• ‘Sample NY Beer Festival’ in Canandaigua this week

    Updated: 2009-09-30 20:39:58
    If you want an extra excuse to look at autumn foliage in the Finger Lakes, the first-ever “Sample NY Beer Festival” will take place this Friday and Saturday at the New York Wine & Culinary Center in Canandaigua. The event is intended to highlight craft beers from local breweries and brewpubs. Visitors will be able to participate [...]

  • $16K for latest Macallan-Lalique offering

    Updated: 2009-09-30 14:29:49
    William M. Dowd photo illustration • This is part of “Gotta Have …”, a series of occasional postings on unusual spirits products. If you have a spare $16,000 laying around, you can be the proud owner of the third offering in the Six Pillars Collection, a whisky-and-crystal project of The Macallan and Lalique. The first two decanters in [...]

  • Liquor improves head-injury survival chances

    Updated: 2009-09-30 07:09:21
    You gotta love science sometimes. A study of patients with severe brain injuries at trauma centers showed that the ones who had been drinking had a better survival rate than those who hadn’t. Sure, it’s possible that the drinking contributed to the accidents that caused the brain trauma in the first place. But let’s not make assumptions. If [...]

  • NY to host new international wine competition

    Updated: 2009-09-29 23:24:19
    William M. Dowd photo There’s a new wine competition in town. At least there will be in New York City. Dori Bryant, president of The Polished Palate, and spirits writer Adam Levy tomorrow will announce the debut of the New York International Wine Awards (NYIWA). The NYIWA is a competition that will award the best wines [...]

  • ‘HV Hard Cider Experience’ at Applewood Winery

    Updated: 2009-09-29 21:41:17
    =1

  • Bill’s Mailbag: Evaluating a Jack Daniel’s collection

    Updated: 2009-09-29 20:53:19
    Q: I hope you can assist me. My father had a huge Jack Daniel’s collection. It was his passion to collect Jack Daniel’s (memorabilia). Sadly, he passed away two years ago. My mom has the collection at the moment. Do you possibly have a contact of a Jack Daniel’s [...]

  • Mixology Monday - Chocolate Milk Martini

    Updated: 2009-09-29 06:01:07
    Mixology Monday is back and this month the folks at eGullet are hosting. The topic for September is “Dizzy Diary” or more simply cocktails made with dairy products and eggs. Not sure how eggs made it in there as dairy, but hey, why not. Having just completed the Bar Smarts course, I wanted [...]

  • Class and cleverness define The Standard

    Updated: 2009-09-28 20:52:36
    The Capital Region can be a pretty insular place, especially when it comes to the restaurant and cocktail lounge scene. Local backers are easily welcomed. Newcomers have to prove themselves. Enter The Standard, an elegant 1950s/’60s-style restaurant and cocktail lounge tucked into a corner of Crossgates Mall in Guilderland that once had been home to the Bugaboo [...]

  • Albany Restaurant Week has staggered start

    Updated: 2009-09-26 22:47:26
    The Downtown Albany Fall Restaurant Week will begin on October 4. Or, October 5. Or, October 6. It all depends on where you want to go. The majority of the participating restaurants that will offer fixed price, three-course meals for $20.09 will start the week on Sunday and most of the remainder the following day, with [...]

  • Midnight - Guinness & Port

    Updated: 2009-09-25 08:01:37
    Continuing the celebration of the 250 years of Guinness this week’s drink is a wonderful twist on the average pint that was introduced to me by my friend Jason. Yes, it is simple and wonderful a bit of fine port combined with a well poured pint of Guinness. This drink would certainly make [...]

  • On the rocks — for real

    Updated: 2009-09-24 21:14:40
    Andrew Hellman likes his drinks on the rocks. So, he invented “rocks” that will chill the drink. Hellman, co-founder of the tableware company Teroforma, came up with processed soapstone rocks that you store in the freezer for several hours before using. The rocks will not dilute the drink and also will not scratch glass. The rocks, milled [...]

