September 21, 2001: People can endure many discomforts in exchange for the thrill of living in space. The nausea of space sickness, fitful sleep without the familiar pressure of a bed, tasteless meals eaten from plastic bags -- it's all fine as long as the novelty of being in space lasts.

But after a while, the blush of excitement inevitably fades, and astronauts will begin to long for the comforts of home. For example, the nose-tickling bubbles of a refreshing soft drink or a frothy beer after work -- these simple pleasures that we take for granted on Earth could do wonders for morale among long-term space travelers.

Above: A fizzy Coca-Cola droplet floats aboard the Space Shuttle in August 1985. In a weightless environment, bubbles of carbon dioxide ("carbonation") aren't buoyant, so they remain randomly distributed in the fluid. The result can be a foamy mess!

Of all the carbonated beverages people enjoy drinking today, beer is the oldest and most familiar. Beer has likely been a part of society since human civilization first arose. Historians believe that the ancient Mesopotamians and Sumerians were brewing beer as early as 10,000 BC. The ancient Egyptians and Chinese brewed beer, as did pre-Columbian civilizations in the Americas.

For the tradition of beer and its fizzy cousins to continue as people begin settling space, a few questions must first be answered.

Will fermentation work the same in weightlessness? What happens to carbonation when there's no buoyancy to bring the bubbles to the top? Can space beer form a proper head? Scientists who study the physics of gas-liquid mixtures would love to know!

Two separate space shuttle experiments tackled these questions. Both were engineered and mediated by BioServe Space Technologies, a NASA-sponsored Commercial Space Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder. NASA's Space Product Development (SPD) program encourages the commercialization of space by industry through 17 such CSCs.

Left: Probably the oldest carbonated beverage still consumed today, beer has a long and rich tradition. [more information]

Kirsten Sterrett, recently a University of Colorado graduate student, first became interested in how beer would brew in space while working at the Coors Brewing Company. Having studied aerospace engineering as an undergraduate, she began to wonder: How would yeast that perform fermentation fare in orbital free fall? The answer would not only shed light on the possible makings of space-beer, but also provide valuable information to pharmaceutical companies with a keen interest in the biology of orbiting microbes.

When she returned to CU-Boulder for her master's work, she chose the topic for her thesis. Her experiments were sponsored by Coors and flown on the shuttle with the help of BioServe.

"I always said I wouldn't do an experiment that I couldn't eat or drink in the end," she jokes.

"Actually, after the experiment was all done, I gave (the space-beer) a little taste." The sample was only about 1 ml, which wasn't really enough to savor, she says, "but why throw something like that away?"

Along with her taste test, Sterrett performed a protein analysis on the beer and the yeast, measured the beer's specific gravity (the force exerted on it by gravity per unit volume), and "repitched" the yeast by brewing subsequent batches of beer with it. By all of these measures, the space-beer appeared to be essentially the same as beer brewed on Earth.

Below: A far cry from the copper vats used to brew beer here on Earth, this Fluid Processing Apparatus was used by Sterrett to ferment a tiny batch of space-brew. [more information]

The behavior of the yeast was somewhat puzzling, though. The total cell count in space-borne samples was lower that of "control" samples brewed on the ground, and the percentage of live cells was also lower. One of the yeast's proteins also existed in greater amounts in the space-brew.

Sterrett's experiment couldn't suggest reasons for these changes, but the overly abundant protein bears some resemblance to a general stress protein.

The low cell count was particularly surprising, says Sterrett. In space, yeast cells remain evenly dispersed within the "wort" -- a brewers' term for the pre-fermentation mixture of water, barley, hops, and yeast. Ideally, this would give the yeast cells better access to nutrients in the wort compared to similar mixtures on Earth, where the weight of the cells causes them to pile at the bottom one on top of the other.

"It's the same question that we're asking on the pharmaceutical side," says Louis Stodieck, director of BioServe. "We know from subsequent space experiments sponsored by Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute that the efficiency of producing fermentation products increases [in a weightless environment], in fact quite significantly." Some of those experiments produced as much as three times the fermentation products as control samples on the ground.

Pharmaceutical companies frequently use genetically-engineered microbes -- usually bacteria -- to produce medicinally-valuable proteins such as antibiotics through fermentation. By introducing the gene that codes for the protein into the bacteria's DNA, scientists convert the microbes into inexpensive, self-replicating medicine micro-factories.

Space research with microbe fermentation might help improve this process.

Above: Yeast are tiny single-celled fungi important for brewing beer and baking bread. Understanding the puzzling behavior of such cells in space will benefit pharmaceutical research here on Earth.

"What we're trying to do now is to find the specific mechanism of that (increased fermentation efficiency in space), and then we can ask whether we can modify the fermentation process on Earth to take advantage of that -- or is it possible that we could genetically engineer an organism to mimic what it does in space," Stodieck says.

A more efficient fermentation process, even by a small percentage, could potentially save millions of dollars in production costs.

Below: "Sitting down to dinner" as these astronauts are doing on the International Space Station can mean floating above the table while snacking on unfamiliar foods. Small pleasures like a soda or a beer might be a welcome taste of the ordinary for out-of-this-world diners.

For beer, of course, increased fermentation efficiency means a more alcoholic brew -- not necessarily good news for crew members who need to remain sober in the dangerous environment of space. The alcohol content of space-brews would need to be adjusted accordingly and, of course, consumed in moderation.

But for alcohol content to even matter, future space residents will first have to get the beer into a drinking container -- a trickier feat than it may seem.

"How do you dispense a beverage and keep the carbonation in solution until the person is ready to drink?" Stodieck asks. "That's the challenge."

Changes in temperature and pressure, or even physical agitation of the beverage as it's dispensed, can cause carbonation to come out of solution prematurely. Because bubbles don't rise in free-fall the result can be a foamy mass.

This problem was addressed by experiments flown on the shuttle by The Coca-Cola Company, again with the help of BioServe. "They (The Coca-Cola Company) have a lot of technology that they develop for future ways of providing their drinks anywhere and everywhere," Stodieck notes. And indeed, their dispensing device flown on the shuttle managed to serve a drinkable cola. It controlled the temperature of the beverage during mixing and dispensing with computer accuracy, and minimized agitation.

 

Above:  By dispensing the drink into a collapsible bag inside the bottle, the pressure around the fluid can be constantly controlled, thus preventing the carbonation from coming out of solution too quickly. The image on the right shows the dispenser being used aboard the space shuttle. Note the tape stuck to the top-right corner of the dispenser that reads "50¢" -- astronaut humor. Image courtesy BioServe.

Similar technology should prove effective for carbonated space beers. Unfortunately it doesn't lend itself to the traditional frosty glass mug! Instead, beverages are dispensed into a special bottle (pictured above) that screws onto the dispenser. The bottle itself, which contains a collapsible bag, is internally pressurized. The pressure around the bag is slowly released as the beverage enters, maintaining the drink under constant pressure and producing a palatable soda or beer.

So maybe it's not exactly like having a beer on Earth, but astronauts might nevertheless welcome a sip from the strange contraption. Bubbly, frothing, and ticklish -- it's a welcome taste of home.

We all know that cognac is one of the finest brandy available. The rules surrounding the production of cognac is one of the toughest law as far as alcohol production goes. Although there are many cheap alternative available, some as good as the expensive ones, if you’ve got the money you should give the expensive ones a try as well. Many think that expensive cognacs are expensive simply because of the designer bottles, the encrusted jewels, etc. but this is hardly true. Sure, the bottles are fancy and do carry a cost, but it’s the cognac inside these bottles that are true gem. Here are 5 top of the line cognac that you should give it a try if you are not worried about spending money on a fine drink.

1. Martell Creation Cognac In Handcarved Baccarat Decanter ($7,500)

If you’ve got the money to spend on one of the best cognacs out there that money can buy, give this fine cognac a try. At $7,500 it’s expensive but it sure is cheaper than the two million dollar cognac. When sipping on this amazing and rich (pun intended) cognac, you will experience notes of dried fruit, gingerbread, marmalade, walnuts, and cedarwood. If you want to give this cognac a go here is a link you can use to purchase Martell Creation Cognac in handcarved baccarat decanter.

2. Hardy Cognac Perfection ($6,000)

This cognac is known as the world’s oldest unblended cognac and only 300 bottles were produced. If you are someone who likes to enjoy a rich cognac with a fine cigar next to a fireplace, this certainly is worth your money. You will find hints of chocolate, coffee and oaky taste while drinking this fine cognac. If you are willing to give this a shot, here is the link to buy Hardy Cognac Perfection.

3. Frapin Cuvee 1888 ($6,500)

This cognac comes from the warehouse that is often called “paradise warehouse.” Some of these cognacs are older than 1888 which justifies the price that comes with each of these cognac. This one of the most sought after and well known cognac comes in an amazing gift case that is as fine as the cognac and the bottle itself. Frapin Cuvee 1888 is both subtle and powerful with flavors of nuts, dried fruits among other flavors and boasts amazing floral aromas. Here is the link where you can learn more and buy Frapin Cuvee 1888.

4. Hennessy Cognac Ellipse($4,000)

If you want to taste flavor that dates back to over 180 years, give Hennessy Ellipse a try. This cognac is made from seven eaux-de-vie which range are from 1830, 1848, 1875, 1932, 1947, 1972, and 1995. If you have got the money in the bank, we would definitely recommend you give this one a try. This cognac consists notes of vanilla, spice, dried fruit, and oak, with notes of crystallized fruits. Ohh and the bottle is one of the most simple yet elegant bottles of cognac that are out there. Here is the link to buy Hennessy Cognac Ellipse .

5. Delamain Le Voyage Cognac ($7,000)

One of the reason this cognac is so expensive is because it comes from a highly respected cognac house of Delamain which is over 250 years old. The decanter of this cognac is crystal and comes in a leather gift box which alone is quite beautiful to say the least. This particular cognac contains a host of subtle sensations such as aroma of the tropics, coffee, spicy hints from Asia, etc. It’s a busy cognac when it comes to flavor. Here is the link to buy Delamain Le Voyage Cognac.

Those were some of our recommendation for people who love cognac and have money in the bank. If you have tried any of these cognacs feel free to share your thoughts on them or recommend any you would like us and our readers to try.

 

CAMUS : a family business

Camus is a international brand of Cognac that has been produced by five generations of the Camus family since 1863. The family has always controlled every stage of the cognac making process from the soil and the grape to the finished blend and the bottle, ensuring that every CAMUS cognac is marked by the personality of the family and the floral character of the Borderies, the smallest and rarest cognac growing area where CAMUS‚ vineyards are located. The fifth generation of the Camus family, led by Cyril Camus, is driven by the evolution of consumer expectations and their effect on the cognac business. He focuses on adapting the company and its range of products to this new environment, emphasising the distinctive CAMUS taste and packaging. Although resolutely forward-thinking, Cyril Camus today remains passionately faithful to the values inherited from previous generations of his family : tradition, quality, independence and innovation.

* Camus Elegance of blended cognacs, * Camus Ile de Ré Fine Island Cognacs, born of the aptly named Bois à Terroirs vineyards on the Ile de Ré, reveal a world of unexpected aromas and flavours bestowed by their insular environment. * Camus Borderies XO, a blend of 100% Borderies cognacs, drawn entirely from the private stocks of the Camus family. * Rarissimes by Camus, a collection of exceptional vintage cognacs.

Camus has just revamped their tour. Created in 2005, this very personal and attractive tour welcomes visitors from all around the world to discover cognac from the point of view ’Cognac, but different’.

  Schedules For information and bookings +33(0)5.45.32.72.96 ou s.perret@camus.fr

HENNESSY : a work of art

The Hennessy museum is the most recent, the most ambitious and the most modern of all the Cognac houses. Entirely rebuilt according to the plans of the famous architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte, The "quais Hennessy" project is a majestic contemporary building that blends harmoniously with a 19th century hotel. The building is made only of materials that are used in the making of Cognac : limestone, copper, wood and glass. It harbours a wonderfully rich museum on Cognac and uses many modern techniques such as multiprojection. It provides a wealth of educationally acurate technical information : an 8 meter wide map of the vintage regions, a reconstitution of the evolution of the vine throughout the four seasons, visit inside a pot-still, visit of ageing cellars (boat crossing of the Charente river), etc. The museum covers, of course, the history of the Hennessy house, world leader in sales of Cognac, but also has a cultural calling. It hosts an international exhibition every year. In 1996, inaugural year of the museum, the exhibition was devoted to Ireland, land of the founder of Hennessy Cognac.

  Schedules From 1 November till 31 December, From Monday till Friday (except bank holidays). From 1 April till 31 October, 7 days/week plus bank holidays (except 1 May). Closed from 1 January till 31 March (it is however possible to make an appointment Monday till Friday from 10 till 12am and from 2pm till ’pm). Rue de la Richonne, 16100 Cognac. Tel : 05 45 35 72 68. Fax : 05 45 82 49 01.

MARTELL : The "gabare-trip" down memory lane

Martell offers a gigantic step back in time with a "gabare" (Charentais boat) built to the image of those used to transport Cognac to the sea during the 18th century. The gabare was built recently by a local shipyard. You are then taken through the traditional steps in the elaboration of Cognac (from the ageing cellars to the bottling plant) before entering the private home of the founder, Jean Martell, which he acquired in 1750 : The kitchen with the table set, his office, the sitting room as if nothing had moved in 247 years....

  Schedules July and August everyday from Monday till Friday, from 9.30am till 5.15pm non-stop. From 10am till 4.30pm on Saturdays and Sundays June and September : from Monday till Friday (except bank holidays), from 9.30am till 11am and from 1.30pm till 5.15pm. October and May : from Monday till Thursday from 9.30am till 11am and from 2.30pm till 5.15pm plus Friday morning from 9.30 till 11am (except bank holidays). Place Edouard Martell, 16100 Cognac. Tel : 05 45 36 33 33 service accueil.

OTARD : Cognac from the Castle

The Castle where François 1er was born in 1494 stands on the banks of the Charente. You will begin the visit in the Renaissance wing and discover the life of François 1er by means of a short video tour. The second part of the visit is more technical as it is devoted to the making of Cognac. You will learn that Otard does not own any vines, instead it buys, assembles and ages the spirits in the 19th century Otard wing.

  Schedules From 1 April till 31 October, visits with medieval costumes everyday including Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays (except 1 May). From 1 November till 31 december : visits everyday except Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays. 127 bd Denfert-Rochereau, 16100 Cognac. Tel : 05 45 36 88 86. Fax : 05 45 36 88 87 info@otard.com / www.otard.com

PRINCE DE POLIGNAC : honour to the coopers

Here, you will not find cellar walls blackened by evaporation. The Prince Hubert de Polignac house is not very old but their coat of arms is one of the oldest in France. A video will take you through this chapter as well as that of the elaboration of Cognac. You will then be lead through the cooperage museum, the ageing cellars and the bottling plant. The cooperage museum exposes some rare objects from the 19th century such as copper taps, a 2,000 litre cask, craftsmen’s decorative signatures but also a collection of tools that belonged to coopers.

  Schedules From 1 April till 30 June and from 16 till 30 September (except Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays) from 10am till 12am and from 2pm till 6pm. Visits for groups only. From 1 July till 15 September, everyday including Sundays and bank holidays : 10am, 11am, 14pm, 15pm, 16pm, 17pm. Le Laubaret (exit Cognac, direction Angoulême. Then D49, Gensac la Pallue. Follow road signs for Polignac-Reynac. Tel : 05 45 32 13 85. Fax : 05 45 82 83 04.

REMY MARTIN : a trip through the vineyard

A mysterious voice announces a voyage into the secrets of the Gods of Cognac. This is how you begin the visit on board the Remy Martin train in Merpins, about 4 km from the main offices. After a visit through the biggest cooperage plant in Europe, you enter the ageing cellars. The train then leaves the darkness and takes you outdoors into nature : through a vineyard, a plantation of maple trees, beautiful flower-beds...

  Schedules From April till October, from Monday till Saturday (including bank holidays), and Sundays from 15 June till 15 September, from 9.45am till 11.15am and from 1.30pm till 5.15pm. From 1 July till the 15 September : visits non-stop from 10am till 5.30pm. Entrance charge except for children under 18 years of age Domaine de Merpins, route de Pons, D732. Tel : 05 45 35 76 66. Fax : 45 35 77 98.

  Here is a short glossary of terms applying to the cognac.

Aroma

Any olfactory sensation perceived retro-nasally : pleasant fragrance released from a beverage.

Bouquet

Combination of all olfactory sensations (odour plus aroma).

Body

A spirit is said to have body when it is consistant, round, when it rolls under the tongue and appears suave and smooth as opposed to dry and flat.

"Doucereux"

Is said of a spirit that has an unpleasant smoothness.

Flavour

Combination of sensations in the nose and mouth (taste plus bouquet).

"Gouleyant"

French term that describes a wine or spirit that has body and that is easily swallowed owing to its freshness and lightness.

Taste

Combination of sensations in the mouth (savour plus aroma).

Length

Quality of a spirit of which the bouquet and the smoothness remain a long time in the nose and mouth.

"Montant"

The first fragrance released from cognac.

Rancio

Terme used in the Charentes to describe the ""gouleyante"" flavour of cognac matured in oak casks, becoming increasingly intense over the years.

"Robe" or Dress

Colour of the spirit.

Savour

Sensations of taste on the tongue and palate.

Dry

Spirit that is neither sweet nor smooth.

Tannin (excess of)

A spirit that has aged for too long in a young cask has an excess of tannin. A flaw that renders cognac undrinkable due to its bitterness and astringency.

"Terroir" (a taste of)

Contrary to what one may think, it is not a quality but rather an unpleasant taste that is rough and bitter.

Reading a label

  Cognac labels are the result of much creative and aesthetic research in the same way as are bottles and decanters.

This does not prevent them from giving a lot of consumer information. Beyond all legal information - capacity, place of production or bottling -, the cognac label provides additional information on the product you are about to taste, including its age and its vintages.

The indications on age

Cognac, which has a worlwide reputation to protect, has established very strict rules to protect consumers but also to prevent its production and presentation from being counterfeited. This implies compliance to many rules beit for distillation, for stocking, for ageing or for assembly, etc.

A cognac that is ready to be commercialised must be at least two and a half years old starting from the 1st October of the year of harvest. For the different classes of Cognac, it is the age of the youngest spirit that determins its class.

***, V.S. (Very Special), Sélection, de Luxe. The youngest spirit of the assembly may not be less than four and a half years old. But often, the spirits are much older.

V.S.O.P., Réserve... The youngest spirit in the assembly for Very Superior Old Pales, also called Reserve Cognacs is between four and a half and six and a half years old.

Napoléon, Impérial, Hors d’âge, Vieille Réserve, X.O. All terms like Napoleon, XO or "very old" are assemblies of spirits that are at least six and a half years old. However, most Cognacs are well above this minimum imposed by the regulation. In fact some of the most prestigious names assemble spirits that are each at least dozens of years above the minimum required.

The indications on vintages

The term "Fine".

The term "Fine" is authorised by the law of 1938 and qualifies a vintage spirit. For example, a "Grande Fine Champagne" qualifies a Grande Champagne vintage cognac assembled with spirits that come solely from the Grande Champagne region.

On the other hand, the "Fine Champagne" appelation qualifies a cognac with at least 50% of Grande Champagne spirits and the rest from Petite Champagne.

The appelations by vintage. A "Grande Champagne" or "Fine Grande Champagne" cognac is assembled with 100% Grande Champagne spirits.

A "Petite Champagne" or "Fine Petite Champagne" cognac is assembled with 100% Petite Champagne spirits.

A "Fine Champagne" cognac is the result of an assembly of Grande and Petite Champagne spirits with a minimum of 50% from Grande Champagne.

A "Borderies" or "Fine Borderies" cognac contains 100% of spirits from the Borderies area.

A "Fin Bois" or "Fine Fins Bois" cognac contains 100% of spirits from the Fins Bois area.

A "Bons Bois" ou "Fine Bons Bois" cognac contains 100% of spirits from the Bons Bois area.

Tasting

Edward VII, at the time when he was still The Prince of Wales, was subject to a protest when he was about to swallow the old cognac that had just been served to him :
- "Your highness ! such a nectar ! One must first let the amber blonds play around in the crystal. Then one breathes it gently in, religiously. Then at last...
- One drinks it !
- No your highness, not yet... one talks about it !"

The tasting technique is progressive and follows a classic ritual. The perfect tool is the tulip shaped glass which contains the aromas and releases them delicately and progressively throughout the tasting.

First step : visual aspect

The eye must judge the spirit in three ways : transparency, colour and viscosity (the liquid must not be cloudy nor have sediments). By tilting the glass, one can observe the "legs" or "tears" effect which is a sign of good age.

Second step : the scent

Firstly, the connoisseur will detect the very volatile and very subtle scents that are often hidden to the novice : he carries the glass to within an inch of the nostrils and tames the burning vapours, he then smells a little closer before inhaling at length all the released smells with the nose in the glass.

Secondly, the connoisseur discovers the less volatile aromatic components : he stirs and tosses the liquid inside the glass to allow the spirit to release new scents. He repeats this action several times to make the pleasure last and to discover a whole new bouquet every time.

Third step : the taste

The tasting must obey strict rules : The taster takes small sips at a time (1 to 2 ml). He holds each sip in the front of the mouth and appreciates the "taste" (balance between softness, acidity and bitterness) and the "touch" (feeling of roundness, warmth, strength, astringency, body, oiliness, volume, etc...). The second, longer sip will suffuse the whole mouth and will bring into full bloom the flavours and the less volatile notes that complete the bouquet.

The sunlit French landscape sliding by my car window captured my attention: crumbling stone walls, tidy farmhouses with red-tile roofs, mile upon mile of low hills and rolling ridges covered with leafy green vineyards.

