Someone please slap me if I ever say I want to try the “cuisine de terroir” unless I happen to be speaking French. I originally bookmarked this article about the ten best wine vacations in the world because I thought, “Oh, I have time. I’d love to take a wine vacation.” Then, I realized what I was really thinking was, “Oh, I have time, because I don’t have a full-time job. I’d love to take a wine vacation on a budget.”
Oh, well, I can always dream about luxury accomodations and private helicopter tours at the finest vineyards in the world. And if a million dollars or a platonic sugar daddy dropped into my lap, some of these places would be high on my list, though for now, please inform me about the closest hostel:
Imagine a glass of wine. Now, look at the hand holding that glass. To whom does that hand belong? I bet it’s some white guy.
In general, there’s a certain stereotype that most people easily imagine when they think of wine drinkers: middle-aged balding white men. And for good reason, most wineries seem to be owned by them. However, this has recently begun to change. The shift in areas like California shows increasing numbers of Hispanic vintners.
Napa now has names like Renteria, Ceja, Madrigal, and Fernandez cropping up, and quite importantly, “The best winemakers in Napa Valley are mostly women,” says Madrigal.
How? Lots of elbow grease, hard work, and equal opportunity. These are stories of the great American dream, and in the world of wine, it seems that such dreams can be actualized. Very cool.
The week of May 14-20 is American Craft Beer Week! And of course, if you participate in the Great American Beer Tour, you can get cool stuff like pint glasses, shirts, and the ultimate prize, a trip to the Great American Beer Festival in Colorado.
Finally! South Carolina has joined the rest of most of the states in getting rid of its antiquated 5% ABW (6% ABV) cap on beer. South Carolinans can now legally buy and drink beer up to 14% ABW (17.5% ABV). Beer must be approved by tight-ass government employees, but the bill’s now on the books.
This is almost worth a trip to Myrtle just to celebrate, though I’ll wait for the college students to disappear before buying a cheap ticket on Spirit. (In case you didn’t know, there are direct flights to Myrtle Beach from Boston—often for cutthroat prices!)
I’ve long wondered why home distillation of liquor is illegal but at least the knowledge itself isn’t forbidden. Check out this LA Times review of Matthew Rowley’s new book Moonshine!
Now, if only Congress would pass a bill legalizing home distillation, perhaps American distillery startups would be more commonplace.
Keeping Kosher confuses the hell out of me, especially since I grew up in Indiana where I could maybe name one Jewish kid total. As a result, I find this little blurb from Ynetnews incredibly interesting:
Rabbi Akiva Yosef Padwa, a world renowned expert on the kashrut of alcoholic beverages, shared his recently acquired knowledge of some alcohol factories mixing horse milk into drinks.
Hm, I think even non-Jews can appreciate rules saying neigh to the consumption of horse milk mixed with vodka. Then again, it seems that horse milk has been making inroads as a gourmet and healthy drink.
In a deal just as exciting as the introduction of communist Stoli in 1972, Pyongyang Soju is coming to the USA! You may be able to buy it as early as next month now that the government has apparently approved a Korean-American importer’s application.
Hopefully, proceeds from the soju will help stave off famine and better international relations rather than fund North Korea’s nucular program.
In what will hopefully be a dismal failure, Foster’s is introducing a lower-alcohol 3.5% ABV version of its popular Victoria Bitter, which is normally at 5% ABV. The reason? Foster’s, like Anheuser-Busch here, is losing market share against “boutique” and craft beers.
Um, what?
Any craft beer drinker knows that craft beers tend to have higher ABVs and that people switching to craft beer probably aren’t drinking mainstream VB and certainly won’t be drinking a watered down version of it.
Someone at Foster’s needs to do better market research or at least present a better argument before making a fool of himself.
The real answer is pretty boring: there’s too much supply and not enough demand. Also, Two-Buck Chuck is likely made from cheaper grapes from Central Valley rather than Napa.
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