1. Give this gift to someone who needs to cool it on the disposable plastic water bottles. Bobble Bottle, $10 2. Easier than using your teeth. Skeleton Key Bottle Opener, $32 3. Building block of a complete cocktail. Lego Minifigure Ice Cube Tray, $8 4. For those that dig Banksy and bourbon. Graffiti Martini Shaker, $23 5. Know someone who’s still using [...]
There seems to be an either/or problem with most music and beer festivals — either there’s great beer or great music, hardly ever both. I know I’ve been to my fair share of music festivals where I had to work my way through watery, overpriced, and often warm brews just to get a hint of a buzz. It’s not all [...]
Consider this: if you drink any espresso blend anywhere, whether in a cappuccino, latte, macchiatto, double-dip-half-caf-low-cal-easy-foam-extra-mocha-frappa-whatever, or as a straight shot from the portafilter’s cannon, you have better than a ninety-percent chance that at least some of the beans you imbibe are produced in Brazil. If you drink any major commercial coffee brand, including Illy, Maxwell House, or Folgers, you [...]
I woke up the other day and realized I missed the smell of pickling spice. It might have had something to do with the apple cider vinegar that has been fermenting in my cupboard for weeks, or maybe it was due to the changing seasons and the realization that the list of fresh produce in season is about to shrink, [...]
How do you remain unpretentious when you brew an imperial Russian-style stout and sell it in four-packs of 22-ounce bombers for $60 in severely limited quantities only to people willing to travel to your brewery once a year (and single bottles of which can resell on eBay for three figures)? How do you remain humble and accessible when amateur drinkers [...]
BOOM! Reports are trickling down that this year’s wine harvest in multiple growing regions, including Oregon (where as recently as last month there was speculation that an early frost could destroy the late grapes) and France, are bumper crops. This good news comes just in time for the holidays (although the savvy amongst you will likely not be imbibing too [...]
BOOM! Reports are trickling down that this year’s wine harvest in multiple growing regions, including Oregon (where as recently as last month there was speculation that an early frost could destroy the late grapes) and France, are bumper crops. This good news comes just in time for the holidays (although the savvy amongst you will likely not be imbibing too much [...]
More than an active practice, making beer (or anything that relies on few and good ingredients) asks the brewer to listen to those ingredients. The limitations of making a good beer are rescript in what the beer is made with and the rest is, seemingly, limitless. This suggests brewing can be play, can be imaginative, can be something new. After [...]
Despite persisting advances in science, no matter the field, it is still continually difficult to sort through the deluge of facts, opinions, pseudo-science, biased or un-backed claims, and legitimate advice. A pair of studies released this week by the medical and health communities perfectly demonstrate that point. The Wall Street Journal ran an article entitled “Raising the Chance of Some [...]
More and more of my neighbors have hung orange lights and decorated their lawns with scarecrows and tombstones, which can means only one thing: Halloween is upon us! The days of stuffing my body into a slutty _________ have long since passed and I’m planning on spending the evening with a good cocktail and my secret Halloween go-to movie Hocus [...]