"You know what you're seeing?" my guide asked. "The real thing; what Napa and Sonoma wanted to be."

I laughed at the smugness of the remark. As much as I love Northern California's wine country, he had a point: The original wins, hands down. Visiting our wine country can't compare with spending a few lazy days exploring the back roads of France. In fact, a traveler with unlimited resources could while away years getting to know the republic's wine regions: Champagne, Bordeaux, Burgundy, the Rhone and Loire valleys.

Because my resources aren't quite boundless, I visit one at a time. This trip took me to western France and the Cognac region, where the world's most famous brandy originates.

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Understanding cognac labels

Cognac labels bear a confusing set of letters that indicate the age of the spirit. Basically, cognac must be a minimum of 2 years old before it can be sold; because it is always a blend of various vintages, it is the age of the youngest eau de vie in the blend that determines the age of the bottle.

V.S. (Very Special) or *** (three stars): The youngest eau de vie in the blend must be at least 2 years old.

V.S.O.P. (Very Superior Old Pale): The youngest eau de vie in the blend is at least 4 years old.

X.O. (Extra Old), Napoleon: The youngest eau de vie is at least 6 years old.

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I once thought Cognac appealed solely to aging British army colonels who wore monocles and dressed in tuxedos. But singer Kanye West's obvious affection for the beverage during last month's MTV Video Music Awards -- you remember his onstage outburst about Beyoncé, of course -- made me reconsider.

The U.S. accounts for more than 50% of Cognac shipments worldwide. We drink about 50 million bottles a year, no small matter, considering that Cognac ranks as one of the world's most expensive beverages, costing as much as $28,000 a bottle.

Regardless of price, Americans seem to enjoy the amber liquid, from the Beverly Hills Hotel, where patrons sip Rémy Martin sidecars, to midtown Manhattan's Brasserie Cognac, which features nearly 100 varieties. Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Busta Rhymes and Devino Fortunato like it so well they rap about it.

The drink's mounting popularity seemed a good reason to visit Cognac's homeland. The only thing better than visiting France for its scenery and cuisine: visiting it for its wine, scenery and cuisine, in fall at harvest.

Brandy and a view

Technically, Cognac is more than a wine. Its grapes begin their long journey to the marketplace as unfiltered white wine. After being doubly distilled, the liquid ages, sometimes for many years, in oak casks before being blended with other vintages or eaux de vie (French for "waters of life").

All of this takes place in or near the town of Cognac, on the banks of the Charente River, about a three-hour TGV train ride southwest of Paris. The region may be known for its brandy, but I also tried to focus on its other charms.

I didn't have to look far. The pace is enjoyably slow, the climate pleasantly mild. The river winds through the countryside, its tranquil waters reflecting images of vine-covered hillsides, small towns, well-tended farms and weathered châteaux framed by geraniums, pink roses and oleander bushes.

My visit began in Cognac, where I spent an afternoon visiting its old town (Vieille Ville). Half-timbered 15th century to 17th century houses line steep, winding streets, and I wandered the cobblestone lanes, shooting pictures of the Romanesque church of St. Leger and the sprawling Château de Cognac, the birthplace of the 16th century King François I. Then I wandered by a museum that focuses on Cognac and its history. (Musée des Arts du Cognac, www.ville-Cognac.fr, 011-33-5-45-32-07-25)

But the thought of merely reading about the rich, smoky liquid made me impatient. I had come nearly 6,000 miles to drink Cognac. Why wait any longer? With single-minded purpose, I inquired about touring one of the great Cognac houses: Hennessy, Martell, Rémy Martin or Courvoisier. Each has tours, and the price -- from about $10 to $25 -- includes tasting.

I was so close I could have thrown a cork and hit Hennessy's tour center and warehouses, on both sides of the Charente (Hennessy Cellars, www.hennessy.com, 011-33-5-45-35-72-66).

A small boat delivered me to the tour site, where I joined a group of visitors. As I walked through the well-landscaped grounds, I noticed stonework that was black with mold; I'd seen the same thing on many of the buildings when I walked through the town of Cognac. "The angel's share," I was told. The mold, called black velvet, feeds on the alcohol vapors that escape through evaporation as the liquid ages.

Does divine intervention play a part in the manufacture of Cognac? "Definitely," the guide said. "God still decides whether a year will be great or not."

We entered a warehouse cellar, and I was struck by the heady fragrance of Cognac. The angel's share takes credit for this too, my tour group was told. "About 2% to 4% of the alcohol evaporates through the pores of the oak barrels," the guide said.

No wonder angels always look contented.

Soon I was in the tasting room and looking contented too.

I swirled the liquid in my glass, sniffed it shallowly, and then took a small taste: the smooth, complex flavors included honey and licorice. I tasted a bit more and became even more contented. Especially when I remembered three more large Cognac houses awaited.

A visit to sleeping kegs

Next up was Martell, where I learned more about distilling and aging Cognacs ( www.martell.com, 011-33-5-45-36-33-39). Again I visited warehouse cellars, where thousands of kegs slept in the darkness. I breathed deeply, enjoying the aroma.

The kegs in the cellars were huge -- many of them hold more than 100 gallons -- and each bore a date: 1900, 1931, 1950.

The process of creating fine Cognac extends well beyond any person's lifetime, the guides explained. Cognacs as much as 200 years old are blended with other century-old brandies to make the house's most prestigious Cognacs.

At Rémy Martin, about three miles outside town ( www.remymartin.com, 011-33-545-82-01-26), I hopped on a small train with other tourists, visiting a cooper's shop, where barrels are produced; a vineyard and cellars. I felt happier each time I entered a cellar, despite the damp darkness. I filled my lungs with the angel's share again and considered hiding in the back of the cellar when the tour moved on.

Like the other houses, Rémy Martin's history can be counted in generations. It was founded in 1724 by a young grower, and the company's current master blender, Pierette Richet, is only the fourth in the last 100 years. Her job? "To manage the present and plan for the future," she said.

As my appreciation for Cognac increased, I learned more about how to drink it.

"Use a glass that has straight sides and is not too thick," said Vincent Gere, director of Rémy Martin Cognacs and Estates. "Swirl the liquid to see the viscosity. Then test the nose twice: once from well above the glass and the second time, just above the glass. This will tell you if the spirit is layered or not."

Finally, "sip twice, savoring the texture, thickness, viscosity. Look for a balance of flavors and aromas."

The region's Cognac houses play host to about 200,000 visitors a year, many of them Americans. That night at dinner I glanced around the room. Many people were drinking Cognac, all of them were swirling, sniffing and savoring.

Three down, one to go

Only one of the large Cognac houses remained in my four-for-four quest: Courvoisier (www.courvoisier.com, 011-33-5-45-35-56-16). I drove the seven miles through the vineyard-covered countryside to Jarnac, the company's home.

The pastoral scene entranced me, just as it had during my arrival in the Cognac region. But this time, I understood what I was seeing. Beyond the lovely hills and quaint farms, processes were at work that allowed Cognac to be produced and, in turn, gave these farmers a livelihood that had withstood three centuries of change.

The necessary elements had been drummed into my head as I visited the Cognac houses: The light is bright and intense, the soil chalky and full of stones, the climate mild and tempered by the nearby Atlantic. These ingredients create ideal conditions for the white Ugni Blanc grapes used for Cognac. These grapes "don't make very good wine, but they make ex- cellent Cognac," one of the guides said.

Another pleasant scene awaited in Jarnac, which, like Cognac, straddles the Charente River. The peaceful village, home to about 5,000 people, offers great photo ops of parks, picturesque bridges and boats floating down the river.

Then it was on to Maison Courvoisier, which is set up in a refurbished warehouse next to the Charente. Napoleon visited the Courvoisier warehouses in 1811, and legend has it that he took several barrels of the Cognac with him aboard the HMS Northumberland, the ship that took him into exile on the island of St. Helena. Consequently, Courvoisier calls its spirit "The Cognac of Napoleon."

The tour here is through a museum that reconstructs a blending workshop, which resembles a perfumery; there are also stills and barrels and those wonderful fumes.

After I left the building, I wandered around Jarnac again, watching a mother duck and four ducklings swimming in the Charente in the late afternoon sun. I had visited all the major houses, and because Cognac can be produced only in the Cognac region, I realized, sadly, that my quest had ended.

I brightened. There are about 300 smaller houses in the region. Perhaps my mission hadn't ended after all. A heady thought indeed

Arizona attracts retirees, and Dick Erath, who was a pioneer in creating Oregon's billion-dollar wine industry, had certainly earned the right to relax in his Green Valley home and enjoy the fruits of his vineyard labor.

But Arizona also attracts those seeking reinvention, and that's the path Erath chose, both for himself and the land around him. Erath bought a plot of desert in a remote section of southeastern Arizona and started growing grapes on it.

"I like a challenge," the 74-year-old said, with a twinkling smile. "And you get them here."

Erath started coming to Arizona in the early 1990s to escape the rain in Oregon. The idea of growing wine grapes here seemed impossible. But, over time, he studied the terrain and soil and became convinced southeastern Arizona provided one of the plan- et's best climates for grape growing.

He feels blessed by the vines, but he also is helping the area by his mere presence. Other Arizona winemakers believe the Erath name - recognizable from wine bottles stocked on grocery-store shelves nationwide - could help convince the wine world that Arizona wine is worthwhile.

In Arizona, Erath sees hints of what he saw in Oregon during its initial years as a wine producer. It's a largely undiscovered growing region that has the potential to produce wines coveted for their unique flavors and textures. Just as a serious wine list now must include an Oregon Pinot Noir, within the decade, he predicts, those lists will have to include an Arizona wine as well.

"We're just scratching the surface here," he said.

Arizona has produced wines commercially since the 1970s, but the quality began improving significantly in the early 1990s, after wine from Callaghan Vineyards in Elgin was praised by noted wine critic Robert Parker.

There now are more than 30 wineries in the state, from the high country up north to the grasslands of southeastern Arizona. Wines from Arizona have been poured in the White House and have earned praise by national wine magazines.

Just a gimmick?

 

Still, the state suffers from a stigma: the notion that wine can't be made in the desert. That Arizona wine is a gimmick that belongs in the gift shop with the scorpions embedded in Lucite. That it's a novelty, like pineapple wine in Hawaii or blackberry wine in Tennessee. The state's winemakers say even Arizona residents register skepticism that good wine can be had so close to home.

For those wine snobs, hearing that Erath - the man whose elegant Pinot Noirs have been lavished with praise - has chosen an area near humble Willcox for his vineyard could get their attention.

"Maybe in some small way I can help out this area," Erath said.

Erath still spends his summers in the Dundee Hills of western Oregon, which means he misses the Arizona growing season. When he landed in Arizona in late August, it was time for the 2009 harvest, and Erath wandered through his Cimarron Vineyards, located in the farming community of Kansas Settlement, to see how his grapes were doing.

He was dressed in a denim shirt and blue jeans, shielded from the intense early-morning sun by a beige hat. He plucked a purple grape off a vine, put it in his mouth and chewed. His face held a look of concentration.

He later described his grape-tasting routine: Hold the grape against the palate with the tongue, break it to taste the juice, then chew the skin. He declared the grape ready to be picked.

"Intense flavor," he said, spitting the seed into his hand for inspection. The grape was a Montepulciano, an Italian variety. "We probably want to plant more of this one."

Erath stands more than 6 feet tall but walks in a perpetual stoop through his vineyards, so his head is always just beneath the canopy created by the leaves on the grapevines.

His hands reached quickly to snag a grape to taste. It was a Tempranillo, the grape that Erath thinks has the best potential in Arizona's harsh climate.

"They taste like they have a lot of sugar," he said after his sample, "but not a lot of flavor."

Learning the way

 

Walking alongside Erath was Todd Bostock, 32, owner of Dos Cabezas WineWorks in Sonoita, who has agreed to make wine out of Erath's grapes. Bostock had the vineyard map that showed the dozen or more varieties of grapes planted in Erath's 40 acres. He also was quietly soaking up Erath's vineyard knowledge.

"He's a problem solver," Bostock said. "You come to him with an issue and, two days later, he'll say he's been thinking about it. . . . 'This is what your problem is and here's what I would do.' "

Erath has had plenty of problems of his own to solve on his new Arizona vineyard, which he bought in 2004 and planted in 2006.

First, his vineyard manager, Juan Alba, told Erath he was having a problem with rattlesnakes.

"The reason the snakes are here is we have all these little ground squirrels," Erath said. "So we'll put in an owl's nest, and the owls will eat the ground squirrels and the snake population won't explode on us."

The owls' nests, wooden boxes perched high on poles, are all occupied, Erath said. He's now installing more.

There also were the rabbits, which had been munching on the bark of mesquite trees.

"All of a sudden, they wake up one morning and dine on grapevines," Erath said. "They think, 'My God, this is heaven on Earth. Call everyone in the county.' "

The 2-foot-tall rabbit fence went up shortly afterward, but a new problem emerged.

"It was a dry spring," Erath said, "and a herd of 14 deer started roaming through, saying, 'Wow, this tastes good, too.' "

The 8-foot-tall deer fence followed.

Timing is all

 

On this day in late August, the harvest was Sangiovese grapes. Bostock, clad in shorts and a ball cap, brought some freshly cut grapes to Erath.

Bostock wondered whether he should have waited a little longer to pick. "It's a good color, and they're popping right off (the cluster)," Bostock said.

An analysis of the sugar level also showed the grapes were ready. But these grapes didn't leave a telltale stain on the stem when removed, as do other ripe grapes.

"So how long do you wait?" Bostock asked.

Erath popped one in his mouth. It tasted promising.

"Maybe they don't do much staining on the stem," he said. "It's not a high-pigment variety anyhow."

Erath has high hopes for Sangiovese grown in Arizona.

"I call the Sangiovese sort of like the Oregon Pinot (noir). It makes a more elegant wine," he said.

He spit out the seeds and skins and inspected them before brushing them off his hands.

"Well," he said, "I don't have much experience with them."

Erath bottled his first wine made entirely with Arizona-grown grapes in May. It's under his Cimarron label and called Monsoon Red. And although Erath made this wine to be fun and simple, it garnered 85 points in Wine Spectator magazine.

Erath expects his age-worthy bottles will be phenomenal.

"I'm very enthusiastic about what's going on down here," he said.

Widely respected

 

And other Arizona winemakers are enthusiastic about Erath's new venture.

"I about fell down," said Rod Snapp, owner of Javelina Leap winery in Cornville and vice president of the Arizona Wine Growers Association. "Dick Erath picked us? ... It's like, 'God bless you, Dick.' "

Snapp said winemakers already felt fortunate that Maynard James Keenan, the lead singer of the hard-rock band Tool, had become a vintner in Arizona. He has the name, and resources, to sell wine nationally and generate publicity.

In a similar way, Snapp said, the state can benefit from Erath's reputation.

"We got a wine star," he said. "We've got Dick Erath."

Erath, before he became a noted winemaker, was an electronics engineer in California. He acquired grapes from a friend who had a vineyard in Oregon's Willamette Valley and made his first barrel in his garage in 1965. That's when he became a believer that Oregon could produce world-class wines.

Three years later, he planted a vineyard in the Dundee Hills. Within two decades, the region was ripe with vineyards, as his Pinot noir gained critical acclaim. His 1984 bottling was named best in America by Wine and Spirits magazine.

But the transplanted Californian grew weary of Oregon's rainy skies. A cousin who had retired to Sun City West invited Erath to visit and enjoy the sunshine. He took her up on the offer in 1991, stopping off at the Phoenician resort for an event put on by area wine distributors.

Although he liked the weather, "I didn't like Phoenix," he said. "It was too big a place for me."

He favored the Tucson area.

"Tucson reminded me of Portland," he said. "Same kind of town (that) you could get your arms around."

Sunshine prescription

 

He kept coming back to Arizona when he needed relief from the rain. In 1995, he bought a house, where he planted his first vines.

"I kept looking at this blank wall in my backyard," he said, "and there's nothing growing against this wall. I've got to do something. Everybody else is putting in flowers and stuff."

In 1997, Erath planted six vines of Sangiovese grapes, two Zinfandels and one Nebbiolo. He made some wine out of it and became intrigued.

"I got interested in why weren't people growing wine down here," he said. "I found out there were some small wineries."

He said he wasn't too impressed with what he tasted. Most of the wineries, he said, were growing Chardonnay and Merlot grapes because that's what sold in the supermarket.

At one farm, he remembered, he asked a worker about the vineyards.

"And he said, 'Oh yeah, we've got these grape bushes here,' " Erath recalled. "I said, 'Whoa, I'm in trouble now.' "

Sarcasm aside, Erath was impressed by the soil, the climate and the terrain of southern Arizona.

Plunging in

 

That same year, he discovered a test vineyard and winery operated in Tucson by the University of Arizona, under the direction of Professor Mike Kilby. He also met Frank DiChristofano, who was working with Kilby at the UA project and making his own wine in his backyard.

By 2004, Erath wanted to start an experimental vineyard. He asked Kilby to help him find land. Kilby took him out to Kansas Settlement, where Erath took the first piece of property Kilby showed him. It was a slope with good soil and a natural wind pattern that would hold off frost.

"You're not going to find a better place," Kilby told Erath.

The vineyard, Kilby said, might be small by California or Oregon standards, but at 40 acres it was one of the largest in Arizona.

Kilby said he had known Erath only by his name on the bottle but was excited that he was looking to come to Arizona.

"It was like, 'Dick Erath wants to come here, woo hoo,' that type of thing," he said. "It really gave us a boost."

Rise in land prices

 

Once Erath bought, land prices in the area went up.

"Which is kind of nuts," Erath said. "I haven't done anything. I'm trying to do something, but I haven't. I can't say I've proven the area."

Erath said his initial vineyard in Oregon was done, by necessity, on the cheap and with some improvisation.

"I had $7,000 in my pocket and I had to do everything from scratch," he said.

This time, though, he has the resources to apply three decades of knowledge to his Arizona vineyard.

Erath sold his namesake winery to mega-winemaker Chateau St. Michelle in 2005. The wine world had seen an increase in Pinot Noir sales following the success of the 2004 Oscar-winning film "Sideways," and Chateau St. Michelle had none in its portfolio.

"After I sold the winery, I had a few bucks, and I thought I could come down here and do things right," Erath said. "Do the right systems and don't take any shortcuts and see what we can come up with."

Unlike his Oregon wines, Erath doesn't expect his Arizona-grown Cimarron wine to be nationally distributed to grocery stores. He wants his winery to remain small but desired.

"Notable," he said.

Oregon upside down

 

Erath is continuing to experiment with what grows well in Arizona's desert climate.

"You take everything you learned in Oregon and turn it upside down," Erath said. "You try to figure out how to extrapolate it to Arizona."

One thing he quickly learned: His beloved Pinot noir, the grape that put Oregon, and himself, on the wine map, was not going to work in Arizona.

"It ripens too early," Erath said. "High sugars, not much flavor."

In Oregon, Erath figured out what would grow by looking at other hilly, wet climates.

"I spent a lot of time in France and Germany and Alsace to see how they grow the varietals there," he said.

So for Arizona, he started looking at hot places: southern France, Spain, Chile and Argentina.

"You're selecting a grape variety that will fit the growing season you have," Erath said. He has tried several varieties new to Arizona, including Tinta cao, Souzao and Picpoul blanc.

Once a grape starts maturing, Erath said, the acids inside it fall and the sugars rise.

"If that all goes very fast, the flavors seem not to develop very well," he said.

The idea is to get the grape to ripen slowly, over the summer months of the growing season.

"Think about simmering something on the stove for a long time," he said.

The area tucked between the Dos Cabezas and Dragoon mountains, bordering the Willcox Playa, provides just that simmer.

"Those mountains were probably 25,000 feet," Erath said. "They've eroded down and made all this."

The land slopes slowly, Erath said. When heavy summer rains come, water roars across his land but drains quickly.

Ripe with possibility

 

Erath's vineyard has neighbors. Across the fence is Arizona Stronghold Vineyard, planted by Eric Glomski of Page Springs Cellars, in collaboration with Keenan and his Caduceus label. Across the way is Sam Pillsbury's vineyard and winery. Down a dirt road is Sweet Sunrise Vineyard, which provides grapes to the Canelo Hills winery in Elgin.

It feels familiar. It's just like the Dundee Hills of Oregon. The state feels ripe with possibility.

For now, most state wineries are remaining small, making a profit by selling to mainly Arizona residents who venture out to the tasting rooms. But a decade from now, Erath said, the area could see large-scale vineyards growing acres of Tempranillo "or whatever we get going," he said.

Erath's original plan was to buy 240 acres in conjunction with a partner, but that didn't work out. So Erath tapped Bostock to make his wine.

Quick learner

 

Bostock, a Phoenix native, started as an apprentice at Dos Cabezas. He remembered bagging some dirt for Erath because the legendary vintner wanted to take it back to Oregon and test it out.

"It's exciting," Bostock said. "He was supposed to retire, but he couldn't help it."

Bostock had worked at Dos Cabezas for just eight months when DiChristofano left. Bostock, who had made only one batch of wine before, found himself the chief winemaker. A few years later, his family bought the Dos Cabezas name, the equipment and the barrels of wine Bostock had made. Bostock, and his wife, Kelly, found themselves running a winery much sooner than expected. And, now, that winery is processing grapes planted by Dick Erath.

This day's harvest is put in covered bins to keep cool and trucked from Willcox to Bostock's winery in Sonoita.

As the grape clusters tumble in a de-stemming machine, Erath leans on a bin, watching the machine spin the grapes free. A fine mist of grape juice rises toward his face.

"This is satisfaction," he said. "Seeing things like this happen."

