Thanksgiving traditionally is a time to eat, drink and kick off the holiday season “right.” That of course means wine. It can be tricky to pick a wine for Thanksgiving– it’s hard to please everyone. Kimber Stonehouse, Director of Operations for Sportsman’s Fine Wines & Spirits has some tips on…
It’s here…. Beaujolais Nouveau refers to the first wine of the new harvest and ushers in the new vintage year (in terms of wine). It debuts for sale the third Thursday of November, and it’s a pretty big deal in France. In fact, in France you can go to jail…
Beer: Pale Ale Brewery: Omission Style: Gluten-free beer ABV: 5.8 percent The world has no shortage of really terrifying diseases you can catch. Necrotizing Fasciitis — often referred to as “flesh-eating disease” — is a bacterial infection that causes body tissue to dissolve like a wet napkin. Prion Disease can…
Ring the bell, it’s time for Last Call, where JK Grence, bartender at Shady’s, serves up booze advice and recipes. Got a burning question for your bartender? Leave it in the comments and it might be answered in a future column. I’m getting a little stir crazy waiting for cold…
If you enjoy wine tastings on a giant scale, you’ll want to attend My Wine Cellar & Bistro’s second annual wine festival. Happening November 18, the festival will feature 20 wine samples poured by four wine distributors, as well as live outdoor music. See also: – Best Place to Sniff…
Beer: Rail Slide Imperial Spiced Ale Brewery: SanTan Brewing Co. Style: English Strong Ale ABV: 7.1 percent The problem with seasonals is that they’re just that — seasonal. Here for a short time, then gone for another year, your cravings be damned. Feeling like a Pumpkin Porter in the springtime?…
Ring the bell, it’s time for Last Call, where JK Grence, bartender at Shady’s, serves up booze advice and recipes. Got a burning question for your bartender? Leave it in the comments and it might be answered in a future column. In case you haven’t noticed, the Presidential election is…
There’s a time to drink, a time to think and time to combine both of these marvelous things. Welcome to a breakdown of some of the best books of the year on wine. From funny to educational, if you’re a wine lover these books should be on your list. The…
Beer: Baltic Porter Brewery: Alaskan Brewing Co. Style: Baltic Porter ABV: 9.8 percent Alaskan Brewing is known for their Smoked Porter, and why not? The beer’s won more golds than Michael Phelps, impressing so many beer judges that they’ve basically made the brew the standard by which all other smoked…
Ring the bell, it’s time for Last Call, where JK Grence, bartender at Shady’s, serves up booze advice and recipes. Got a burning question for your bartender? Leave it in the comments and it might be answered in a future column. The folks involved with Chow Bella are getting more…
So, you’re hosting a Halloween party. Worried your wine selection might conflict with, say, the appearance of supermarket cupcakes? Or a bag of fun-sized Snickers? We’ve got you covered. After a conversation with sommelier David Johnson of Davanti Enoteca we feel better about recommending the following choices that digest beautifully…
Beer: Lee’s Liquid Dinner Brewery: Sonoran Brewing Co. Style: English Brown Ale ABV: 5 percent If we’ve learned anything from Sonoran’s Chef Series beers so far, it’s that the cooks tapped for these brews aren’t afraid to get a little weird. First we had Jeremy Pacheco, who threw seven different…
Ring the bell, it’s time for Last Call, where JK Grence, bartender at Shady’s, serves up booze advice and recipes. Got a burning question for your bartender? Leave it in the comments and it might be answered in a future column. The other day, someone emailed me an excellent question…
In November, the Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale is opening up a new restaurant called Proof – an American Canteen. See also: – Five Ways Not to Buy Wine – Lifting the Wine-List Veil at Citizen Public House The resort’s sommelier, Shaun Adams, took some time to explain what will be…
Beer: Brown Shugga’ Brewery: Lagunitas Brewing Co. Style: American Strong Ale ABV: 9.9 percent Shovelfuls of dank hops. Scoops of honey and brown sugar. A blast of grapefruit juice. Brown Shugga’, how come you taste so good? Lagunitas’ barelywine-gone-awesome, Brown Shugga’, has appeared in this space before, but under much…
Ring the bell, it’s time for Last Call, where JK Grence, bartender at Shady’s, serves up booze advice and recipes. Got a burning question for your bartender? Leave it in the comments and it might be answered in a future column. By now, you might have heard about the new…
Welcome to Vine Geeks, with your hostess on all things wine, Kate Crowley. Crowley is not a sommelier, but learned to pour a glass of wine properly at ten years of age — because it is an important life skill to master early. See also: – 10 Favorite Metro Phoenix…
“Los Milics” In this occasional series, Pavle Milic (co-owner of FnB, Baratin, Bodega and AZ Wine Merchants in Scottsdale) will spill about his current mission to learn how wine is made — literally from the Southern Arizona ground up. Today: What’s in a name? And some advice from the pros…
Beer: #9 Brewery: Magic Hat Brewing Co. Style: American Pale Ale ABV: 5.1 percent There are a few ways to judge the strength of beer culture in a city. One would obviously be the number of breweries operating within the community (and judging by recent events, we’ve got this one)…
Ring the bell, it’s time for Last Call, where JK Grence, bartender at Shady’s, serves up booze advice and recipes. Got a burning question for your bartender? Leave it in the comments and it might be answered in a future column. If you’ve been into a cocktail-oriented bar in the…
If you’ve always wanted to taste a liquor that’s been through more than a few medical tests, look no further than G-Spirits. The German liquor company was born from the brain trust of a few classy bartenders who recognized that “it’s not just the taste which makes you enjoy a…
In the past, pumpkin beers were rare — a seasonal sideshow, showing up only in the breweries daring enough to make them and enjoyed only by drinkers willing to take a chance on the oddities. Today, however, brews made with pumpkin have officially become mainstream, with nearly every brewery worth…
