Sake, the rice-based alcoholic beverage, is deeply rooted in Japanese culture. It is believed that sake was first produced during the Yayoi period, which spanned from roughly the fifth century BCE to the third century CE—around the same time as...

Yannick Rousseau owns a winery in Napa Valley, so, of course, he makes Merlot, Chardonnay, and Cabernet Sauvignon. But for 15 years, he has also made wine with Colombard, first as a varietal wine and later in a blend. The white grape isn’t thou...

Tequila and mezcal, agave-based spirits made in Mexico, are showing unprecedented growth in both sales and reputation across the world. A wider audience of spirits drinkers and cocktail aficionados is increasingly recognizing that agave-based spirits...

If there is one exceedingly worn-out trope in food and wine writing, it’s describing a location as being at a crossroads. And yet, the central European country of Slovenia is indeed crisscrossed by a number of roads. The neighboring Croatians, ...

In the early 1980s, Lew Bryson was a young beer drinker who was eager to try something new, something that wasn’t his father’s mass-market suds and fizz. He had stumbled on a new style—flavorful, intense, and made in small batches b...

Amaro, one of the most diverse beverages in the world, is not easy to concretely define. The literal translation of the Italian name means “bitter,” but amaro offers a kaleidoscope of flavors to decipher. In The Big Book of Amaro, Matteo ...

A man walks into a restaurant and the waiter shows him to his table. There’s jazz playing in the background, cutlery softly clinks against plates, and the well-dressed, attractive people at the other tables show us that this is an Upscale Moder...

I haven’t heard much about the Anything But Chardonnay (ABC) rebellion lately. Good. One purpose of this article is to add momentum to the Try Oregon Chardonnay (TOC) movement, which has been growing for at least a decade. While the grape can b...

Chianti Classico is in the heart of Tuscany, in northwestern central Italy, nestled between Florence and Siena. The Apennine mountains run along the northeastern ridge above Chianti Classico to the northeast of Florence, dividing the region geographi...

Four years ago, the Supreme Court decided the most important alcohol case in a generation, overturning a Tennessee law that allowed only people who had been two-year residents of the state to get a retail liquor license. Justice Samuel Alito, writing...