He isn't referring to the empty clusters shooting out of the machine, but to the increasing number of people growing grapes and producing wine all around him.

"Not a lot of people take Arizona wine seriously," he said, with a broad smile. "I take it seriously."

Beer is one of the oldest drinks known to man—and one of this writer’s favorites. While many people enjoy drinking light beer and less expensive beer, some beer drinkers are still connoisseurs even though they don’t sip wine. The world’s most expensive beers are proof enough of that.

Carlsberg Vintage No.1 – $395 per bottle

The Carlsberg Group, a brewing company founded in 1847 and named after founder J. C. Jacobson’s son Carl, is best known for their light-bodied lager, Carlsberg Pilsner (also known as Carlsberg Beer or Carlsberg Hof). Recently, however, Carlsberg introduced another beer guaranteed to be linked to the Carlsberg name in the public consciousness. That’s because they’re Vintage No. 1 is one of the most expensive beers in the world.

Vintage No. 1 will be sold at three different restaurants in Copenhagen. The 10.5 proof beer’s introduction is meant to capitalize on the growing luxury market in Denmark, as the country’s population of 5.4 million people includes 16 billionaires. Only 600 bottles of the beer were made and each bottle holds four-fifths of a pint.

The price of the beer, 2,008 Danish kroner, reflects the year it was introduced. The brewer plans to introduce a similarly priced beer in 2009 and another in 2010. There are no plans to export the expensive beer, though individual bottles may be available on the brewer’s website.

Due to the undisclosed amount of time taken to brew it, the Carlsberg Group does not expect to make a profit on the expensive beer.

Samuel Adams Utopias – $100 per bottle

Vintage No. 1 may be four times as expensive as Samuel Adams/Boston Beer Company’s Utopias, the former most expensive beer, but Utopias still holds a Guinness World Record for being the strongest beer at 50 proof.

Utopias was brewed with a blend of high-quality hops and sold in an ornate copper-plated brew kettle and offers a flavor unlike any other expensive beer or beverage in the world. The sweet flavor is richly highlighted with hints of vanilla, oak and caramel. The expensive beer is non-carbonated and should be served at room temperature.

Production of Utopias was limited to 8,000 bottles.

Tutankhamun Ale – $52 per bottle

This expensive beer has a peculiar history. It’s brewed in a Cambridge laboratory from a recipe discovered in the Queen Nefertiti’s Temple of the Sun in Egypt. The beer is named after the queen’s stepson, more commonly known as King Tut. The temple, which housed a brewery, is believed to have been built by King Akenhaten, Tut’s predecessor and likely father. This beer is also limited and may be purchased for $52 per bottle.

Beer is one of the oldest drinks known to man—and one of this writer’s favorites. While many people enjoy drinking light beer and less expensive beer, some beer drinkers are still connoisseurs even though they don’t sip wine. The world’s most expensive beers are proof enough of that.

Carlsberg Vintage No.1 – $395 per bottle

The Carlsberg Group, a brewing company founded in 1847 and named after founder J. C. Jacobson’s son Carl, is best known for their light-bodied lager, Carlsberg Pilsner (also known as Carlsberg Beer or Carlsberg Hof). Recently, however, Carlsberg introduced another beer guaranteed to be linked to the Carlsberg name in the public consciousness. That’s because they’re Vintage No. 1 is one of the most expensive beers in the world.

Vintage No. 1 will be sold at three different restaurants in Copenhagen. The 10.5 proof beer’s introduction is meant to capitalize on the growing luxury market in Denmark, as the country’s population of 5.4 million people includes 16 billionaires. Only 600 bottles of the beer were made and each bottle holds four-fifths of a pint.

The price of the beer, 2,008 Danish kroner, reflects the year it was introduced. The brewer plans to introduce a similarly priced beer in 2009 and another in 2010. There are no plans to export the expensive beer, though individual bottles may be available on the brewer’s website.

Due to the undisclosed amount of time taken to brew it, the Carlsberg Group does not expect to make a profit on the expensive beer.

Samuel Adams Utopias – $100 per bottle

Vintage No. 1 may be four times as expensive as Samuel Adams/Boston Beer Company’s Utopias, the former most expensive beer, but Utopias still holds a Guinness World Record for being the strongest beer at 50 proof.

Utopias was brewed with a blend of high-quality hops and sold in an ornate copper-plated brew kettle and offers a flavor unlike any other expensive beer or beverage in the world. The sweet flavor is richly highlighted with hints of vanilla, oak and caramel. The expensive beer is non-carbonated and should be served at room temperature.

Production of Utopias was limited to 8,000 bottles.

Tutankhamun Ale – $52 per bottle

This expensive beer has a peculiar history. It’s brewed in a Cambridge laboratory from a recipe discovered in the Queen Nefertiti’s Temple of the Sun in Egypt. The beer is named after the queen’s stepson, more commonly known as King Tut. The temple, which housed a brewery, is believed to have been built by King Akenhaten, Tut’s predecessor and likely father. This beer is also limited and may be purchased for $52 per bottle.

Dannish beer maker Carlsberg has unveiled the second beer in its uber-expensive Vintage trilogy series: Vintage No. 2, selling for $367 per bottle.

As the Moodie Report describes the luxury beer, “Vintage No. 2 was matured in J.C. Jacobsen’s original crypt-like cellar from 1847 where it has been stored in French oak casks for 100 days. The beer has a jet-black color and espresso-like foam, revealing flavors of vanilla and cocoa/mocha. The aroma contains hints of tar and ropes, which come from the peatsmoked Scottish malt, transported from Scotland solely for this brew.” Each bottle ishand-stenciled with a lithographic print. Recommended pairings include oysters, shellfish, Parma ham, cheese, chocolate and crème brûlée.

Vintage No. 2 will be sold online and from the Carlsberg Visitors and at five upscale Copenhagen restaurants: Noma, NIMB, Premisse, Kong Hans and The Paul. Six hundred bottles of the world’s most expensive beer will be produced.

While cask wine may have a poor reputation, the packaging method does have its benefits. Bag in a box packaging is not necessarily inferior, but is simply preferred by producers of more economical wines because it is inexpensive. Cask wine is typically cheaper than bottled varieties, often around AU$10 (GBP£4, US$8) for 4 L in Australia.

The bag is not hermetically sealed and has an unopened shelf life shorter than bottled wine. Most casks will have a best-before date stamped. As a result, it is not intended for box wine

Wine cellar

A wine cellar is a storage room for wine in bottles or barrels, or more rarely in carboys, amphorae or plastic containers. In an active wine cellar, important factors such as temperature and humidity are maintained by a climate control system....
 and should be consumed within the prescribed period. Deterioration may be quite noticeable by 12 months after filling.

Manufacturers of 'higher class' bottled wines have complained about the cheapness of 'cask' wines, arguing that they provide a cheap means for alcoholics to become inebriated. In particular, the lower level of alcohol excise levied on cask wine in Australia (compared to beer and bottled wine) has been criticised as encouraging binge drinking.

Box wine is considered to have benefits from an environment protection point of view. The bag allows a contents of 5-10l, so that far less packaging or labelling is required. The material it is made from is very light, which reduces pollution caused by transport (as opposed to glass containers, which weigh much more).

Don't let some snooty 'wine snob' scare you away from all the fun you can have by exploring wine. There are countless varieties of wines that you can learn about and try. It can be very relaxing to have some friends over, open up a bottle of your latest 'find' and sit back and enjoy the company and the wine.

Today more than ever a lot of the old 'rules' about wine just don't matter. The single most important rule you need to remember is that you are supposed to enjoy your wine. It doesn't matter how expensive it was or what you're having for dinner. You need to enjoy the flavor of the wine you are drinking.

Here is a list of the 5 most common wine myths -- debunked...

1) Good wine has to be expensive. Nope. Good wine is whatever you like the taste of even if it comes in a box!

2) You have to take out the cork to let it breathe. While it is true that many wines will benefit from adding oxygen to them, just taking out the cork won't allow enough oxygen in the bottle to do any good. If you want your wine to breathe pour it into a wide mouth wine decanter or glass prior to serving.

3) You can't store an open bottle in the refrigerator. As long as you put the cork back in a bottle of wine should be just fine in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

4) You can tell if the wine is good by smelling the cork. Generally the only thing you will learn by smelling the cork is whether or not the cork is moldy. If you want to know if the wine itself is any good smell it. And then taste it.

5) You have to have white wine with fish and red with meat. This is probably one of the best known 'wine-isms'. And it's true, to a point. It's all about combining the flavors of the wine with that of the food for the maximum enjoyment of both. You don't want one flavor overpowering another, you want them to compliment each other.

It's important to keep in mind though that just adhering to this guideline might get boring and you should never follow it if you don't like a certain type of wine.

Let's say you're having a nice steak for dinner. According to the guideline you should have a white wine with dinner. But what if you don't like white wine? Wine is all about enjoyment and relaxation. So have the type of wine you prefer no matter what you're having for dinner.

Not long ago it appeared that Amsterdam’s famous beer bikes had been banned from the streets by police due to complaints from citizens, but I’ve been assured the problems have been worked out and the city’s world-famous tolerance has prevailed yet again. There are a few new rules these bike companies must follow, but the good news is the party-pedaling fun seems to be back on for the foreseeable future. People organizing Amsterdam stag weekends in particular will be thrilled at this development.

Evidently the problems before related to the bikes going on random routes through the city center, which meant they’d be going down some normally quiet and small streets at night, all the while filled with drunken and chanting cyclists. The other problem seemed to involve the fact that the driver, who more or less serves as the captain of the craft as well, would sometimes get drunk himself, and this could lead to more rowdiness than Amsterdam was willing to tolerate.

New regulations

From what I’ve been told, the beer bikes now have what amounts to a set route, which should definitely keep them out of trouble. The party rentals are normally a 3-hour block, and during those 3 hours the bike starts in front of Centraal Station and moves toward the Singel Canal before heading all the way down to Vondel Park and then toward Centraal Station again through the busy Nieuwmarkt area near the Red Light District. To me this sounds like an ideal tour anyway, so this is probably for the best.

They’ve also been told to make sure that drinkers don’t drink too much, and also that there be a sober permanent driver at the helm at all times. Again, this makes perfect sense, and even with a sober driver (that comes included in the rental price) there is still room for up to 19 drunks, 10 of whom can pedal and 9 that are along for the ride.

Now with karaoke

If some locals weren’t thrilled about some of the chanting and yelling before, it’s hard to imagine what they might think of the newest gimmick, which is an on-board karaoke machine. The main Amsterdam beer bike company has recently added this as a new optional feature, which I believe comes at no extra cost, so now you and your friends can have the thrill of warbling your favorite tunes while spreading your own brand of joy through the Dutch capital at the same time. Their new karaoke bike website is only in Dutch for the moment, but I have a feeling an English version will appear linked to their beerbike.co.uk site if this catches on.

Details of the beer bike

• Rental period is 3 hours
• With a minimum of 10 people it’s €39 per person
• With a maximum of 19 people it’s only €23 per person
• Price includes a keg of beer equaling 30 liters / 6.6 UK gallons / 8 US gallons
• 20 extra liters of beer adds €25
• No beer at all saves you €75, or you can switch to wine or soft drinks
• Time blocks starting at 6pm and until midnight cost €50 extra for the party
• Karaoke machine optional

Straight Rye Whiskey in America

 

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It's gratifying when anything flirts with extinction and bounds back into the limelight. Such is the case with rye whiskey. Ten years ago it was an afterthought on a remote shelf in your liquor shop and nonexistent in most bars. Today a clutch of rarified superaged expressions is the talk of well-informed whiskey mavens.

Ponder the whiskey's near demise to understand its rebirth. Rye predated Bourbon as colonial America's favorite, being the first whiskey distilled by rye-growing settlers in the East. Then Prohibition nearly killed it. During its enforced absence drinkers tried Canadian whiskey, which while containing rye is not a straight whiskey. It was, however, a smooth alternative and tastes changed. Straight rye lost so much market share that most production moved to Kentucky as a sideline to Bourbon making, which differs only in that corn, not predominates in the grain recipe.

When single-malt Scotches and specialty Bourbons created a cult of whiskey geeks, some craved a spicy middle ground between smoky Scotch and sweet Bourbon. Then came a wellspring of crafted ryes. Old Rip Van Winkle, a whiskey negotiant, created its 13-year-old Family Reserve Rye. Buffalo Trace made an 18-year-old that shares the name Sazerac with an old rye-based cocktail. Fritz Maytag, creator of Anchor Steam beer, made a whiskey purely from rye (no corn or barley). Also into this concatenation of events came artesinal bartenders who saw that many of the classic cocktails now mixed with Canadian were originally straight rye drinks, and they have revived that tradition.

That's great, right? Yes, except for the familiar whiskey conundrum: no one predicted a rye rush early enough (decades ago) to start aging it in earnest. While the above products tickle our taste, there mightn't be enough to go around. Julian Van Winkle, president of Old Rip Van Winkle, had to begin rationing his product years ago because it came from a finite number of barrels he managed to locate and, as he says, "when that's gone, it's gone." Or at least until the whiskey he makes in partnership with Buffalo Trace comes of age. In the meantime, he has placed the Family Reserve batch in stainless steel to keep it from aging further. Sazerac has experienced similar shortages.

So why in the midst of this dearth of old rye comes Old Rittenhouse, first realized two years ago as a 21-year-old and now as a 23-year-old? Serendipity, says Larry Kass of Heaven Hill. The company made the whiskey, then sold it to a distributor for use as a private-label rye, but aged it in its warehouse for the customer, who never used it. When Heaven Hill saw how old the rye had become, it bought it back. The whiskey aged admirably because it had been kept in the cool ground and second floors of its warehouse and now is a complex spice bomb. But, of course, when it's gone, it's gone.

What if you can't find these rarities? Try easier-to-come-by but still tasty ryes—such as Old Overholt, Wild Turkey, and the standard Rittenhouse and Sazerac expressions.

Rye whiskey is often confused with Canadian whisky.   Most Canadian whisky may have been at one time majority rye whiskey, but this is not so today.   Like corn, rye whiskeys can be blended with non-whiskey neutral spirits, or can be the 100% real thing.  Some Canadian whiskies are blended, others are not.†   American straight rye is at least 100% whiskey, with rye making up at least 51% of the mash grains (usually corn and barley make up the rest).  Since I have rediscovered straight rye whiskey distilled in the States, I do not use Canadian varieties any more, even as mixers.  Since whiskeys almost never list ingredients I do not know which Canadian blends currently contain rye whiskey, although a reader assured me that Alberta Premium really is rye.

For more information (about fake rye) try Canadian Whisky.

George Washington made rye whiskey at his home, Mount Vernon, Virginia.  Indeed, the domestic rye whiskey industry had a proud tradition in the United States, particularly in the north-south neighboring states of Pennsylvania and Maryland.  Unfortunately it never quite recovered from Prohibition.  During and after Prohibition Americans turned to blended Canadian whisky to fill a demand that would take several years to mature in casks at home.  Also American tastes had dulled quite a bit during Prohibition, and the market share never reäppeared.  To this day the straight rye industry is far under appreciated.  With the introduction of some new labels, though, a renaissance of rye seems to be on the way!

A few years ago there were only about four brands of straight rye whiskey, today there are about ten!  However, most of these are hard if not impossible to find at many bars and liquor stores.  Do not accept imitations--American and Canadian blended whiskies do not compare.

For more information (about real rye) try Why Rye?.

Old Overholt

Made by Fortune Brands. If you are ready to grow beyond Bourbon, let Old Overholt be your first step.  4 year old, 80°.  Smooth, perhaps a bit light.  A drink for the mature--for whom the excitement of life has passed yet the best is still to come.  Can this and Gentleman Jack be on the same shelf?  A drink of memory--of fields and stars, of bread and the bread-of-life.  The sky is free, but the earth lives.  The earth brings all our needs, but the sky contains our dreams.  Ultimately earth cannot not prevent our desires from going where we cannot walk.  Old Overholt is of the earth, yet from there it leads my spirit far away.
· Suggest reading:  Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

Jim Beam Rye

Like Old Overholt it is made by Fortune Brands.  Unfortunately Beam lacks all the charm of its sibling whiskey.  80°.  Rough--although I have had no complaints with its use as a mixer in eggnog.

Wild Turkey Rye

A Pernod Ricard product.  At 101° it is slightly harsh and smoky--highly flavorful though.

Autumn falls through my throat.  Is it poison or medicine?  Does harvest cheat the winter or does winter punish the bounty?  The orange-brown-gold leaves fall brightly in the dying light.  See them abandon the tree for the earth.  In death there is life for some.  Gather your rye-seeds while ye may.
· Suggest reading:  Pied Beauty

Old Rip Van Winkle Old Time Rye

This honored Bourbon maker has been holding back on us.  This recently introduced are "new" rye, was born when Reagan was in the White House.  12 years old, 90°.  Flat surface, but below that the taste is deep.

Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye

The other aged "new" rye by this distiller.  13 years old, 95.6°.  Rich and a little sweet.  My best information indicates that Van Winkle purchased its rye stock from a third-party distiller.

Pikesville Supreme

Heaven Hill, the Bourbon maker and Cooley Irish marketer, distills this former Maryland label in Kentucky.  80°.  Sharp, crisp, delightful.

Rittenhouse

While Heaven Hill's Pikesville is a total success, this sister label poses a bit of a mystery.  My first impression was not positive, but it has grown on me.  In one tasting I found it better than Pikesville--go figure.  80°.  Tangy and a little flat, the flavor can seem distracted.

Olde St. Nick Rye

Currently this is an export-only product.  The distributor wrote to me in the winter of 1999 promising a domestic launch "soon."  My first guess as to what that meant was the summer of 1999, but that has come and gone.

A. H. Hirsch

A reader wrote that he has seen a 13 year old Kentucky Rye under this label.  By my best information Hirsch is a bottler and not a distiller.  I have not seen this product on local shelves.  Hirsch's Bourbon comes for Pennsylvania, so the source of its Kentucky rye is a bit of a mystery.  My best information indicates that both Van Winkle and Hirsch obtained their rye stock from the same unknown source--just different barrels.

Old Potrero Rye Whiskey

Capitol Hill, 1998 January 27:  While the rest of the country was watching the State of the Union Address, I was at the Dubliner a few hundred yards from the Capitol.  Oblivious to the President, I sat sampling my first glass of Old Potrero.  I found it to be clean, bright, and subtle.  Hardly there to the nose.  The taste reminds me of fine sandpaper--smooth on the most part with a tingling aftertaste.  The flavor seems quite compact, and I sense that aging will bring out much depth.  While the comparison to sandpaper may not seem flattering, note that this whiskey is 124° and aged only one year.  I know of no comparable product that could be as refined in such a short period of time at that strength.  Old Potrero is quite different from the straight ryes listed above.

Despite its old name, Old Potrero is a new rye.  Fritz Maytag, president of California's Anchor Brewery has been trying his hand at the still for the past several years.  The result is a pot-still, single malt, rye whiskey.  The relatively young first fruits were bottled uncut and unfiltered.  It is made entirely from germinated rye--no fillers!  Because current releases have been aged only one to three years the color is quite light, a bit of a surprise at first glance.  Until recently this micro-distilled rye could only be found in select restaurants (I do not know which) in a few big cities (San Francisco, Baltimore/Washington, Manhattan, London) with a price to match its limited supply.  I have heard reports that a few bottles are popping up with a $90 price tag in California and Maryland.  It may be several years before a bottle appears in a liquor store near you or me.  Hopefully the future will be bright for more available and aged versions of this label

Dead Ryes

Historical Labels

Guckenheimer

One reader has an old empty bottle in his collection labeled "Good Old Guckenheimer," straight rye distilled in Pennsylvania.  Today a blended whiskey is sold under this label.  My Grandfather-in-law obtained a small sample for me from Long Island, NY; it is made in Bardstown KY.  This blended product has a rye-ish taste, and it is not too bad in a Manhattan.  It earns no compliments though.

Michter's Whiskey

This whiskey was made in one of the oldest distilleries in American.  Located in Shaefferstown, Pennsylvania, the distillery opened in 1753 and made rye whiskey.  (The Jack Daniel Distillery is the oldest registered distillery in the country, licensed in 1866.  Prior to that, with a brief exception, American distilleries were not government regulated nor taxed.) Michter's closed around 1988 at which time it was making pot-still sour-mash corn whiskey, the final product of which may or may not have complied with Bourbon labeling requirements; Bourbon does not need to be made in Kentucky.  Stocks of this are currently sold under the A. H. Hirsch label (see my Corn Whiskey page).  It also sold column-still rye to distillers for bottling under different labels.  I visited the distillery many many years ago and due to my youthful age was not offered a sample at the end of the tour.  Sadly, by all accounts there is little hope of the distillery reöpening.  There is a small page about the Michter's distillery and one about it when it was known as the Bomberger distillery. I have heard that some rye has come for sale under the Michter name, but I have not seen any myself yet.

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The invite to this focus group came about by being registered with a market research company and if you are interested in getting invited to one or more of these focus groups make sure you read on...

When these marketing research companies get a job like this one they will assemble a survey panel based around a set of demographics that their client (in this case a beer company) is interested in as customers. Typically they will use the data that you have supplied in your profile to work out whether you fit the survey panel and then get in contact with you.

They rang me up while I was away from home last week and after a quick round of screening questions, I was locked in for the a session on the following week.

When you show up to the venue they check off your name and with a group of other people you go into a room where there is a facilitator and you discuss the product and give your opinion on it and the marketing for the product.

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There are hundreds of great wines out there that are perfect foils for the dog days of summer. Although there are about as many styles as there are bottles, a few common denominators exist when selecting a vino for the patio. Start with crisp acidity, throw in a low alcohol content and then mix vigorously with lighter fruit flavors. The end result is a racy wine that will delight the senses and dance across the taste buds instead of plodding along like a palate attached to an anchor.