  • Arthur’s Day - Celebrate 250 Years of Guinness

    Updated: 2009-09-24 08:01:51
    Today, September 24th 2009 marks the day 250 years ago that Arthur Guinness started the great brewing tradition that is Guinness. The folks at St. James Gate are planning a world wide party to celebrate with such acts as the Black Eyed Peas, Tom Jones, and Sean Paul. The party starts at the [...]

  • Nirvino - A Million Bottles at Your Finger Tips

    Updated: 2009-09-23 05:52:09
    Nirvino’s new iPhone app puts reviews of over 1,000,000 bottles of wine at your finger tips. Never wonder be lost again when staring at that wine menu. Honestly, I never know what order. Nirvino’s new iPhone app can help you pick the right bottle for the occasion. Not only can you find [...]

  • Hanky Panky Cocktail

    Updated: 2009-09-21 20:48:53
    This awesome cocktail has strange name with mysterious etymology, great story and elegant old-school composition - main alcohol (gin), vermouth and Ferne-Branca as bitter. The story of Hanky Panky Cocktail related to Ada Coleman - famous head-barman of Savoy Hotel and actor Charles Hawtrey. You may read great post about this cocktail on the LUPEC-Boston, [...]

  • Catdaddy Carolina Moonshine

    Updated: 2009-09-19 04:22:00
    Moonshine is pretty trendy right now. I’ve seen a number of spirits producers introduce Southern-themed “moonshines” lately, and it’s making me curious. I know liquor companies aren’t actually making distilled spirits without a license and running them under cover of night, so what do they mean when they say “moonshine?” Piedmont Distillers in North Carolina, makers [...]

  • Fernet Cocktail

    Updated: 2009-09-18 20:29:14
    This very interesting cocktail was found in the Coctails and Mixed Drinks by Anthony Hogg. Elegant and delicious composition of brandy and Fernet-Branca. Actually, Fernet-Branca is my favorite palatable bitter. Fernet Cocktail 35 ml brandy 35 ml Fernet-Branca 1 dash Angostura 2 dash rich sugar syrup (2:1) Stir. Cocktail glass, garnish with a twist of lemon peel. Awesome cocktail! [...]

  • Ultimate Bell Pepper Cocktail

    Updated: 2009-09-18 08:01:01
    I had a dream once about a bell pepper cocktail served in a hollowed out bell pepper. Last night, I made half the dream come true. (Serving it out of a bell pepper seemed messy and inconvenient.) My friend at Savvy Housekeeping grew some beautiful bell peppers and was game for helping me figure out how [...]

  • Volga Boatman

    Updated: 2009-09-16 21:03:02
    This cocktail with amazing russian-sound name - Volga Boatman - has classic composition - vodka (as main alcogol), cherry-brandy liqueur (as sweetener) and orange juice (for diluting). You may find another recipe with kirsch instead cherry-brandy for more dry drink. Volga Boatman 45 ml vodka 20 ml cherry-brandy liqueur 20 ml fresh orange juice Shake. Cocktail. Admirable cocktail for long [...]

  • Does a Better Baseball Team Mean Pricier Beer?

    Updated: 2009-09-12 19:13:13
    The Wall Street Journal has a fun little piece analyzing stadium beer prices against the baseball team’s record. What it found is that on average the more a team wins, the more its stadium charges for beer. According to data collected by Team Marketing Report for the 2009 season, beer prices vary dramatically among big-league teams. A [...]

  • Canadian Club Old Fashioned

    Updated: 2009-09-11 08:01:18
    In celebraton of another season of Mad Men, I have been making a whole bunch of Old Fashioned Cocktails. Some with Bourbon, some Irish Whiskey, some Scotch. This week’s drink is a Old Fashioned made with Canadian Whisky (yes, no ‘e’). I am drinking one now, although I substituted Angostura Orange Bitters for [...]

Last Months Items