As British traditions go, drinkable ginger is just about as prominent as Yeoman Warders or afternoon tea. In addition to ginger tea and ginger beer, for over 250 years British tipplers have quaffed a fermented ginger drink made from a blend of ginger, sugar, and raisins. It’s known as ginger …
The British have long had a taste for Champagne and were among the first nations to understand that bubbly isn’t just for celebrations. In fact, in England Champagne is often one of the cheaper drinks on the menu simply because it is ordered so frequently. U.S. prices would incur outrage! …
Single malt Scotch whisky is to Scotland what Champagne or even Cognac is to France. But what about combining the style of France together with the style of Scotland? The notion probably makes the whisky purist cringe, as if it’s like “fruiting” beer. Yet it’s this very style that one …
Released from the Fold Shmaltz Brewing Company sets up shop of its own Shmaltz Brewing Company, long a contract brewer, has finally settled down. The new brewery and tasting room in upstate New York’s Clifton Park will open its doors to the thirsty public on the seventh of July. In …
My evening had been going well—nothing life-changing, mind you, but this first night at Revel, the two-billion-dollar boondoggle in Atlantic City, was chugging along pleasantly. Decent dinner, personable company, new hotel. And then I saw it: Behind the bar at one of the many venues there at which one may, …
A summer saunter northwest from Detroit to Traverse City needn’t have a purpose other than reveling in the tree-lined drive, the enchanting twists and turns of lake and land that typify rural Michigan. However, a tent-filled, first-ever ‘Night of 100 Rieslings’ on Grand Traverse Bay featuring an international tasting of …
Everyone knows about the micro-brewery and micro-distillery phenomenon, but now there are two new oldie additions to this heady mix. The new kids in town are cider and mead. Both of these potables are increasing in popularity; their taste is different and good and they are gluten-free. Mead-makers are a …
Wine drinkers have long downplayed their affinity for juicy, fruity white zinfandels. Beer drinkers brag about the IBU’s in their beer. But in the last five years sweet moscato wine and sour beer have emerged as go-to drinks. As John Stanton, bartender at Sable Kitchen and Bar in Chicago, tells …
“We find your American beer like making love in a canoe. It’s f#%$ing close to water,” Monty Python’s Eric Idle famously buzzed at the Hollywood Bowl in 1982. But, lucky for America, his logic is dated. Over the past several years, the American beer industry has burgeoned with complex variations, with …
Manchester Ridge Vineyard and the “Island” AVA “This road is littered with winemakers who have tried to make wine here,” says Greg La Follette, careening in a rickety pick-up through a winding and narrow dirt road with shear drops into the ravines below. We’re bouncing along the road to Manchester …
We spent the day with Carter Raff, of Raff Distillerie, as he prepared a batch of his absinthe. He also hand crafts small batches of gin, rhum, and bourbon. Photography by Hardy Wilson.