Let’s start with the old standbys Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. While many Chardonnays saddled with heavy oak and cream may be closer to the heavy wines we are trying to avoid, there are also numerous examples that avoid the oak and the malolactic fermentation that adds that rich and creamy feel. Young white Burgundies retain a higher level of acidity than their American counterparts and thus stay crisp and fresh instead of cloying and thick. Also look for innovative examples of Chard such as the delightfully light un-oaked Chardonnays from Australia or even progressive California wines such as the Keller Oro de Plata that sees no malolactic and no oak. The result is pure fruit, a lighter mouth feel and a zippy finish.

Sauvignon Blanc is one of my favorite summer whites as the grape is naturally high in acidity and has a backbone of citrus fruit that is just wonderful on a hot summer day. Sancerres and Pouilly-Fumés from the Loire valley in northern France have a vein of minerals and fresh cut grass that can be quite refreshing versions of the Sauvignon Blanc, while the addition of Sémillon to White Bordeaux adds a round and lush note. Sauvignon Blanc has found a fashionable home in New Zealand where the wines are as dry as it gets, buoyed by the high-toned gooseberry aromas so common in these wines. Sauvignon Blancs from California are a little more ripe and round but still a fine wine when fish is the main course.

I wouldn’t be a very good wine writer if I didn’t mention the ubiquitous Pinot Grigio, and as great as these wines may be by the pool don’t forget about other Italian goodies such as the delicious Fiano di Avellino with its honey and almond flavors strutting over a vibrant core. Or try Soave from Verona for a lemony treat. My personal favorite is Moscato d’Asti, a light and fruity wine with touches of sparkle and sweetness made from the perfumed Muscat grape. Nothing is better than hanging out with friends on a warm summer evening with a glass of Moscato and a bowl of fresh fruit. You won’t be disappointed.

Speaking of fruit, there isn't a more sexy and sumptuous summer grape than Riesling. This versatile and expressive grape runs the gauntlet from painfully dry to startlingly sweet and from rocks and gravel to fruit bomb. Which is right for you? That depends on the mood and the occasion. German Rieslings will always have a core of peaches and minerals but can range from bone dry to packed with flavors and residual sugar. The underlying core of acidity will help ensure a balanced and tasty wine. Neighboring Austria also boasts excellent Rieslings though they tend to be a touch more dry than their German cousins. Cooler regions in Australia such as Clare valley are producing wonderful Rieslings with a streak of lime and minerals, always on the dry side. Great for fusion cuisine.

Austria’s greatest grape, the Grüner-Veltliner is also not one to be missed this summer. Hot in the international market right now, Grüner’s most alluring attribute is a layer of refreshing grapefruit and pepper over a light and crisp frame. Wonderful for all seafood dishes or just as a sipper out by the pool, Grüner-Veltliner will continue to carve out a niche in the U.S. market.

Spain is also a home for excellent summertime whites. Ruedas from Castilla y Leon in central Spain offer wonderful natural acidity and delicious flavors from Sauvignon Blanc and the native Verdejo grape. In the Rías Baixas (pronounce Ree-us By-shuss) region just above Portugal phenomenal wines are made from the Albariño varietal. This is the coolest part of Spain and the fogs that roll in from the Atlantic provide both relief from the summer heat but also a certain saline character to the wines. Add to this delicious peach flavors and a sometimes tingly acidity and the result is lovely wine, light in body but long on flavor. Just across the border in Portugal the Albariño is a part of the delicious and cheap Vinho Verde, always a great wine and a great bargain for summer.

Don’t forget your sparklers! Champagne from France, Prosecco from Spain, Franciacorta from Italy and all manners of sparkling wines from across the globe are great in the summer for their natural acidity and refreshing bubbles. Not just for celebrations, sparkling wines are excellent additions to the dinner table and work well with many types of seafood.

Look for Rosés to complete you summer lineup. Dry, crisp and full of flavor those pink wines from the south of France are most-definitely not White Zinfandel. Bandol from Provence, Costières de Nimes from the Languedoc and Tavel from the southern Rhône as well as many others can all be excellent if you want a wine with just a little more backbone than your average white. Spain, Italy and California also produce excellent dry Rosés.

This is by no means an exhaustive list! Many other great summertime wines exist such as Muscadet and Vouvray from the Loire valley, Pinot Gris from Oregon and Gewürztraminer from Alsace. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box such as giving lighter red wines a slight chill or trying tawny port over ice with just a little soda water as is fashionable in the town of Oporto in the summer. The ultimate guideline as to the best summertime wine will be your own. If you feel refreshed after a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon then by all means- have at it! I think I will stay with a glass each of all the wines listed before. That may sound like a lot, but it’s a long summer. Enjoy!

The History of the Mint Julep

No Kentucky Derby would be complete without the venerable Mint Julep on the first Saturday in May. According to the Derby Museum, Mint Julep became Churchill Down's signature drink in 1938 when they started to serve the drink in sourvenir glasses for 75 cents a drink. Today Kentucky Derby serves more than 80,000 juleps over the two-day event.

Mint Julep first appeared in print in 1803 described as a "dram of spirituous liquor that has mint in it, taken by Virginians in the morning." Some historians say Mint Julep was born in the early 1700s somewhere in east coast. First Mint Juleps weren't perhaps mixed with Bourbon, rather rye whiskey or rum or other available spirits.

Chris Morris from Woodford Reserve Bourbon says "Centuries ago, there was an Arabic drink called julab, made with water and rose petals. The beverage had a delicate and refreshing scent that people thought would instantly enhance the quality of their lives." When the julab was introduced to the Mediterranean region, the native population replaced the rose petals with mint, a plant indigenous to the area. The mint julep, as it was now called, grew in popularity throughout Europe.

Mint Julep's popularity came to rest in the agricultural regions of the east and southeast, where farmers awakened at dawn. Morris says the julep was originally a morning drink as the spirited equivalent of coffee in today's society. "One sip and Pow! The farmers were ready to face the long day."

The main ingredient of the Mint Julep is Bourbon Whiskeyiskey. "The biggest change for the julep was the addition of American whiskey to the recipe," says Morris. "The julep was quickly transformed into a mixture of water, sugar, mint leaves, and good American whiskey." 

The proposal has come up in the past:  allow grocery stores and others who today are allowed to sell beer to obtain a license to sell wine. New York would join the 35 states including California that currently permit wine sales in grocery stores.  The liquor store owners beat back the proposal the last time it came up but the odds are against them this time because the Bureau of the Budget estimates the franchise fee alone will bring in more than $100 million.  Given the choice between allowing wine to be sold in grocery stores and having their taxes go up another dime, most New Yorkers will vote for wine sales.

Here’s how the new law will work.  Any store that wishes to obtain a franchise to sell wine will have to pay a fee equal to .46% of their previous year’s gross sales.  For chains like Stewarts that number would be calculated per store not across the entire business.  This is a one-time fee and while no one knows how many stores will apply, it’s a good bet that the larger supermarket and convenience store chains would rush to do so.  Being able to add another high margin product to their shelves should easily justify the initial outlay.

Naturally the liquor store owners are up in arms.  They claim that as many as 1,000 of the state’s 2,700 independently owned liquor stores would close, resulting in a job loss of 4,000.  However, they offer no factual basis for such claims.  Undoubtedly some liquor stores will close if the measure is approved. Some are probably going to go out of business anyway given the state’s overall economic climate.  For others this might be the final straw.

New York does not allow liquor store owners to operate multiple stores.  Thus each store represents a unique owner.

Interestingly the liquor store owners do not feel confident enough to stand on the economic argument alone.   Perhaps they recognize that the self-interest of 2,700 versus that of 19 million consumers is not good odds. Instead they are try to cement opposition by claiming that allowing groceries and others to sell wine will increase teenage drinking and drunk driving and they’ve enlisted law enforcement organizations to help them defeat the Governor’s proposal.

While building a coalition against proposed legislation is good politics, it can backfire – especially if the argument is as shoddy as this one.  It defies logic to think that teenagers will have any more luck buying wine from the Liquor Store that currently sell beer than they do buying beer. If a teen can’t find an adult willing to buy beer for them on what basis can we imagine that that same teenager could convince that same adult to buy them wine? Further, what percentage of teenagers would rather drink wine than beer?

There’s also the possibility that the liquor stores will not come off half as bad as they want us to believe.  Most of the wine sold in groceries will come from large volume suppliers.   One proprietor made the point when she stated: “The consumer will be relegated to drinking Yellow Tail.”   Sophisticated wine buyers will continue to buy their wines from liquor stores because they won’t settle for Yellow Tail.  Young adults, however, may start consuming wine by buying Yellow Tail at a grocer’s.  It will then be up to the liquor store owners to convince them to graduate to better quality wines.

By the way the convenience store owners are not happy with the Governor’s proposal either.  They view the franchise fee as being too high which would put the opportunity out of reach of small stores.  They are also opposed to allowing liquor store owners to sell beer and tobacco in return for allowing their members to sell wine.

Of course that brings up a solution the Governor’s office might want to consider.  If liquor store owners could sell beer and wine they might drop their objection to allowing grocers to sell wine.  It would also enable the state to bring in even more franchise fee revenue.

Liquor StoreDesign  A telephone survey was conducted 20 months after the closure seeking information and owners' opinions about how their Liquor Storehad changed since the closure and how this affected their business. In addition, 2 years of aggregated pre- and post-closure total gross receipts revenues were obtained from the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department, with convenience stores as a comparison group.

Findings  Interviews were completed for 149 of 220 Liquor Stores. Over one-quarter of former drive-up liquor windows (28%) had been converted to 'step-in' sales, defined as an outside door where customers can stop and enter the premises while their car is running. Almost two-thirds (61%) of owners reported decreased annual gross revenues following closure, with a reported average 15% reduction in alcohol sales. This is consistent with findings of decreased gross receipts for operators of non-urban, but not urban, drive-up liquor windows compared to convenience store gross receipts. Almost three-quarters (72%) of those surveyed would re-open the drive-up window if the law were rescinded. This is a matter of convenience for the Liquor Store.

Conclusion  Over one-quarter of the drive-up owners converted to step-in alcohol sales that still allow a form of drive-up liquor sales. Despite this, the forced closure of New Mexico's drive-up liquor windows negatively impacted total sales and liquor sales revenues of establishments that operated them. The drive up Liquor Store still remains popular.

The history of  the liquor store is inextricably linked to prohibition. Prohibition is the effort to limit or ban the sale and consumption of alcohol, and has been prevalent since Arkansas ’s territorial period. The state has attempted to limit use of alcoholic beverages through legal efforts such as establishing “dry” counties. Since achieving statehood in 1836, prohibition has consistently been a political and public health issue.

In the early days, drinking was not only an everyday fact of life but, a fundamental part of state politics. Candidates typically won favor with voters by providing generous amounts of whiskey on Election Day. There developed, however, a sense that alcohol hindered the ability of workers to perform their jobs adequately, which some business owners feared would result in lower profits. While some prohibitionists were against any type of alcohol, others took a strong stance against whiskey and liquor, while only wanting to somewhat limit the production and sale of beer and wine.

The Civil War brought great efforts by state leaders to prohibit the sale of liquor from a Liquor Store. In 1862, under Confederate rule, the state passed a statewide ban on distilleries in order to save grain for the war effort. This did little to curb backwoods “bootleg” whiskey production, and indeed, many prominent Arkansans openly ignored the law, such as Washington County judge David Walker, who proclaimed that he would pay “any price in or out of reason” to acquire whiskey. In 1864, the state’s efforts to stop the production of alcohol fell apart when Governor Harris Flanagin signed a bill that allowed distilleries to pay the state for the right to produce alcohol.

In the post-war era, farmers discovered they could earn far greater profits by producing alcohol than by growing corn or other agricultural products. The spread of moonshine stills and the illegal trade in alcohol spurred response from  law enforcement. Throughout the 1870s, in what became known as the “moonshine wars,” federal revenue agents fanned out across  in search of illegal stills. Raids against moonshiners were common, and stories of violent shootouts were told in the local newspapers.

The prohibition movement gained momentum in the first decade of the twentieth century as much of the nation, continued to ban bars and saloons. By 1906, 60% of American towns had done this. It was during this period that  governors such as George Donaghey led the way for stronger control of alcohol.

When the United States entered World War I in 1917, the national move toward prohibition gained the final motivation it needed, as the war effort’s demand for grain (a key ingredient for producing liquor) outweighed the need for alcohol. This brought about Congress passing the Eighteenth Amendment, which  ratified in January 1919.

By the early 1930s, the Great Depression was upon our country. This changed the perspective of many Americans, who began to view repealing the ban on alcohol as economically beneficial. People were indeed softening their stance on the selling of alcohol by theliquor stores. With the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1933, the entire state of Arkansas was once again wet. This ushered in a new phase in the state’s history of alcohol control, in which prohibition was determined county by county.

While the national prohibition movement collapsed following World War II, Arkansas temperance advocates still pushed for dry counties but also had to reconcile with changing attitudes toward consumption. The business community no longer sided with the fading temperance movement. Indeed, from the late 1940s through the 1960s, “dries” suffered many setbacks. Winthrop Rockefeller, governor of the state during the late 1960s, argued that liquor sales would boost tourism and stimulate the economy. By the end of the 20th century, the lines between wet and dry counties had solidified, with 43 counties dry and 32 wet. Efforts to prohibit the sale and consumption of alcohol have existed throughout Arkansas ’s history, from the territorial era to the present day.  Now you can shop at your favorite Liquor Store.

Bar establishment - Bar-related trivia

• The longest bar in the world is 684 feet or about 208.5 meters long and is located at the New Bulldog in Rock Island, Illinois.
• A bar is now located in the New York City building that once housed the National Temperance Society.
• The U.S. marine first recruiting station was in a bar.
• Tom Arnold, Sandra Bullock, Chevy Chase, Bill Cosby, Kris Kristofferson, and Bruce Willis are all former bartenders.
• in West Virginia, bars can advertise alcoholic beverage prices, but not brand names.

Several fictional bars and Liquor Store have featured prominently in television series, including the following:

• Archie Bunker's Place
• Babylon on Queer as Folk
• Cheers
• Karatos on Angel
• Moe's Tavern on The Simpsons
• Phil's on Murphy Brown
• The Queen Victoria on EastEnders
• The Regal Beagle on Three's Company
• Ten Forward on Star Trek: The Next Generation
• Rovers Return on Coronation Street
• The Drunken Clam on Family Guy

U.S. firm to launch new kosher tequila for Mexican holiday

A New York businessman is launching a new kosher tequila in time for Cinco de Mayo. Martin Silver says Agave 99 will be on the market in time for the holiday that celebrates Mexico's defeat of French forces on May 5, 1862. Silver, president of Long Island-based Star Industries, says he wants to satisfy the craze for high-end tequila with one that observant Jews can drink. Silver says a half million cases of the 99-proof kosher tequila are being produced at a Mexican plant using methods certified by a rabbi. It will retail for $41.95 a bottle. The product launch - with Mexican songs sung in both Yiddish and Spanish - is set for May 5, but it will also be sold earlier for Passover, which starts at sundown on April 8 this year.

Brewing with wheat instead of barley is an ancient tradition that stretches back to the earliest days of brewing. Although not an easy grain to work with, beers brewed with a proportion of wheat do not require maturation, as is the case with lagers, and can be drunk soon after brewing. Most importantly wheat ales are very refreshing. Traditionally they are cloudy or hazy, though with modern filtration they can easily be made clear. Bavarian "weizen" beers are the best known examples of wheat ales and are widely imitated.

Dunkel/Dark Weizen. These dark wheat beers derive their character from the use of darker malts in the non-wheat ingredients, so that a richer, darker colored beer can be achieved, along with fuller malt flavors. Dunkel weizens still display the floral, estery qualities of a pale weizen. Dark weizens are produced with or without a secondary fermentation in the bottle, with the corollary that these styles can be yeast sedimented or unsedimented depending upon the preference of the brewer.

Flavored Wheat Ales. Turning wheat beer into a cocktail has precedent in Europe where alcoholic cordials or fruit syrups can be used to help beer slide down more easily. Flavored wheat ales are an increasingly popular specialty category covering a number of flavoring options that brewers have adopted, particularly in the USA, the home of "throw-the-rule-book-away" hybrid beer styles. The two most significant additives are fruit and honey, usually employed separately. Raspberry is a common choice of fruit to flavor these styles and the best examples have faithful fruit essence and avoid any sweet cloying character. Honey can add richness to the palate and give a hint of sweetness. Herbs and spices are also encountered, but the possibilities are endless. Chocolate dunkel raspberry weisse anyone?

Hefe Weizen. Weizen bier is a top fermenting beer style that originates from southern Germany, particularly Bavaria, and is brewed with at least 50% wheat in the mash. Hefe weizens are refreshing, highly carbonated beers ideal for quenching summer thirsts. They undergo secondary fermentation, often in the bottle, and the yeast strains used for this purpose impart a spicy, clove-like flavor. Hefe (the German word for yeast) on the label denotes that the bottle contains yeast sediment. Alcohol content is typically 5-5.5% ABV, giving these beers a medium to medium-full body. Hop flavors play a very insignificant role in the flavor profile. The best examples to be found are still authentic Bavarian imports, although some good domestic examples are produced and are often available as a draft option.

Kristall Weizen. A Kristal weizen is a non-hazy weizen ale. Kristall on the label of a weizen specifically denotes that a weizen has been filtered prior to bottling to remove the protein haze and yeast often suspended in such beers. Kristall weizens lack the yeasty and spicy complexity often associated with hefe weizen beers, and have a cleaner and more delicate flavor. Floral, fruity aromas are often noted in classic examples of this style, though healthy alcohol content of 5-5.5% will give a medium to medium-full bodied character.

Weizen Bock. Weizen bocks are essentially winter wheat beers, originally brewed in Bavaria. The color can be pale gold to brown. They are of higher alcoholic strength, as high as 7% ABV, showing a warming personality, though they should still have a significant 'rocky' head when poured. These beers combine the character of hefeweizens and dopplebocks and as such are rich and malty with estery, yeasty qualities and show a note of wheaty crispness through the finish.

Wheat Ale. As the name would suggest these are ales that use a proportion of wheat in the mash to add a protein haze. Wheat ales, inspired by the German weizen tradition were popular before prohibition in the US and are enjoying a resurgence in popularity. This generic category encapsulates the diverse interpretation of the classic German Weizen styles brewed in America and elsewhere. A host of variables ranging from the wheat/malt ratio, hopping and filtration/non filtration all contribute to wide variations on the theme. Generally US examples feature a more marked hop accent than classic German weizen styles and are often dryer.

White/Wit Beer. Wit beer is a style of flavored wheat. It is distinctly Belgian in origin and is still very closely associated with this low land country. Wits employ a proportion of unmalted wheat in the mash but also have flavor added in the form of curaçao, orange peel and coriander, among other ingredients. Their appearance is marked by a hazy white precipitate and these beers generally have some sedimentation. Typically these are very refreshing summer thirst quenchers. They are not widely produced in the US but some notable examples can be found.

Wheat Beer Extra Credit:   

Students of trivia may be interested to know that Germany’s famed purity law specifically forbade the use of wheat and  other grains for producing beer. The reason? Wheat was too valuable in the production of bread to waste on beer.

Don't pay for your beer any longer...
Instead, the beer companies will pay YOU!

Who else wants to find out how to earn easy extra money... just for drinking and talking about beer!

...

Just two nights ago I attended a beer & wine discussion group and for about 1 hour of my time, sampling a few different beers and wines and answering some questions I received $70. I really enjoy these sessions and I pay no tax, completely legit, just cash in an envelope. The $70 came in very handy too because I wanted to buy my 6 year old grandson a bike for his birthday and this paid for it.

The invite to this focus group came about by being registered with a market research company and if you are interested in getting invited to one or more of these focus groups make sure you read on...

When these marketing research companies get a job like this one they will assemble a survey panel based around a set of demographics that their client (in this case a beer company) is interested in as customers. Typically they will use the data that you have supplied in your profile to work out whether you fit the survey panel and then get in contact with you.

They rang me up while I was away from home last week and after a quick round of screening questions, I was locked in for the a session on the following week.

When you show up to the venue they check off your name and with a group of other people you go into a room where there is a facilitator and you discuss the product and give your opinion on it and the marketing for the product.

.....

Here are some stories from other guys just like you and I, who got paid to drink and talk about beer...

.

..

.

.

...

Make Money Drinking Beer
Will Reveal More Than 180 Companies
Waiting to Pay You For Drinking Beer, Eating Out, and Giving Your Opinions…and Many of Them are International Companies!

That means that no matter where you live, these companies want research from your area: United States, Canada, the UK, Australia, etc.

/

It Couldn’t Be Easier—Just Point and Click!

All you need to do to have access to these marketing firms and begin making money almost immediately is to sign-up to purchase the Make Money Drinking Beer Guide for the nominal amount of $69.97.

You will have unlimited life-time access to the guide, downloaded on to your computer. It's a one off small time fee. No monthly billing. No yearly recurring memberships. No hidden charges.

/

As soon as you order, you will be given instant access to download the guide directly from the Internet on to your computer. (The guide is in downloadable PDF format.) Since there is no actual hard copy of the manual, there's no need to wait 2-6 weeks for delivery. You can access the guide and begin signing up with market research companies in just minutes from now./

/.

Make Money Drinking Beer Guide is On Sale

A Regular $69.97 Value!

Our Sale Price is $29.95 (That's 58% Off!)

Today you can get the guide for $9.95

Here's the deal. I charge a fee so I can cover the costs of maintaining this site and the Make Money Drinking Beer Guide. I'm actually losing money by running this site, but I'm trying to re-cover some of the fixed costs I've already outlayed.

