DRINK

Edibles & Potables: Spare me the “speakeasy,” tearbender

(This essay originally was published here.) Allowing for the possible exception of Mick Jagger, we’re all destined to awaken one morning and find that we’ve pole-vaulted past the invisible line in the sand that delineates prevailing fashion. Whether or not we ever cared about “cool” in the past, from this point forward the choice is […]

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Hip Hops: Wernesgrüner Pils, a fine beer on a budget (at Aldi)

Today, a truncated “Hip Hops.” Worry not; I’ve grown no less wordy in my dotage, but the time demanded by undertaking to write an actual book, and simultaneously working on two book-length (internet only) projects, suggests a rigorously disciplined use of my time. And … if you know me, it should be obvious that discipline isn’t […]

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Hip Hops: Count me as a beer classicist, but not a beer classist

In a former polemical life, and at a different portal than this one, I authored an occasional column called Shane’s Excellent New Words. The basic premise: “Because for some of us, words mean more than money.” Specifically, the concept was aimed squarely at its namesake, a local consigliere who liked to joke in the fashion of […]

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Edibles & Potables: The Regimen Sanitatus Salernum (or, a medieval diet revisited)

 (Originally posted on May 3, 2020) The medieval period of European history — the Middle Ages, or the Dark Ages — encompassed 1,000 years between the fall of the Roman Empire and the arrival of the Renaissance, approximately 500 to 1500 A.D. The 15th century saw the beginning of the Age of Exploration, as […]

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Hip Hops: Blind taste tests dispense with purely visual beer (label) adulation

As a prelude to the following (originally published on Oct 19, 2022), kindly note that the columnist is returning to stand-up (beer ed, not comedy) at Harbor & Hops (3010 Gottbrath Parkway, Jeffersonville) on Monday, May 26. We’re hoping to hold this sort of event on a semi-regular basis. Thanks to Greg Brown for opportunity […]

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Sara’s barrel pick experience at Angel’s Envy (in our Spring 2025 print edition)

As we await the arrival of the Summer 2025 edition of Food & Dining Magazine, which is coming in early June (the fevered hum of production is audible, briefly interrupted by the inevitable Kentucky Derby hangover), a fundamental truth about life in Kentucky taps us gently on our shoulders. It’s a bourbon reminder, of course, […]

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Hip Hops: Duke Ellington, Madonna and the Western canon inform my beers

Just because the “Hip Hops” column is about beer, it doesn’t mean that beer must be the subject of a “Hip Hops” column. Rather, it might be possible to make an indirect yet principled point about beer while barely mentioning it, happily freeing those afflicted with our current era’s short attention spans to engage in […]

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Hip Hops: Remembering May Day in glorious Vienna, 1987

Today is May 1, or May Day, which in Europe is a traditional festival marking the beginning of summer. In addition, in a great many locales worldwide, May Day is known as International Workers’ Day. Saturday, May 3 marks the 151st running of the Kentucky Derby, which I need not explain, to be followed almost […]

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The Cocktail Contessa: “Bourbon Plus 3” for delicious spring serves

Cooler weather has lingered, Derby is just days away, and here in Louisville we may be transitioning straight into summer. Speaking for myself, a more temperate spring season suits me fine, hence the relevance of “easy bourbon drinks for delicious spring serves,” as offered by Heather “The Cocktail Contessa” Wibbels in Food & Dining’s current […]

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A new Angel’s Envy release: Straight Rye Whiskey Finished in French Oak Extra Añejo Tequila Barrels

Just in time for summer, here’s a special release to look forward to (available nationwide on May 31): From the Angel’s Envy Cellar Collection Series, it’s Vol. 5 Straight Rye Whiskey Finished in French Oak Extra Añejo Tequila Barrels, the brand’s first Cellar Collection release under Master Distiller Owen Martin. These bulleted excerpts from an […]

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Hip Hops: Confessions of a beer-loving Europhile

Today’s column is excerpted from 40 Years in Beer, Part Twenty-Five: The end of the beginning (1989-1990), an installment of my serialized memoir of a career in beer. Part 76 was published in March, and more are on the way as time allows; read them free of charge at my website, and find the series […]

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Edibles & Potables: A Bay Area wine bar where every glass is priced the same

Today, a Bay Area wine bar where every glass is priced the same, everybody knows your name, and they’re always glad you came. Something like that, at least. Truth be told, wine knowledge isn’t one of my strengths, even if I drink more gratifyingly modified grape juice today than during earlier periods of my life. […]

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The Bar Belle on Louisville nightlife: Same as it ever was? Not really

In our current print edition, Sara “The Bar Belle” Havens offers her Louisville nightlife highlights of yesteryear. Whatever happened to cheap beer, Connections and local pub crawls? Learn about the way things used to be, and not so long ago. BAR BELLE | Same as it ever was? Not really Sometimes people will ask me […]

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Hip Hops: The shocking fate of an innovative brewer in pre-Prohibition New Albany

I’m writing a book about beer, and the first of several deadlines is today. Speaking as an expository writer (my efforts at fiction have always been abysmal), one must learn in order to teach. Consequently, research began in January, and the only sure thing is that more of it will land on the cutting room […]

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Hip Hops: My earnest pursuit of Żywiec Porter (1987 – 2002 – 2018)

The Spring 2025 issue of Food & Dining Magazine is now available in all the familiar places: Louisville area eateries and food shops, newsstands and online (or read it at issuu). — (Originally published on April 12, 2021.) In the spring of 2002, I chartered a minibus and a dozen of us took a trip through Hungary, Slovakia, […]

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