, Wine by Daniel
by Erin Archuleta
After the stock market crash of 2008, Anthony Westfall and his wife Danielle found themselves, like many Americans, reconsidering their lifestyles and career choices. A fundraising idea that first began while attending a Sonoma mothers’ club meeting a few years prior, resurfaced.
They asked themselves: Why not leverage Danielle’s knowledge of running a world-class wine club, (formerly the Vice President of Marketing at Viansa), with the couple’s philanthropic interests? With little kids in tow, the Westfalls launched VinoFina, the first wine retailer to give back on every purchase, in November of 2009. Viansa had the largest wine club in the country at the time, and Danielle and Tony were inspired by the scope of her previous work both there and at Wine.com. They believed that the market for doing good and giving back, while maintaining a profitable business was present—even in a weakened economy. The couple kept coming across article after article describing how hard the financial crisis was affecting charities big and small. To them, it seemed like a natural time to try to step in and close at least part of the fundraising gap. (more…)
Posted on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010
Filed under: Culture, Wine by Daniel