 

Every once in a while, some new gadget comes along that is so obvious that you have to wonder why someone else didn’t invent it.

The NDrive G400 PND is one such device. At first, the NDrive G400 looks like any other Personal Navigation Device. It has a 3.5 inch screen that is completely touch-friendly, along with the usual application menu of a GPS.

What makes the G400 stand out is that one of the applications is a breathalyzer test. That’s right, a device that helps you drive can actually recommend that you don’t drive. All you need to is touch the application, wait for it to calibrate, and then literally blow into the device itself.

Draft beer in your own home is most beer drinkers’ preferred way of having their pint (no tinny taste from the can). Krups are now about to launch in the USA the BeerTender which delivers a crisp, fresh perfectly chilled draft beer which will stay fresh for upto 30 days. The unit has been engineered to work exclusively with Heineken and Heineken Premium Light DraftKegs.

The BeerTender is simple to set up and operate, and you have a choice of chill temperature settings depending on your preference. It also has a display which tells you how much you have left, and how long you have before you need to re-stock. It’s the perfect thing to have when you’re having a summer BBQ or a bit of a gathering (which we seem to do rather too often, particularly when we decide to have a poker night!)

Ah, with the holiday season upon us yet again, many people will be celebrating it with some drinks to make the occasion all the more merry. The Shot Caller targets thrill seekers who love getting smashed at parties, functioning as a timer for those who want to indulge themselves in the Power Hour ritual. For those who are out of the loop, Power Hour requires a person to take one shot of beer, each minute for the whole hour - that amounts to approximately five beers. A loud buzzer from the Shot Caller lets you know it is time to gulp yet another shop, keeping track of the time gap. I suppose after having too many shots, even a stopwatch in your hand is useless, hence the need for this $15 device.

This is a great gadget for the lazy cocktail lover, the professional Electric Martini Maker.

The ultimate in convenience and class, this commercial-quality martini maker allows for effortlessly preparing a martini at home. The unit’s polished stainless-steel 20-ounce cocktail shaker features a built-in strainer, while its touchpad ensures easy operation. Simply add favorite martini ingredients using the 1-ounce shaker cap, turn the appliance on and watch the green olive light up, press Shake or Stir, and voila–a timeless cocktail is made.

Almost every geek and gaming enthusiast has always desired to have their very own arcade cabinet. Admit it, you know this to be true. However, there are several problems that generally arise which prevent you from reaching this goal: space, money and a spouse. Granted, not all spouses will be opposed to the idea, however, that usually seems to be the case. While I can’t help you with the issue of money, here’s an idea that might help with the others. Get an arcade cabinet that combines more than one household device. In this case, a kegerator.

This probably isn’t politically correct but funny none the less, the booze drip.

Everyone knows that laughter is the best medicine, so you need to make sure you get your daily dose of fun. The best way for you to medicate yourself would have to be this Bedside Booze Drip.

Designed around a Hospitals IV drip you can fill the bottle with any drink you want and have it ready and waiting when the pains of your life, wife or strife, get to much. It comes with a stand to hang the bottle from and a long IV tube that can be places in a glass or straight in your mouth for instant relief.

I don’t normally see the point of buying a tiny iPod and then sticking it in a massive case, but the bevy is different, not only does it protect your iPod Shuffle it can also open bottles of beer.

Have you got an iPod Shuffle? Do you drink beer? Do you use keys? If the answer is yes to all three, then you need the Bevy. This ingenious sliver of sturdy plastic and bottle top-biting metal functions as an iPod Shuffle case, a bottle opener and a keyring. Talk about multi-tasking!

If, like many people, you don’t have the luxury of having a cellar in which to store your precious bottles of vintage wine, there is now a solution.

Spiral Cellars can come into your home and excavate a hole directly under your floor (be it in the kitchen, lounge, garage, or any other ground floor room) in which you can store upto 1,600 bottles of wine down a spiral stairway cellar system. The stairway is a watertight, pre-cast cylindrical system which is installed into said excavated hole. They use the earth as a natural insulator and they use an air-flow system meaning no power is needed. This ensures optimum temperatures can be maintained in order to keep your precious vino in tip top condition.

Spiral Cellars will send round an engineer to ensure you’re not trying to put in a cellar through your property’s water pipes and carry out a full assessment of the suitability of the cellar you have chosen.

Dimensions for the Mini Cellar start at 1.35m deep (holding upto 650 bottles) to the Spiral Cellar going upto 3.00m deep (holding upto 1,600 bottles). Check out
the options available at www.spiralcellars.com.

I think all of us at Coolest Gadgets will certainly love this - the Leather 250GB Hip Flask USB Drive.

This portable drive looks just like a pocket size flask and is wrapped with buttery 100% real leather. Connect it to your computer using USB 2.0 for transfer rates of up to 480 Mbits per second, no external power supply is needed. Built in Drop Guard protection protects your data after a night on the town with the boys. Works on any standard OS including Windows, Linux and Mac.

This looks like some sort of strange mad scientist design of a contraption which concocts a weird potion after putting in all sorts of exotic ingredients. Actually, it is known as the Missisipi Distiller that attempts to capture the original spirit (pun not intended) of the American south distilling heritage.

These days it pays to know what you’re drinking. Not for counting calories or making sure that you are not being over-served, although these are important things indeed. No, I mean it literally: it’s about watching your wallet. Have you noticed that your pocketbook now seems to be getting supermodel thin every time you go out for a few drinks? It not your imagination, it’s the new economy of drinking in America. You see, as more high quality and so-called super-premium liquors propagate the shelves of retailers and bars,  prices of lofty and trendy distilled spirits push traditional price barriers, usually in direct proportion to their expensive packaging and marketing campaigns. The latter are often necessary these days, by the way, to make any real and lasting penetration into the highly merged and distracted distribution and supply chain. The fact that this upward price pressure occurs even during a flood of new brand launches, seemingly contradicting the laws of supply and demand, is truly amazing from both an economic and everyday common sense perspective. Is there really enough consumer demand to support these prices? It’s hard to believe there is, but it’s apparently so, as the current price escalation seems to respect few if any conventionally assumed price boundaries. Consider the sobering fact that last year we reviewed a $100 vodka. This is the spirits game and it’s definitively pay-to-play for everyone involved.

Fortunately amid all of this rather unusual and unfathomable behavior, level headed spirits producers and marketers are betting on the fact that consumers will come to their senses (in point of fact, most probably never lost them) and seek products that deliver a taste experience similar to the trend-setting brands for a price that is more conservative and palatable. (Think Madonna in a nun’s outfit.) And to do our part to better facilitate this fiscally responsible attitude and pursuit, we’ve launched a new competition specifically focused on finding the best buys of the spirits world and bringing these value oriented brands greater consumer awareness. I’m happy to report that we did find many brands delivering both great taste and satisfying economics.

Below are the winners in the three price tiers of our first annual BTI Best Buy Bar Competition: under $20, under $15, and under $10 as well as full lists of recommended products in each category. We’re sure that you’ll find these products a welcome addition to you home bar and we’re busy spreading the word to the trade so that you can get your wallet off of that bizarre “club diet” the next time you head out for a drink or two.

Belgium: Monastic Ales

Monastic Ales

Whoever serves beer or wine watered down, he himself deserves in them to drown. - Medieval exhortation for pure beverages

Belgium is a unique beer-producing country where beer, culture, and religion coexist in greater harmony than any other place in the world. The history of beer in this flat, culturally divided part of Europe dates back more than two millennia. When Julius Caesar led his conquering Roman legions through the land of the Belgae in the first century b.c., he found that the natives were already producing a variety of simple beers. Brewing continued through the Middle Ages when self-sufficient monasteries established their own breweries. Six of these monastic breweries are still in operation in Belgium and Holland. In the 15th and 16th centuries, as part of the cultural empire of Burgundy, this corner of Europe spread brewing technology and tradition to the whole of northern Europe. Unsurprisingly, more than a few Belgian breweries can trace their foundation back further than 300 years. For example, Liefmans of Oudenaarde in East Flanders was founded in 1679.

A small country (about the size of Maryland), Belgium presents to the connoisseur a treasure trove of exotic ales. This range of flavors can send beer critics spiraling off into the wilder reaches of inflated winespeak in an effort to capture on paper the sheer complexity of Belgium’s finest beers. Such diversity is not achieved by German adherence to purity laws that proscribe any ingredients other than yeast, malted barley, water, and hops. In addition to these ingredients, such exotica as barley sugar, herbs, fruits, and spices are all part of an ancient Belgian brewing tradition that would make a Bavarian brewer run for his Reinheitsgebot parchment.

Fewer than 100 breweries are currently active in Belgium, compared to approximately 3,000 at the beginning of the 20th century. Industrialization, mergers, takeovers, and the post-World War II trend to pilsner-style beers have had their effects. Nonetheless, Belgium remains a country of strikingly diverse beer styles. It must be remembered that Belgium is a relatively modern contrivance of two principal cultures, Dutch-speaking Flemish to the north and French-speaking Walloons to the south. Flems and Walloons are a touch chauvinistic about drinking their own beers, a fact that only serves to enhance diversity.

The great monastic brewing tradition survives in six Trappist monasteries-five located in Belgium and one in Holland. In all, Trappist breweries produce about 15 labels. The Trappists are part of the Benedictine order of Catholic monks. European Union law has reserved the use of the words "Trappist Ale" only for these beers. This double trinity of holy beers, the Grand Cru Classés of the beer world, upholds the tradition of "nutritional" beverages whose original purpose was largely to nourish monks with "liquid bread." Modern-day monks continue this tradition. Brother Theodore, the octogenarian guiding figure behind the Chimay Trappist brewery, still takes a bottle of sustenance after morning prayer.

It may prove difficult tracking down many of these beers in the United States, especially outside large urban areas, although beers from Chimay are widely distributed.

From this select group of Trappist beers, a separate category of "abbey" beers has developed. These beers are brewed in commercial secular breweries. Some are produced under license and in accordance with original recipes from abbeys that have ceased their brewing operations. Others are fanciful creations, or named after local ruins. The law offers little guidance in the naming of abbey beers, or the printing of the actual brewer in an obvious manner on labels. This label proliferation is a source of minor frustration in correlating brands to actual breweries in Belgium.

Lambic beers are esoteric and quite distinctive in the world of brewing. They are rare, even in and around their home city of Brussels, where the local airborne wild yeasts allow this tart specialty style to spontaneously ferment. Modern tastes have veered away from tart, acidic flavors. A handful of producers persevere with the artisanal, slow, and inefficient methods that yield the most striking examples of geueze lambic beer. With negligible exceptions, lambic beer in Brussels and throughout Belgium has become synonymous with the Bellevue range from the giant Interbrew company. Although very drinkable, these beers have a rather mild lambic affectation. Short of a sharp upturn of interest in these beers in Belgium or abroad, artisanal lambics will not be truly known and appreciated outside a relatively small but devout group of enthusiasts. Do not hold back-a good selection of lambics may be found in the United States, albeit in small quantities.

Another noteworthy style of Belgian beer is wit (white) beer, a cloudy wheat ale spiced with coriander and orange peel. A classic example is Hoegaarden, which has resurfaced on the U.S. market. Despite its increasing sales volume domestically and abroad, it is tasting as good as ever. Interbrew’s considerable investment in the De Kluis brewery, founded by Pierre Celis (who later went on to found yet another wit brewery in Austin, Texas, of all places), is yielding beers worthy of the historic name of Hoegaarden, a town famous for its wit beers in centuries past. Hoegaarden and other Belgian wit beers should prove increasingly popular with U.S. beer consumers who have become accustomed to drinking cloudy wheat ales during summer months.

Despite its beer culture, Belgium has not proven to be an easy environment for young artisan brewers to start a new venture. Distribution is difficult to achieve without the acquiescence of the country’s dominant brewing conglomerates, who control distribution to bars and cafés in a subtle and not so subtle manner. Shining successes such as Brasserie d’Achouffe, founded in 1982, looked at the outset to the export market to build sales volumes for their strong, spicy ales. Sixty percent of their production is now exported, and other breweries are taking note and casting a hungry look at the difficult to penetrate, but rewarding, North American market.

From the U.S. consumers’ viewpoint, Belgian beers generally represent styles that the domestic craft-brewing industry has not yet addressed in a convincing manner, with a few notable exceptions. Strong Belgian Ales represent a step up the sophistication ladder and often are priced accordingly. They invite contemplative, less hurried drinking (if only because of the alcohol content), and can bridge the gap between the proletarian perception of beer and the more cerebral one of wine.

Don't pay for your beer any longer...
Instead, the beer companies will pay YOU!

Who else wants to find out how to earn easy extra money... just for drinking and talking about beer!

...

Just two nights ago I attended a beer & wine discussion group and for about 1 hour of my time, sampling a few different beers and wines and answering some questions I received $70. I really enjoy these sessions and I pay no tax, completely legit, just cash in an envelope. The $70 came in very handy too because I wanted to buy my 6 year old grandson a bike for his birthday and this paid for it.

The invite to this focus group came about by being registered with a market research company and if you are interested in getting invited to one or more of these focus groups make sure you read on...

When these marketing research companies get a job like this one they will assemble a survey panel based around a set of demographics that their client (in this case a beer company) is interested in as customers. Typically they will use the data that you have supplied in your profile to work out whether you fit the survey panel and then get in contact with you.

They rang me up while I was away from home last week and after a quick round of screening questions, I was locked in for the a session on the following week.

When you show up to the venue they check off your name and with a group of other people you go into a room where there is a facilitator and you discuss the product and give your opinion on it and the marketing for the product.

.....

Here are some stories from other guys just like you and I, who got paid to drink and talk about beer...

.

..

.

.

...

Make Money Drinking Beer
Will Reveal More Than 180 Companies
Waiting to Pay You For Drinking Beer, Eating Out, and Giving Your Opinions…and Many of Them are International Companies!

That means that no matter where you live, these companies want research from your area: United States, Canada, the UK, Australia, etc.

/

It Couldn’t Be Easier—Just Point and Click!

All you need to do to have access to these marketing firms and begin making money almost immediately is to sign-up to purchase the Make Money Drinking Beer Guide for the nominal amount of $69.97.

You will have unlimited life-time access to the guide, downloaded on to your computer. It's a one off small time fee. No monthly billing. No yearly recurring memberships. No hidden charges.

/

As soon as you order, you will be given instant access to download the guide directly from the Internet on to your computer. (The guide is in downloadable PDF format.) Since there is no actual hard copy of the manual, there's no need to wait 2-6 weeks for delivery. You can access the guide and begin signing up with market research companies in just minutes from now./

/.

Make Money Drinking Beer Guide is On Sale

A Regular $69.97 Value!

Our Sale Price is $29.95 (That's 58% Off!)

Today you can get the guide for $9.95

Here's the deal. I charge a fee so I can cover the costs of maintaining this site and the Make Money Drinking Beer Guide. I'm actually losing money by running this site, but I'm trying to re-cover some of the fixed costs I've already outlayed.

Brewing with wheat instead of barley is an ancient tradition that stretches back to the earliest days of brewing. Although not an easy grain to work with, beers brewed with a proportion of wheat do not require maturation, as is the case with lagers, and can be drunk soon after brewing. Most importantly wheat ales are very refreshing. Traditionally they are cloudy or hazy, though with modern filtration they can easily be made clear. Bavarian "weizen" beers are the best known examples of wheat ales and are widely imitated.

Dunkel/Dark Weizen. These dark wheat beers derive their character from the use of darker malts in the non-wheat ingredients, so that a richer, darker colored beer can be achieved, along with fuller malt flavors. Dunkel weizens still display the floral, estery qualities of a pale weizen. Dark weizens are produced with or without a secondary fermentation in the bottle, with the corollary that these styles can be yeast sedimented or unsedimented depending upon the preference of the brewer.

Flavored Wheat Ales. Turning wheat beer into a cocktail has precedent in Europe where alcoholic cordials or fruit syrups can be used to help beer slide down more easily. Flavored wheat ales are an increasingly popular specialty category covering a number of flavoring options that brewers have adopted, particularly in the USA, the home of "throw-the-rule-book-away" hybrid beer styles. The two most significant additives are fruit and honey, usually employed separately. Raspberry is a common choice of fruit to flavor these styles and the best examples have faithful fruit essence and avoid any sweet cloying character. Honey can add richness to the palate and give a hint of sweetness. Herbs and spices are also encountered, but the possibilities are endless. Chocolate dunkel raspberry weisse anyone?

Hefe Weizen. Weizen bier is a top fermenting beer style that originates from southern Germany, particularly Bavaria, and is brewed with at least 50% wheat in the mash. Hefe weizens are refreshing, highly carbonated beers ideal for quenching summer thirsts. They undergo secondary fermentation, often in the bottle, and the yeast strains used for this purpose impart a spicy, clove-like flavor. Hefe (the German word for yeast) on the label denotes that the bottle contains yeast sediment. Alcohol content is typically 5-5.5% ABV, giving these beers a medium to medium-full body. Hop flavors play a very insignificant role in the flavor profile. The best examples to be found are still authentic Bavarian imports, although some good domestic examples are produced and are often available as a draft option.

Kristall Weizen. A Kristal weizen is a non-hazy weizen ale. Kristall on the label of a weizen specifically denotes that a weizen has been filtered prior to bottling to remove the protein haze and yeast often suspended in such beers. Kristall weizens lack the yeasty and spicy complexity often associated with hefe weizen beers, and have a cleaner and more delicate flavor. Floral, fruity aromas are often noted in classic examples of this style, though healthy alcohol content of 5-5.5% will give a medium to medium-full bodied character.

Weizen Bock. Weizen bocks are essentially winter wheat beers, originally brewed in Bavaria. The color can be pale gold to brown. They are of higher alcoholic strength, as high as 7% ABV, showing a warming personality, though they should still have a significant 'rocky' head when poured. These beers combine the character of hefeweizens and dopplebocks and as such are rich and malty with estery, yeasty qualities and show a note of wheaty crispness through the finish.

Wheat Ale. As the name would suggest these are ales that use a proportion of wheat in the mash to add a protein haze. Wheat ales, inspired by the German weizen tradition were popular before prohibition in the US and are enjoying a resurgence in popularity. This generic category encapsulates the diverse interpretation of the classic German Weizen styles brewed in America and elsewhere. A host of variables ranging from the wheat/malt ratio, hopping and filtration/non filtration all contribute to wide variations on the theme. Generally US examples feature a more marked hop accent than classic German weizen styles and are often dryer.

White/Wit Beer. Wit beer is a style of flavored wheat. It is distinctly Belgian in origin and is still very closely associated with this low land country. Wits employ a proportion of unmalted wheat in the mash but also have flavor added in the form of curaçao, orange peel and coriander, among other ingredients. Their appearance is marked by a hazy white precipitate and these beers generally have some sedimentation. Typically these are very refreshing summer thirst quenchers. They are not widely produced in the US but some notable examples can be found.

Beer Extra Credit:   

Students of trivia may be interested to know that Germany’s famed purity law specifically forbade the use of wheat and  other grains for producing beer. The reason? Wheat was too valuable in the production of bread to waste on beer.

Don't pay for your beer any longer...
Instead, the beer companies will pay YOU!

Who else wants to find out how to earn easy extra money... just for drinking and talking about beer!

...

Just two nights ago I attended a beer & wine discussion group and for about 1 hour of my time, sampling a few different beers and wines and answering some questions I received $70. I really enjoy these sessions and I pay no tax, completely legit, just cash in an envelope. The $70 came in very handy too because I wanted to buy my 6 year old grandson a bike for his birthday and this paid for it.

The invite to this focus group came about by being registered with a market research company and if you are interested in getting invited to one or more of these focus groups make sure you read on...

When these marketing research companies get a job like this one they will assemble a survey panel based around a set of demographics that their client (in this case a beer company) is interested in as customers. Typically they will use the data that you have supplied in your profile to work out whether you fit the survey panel and then get in contact with you.

They rang me up while I was away from home last week and after a quick round of screening questions, I was locked in for the a session on the following week.

When you show up to the venue they check off your name and with a group of other people you go into a room where there is a facilitator and you discuss the product and give your opinion on it and the marketing for the product.

.....

Here are some stories from other guys just like you and I, who got paid to drink and talk about beer...

.

..

.

.

...

Make Money Drinking Beer
Will Reveal More Than 180 Companies
Waiting to Pay You For Drinking Beer, Eating Out, and Giving Your Opinions…and Many of Them are International Companies!

That means that no matter where you live, these companies want research from your area: United States, Canada, the UK, Australia, etc.

/

It Couldn’t Be Easier—Just Point and Click!

All you need to do to have access to these marketing firms and begin making money almost immediately is to sign-up to purchase the Make Money Drinking Beer Guide for the nominal amount of $69.97.

You will have unlimited life-time access to the guide, downloaded on to your computer. It's a one off small time fee. No monthly billing. No yearly recurring memberships. No hidden charges.

/

As soon as you order, you will be given instant access to download the guide directly from the Internet on to your computer. (The guide is in downloadable PDF format.) Since there is no actual hard copy of the manual, there's no need to wait 2-6 weeks for delivery. You can access the guide and begin signing up with market research companies in just minutes from now./

/.

Make Money Drinking Beer Guide is On Sale

A Regular $69.97 Value!

Our Sale Price is $29.95 (That's 58% Off!)

Today you can get the guide for $9.95

Here's the deal. I charge a fee so I can cover the costs of maintaining this site and the Make Money Drinking Beer Guide. I'm actually losing money by running this site, but I'm trying to re-cover some of the fixed costs I've already outlayed.

What makes a beer a wheat beer? Simply put, a significant quantity of the mash should contain wheat. Typically wheat beers contain 30-70% wheat malt and the remainder is regular barley malt, usually a pale variety like Pilsner. Though there are many different styles and sub-styles that can be called wheat beers they all share certain characteristics. Wheat has a lot more protein in it than barley which contributes to thick, long lasting heads. This protein also creates haze in most wheat beers. Wheat contributes very little flavor to a beer but it does contribute a distinctively silky mouthfeel. Wheat beers are highly effervesant and most are light in flavor, making them great summer beers.

Hefeweizen: The best known and original wheat beer is hefeweizen. Using wheat as an ingredient in beer was the first exception made to the famous beer purity law, Rheinheitsgebot, and that exception was made specifically so the nobility could continue to enjoy this style. This Bavarian style of wheat beer is pale and cloudy. It is bottled and served unfiltered so the yeast used during fermentation is still present. This special strain of yeast contributes banana and clove notes to the aroma and flavor of the beer. Wheat beer is an ale so it is heavier and doesn’t provide the smack of a lager. But served cold, with or without a slice of lemon, it is no less refreshing.

Examples of Hefeweizen include:
• Paulaner Hefe-Weizen
• Schneider Weisse
• Samuel Adams Hefeweizen

Berliner Weisse: While the brewers in southern Germany really on yeast for the flavor and aroma of their wheat beers, brewers in northern Germany use a different technique. Berliner Weisse is fermented with ale yeast and Lactobacillus delbruckii which creates an unforgettable beer. The bacterium contributes a dominant mouth-puckering sourness. Otherwise this beer is light in character and very effervesant. Some fans of this rare style like to sweeten it with flavored syrups. That may work for them but as with every beer I always encourage initiates to try it on its own first.

Examples of Berliner Weisse to try:
• Berliner Kindl Weisse
• Schultheiss Berliner Weisse
• Nodding Head ich bin ein Berliner Weisse

Dark Wheats: There are two dark styles of wheat, Dunkelweizen and Weizenbock although it should be pointed out that early Hefeweizen’s were probably much closer to Dunkelweizen than today’s Hefeweizens. Dunkelweizens are brewed very much like Hefeweizen except that the malt used is typically one of two darker varieties – Vienna or Munich malt. These malts contribute a chestnut brown color and are the primary malts used the Oktoberfest style. The combination of the rich roasted flavors of the malt and the banana and clove notes from the Hefeweizen yeast can create a wonderfully complex and satisfying brew. Weizenbock is made in virtually the same way except that it is a higher gravity beer so, in alcohol content at least, it’s similar to bock.

Examples of Dunkelweizen to try:
• Franzickaner Hefe-Weisse Dunkel
• Ayinger Ur-Weisse
• Tucher Hefe Weizen dunkel

Examples of Weizenbock to try:
• Erdinger Pikantus
• Schneider Aventinus
• Eisenbahn Weizenbock

Krystal: Krystal wheat beer is what you would imagine – clear wheat beer. You often see wheat beers described as unfiltered. Krystal is a filtered wheat beer. Filtering produces a crystal clear beer with none of the cloudy character of Hefeweizen. Filtering removes the stuff that contributes the beers flavor and character so Krystal wheat beers are much lighter than regular wheats. They do retain the same banana and clove notes thought they are far more subtle.

Examples of Krystal to try:
• Edelweiss Weissbier Kristallklar
• Weihenstephaner Kristallweissbier
• Bayern Brewing Dancing Trout Ale

Belgian witbier: Thanks to Hoegarden, this once almost dead style has come roaring back. Brewed similar to Hefeweizen, Belgian witbiers use a yeast that is similar to the Bavarians’ yeast in the way that it adds flavor and aroma but those characteristics are distinctly different. This style, having grown up out from under the dictatorial eye of Rheinheitsgebot, also includes orange peel and coriander. Witbeirs are at the same time fresh tasting and complex. Other Belgian beer styles contain malted and unmalted wheat but are not generally considered to be wheat beers.

Examples of Belgian Wit to try:
• Blanche De Bruxelles
• Allagash White
• Blanche de Brooklyn

American wheat: This is the American craft brewers’ spin on wheat beer. This style takes the Hefeweizen recipe and replaces the distinctive yeast with much cleaner fermenting ale yeasts. This creates a very subtle brew making it a great transition beer for many new good beer drinkers.

Examples of American Wheat to try:
• Sierra Nevada Unfiltered Wheat Beer
• Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat
• Pyramid Hefe Weizen

Specialty: Because wheat contributes so little to a beer’s flavor while at the same time it produces some much desired qualities such as head retention and a smooth, full mouthfeel, it is the perfect style to use as a base for many fruit beers. There was a time when virtually every brewpub I walked into was serving a wildly popular raspberry wheat beer. Though this isn’t the case now, there are still quite a few of them. But fruited wheat beers aren’t limited to berries. Virtually every fruit and quite a few spices have found their way into a wheat beer recipe at some level. While none have had the staying power and popularity to earn a separate style distinction, there are simply too many fruit wheat beers on the market to not acknowledge them.

No doubt you will find some wheat beer styles that seem to fit more than one of the categories that I’ve laid out here. Consider this list of styles as simply a jumping off point for you to begin exploring wheat beer if you’re not already familiar with its variations. Wheat beer will surely continue to expand and be reinterpreted by today’s innovative brewers.

Don't pay for your beer any longer...
Instead, the beer companies will pay YOU!

Who else wants to find out how to earn easy extra money... just for drinking and talking about beer!

...

Just two nights ago I attended a beer & wine discussion group and for about 1 hour of my time, sampling a few different beers and wines and answering some questions I received $70. I really enjoy these sessions and I pay no tax, completely legit, just cash in an envelope. The $70 came in very handy too because I wanted to buy my 6 year old grandson a bike for his birthday and this paid for it.

The invite to this focus group came about by being registered with a market research company and if you are interested in getting invited to one or more of these focus groups make sure you read on...

When these marketing research companies get a job like this one they will assemble a survey panel based around a set of demographics that their client (in this case a beer company) is interested in as customers. Typically they will use the data that you have supplied in your profile to work out whether you fit the survey panel and then get in contact with you.

They rang me up while I was away from home last week and after a quick round of screening questions, I was locked in for the a session on the following week.

When you show up to the venue they check off your name and with a group of other people you go into a room where there is a facilitator and you discuss the product and give your opinion on it and the marketing for the product.

.....

Here are some stories from other guys just like you and I, who got paid to drink and talk about beer...

.

..

.

.

...

Make Money Drinking Beer
Will Reveal More Than 180 Companies
Waiting to Pay You For Drinking Beer, Eating Out, and Giving Your Opinions…and Many of Them are International Companies!

That means that no matter where you live, these companies want research from your area: United States, Canada, the UK, Australia, etc.

/

It Couldn’t Be Easier—Just Point and Click!

All you need to do to have access to these marketing firms and begin making money almost immediately is to sign-up to purchase the Make Money Drinking Beer Guide for the nominal amount of $69.97.

You will have unlimited life-time access to the guide, downloaded on to your computer. It's a one off small time fee. No monthly billing. No yearly recurring memberships. No hidden charges.

/

As soon as you order, you will be given instant access to download the guide directly from the Internet on to your computer. (The guide is in downloadable PDF format.) Since there is no actual hard copy of the manual, there's no need to wait 2-6 weeks for delivery. You can access the guide and begin signing up with market research companies in just minutes from now./

/.

Make Money Drinking Beer Guide is On Sale

A Regular $69.97 Value!

Our Sale Price is $29.95 (That's 58% Off!)

Today you can get the guide for $9.95

Here's the deal. I charge a fee so I can cover the costs of maintaining this site and the Make Money Drinking Beer Guide. I'm actually losing money by running this site, but I'm trying to re-cover some of the fixed costs I've already outlayed.

Anchor Summer is the first American wheat beer in modern times. Our first brew of this light and refreshing beer was in the summer of 1984. Anchor Summer is an all-malt beer, and over 50% of its malt comes from malted wheat. It is fermented with a traditional top-fermenting "ale" yeast because we prefer the clean flavors developed by this yeast. We believe that this style best celebrates the refreshingly light flavor of malted wheat. You may notice that the head on this beer is unusually abundant, with a consistency similar to whipped egg whites. This is due to protein contributed by the wheat. The brewers at Anchor are proud to have revived not only rich hearty dark beers, but also this light crisp style of a modern American wheat beer.

Wheat malt contributes to an unusual lightness and dryness to the palate, and this—combined with the distinctive flavor of the wheat—makes for a perfect thirst-quenching beverage. It is the ideal drink for beer lovers who appreciate tradition and character in their beer, but also seek a lighter, refreshing style, perfect for warm weather.

Don't pay for your beer any longer...
Instead, the beer companies will pay YOU!

Who else wants to find out how to earn easy extra money... just for drinking and talking about beer!

...

Just two nights ago I attended a beer & wine discussion group and for about 1 hour of my time, sampling a few different beers and wines and answering some questions I received $70. I really enjoy these sessions and I pay no tax, completely legit, just cash in an envelope. The $70 came in very handy too because I wanted to buy my 6 year old grandson a bike for his birthday and this paid for it.

The invite to this focus group came about by being registered with a market research company and if you are interested in getting invited to one or more of these focus groups make sure you read on...

When these marketing research companies get a job like this one they will assemble a survey panel based around a set of demographics that their client (in this case a beer company) is interested in as customers. Typically they will use the data that you have supplied in your profile to work out whether you fit the survey panel and then get in contact with you.

They rang me up while I was away from home last week and after a quick round of screening questions, I was locked in for the a session on the following week.

When you show up to the venue they check off your name and with a group of other people you go into a room where there is a facilitator and you discuss the product and give your opinion on it and the marketing for the product.

.....

Here are some stories from other guys just like you and I, who got paid to drink and talk about beer...

.

..

.

.

...

Make Money Drinking Beer
Will Reveal More Than 180 Companies
Waiting to Pay You For Drinking Beer, Eating Out, and Giving Your Opinions…and Many of Them are International Companies!

That means that no matter where you live, these companies want research from your area: United States, Canada, the UK, Australia, etc.

/

It Couldn’t Be Easier—Just Point and Click!

All you need to do to have access to these marketing firms and begin making money almost immediately is to sign-up to purchase the Make Money Drinking Beer Guide for the nominal amount of $69.97.

You will have unlimited life-time access to the guide, downloaded on to your computer. It's a one off small time fee. No monthly billing. No yearly recurring memberships. No hidden charges.

/

As soon as you order, you will be given instant access to download the guide directly from the Internet on to your computer. (The guide is in downloadable PDF format.) Since there is no actual hard copy of the manual, there's no need to wait 2-6 weeks for delivery. You can access the guide and begin signing up with market research companies in just minutes from now./

/.

Make Money Drinking Beer Guide is On Sale

A Regular $69.97 Value!

Our Sale Price is $29.95 (That's 58% Off!)

Today you can get the guide for $9.95

Here's the deal. I charge a fee so I can cover the costs of maintaining this site and the Make Money Drinking Beer Guide. I'm actually losing money by running this site, but I'm trying to re-cover some of the fixed costs I've already outlayed.

Exciting Champagne Secrets Revealed

Is there a celebration anywhere? You definitely can't miss Champagne. Celebrations can be anything like winning a crucial match, getting hold of a billion dollar project, etc. Where there is celebrations, Champagne is always there. It is one of the most flexible beverage. For so many decades, Champagne is used mainly to represent happiness or joy or celebrations.
 
Do you want to know the origin of Champagne? It is France. French Champagnes are famous for their imprinted bottles and the traditional taste. Ensure that Champagne is spelled with a capital "C". Why specifically capital C? It is because only these Champagnes are made from French vineyards and they are only authorized to use captivate C. If not, it means that you are just getting the normal sparkling wine.
 
Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Meunier, what are they? These are the grapes which is grown in French vineyards for preparing the traditional Champagne. You would be amazed to hear that there exists white grapes and Chardonnay belongs to this category of grapes. Remaining two types, namely, Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir belongs to the category of black grapes. Just look at the label of your Champagne bottle to know what grapes is used. Depending upon the flavor that your like, you can buy your Champagne.
 
Champagne is definitely more superior than the usual sparkling wine. Be cautious when you buy Champagne as there are manufacturers who use cheaper grade of grapes to prepare Champagne. However, to know which is the best quality Champagne, you definitely should have tasted Champagne made from French vineyards.
You might have seen bubbles spew from Champagne when you open it and many buy Champagne just to see this bubble spew from it. Do you know why this happens? Carbonic acid gas is present in Champagne and when this react with the small drops of Champagne, you get bubbles. This process is referred to as the double fermentation process.
 
Just snatch a bottle of Champagne if you have celebrations in place. You may go to the nearest ABC stores to get Champagnes of excellent quality. The secrecy surrounding Champagne is no longer a closely guarded secret. New and exciting discoveries are made frequently. The passion for Champagne is as strong as ever. There are several places to buy Champagne and Wines. Your favorite Liquor Store or Online Liquor store is a good place to start. There are many choices to make and either place has numerous resources to help you along the way. Liquor Store can have their products on the shelf for a long time. When you purchase from a Online liquor Store has a fast rotation of Champagne and liquors which means a fresh product. With fast shipping to your home freshness of Champagne is no longer a problem.

Champagne FAQ

 
As midnight approaches on December 31st, more than a few of us will crack open a bottle or two of champagne to help toast in the New Year. With a few choice facts about the bubbly stuff, you can look knowledgeable rather than just tipsy when you drain your flute. Here are a few little nuggets you can share with fellow revelers.

 

What exactly is champagne?
 
Strictly speaking, champagne is a sparkling wine that comes from the Champagne region of northeastern France. If it's a bubbly wine from another region, it's sparkling wine, not champagne. While many people use the term champagne generically for any sparkling wine, the French have maintained their legal right to call their wines champagne for over a century. The Treaty of Madrid, signed in 1891 established this rule, and the Treaty of Versailles reaffirmed it.
 
The European Union helps protect this exclusivity now, although certain American producers can still generically use champagne on their labels if they were using the term before early 2006. How is champagne made?
Sparkling wines can be made in a variety of ways, but traditional champagne comes to life by a process called the methode Champenoise. Champagne starts its life like any normal wine. The grapes are harvested, pressed, and allowed to undergo a primary fermentation. The acidic results of this process are then blended and bottled with a bit of yeast and sugar so it can undergo a secondary fermentation in the bottle. (It's this secondary fermentation that gives champagne its bubbles.) This new yeast starts doing its work on the sugar, and then dies and becomes what's known as lees. The bottles are then stored horizontally so the wine can age on lees for 15 months or more.
After this aging, winemakers turn the bottles upside down so the lees can settle to the bottom. Once the dead yeast has settled, producers open the bottles to remove the yeast, add a bit of sugar known as dosage to determine the sweetness of the champagne, and slip a cork onto the bottle. What's so special about theChampagne region?
 
Several factors make the chardonnay, pinot noir, and pinot meunier grapes grown in the Champagne region particularly well suited for crafting delicious wines. The northern location makes it a bit cooler than France's other wine-growing regions, which gives the grapes the proper acidity for sparkling wine production. Moreover, the porous, chalky soil of the area the result of large earthquakes millions of years ago aids in drainage.

 

Do I have to buy champagne to get good sparkling wine?
 
Not at all. Although many champagnes are delightful, most the world's wine regions make tasty sparkling wines of their own. You can find highly regarded sparkling wines from California, Spain, Italy, Australia, and other areas without shelling out big bucks for Dom Perignon. Speaking of Dom Perignon, who was this guy?
Contrary to popular misconception, the namesake of the famous brand didn't invent champagne. But Perignon, a Benedictine monk who worked as cellar master at an abbey near Epernay during the 17th and 18th centuries, did have quite an impact on the champagne industry. In Perignon's day, sparkling wine wasn't a really sought-after beverage. In fact, the bubbles were considered to be something of a flaw, and early production methods made producing the wine somewhat dangerous. (Imprecise temperature controls could lead to fermentation starting again after the wine was in the bottle. If one bottle in a cellar exploded and had its cork shoot out, a chain reaction would start.) Perignon helped standardize production methods to avoid these explosions, and he also added two safety features to his wines: thicker glass bottles that better withstood pressure and rope snare that helped keep corks in place.

 

What's the difference between brut and extra brut?
 
You'll see these terms on champagne labels to describe how sweet the good stuff in the bottle is. As mentioned above, a bit of sugar known as dosage is added to the bottle right before it's corked, and these terms describe exactly how much sugar went in. Extra brut has less than six grams of sugar per liter added, while brut contains less than 15 grams of additional sugar per liter. Several other classifications exist, but drier champagnes are more common.

 

Why do athletes spray each other with champagne after winning titles?
 
Throughout its history, champagne has been a celebratory drink that's made appearances at coronations of kings and the launching of ships. However, the bubbly-spraying throwdowns that now accompany athletic victories are a much more recent development. When Dan Gurney and A.J. Foyt won the grueling 24 Hours of Le Mans race in 1967, they ascended the winner's podium with a bottle of champagne in hand. Gurney looked down and saw team owner Carroll Shelby and Ford Motors CEO Henry Ford II standing with some journalists and decided to have a bit of fun. Gurney gave the bottle a shake and sprayed the crowd, and a new tradition was born. What's sabrage?
After the French Revolution, members of Napoleon's cavalry decided that the normal pop-and-foam ritual of opening a bottle of champagne just wasn't as visually impressive as it could be. They responded by popularizing a way of opening bottles using a sword. The technique, known as sabrage, involved holding a bottle at arm's length while quickly running a saber down the bottle towards the neck. When the saber's blade struck the glass lip just beneath the cork, the glass breaks, shooting off the cork and neck of the bottle while leaving the rest of the vessel intact. Ceremonial champagne swords are available for just this purpose, and if you can pull off this trick, you'll be the toast of your shindig. (Be careful, though. A flying champagne cork is already you'll-put-your-eye-out dangerous, and adding a ring of ragged broken glass to the equation doesn't make the whole endeavor any safer.)

Shipping ChampagneA new year has come. And the best way to welcome this new year is by greeting everyone. And for those special friends, you need to add something more with your best wishes. Send champagne to them, good branded ones, all nicely packed in lavish boxes. When you are sending champagnes, do keep in mind that it is important to get them packed nicely.
 
Gifting champagne is an art. When you are gifting it to someone yourself, you have the option of handing over just the bottle with two champagne flutes. But gifted through champagne delivery services, you need to send the gift in a box, well decorated and safe for the bottle. The best way to send a box is by decorating it in a way that impresses the receiver. You can put the bottle amidst pink and white roses. Or you can also pack in a box of chocolates. Once, I saw a champagne in a box that also had a small teddy bear in it.
You can choose to do all the packing yourself. But if you are not too confident about gift wrapping champagnes or you just don't have the time in this festive season, you can also get champagne delivery services through some of the good web sites that provide this facility. Some of the flower delivery web sites also provide the service of champagne delivery. You can try that out as well. Placing the order is quite easy and some of them are also known for their proactive and diligent service.
 
Champagne is that special drink that kings, rulers and people of royal lineage have always enjoyed. Even today, celebrations and merriment calls for champagnes. No joy or occasion seems complete without the presence of champagne. And when dear ones are far away, they can be sent greetings and warm wishes with.

Buying Champagne for your Wedding.

Champagne delivery - a thoughtful gift - wrapped with love - a new year has come. And for those special friends, you need to add something more with your best wishes.
 
And the best way to welcome this new year is by greeting everyone. - send champagne to them, all nicely packed, good branded ones in lavish boxes. Gifting champagne is an art. When you are sending champagnes, do keep in mind that it is important to get them packed nicely. When you are gifting it to someone yourself, you have the option of handing over just the bottle with two champagne flutes. The best way to send a box is by decorating it in a way that impresses the receiver.
 
But gifted through champagne delivery services, you need to send the gift in a box, well decorated and safe for the bottle. - you can put the bottle amidst pink and white roses. Once, I saw a champagne in a box that also had a small teddy bear in it. Or you can also pack in a box of chocolates. You can choose to do all the packing yourself. Some of the flower delivery web sites also provide the service of champagne delivery.
 
But if you are not too confident about gift wrapping champagnes or you just don' t have the time in this festive season, you can also get champagne delivery services through some of the good web sites that provide this facility. - you can try that out as well. Champagne is that special drink that kings, rulers and people of royal lineage have always enjoyed. Placing the order is quite easy and some of them are also known for their proactive and diligent service. Even today, celebrations and merriment calls for champagnes. And when dear ones are far away, they can be sent greetings and warm wishes with champagne delivery. No joy or occasion seems complete without the presence of Champagne.

The Power of Champagne? 
 
 
What sorts of ailments respond to champagne therapy? Hold on to your corks the list includes migraine headaches, obesity, insomnia, food allergies, lazy bowel, depression and anxiety (I could have told them that).
Surprised? Don't be. Wine in-small doses has a long history of healthful benefits. In moderation a drink or two a day, depending on your gender and make-up wine is good for your heart and circulation, your memory, your mood. But like so many other good things, thin, buttery chocolate chip cookies for instance, too much can lead to trouble. Alcoholism drinking out of balance is a huge, dangerous and costly problem. And women who drink an excess of wine sadly, two or more glasses a day are at significantly greater risk for breast cancer, uterine cancer, osteoporosis and the saying of idiotic things they hate themselves for in the morning. Many people vow at New Year's end to drink less alcohol, and if you're one of them, and still remember you took that pledge, here are a few sober strategies for lowering your cocktail count in 2009:
 
Carry a Fake. Let's face it, cutting down on your alcohol intake isn't nearly as hard as telling your drinking pals you're cutting back. They look at you like you've just slashed their tires, with your teeth. A good way around that until you've built up some backbone is to simply carry a fake drink, one that looks like alcohol but isn't. Tomato juice with lemon (a dead ringer for a Bloody Mary), a tonic with lime, a lemonade in a martini glass. Garnish helps think two skewers of olives.
 
Accept and Abandon.
Practice this Key Move. The problem with drinking is that it lowers your inhibition to more drinking. That's why the palm-pass-over the-glass move was created. It's the universal signal for no more wine, thank you, and the more you practice it the easier it becomes. Some people like to add a clever remark, like "I'm on call at the hospital," but this is strictly optional.
 
Sip and Savor. What is not optional when it comes to successfully cutting back on your drinking is learning to savor the four-to-six ounces of wine you do have. Watch the pour. Smile, relax, and settle into the joy of the moment. Cultivate a sloshing-technique that encourages the wine to climb up the sides of the glass without escaping onto your shirt. Put your nose inside the rim and inhale deeply, allowing the undertones of raspberries, vanilla and nymphs running naked in a sunlit field to fill you with appreciation. This is it! Your one wonderful glass of Champagne for the evening.

Champagne's dark side
 
Visitors to Champagne in France's northeast stream through the cellars of such famous brands as Bollinger, Moët et Chandon and Taittinger to learn about bubbly and perhaps sip a glass or two. But for the local vignerons (grape growers) and their families, champagne is a livelihood and a heritage.
 
My father keeps a postcard pinned on the wall above his desk, showing a group of swarthy peasants in aprons and tunics, shirtsleeves rolled up to the elbow, standing among vines, surrounded by leaves and baskets full of grapes. It's the vendange, or grape harvest. One of these swarthy types is my great-grandfather, sporting a walrus moustache. Their faces are tired - their backs have been bent all day in the sun and I wonder if there isn't a kind of vague defiance in their expressions.
 
The photograph was taken in the village of my birth in France's Champagne region at the turn of the twentieth century - the height of the postcard craze, and the time when champagne fully assumed its iconic status. My father's family had already been making champagne for over a century - since 1772, in fact. At that time, their grapes would have been sold to become wines both still and sparkling possibly to one of the local monasteries where champagne was developed by two monks a century earlier.
 
My uncle would start each day with a glass of champagne mixed with tap water. In the days before brands, products were differentiated by geography, which is the rationale behind the industry's refusal to allow sparkling wines from other regions to use the champagne name. According to this world-view, champagne can't be champagne if it isn't made here it's a contradiction in terms. Almost every villager works in the champagne business. They benefit from the village's classification as a grand cru commune, one of 17. This means that because of the historically high quality of their fruit, vignerons can charge buyers full price for their grapes. This system of classification dates back to around the time of the postcard, and its introduction led to riots by sceptical vignerons. Maybe that's why my great-grandfather looks so peeved.
 
It's a quiet hillside village surrounded on almost all sides by rows of vines, but history hasn't spared it: the Prussians invaded in 1870, the phylloxera bug wiped out half the vines in the 1880s, and WWI flattened the village. Prohibition and the Depression hit hard, and then the Germans marched in a third time in 1940. Ironically, the Germans have played a decisive role in champagne's history. Their love of the drink built the industry in the 19th century, and Nazi patronage meant that the industry survived WWII largely unscathed. Champagne has always been an everyday thing to me. It was always there on the kitchen table, where the conversation often centred around acreage and tonnage. My uncle would start each day with a glass of champagne mixed with tap water.
 
The Napoleonic Code still requires deceased estates to be shared equally among siblings and vigneron families struggle to survive on their small allotments. My father's was so small he left the village to make wine in what the champenois call 'le nouveau monde' , but he always refused to call his sparkling wines champagne. Once, my aunt showed me a legal document she had recently found hidden away in a wall of the winery she's lived above all her married life. It dated from the 1840s, at about the time when, thanks to advances in the chemistry of winemaking, the village began to specialise in sparkling wine. It was a legal document declaring that the then occupants had been found guilty of infanticide - a drastic but not isolated solution to the dilemmas of inheritance. The rules of champagne:
 
it must be made within the legally defined region it must be made from grapes grown within an area of 30,000ha (74,000ac) it must contain only chardonnay, pinot noir or pinot meunier grapes vines must be pruned according to one of four officially-sanctioned methods the vineyard's yield must not exceed 50 to 60 hectalitres per hectare grapes must be harvested by hand the wine must be vinified according to the traditional méthode champenoise it must be stored for at least 15 months after bottling.

Shopping Around for a Liquor Store

Finding wine can be tough, but a good wine store can help you narrow down the chaotic search for the best vintage. A Liquor Store can offer you the best of the best, presenting their selection with as much variety and balance as possible to enable you to make an educated choice. A wine stores products should be accessible and clearly labeled so that you know what you're getting out of a wine before you take it home. A good Liquor Store should be storing the wines at the right temperatures, for starters. For a lot of Liquor Stores, the products will be on the shelves for a long time and it can lose some of its vitality. A good Online Liquor Store, however, recognizes the proper temperatures and stores the wines with the right humidity in mind. Without the right storing temperature, the wines sold by your favorite wine store may be less than great. The wine bottles on the shelves should be easy-to-read and organized. There is nothing worse than wandering around a store for hours looking for the wines from Argentina because they are not grouped by geographical area. Wines should then be grouped in type within the area, so that the wine bottles are easy to decide between. Reds should be grouped apart from whites wherever possible to avoid confusion, especially given that many bottles are clouded or dark.

The right wine rack can make all of the difference in the world in terms of storing the wine, too, so a proper wine store should have the right wine racks. Without the right wine racks, the wine can be stored at the wrong angles or inclinations which can be bothersome to some wines with more sediment than others. Other Liquors may need to be stored straight up and not on a wine rack at all. The staff at the wine store should be knowledgeable enough to know the difference. It is important to go to a wine store where the staff is knowledgeable about the wine. If you are working with staff that has little to no interest in the product they are selling, you may want to consider going to another wine store because it may mean that they take very little pride in handling the wine.
You should go to stores that offer taste tests regularly and that have clearly marked sections and wine descriptions throughout the store. Some people choose their local liquor store, but true wine lovers seek out a winery shop or a specialty Liquor Store.

All in all, finding the ideal wine store can be a challenge. If you are unsure about wine stores in your area, you can always look around for a specialty shop that delivers or that you can reach by taking a small trip to. It may very well be worth it to spend the extra time and money on finding the right store for your wine purposes.
A good wine store can be hard to find, but it is all worth it in the end when you open that delicious bottle of your favorite wine.

The New Wine Label Phenomenon

It comes as no news to anyone that the American people love their animals. What did come as a surprise to me is that we also love animals on our wine labels. Yes, a study released earlier this year by ACNielsen confirms that wine labels with animal images are becoming increasingly popular in this country. I felt compelled to do my own research on this topic so one evening I stopped by my local liquor store to check out the wine selection. Sure enough I was greeted with a veritable zoo of animals on labels. There were Dancing Bulls, Leaping Horses, Black Swans, Little Penguins, Kangaroos, even a hippopotamus courtesy of Fat Bastard Wines (which is French would you believe). This very informal research confirmed that there seems to be a much larger selection of wines with animal labels than ever before.

Critter Labels Rule
In the wine industry these animal labels are affectionately known as "critter labels", and the trend began back in 2001 with the introduction of the Yellow Tail brand of wines into this country from Australia. Pictured on the label is what looks like a kangaroo (but which is in fact supposed to be the yellow-footed rock wallaby). These wines had labels that looked striking, were priced very reasonably and they tasted great – so they became a runaway success. So much so that they spawned an entire new "category" of wine. The ACNielsen study has some hard data confirming the popularity of this new wine category. In the past three years there have been 438 new Table Wine brands that have been successfully introduced in the American market (those wines that sold more than $20,000 annually). Of these 438 new brands 77 of them featured an animal on their label, around 18 percent. Combined with existing "critter label" wines, sales reached $600 million in 2005 out of a total of just over $4 billion, based on ACNielsen sales data from supermarket point of sale purchases.

"Critter-labeled wines are on the rise, quickly gaining share in the table wine category," said Danny Brager, vice president of ACNielsen's Beverage Alcohol team. "The sales generated by new brands featuring a critter outperform other new table wines by more than two to one." That's right, taken across the board new critter-labeled wines have proven in the marketplace to be more popular. "While placing a critter on a label doesn't guarantee success, it is important that wine makers realize that there is a segment of consumers who don't want to have to take wine too seriously," said Brager. "Not only are they willing to have fun with wine, they may just feel ‘good' about an animal label presentation." With hundreds of new wine brands being introduced each year, wine makers realize that they need to stand out from the crowd if they are to make an impression. The easiest and most cost effective way to stand out is with an attention grabbing label on your bottle. The wine industry has also realized that there is an increasingly large segment of consumers who are attracted by fun labels. They want to buy a non-pretentious wine and they don't want to pay a fortune. These are the people who walk into a liquor store and supermarket and have no idea what they are going to buy – they decide by looking at the labels.

Chasing the Yellow Tail
The Yellow Tail wine phenomenon is the perfect example of this. From Casella Wines, a small family-owned winery in New South Wales, Australia, Yellow Tail went from zero to the number one imported wine in the US in just two years. The first year the Casella brothers expected to sell 25,000 cases of wine here, they ended up selling 200,000 cases. That was back in 2001. In 2005 they sold 8 million cases of wine. Yellow Tail Shiraz is now the #1 selling red wine in America (not just imports but ALL red wine). In the crowded and highly competitive US wine market with over 6,500 wine brands, Yellow Tail has become the #1 wine brand, and it took just five years. Now, I realize that Yellow Tail's success is not just because of their label. They have a great product that is reasonably priced – the Shiraz is just $6.99 – and they have a very loyal base of repeat customers. But could they have become #1 without their unique label? I don't think so. One of the biggest barriers they faced was getting people to try the wine in the first place. With what looks like a brightly colored kangaroo on the label on a black background, it is a visually striking label. It was able to break through the clutter at the retail store with this label. Perhaps the biggest indication of the success of Yellow Tail is the number of copycats it has spawned. Penfolds, Australia's leading winery, was obviously disappointed in missing out on this opportunity, so they responded with the launch of the Little Penguin brand of wines. There is now a deluge of animal themed wines, so much so that ACNielsen is tracking their sales now. Despite all this new competition Yellow Tail remains the most successful wine brand in terms of total sales.

Labels are a Powerful Tool
While the wine business is somewhat unique there are lessons here that can be applied to any industry. One lesson is that with a high impact label you can make inroads even in a conservative and image conscious industry such as the wine industry. Your label should be working hard for your product. It should be informational, be a sales and marketing piece, carry any necessary regulatory information, and at the same time be eye catching. If you are selling your products at a retail store, then your label needs to perform well in all these areas for your product to compete with other more established brands. Your label is your sales tool. The success of Yellow Tail wines demonstrates that in any competitive industry a good label can help bring success. Of course, it doesn't have to feature a critter, but a visually appealing and eye catching label will always help sales. At Boutique Liquors, our Online Liquor Store would be happy to assist.

What You Should Know about Buying Wine Online

by Boutique Liquors

Buying online is easy, but you are probably wondering, "Why should I bother when I can always buy my favorite wine from a local liquor store?" To some extent, you are correct. However, if you want to have a wider wine selection, you should definitely consider buying wine online.

Where Should You Buy?
When buying wine online , you have the choice of either buying from a winery website or from online wine merchants. Now, the first option is a good choice if you already know what you want to buy.

Buying Wine from a Winery Website.
Many wineries have online stores offering mail order service. All you need to do is to fill up an online form or download one and send the form to the winery through email or fax, and you would soon have your wine delivered to your house. It's as simple as that. You're probably thinking, "So, what's the catch? Is there any?" Unfortunately, there are some drawbacks to buying wine online. First of all, these stores or wineries impose minimum orders. You can't just place an order for a single bottle. This is not feasible for them. You need to place an order for six bottles. This depends on their policies. You can pick out different wines and place your order. You can pick out wines you haven't tried before but you have heard to be of good quality and then you can order a mixed dozen. Of course, you can only order wines that the winery is offering. Now, the second drawback to buying wine online is the freight charge. If you are buying wine online from a winery that is located within the same country, you would likely get free freight. However, do not be duped into thinking that this is actually "free". Often the freight is conspicuously added to the purchase price. If you are residing outside the country, you will definitely have to pay for freight charges. It is best, therefore, to maximize your freight payment by ordering several bottles of wine all at once.

Buying Your Wine from an Online Merchant
Buying wine online can have its advantages especially if you purchase your bottles of wine from an online merchant. First of all, you can place a mixed order. You can pick out wines from different regions or wineries. You will also likely save money from freight if you would purchase from online stores. The owners of these stores have practically imported the wine for their customers. They have also settled customs issues. So, you will have no more problems with the importation of your ordered bottles of wines
You will also enjoy better deals, discounts and offers. The competition between online merchants is fairly steep. To attract more customers, they offer competitive prices, better services and great freight deals.
Buying Wine Online - Is It Safe?
The wine industry is rapidly growing. Buying wine online is relatively safe. You just have to make sure that you get your wine from an established and trustworthy online merchant. It is very important that you check the online store first before you purchase anything. Make sure that they have a privacy policy. You should also ensure that they have secure data system or that information transmitted to them will be SSL encrypted. Usually, you will find this information from their website.

Getting Your Wine Delivered 
When buying wine online, getting your purchase delivered safely and properly can be an issue. If you go to work during the day and there's no one left at home to accept the delivery, you might worry about getting your purchases safely. It could disappear from the front porch. You can look for an online wine merchant that accepts delivery instructions. You can get the product delivered at work or you could have your neighbor accept the delivery for you. There are risks involved in buying wine online, but if you want to have more choices when it comes to your wine repertoire, you would definitely enjoy shopping online. Your options are practically limitless. You are not limited by geography. You can visit an Italian winery website and get the best wines from them. You can go to an online wine merchant store and you can order a selection of special wines. Your wine inventory will certainly be unique once you start buying wine online. At Boutique Liquors, our Online Liquor Store would be happy to help.

Champagne --- More than just for celebrations

Its very name "Champagne" denotes celebration. We serve it at weddings to celebrate newlyweds. We launch ships with it, not to mention ringing in the New Year!
Champagne is synoymous with celebrating. It comes in many styles, and from many places around the world. But the true wine drinker, will tell you the french make the best champagne in the world...

The finest French Champagne's come from the same region that the fine wine got its name, Champagne. Even though Sparking wines are produced throughout the world, French champagne still holds its long reputation for being the best in the world.

The Champagne Region is a mere 90 miles north of Pairs . This northern region of France is known to have the worlds most ideal climate, and soil for growing grapes. Grapes that produce some of the finest Champagne, and Sparkling Wines in the entire world. The Champagne region has optimal conditions for vine cultivation. With its mild winter, and sunny summer and fall, along with the forests and rivers which keeps the region at an optimal humidity.

The Region also possesses a unique chalky soil best for growing Champagne grapes. This soil being much like fertilized topsoil, drinks in sun light and water. With Champagnes natural slopes that face the South and Southeast, the very region its self protects the vines from the northern winds, and exposes the vines to the warm sun. With the exceptional sun light, and rich soil, and perfect climate, it is the best place in the world to produce Champagne grapes.

 The grapes used in making Champagne are, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, and Chardonnay. These three grapes blended in different amounts make the base wine that is used to produce the finest Champagnes. Pinot Meunier grapes makes up 40% percent of the blend. This grape is the easiest to grow, and is resistant to cold temperatures, so can do well longer into the winter months. Pinot Meunier grapes are only grown in the Champagne Region of France.

 Pinot Noir being the second highest percent of grape used in making Champagne. Pinot Noir adds fruity flavor to the Champagne, and is 35% of most blends. Chardonnay accounts for the remaining 25% of the blend. Chardonnay adds the lightness to the wine. Champagne is almost colorless, this is due to a process that gently presses the grapes, to extract the juice, without the color.Who invented Champagne? There is much controversy in regard to this question. The first commercial sparkling wine was produced in the Limoux area of Langue doc France, in the mid 1500s. No one acctually knows who invented Champagne?

Contrary to legend, it would appear that the French monk Dom Perignon did not actually invent Champagne? But in his life time he certainly developed many advances in the production of fine Champagne, and Sparking Wines. He has certainly earned a wonderful reputation for all of his efforts in making fine Champagne. Dom Perignon became well known not only for his expertise in blending wines to create fine tasting champagne's with superior flavor.

But also for his studies that lead to the prevention of champagne bottles and corks exploding. He decovered that by using a thicker bottles, and tying the corks down to the bottle with string, kept the bottles from exploding. This invention made it possible to store the Champagne for long periods, with out losing bottles to explosions, and cut down in wine spoilage.

Solar-powered bra displays text, holds drinks

Oktoberfest in Munich
You consider yourself pretty hip. You've forsaken the frothy peasant's swill you once chugged from plastic cups at college keggers. You've moved on. You're no philistine. Perhaps you've developed a fondness for microbrews or craft beers. Maybe you're an aficionado of imports and well-versed in the thrill of a fine German beer. (Some of you may have even experienced the thrill of having a fine German -- but that's another story and really none of our business.) But you haven't really had a German beer until you've had a ponderous one-liter mass of German nectar forcefully thrust upon you by a burly, iron-fisted German beermadschen while surrounded by throngs of drunken tourists and rotund lederhosen-clad German herrs amidst the thundering cacophony of an oompah band while trying to maintain your balance atop a long, wooden picnic table in a beer tent at Oktoberfest, all the while shouting out beer-drinking songs in a language you don't speak.

The proverbial mountain climber, when asked "Why attack Everest and brave the most hostile climate conditions in the world," is often said to explain such death-defying madness with the simple "because it's there." A similar retort may be all you have to fall back on to rationalize why you'd journey halfway across the globe to join six million other thirsty tourists for the well-lubricated 16-day "Super Bowl of beer drinking." There are experiences in life that are all the more valuable precisely because of being arduous. Man has an innate love of superlatives: biggest, wildest, drunkest. Oktoberfest is all these and many more.

OKTOBERFEST HISTORY, OR "WHY OKTOBERFEST STARTS IN SEPTEMBER"

If you're not already familiar with Oktoberfest, you're probably thinking, "Wow, the Germans must really love October, celebrating its annual arrival with such ardent partying each year." The truth of the matter is that what the Germans actually love is drinking beer -- so much so that they can't wait until October to hoist their steins. The festival actually begins on the second-to-last Saturday in September each year and lasts 16 besotted suds-fiiled days. Leave it to Teutonic punctuality to be a month early for a party while the rest of the world is still striving to be fashionably late.

There's actually more background to explain the festival than the mere arrival of October. The festival has its beginnings in the October 12, 1810, marriage of Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig to Princess Therese of Saxon-Hildeburghasen. On that fateful day, Ludwig and the foundation for today's Oktoberfest were laid. The original public festival lasted only a day and was held in the Munich meadow that still carries the bride's name, Theresienweise, or Weis'n, in the local vernacular. The festival has been held there ever since then, interrupted only for wars and other minor annoyances. (Of course, interrupting an annual festival for wars in Germany is akin to interrupting a baseball game for tobacco-chewing.)

Over the years, the spectacle that is Oktoberfest grew in prominence and duration. The modern Germans, with their inimitable ability to maximize production, decided to stretch out the party to its current two-week-plus-two-day length. It's precisely this kind of dedication to productivity, combined with billions and billions of Marshall Plan dollars, that has transformed Germany into the economic and beer-drinking wunderkind that it is today.

An interesting historical aside: the marriage of Ludwig and Theresa ended in divorce. But while the marriage failed, the party succeeded, and the original inspiration for the event has long since been replaced with a grander and nobler vision -- the stalwart consumption of prodigious amounts of some of the finest beer in the world. Which brings us to our next point. What types of beer do they drink?

OKTOBERFEST BREWS

A love of beer is an almost innate characteristic of the German psyche, and with order and efficiency being the hallmarks of German culture, it's easy to see how this attitude has spilled over into the production of their most beloved beverage. German beer production is governed by the world's oldest food law, the Reinheitsgebot, or Purity Law, which dates all the way back to the 1516 mandate of Duke William IV of Bavaria (a German folk hero whose name has become synonymous with the term "Duke William IV of Bavaria"). The Purity Law mandates that German beer be composed of only four ingredients: malted barley, hops, yeast and water.

The majority of beer served at Oktoberfest is Märzenbier, meaning "March beer." Yes, folks, the Germans, the most organized folks on earth, have a party called Oktoberfest that begins in September when they drink a beer known as "March beer." Go figure.

There are various explanations of how this came to be. Some beer pundits claim that a Munich brewer found his beer reserves depleted at festival time and decided to serve a brew made in March. Hence the name. At any rate, the Bavarian tradition of brewing large batches of beer in March dates back to the 19th century, before refrigeration, when production needed to be finished before the weather got too warm for brewing. They would then store the reserves in cool places, generally caves or cellars, for use during the summer months.

The advent of mechanized refrigeration in the latter part of the 1800s coincided with the proliferation of railroads in Europe, which enabled thousands more of those thirsty Bavarians to travel to the Munich Oktoberfest. Even though the larger Munich brewhouses were making special festival brews, demand often outstripped supply, and one way or the other, Märzen beer became the Oktoberfest beer style known to the world. (The style has had, and continues to have, various incarnations.)

Recent changes in tastes have seen the traditional Märzen brew supplanted by paler, less robust "Oktoberfestbier" to suit broader international tastes. Most of Munich's big brewers still produce a draft Märzen at Oktoberfest time for sale in their beer halls and festival tents. Typically, a Märzenbier will be copper-red in color, have a full-bodied maltiness, be somewhat spicy and dryish, and have heartier flavor than more common lagers. But you don't need to know this to enjoy them. What you do need to do is work up a powerful thirst and be aware that you'll be considered a wimp if you don't order by the mass -- a large, full liter of beer served in a heavy glass stein by a heavy German waitress who can proudly carry six of them in each hand. (That's 12 liters for those of you who are mathematically challenged -- enough beer to slake the thirst of the average small army.) The German beer waitress is clearly the highest Darwinian evolution of the waitress species. You'll find out very quickly that hoisting even one is quite a workout.

Each of the six major Munich breweries -- Lowenbrau, Paulaner, Spaten, Hacker-Pschorr, Hofbrauhaus and Augustiner -- produces its own variety of beer for the festival. The massive tents that these producers sponsor hold up to 6,000 revelers and serve as the epicenters of Oktoberfest beer-swilling and malt-inspired mayhem. With such large capacities, these tents are the equivalent of sports stadiums hosting passionately contested events. And if you venture inside, be prepared to engage in Olympian feats of beer-drinking prowess. Timid souls would be well-advised to stay on the sidelines, but the hearty devotee of beer-imbibing should proudly rally to the challenge. Because, after all, it's there.

If you should ever actually tire of beer drinking, Oktoberfest also offers an eclectic assortment of things to do. You'll find amusement park rides, refreshment stands, side shows, carnival games, fun houses, performance stages, shooting galleries, roller coasters, bumper cars and the like. Of course, if you actually go to Oktoberfest to do anything but drink beer, you're probably in the wrong place at the wrong time, which in Germany, as the world knows, can be a dangerous thing.

If, like Mohammed, you can't actually "go to the mountain," then you can certainly bring the mountain to you. That's our round about way of saying that there are a great number of American breweries producing fine Märzens and Oktoberfest brews that you can probably procure as close as your neighborhood liquor store. So don your lederhosen this fall, toast the season with a festival brew, and have your own Oktoberfest. Here are some tasting recommendations:

OKTOBERFEST MARZEN TASTING NOTES

With the growing popularity of micro and craft brewed beers in the United States, beer drinkers have embraced richer, more robust brews, thus, Oktoberfest styles are growing more popular than ever. If you find you have an urge to embrace a robust German and you can't travel to Oktoberfest, many North American brewers produce their own Oktoberfest brews during the fall season. If you're a fan of more flavorful, heartier beer, you'll want to try some of the following, which should be readily available in most liquor and grocery stores from September through November.

Don't pay for your beer any longer...
Instead, the beer companies will pay YOU!

Who else wants to find out how to earn easy extra money... just for drinking and talking about beer!

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Just two nights ago I attended a beer & wine discussion group and for about 1 hour of my time, sampling a few different beers and wines and answering some questions I received $70. I really enjoy these sessions and I pay no tax, completely legit, just cash in an envelope. The $70 came in very handy too because I wanted to buy my 6 year old grandson a bike for his birthday and this paid for it.

The invite to this focus group came about by being registered with a market research company and if you are interested in getting invited to one or more of these focus groups make sure you read on...

When these marketing research companies get a job like this one they will assemble a survey panel based around a set of demographics that their client (in this case a beer company) is interested in as customers. Typically they will use the data that you have supplied in your profile to work out whether you fit the survey panel and then get in contact with you.

They rang me up while I was away from home last week and after a quick round of screening questions, I was locked in for the a session on the following week.

When you show up to the venue they check off your name and with a group of other people you go into a room where there is a facilitator and you discuss the product and give your opinion on it and the marketing for the product.

.....

Here are some stories from other guys just like you and I, who got paid to drink and talk about beer...

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..

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Make Money Drinking Beer
Will Reveal More Than 180 Companies
Waiting to Pay You For Drinking Beer, Eating Out, and Giving Your Opinions…and Many of Them are International Companies!

That means that no matter where you live, these companies want research from your area: United States, Canada, the UK, Australia, etc.

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All you need to do to have access to these marketing firms and begin making money almost immediately is to sign-up to purchase the Make Money Drinking Beer Guide for the nominal amount of $69.97.

You will have unlimited life-time access to the guide, downloaded on to your computer. It's a one off small time fee. No monthly billing. No yearly recurring memberships. No hidden charges.

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As soon as you order, you will be given instant access to download the guide directly from the Internet on to your computer. (The guide is in downloadable PDF format.) Since there is no actual hard copy of the manual, there's no need to wait 2-6 weeks for delivery. You can access the guide and begin signing up with market research companies in just minutes from now./

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Make Money Drinking Beer Guide is On Sale

A Regular $69.97 Value!

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Here's the deal. I charge a fee so I can cover the costs of maintaining this site and the Make Money Drinking Beer Guide. I'm actually losing money by running this site, but I'm trying to re-cover some of the fixed costs I've already outlayed.

Brewer ordered not to use ‘Legal Weed’ caps.

 

Vaune Dillmann is hardly the first one to play off his northern California town's name. Tourists love the local school bus that says "Weed High."

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Vaune Dillmann thought the wording on his bottle caps was just a clever play on the name of the Northern California town where he brews his beer — Weed.

Federal alcohol regulators thought differently. They have ordered Dillmann to stop selling beer bottles with caps that say "Try Legal Weed."

While reviewing the proposed label for Dillmann's latest beer, Lemurian Lager, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau said the message on the caps he has been using for his five current beers amounts to a drug reference.

In a letter explaining its decision, the agency, which regulates the brewing industry, said the wording could "mislead consumers about the characteristics of the alcoholic beverage."

Dillmann scoffs at the notion that his label has anything to do with smoking pot.

"I've never tried marijuana in my life," he told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "I don't advocate that. It's just our town's name."

The town of 3,000, sitting beneath Mount Shasta about 230 miles north of the state capital, takes its name from Abner Weed, a timber baron who opened a lumber mill there in 1901 and eventually was elected to the state Senate.

Dillmann, 61, started the Mount Shasta Brewing Co. in 2004. He said he has always used the town's name on his beers and named the company's first official brew Abner Weed's Pale Ale.

His bottle labels follow a long tradition of exploiting the town's name. Even city officials do it.

A sign posted on the way out of town reads, "Temporarily Out of Weed," while another says "100 Percent Pure Weed." Dillmann noted those examples in an appeal letter he sent to the alcohol bureau.

Once, Dillmann said, his wife, a former teacher, was delayed on a field trip to San Francisco as tourists clamored to pose next to the school bus, which said "Weed High."

But illegal drugs are no joke to the federal agency, which maintains meticulous rules about labeling. Drug references on alcoholic beverages were banned in 1994, agency spokesman Art Resnick said.

"We protect consumers of alcohol beverages against misleading advertising and labeling," he said.

He said the agency is reviewing Dillmann's appeal.

The Boulder, Colo.-based Brewers Association, which represents 1,100 craft brewers nationwide, said the Tax and Trade Bureau seems to have become more aggressive in recent years. It has gone after brewers for seemingly innocuous claims, such as descriptions that say one beer is stronger than another, said association director Paul Gatza.

"We're seeing the TTB starting to poke around at breweries' Web sites and issuing letters," he said. "Our trade association is feeling like TTB is overstretching a little bit."

Gatza said a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the 1980s protected truthful speech on beer labels.

Meanwhile, Dillmann has placed a rush order on unmarked bottle caps so he can keep bottling while he awaits word from the federal agency on his appeal. He has enlisted the help of his congressman, Republican Rep. Wally Herger, who has asked the agency to explain why it rejected Dillmann's bottle cap labels.

The decision banning the "Try Legal Weed" caps came just after Dillmann had placed an order for 400,000 of them, at a cost of about $10,000. It took him four years to go through the first batch of bottle caps, but Dillmann said his sales have been increasing steadily.

Still, the native of Milwaukee said he wonders how some other brewers have gotten away with the names for their products, such as Hemp Ale or Dead Guy Ale. And he can't understand how his label has run afoul of federal alcohol regulators who must surely be aware of one of the most famous advertising slogans in American marketing: "This Bud's for you."

Don't pay for your beer any longer...
Instead, the beer companies will pay YOU!

Who else wants to find out how to earn easy extra money... just for drinking and talking about beer!

...

Let me explain… Incredible as it may seem, beer companies and other companies are spending $41 billion annually to do market research. They need the opinions of regular consumers like you to decide if a product is worth their time and money. And these companies realize now that telemarketing doesn’t work— People like you and I just keep hanging up on those annoying telemarketers calling during our dinner time - the companies know they can’t get your opinions for free, so they are prepared to pay you for them—and pay well.

Just two nights ago I attended a beer & wine discussion group and for about 1 hour of my time, sampling a few different beers and wines and answering some questions I received $70. I really enjoy these sessions and I pay no tax, completely legit, just cash in an envelope. The $70 came in very handy too because I wanted to buy my 6 year old grandson a bike for his birthday and this paid for it.

The invite to this focus group came about by being registered with a market research company and if you are interested in getting invited to one or more of these focus groups make sure you read on...

When these marketing research companies get a job like this one they will assemble a survey panel based around a set of demographics that their client (in this case a beer company) is interested in as customers. Typically they will use the data that you have supplied in your profile to work out whether you fit the survey panel and then get in contact with you.

They rang me up while I was away from home last week and after a quick round of screening questions, I was locked in for the a session on the following week.

When you show up to the venue they check off your name and with a group of other people you go into a room where there is a facilitator and you discuss the product and give your opinion on it and the marketing for the product.

.....

Here are some stories from other guys just like you and I, who got paid to drink and talk about beer...

.

Had to give feedback on new pumps, glasses and beer mats...how the story behind the beer would affect my purchasing and other stuff then the tasting. Was given 5 different beers and had to answer questions on each...all I can say is it tastes good! Got paid £25, which was then used for more beer, pool, kebab and taxi home! Marc Beasley, UK

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I got a call from a nice lady from a market research company on the way home from a mountain bike ride this afternoon. She said she'd pay me $100 if I came in and discussed computer programs for 30 minutes! Sounds great, eh? She asked me if I'd attended a paid "research discussion" before. I told her, "Yes, in college we drank beer for $50." Well, guess what - she's paying for drinking beer too. I'm attending a beer taste test next week Chris Litchfield, Texas

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If you're a male, do yourself a favor and take advantage of the magic (stupidity?) of market research. I recently attended a consumer panel organized by a market research company. They conducted an "Economy Beers" taste test on a Monday afternoon. It was 75 minutes, and paid $100. Ian Marti, Canada

.

Guess who's part of a beer focus group?…Me! That’s right. Wednesday night, I’m going to be part of a focus group that will be discussing beer. For my troubles, I get a $75 gift certificate for Amazon. How about them apples? Getting paid to talk about one of my favorite things? It doesn’t get much better than that. Amanda Estaban, Australia

...

Make Money Drinking Beer
Will Reveal More Than 180 Companies
Waiting to Pay You For Drinking Beer, Eating Out, and Giving Your Opinions…and Many of Them are International Companies!

That means that no matter where you live, these companies want research from your area: United States, Canada, the UK, Australia, etc.

/

It Couldn’t Be Easier—Just Point and Click!

All you need to do to have access to these marketing firms and begin making money almost immediately is to sign-up to purchase the Make Money Drinking Beer Guide for the nominal amount of $69.97.

You will have unlimited life-time access to the guide, downloaded on to your computer. It's a one off small time fee. No monthly billing. No yearly recurring memberships. No hidden charges.

/

As soon as you order, you will be given instant access to download the guide directly from the Internet on to your computer. (The guide is in downloadable PDF format.) Since there is no actual hard copy of the manual, there's no need to wait 2-6 weeks for delivery. You can access the guide and begin signing up with market research companies in just minutes from now./

/.

Make Money Drinking Beer Guide is On Sale

A Regular $69.97 Value!

Our Sale Price is $29.95 (That's 58% Off!)

Today you can get the guide for $9.95

Here's the deal. I charge a fee so I can cover the costs of maintaining this site and the Make Money Drinking Beer Guide. I'm actually losing money by running this site, but I'm trying to re-cover some of the fixed costs I've already outlayed.

In 1997, Acker sponsored an auction with Phillips de Pury. It and several subsequent auctions, according to Kapon, were a disaster. But he persisted, even as his taste began to shift toward older wines. Sometime in late 2000 or early 2001, Rosania walked into the store on West Seventy-second Street. Neither Kapon nor Rosania can remember the moment exactly, but their meeting would eventually prove to be a milestone in the world of fine wine. Both were around 30. Rosania was a partner in a real estate investment firm, a self-made mogul who was ready to spend some of his growing fortune.

Largely by cultivating young collectors like Rosania and Kurniawan, Kapon has made Acker the leading vendor of fine wines in America, selling more than $60 million a year at auction in the past two years. "John has worked at it," says Peter Meltzer, author of Keys to the Cellar, who covers the auction scene for Wine Spectator. "I'm very impressed with him. He's really out there. The traditional houses have not been as aggressive. And he really knows what he's doing. He's learned empirically. He will be able to tell you the best vintage of La Tâche tasted in the last five years."

Kapon can talk trash as well as the next Angry Man, but he's a serious taster who, at this point, has probably sampled — and written about — more rare old wines than almost anyone his age on the planet, with the possible exception of Kurniawan and Rosania — wines like the 1870 Mouton or the 1945 Romanée-Conti. And he has the notes to prove it. He knows all the tasting terminology, but he's added some terms of his own, like "whips and chains," which he used recently to describe a young, powerful Champagne, and "vitamins," which seems to refer to the slightly metallic taste of supplement pills. Generally speaking, his notes are livelier than most critics'. Robert Parker may be more influential, while Allen Meadows, author of the newsletter Burghound — a friend of Kapon's — is the Pope of Burgundy. But neither of them has tasted some of the rare and old bottles that the Angry Men open at their gatherings, nor do they tend to pronounce upon them so colorfully: "Tighter than a 14-year-old virgin," an Angry Man said of one of Big Boy's Champagnes. "Stinky like the crack of a 90-year-old nun," another said, nosing a red Burgundy that was exactly half that age.

Kapon now has his sights set on Asia. This past spring he presided over an auction at the Island Shangri La ballroom in Hong Kong that brought in $8.2 million, including $242,000 for a case of 1990 Romanée-Conti, a new record. (One can only hope that the buyer isn't planning to mix it with Coke or Sprite, as Chinese connoisseurs are alleged to do.) The sale puts Kapon in a good position to become a leader in the exploding Chinese market.

As for the younger collectors, including Rosania, who are selling, it's hard to say whether they are locking in profits, hedging against a possible decline, or just editing their collections so they can buy even more. Probably all of the above. "All I can say is, I've only seen prices go one way," Kapon says. According to the Wine Spectator Auction Index, worldwide auctions of fine and rare wines hit a record of $301 million in sales in 2007 — a 25 percent increase over 2006, and 2008 looks as if it may be another record year despite the deteriorating state of the economy.

Unlike some collectors, this group of Angry Men is drinking as much as it's hoarding. When I dined with Jef Levy on a recent trip to Los Angeles, he invited four other friends along to Spago so we could open more bottles — 17 in all, ranging from a 1937 Ausone, which still had a brooding core of dark fruit, along with a spicy cinnamon note, to a 1999 La Tâche from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, with a flight of Pétrus ('55, '71, and '85) in between. After the first dozen or so bottles, my writing became hard to read, so I can't tell you much about the Pétrus. The next night, at Cut, Wolfgang Puck's Beverly Hills steak house, we limited ourselves to a more modest 12 bottles going back to the 1929 Haut-Brion.

"Life is short," Rosania says. "You've got to drink it." When I ask him how many bottles he has in his cellar, he says he has no idea. When I venture a guess of 50,000, he says, "Hell, I have 50,000 bottles of '96 Champagne." When I tell him that one estimate places the value of his cellar at $50 million, he shrugs.

Rosania grew up in modest circumstances, and his swaggering mogul manner is tempered by frequent professions of noblesse oblige. "With privilege comes responsibility," he says. (In fact, I've heard him say it four or five times.) After his father died of prostate cancer in 2005, he helped found Mount Sinai Hospital's wine auction. You can't swirl a glass at a Manhattan wine event without hearing testimony to his generosity.

The night before the auction at Cru, I consumed, by my best estimate, some $25,000 to $30,000 worth of Rosania's wine — including the 1945 Mouton and the 1947 Cheval Blanc, two legendary Bordeaux, the former marked by a signature mintiness and the latter so sweet and rich that it reminds people of Port — and I was one of 14 drinkers. And who other than Rosania could tell you that 1914 Pol Roger is one of the greatest Champagnes ever made, much less prove it by pulling it from his cellar and serving it, as he did the night before the auction? For once, the Angry Men seemed stunned nearly to silence.

Considering the age of these wines, it's amazing that most of the ones we tasted were brilliantly preserved, even as they acted their age. Poor storage can result in duds — Champagnes that have turned to sherry and red Burgs that have turned to vinegar.

Then there are the fakes. No one likes to talk about them, any more than swingers like to talk about STDs. But, just as hot art markets breed forgeries, the inexorable rise of the wine market has inevitably created a demand for counterfeit bottles. No one really knows how widespread the problem is, although anyone who has tasted enough will have come up against it. The first time I was aware of the problem was seven or eight years ago when I tasted a suspiciously fruity magnum of 1947 Pétrus, an extremely rare and prized Bordeaux, while dining at the home of Jancis Robinson, one of the world's leading wine critics. After the wealthy friend who'd brought the bottle went home, I asked Jancis if she really thought the wine, which tasted remarkably young and fresh to me, was a '47 Pétrus. "It certainly didn't seem to be," she said diplomatically. I've since heard about a lot of suspicious mags of '47 Pétrus. Given the vineyard's tiny production and the unusual nature of the magnum format, there shouldn't be more than a very few floating around these days.

Needless to say, it's generally the most legendary wines that are being faked, like the '45 Mouton or the '47 Cheval. During my marathon with Levy in Los Angeles, we encountered at least one bottle that was obviously a fake (sent to our table by another collector). One of the reasons that Rosania's Champagne auction attracted such interest was because of its aura of authenticity: Big Boy had purchased most of the stuff from the original buyers in Europe, and the market for vintage Champagne is so undeveloped that nobody has yet bothered to fake the stuff. As for Bordeaux and Burgundy, no one knows how many fraudulent bottles are residing in multimillion-dollar cellars around the world, though sometimes we get a clue.

Recently, billionaire collector William Koch filed a string of lawsuits against dealers and vendors who sold him bottles that were reputedly fakes (see The Billionaire's Vinegar, a recent book by Benjamin Wallace), including Eric Greenberg, an Internet consulting ex-billionaire who allegedly sold some 17,000 bottles in an October 2005 Zachys auction. Koch says that before Greenberg went to Zachys, his collection was first rejected by Sotheby's on the grounds that too many bottles were fakes. Acker subsequently held a major auction from Greenberg's so-called Golden Cellar (as opposed to Kurniawan's, which is referred to as The Cellar).

So far, Kapon has largely managed to stay above the fray, in part, he says, by doing his homework. For the Golden Cellar auction last October, Kapon rejected lots that he found suspect and attached an unprecedented 80 pages of documentation to the catalog. "All the great collections in this country have lemons," he says. "You've got to navigate around them." More recently, he withdrew 22 lots of Kurniawan's Ponsot Burgundy — one of the region's most legendary domains — from the Rosania auction at the last minute after questions were raised about its authenticity.

A few weeks after the Big Boy auction, Kapon agreed to meet me at Veritas, the Flatiron District restaurant that vies with Cru for the title of Wine Geek Central. Although Cru is his headquarters, Kapon is clearly a regular here and is treated as a visiting dignitary. He arrived with his new girlfriend, Dasha Vlasenko, a statuesque Estonian-born former model several inches taller than him who works in real estate. Kapon, who is in the middle of a divorce from his first wife, met Dasha at a party recently. She took a little while to warm up to him. "He was incredibly persistent," she says.

Kapon, who'd put together five auctions in the space of two months, looked a little ragged, pale, and slightly puffy-faced with a three-day growth. He quickly ordered a $450 1996 Drouhin Marquis de Laguiche Montrachet, a rare white Burgundy, and filled me in on his schedule. Less than three weeks after the Rosania auction, he was busy preparing three more to take place within the month, including the Hong Kong auction. Fans of Kapon's wine porn have bemoaned the fact that he's weeks behind posting his tasting notes, but it doesn't seem like he'll catch up anytime soon. His Hong Kong schedule sounds particularly daunting, at least for his liver, including dinners at which he will be inducted into the Commanderie de Bordeaux, a major Château Pichon-Lalande dinner, and yet another devoted to the wines of Romanée-Conti.

After we polished off the Montrachet, Kapon ordered a $550 1998 Mugnier Musigny Grand Cru, a rare bottle from another legendary Burgundy vineyard that we both liked a great deal and should have been the wine of the night, except that by the time our second course arrived we'd finished it. So John ordered yet another bottle, a 1971 Roumier Morey-St.-Denis Clos de la Bussière, which, as a premier cru, is lower in the hierarchy than the Musigny. But it blew the youngster away. In his newsletter, Kapon later observed of the $425 wine, "autumnal aromas were inviting like football season, and meat dripped from its bones like parking lot cookouts."

Halfway through the '71, Kapon spotted Danny DeVito across the room and asked the sommelier to send him a glass. From our vantage we could see that he was drinking a Colgin Cabernet — very serious juice, if not quite Burgundy. "I don't know if he's a Burgundy man," I said.

"Hey, just open up and say Ahh," Kapon said. "You don't have to know it to love it."

And sure enough, a few minutes later, DeVito hoisted the glass aloft and waved Kapon over to his table. I felt like somebody should warn the actor that Burgundy can be extremely addictive and that he was talking to the head pusher man. But it was too late. When Kapon finally returned to our table, 20 minutes later, he had the self-satisfied air of a priest who's made a new convert.