The bowerbird, which lives on the east coast of Australia, has an abiding eye for anything blue. Solitary males travel great distances to bring back all manner of blue objects to decorate their nests. Shells, flowers, plastic bottles, and feathers are all fair game, and bowerbirds have even been known to grind up blue pigments […]
beer
Posted inArts & Culture, Story, Uncategorized
The Death of an Heir: Adolph Coors III and the Murder That Rocked an American Brewing Dynasty
More than fifty years ago, one man tried to hold the Coors brewery CEO for ransom. Things went very badly.
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Story of Heady Topper, America’s Most Loved Craft Beer
How a difficult to obtain American double IPA brewed in a small town in Vermont developed a world-wide cult following, with beer fans traveling hundreds of miles just to get a taste.
Posted inFeatured, Nonfiction, Quotes
“Madness and the Hurling of Furniture,” or How You Know It Was a Good Night in Ancient Greece
Andrew Curry’s thorough history of our relationship to and use of alcohol is informative, enlightening, and just plain entertaining.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Our 9,000-Year Love Affair With Booze
Alcohol isn’t just a mind-altering drink: It has been a prime mover of human culture from the beginning, fueling the development of arts, language, and religion.
Posted inBlog Post, Commentary, Featured, Nonfiction
Everything in Moderation, Including Moderation
Why beer is better for some of us than abstinence.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
When Corporate Beer Hits Seattle
In Seattle Met, Allecia Vermillion writes about how three friends grew their craft brewery into a Seattle icon, recognized internationally for the quality of its brews, and what happened when the Elysian Brewing Company was acquired by Anheuser-Busch after two decades of proud independence. The reaction in their home city was not kind: While Elysian’s […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Eulogizing America’s Old School Watering Holes
Keeping a place that serves drinks open is a difficult task no matter where you do it. As the bartender at my current favorite local bar, Sharlene’s on Flatbush in Brooklyn, told me, “You need to get at least half a million to open a bar in New York anymore. You need investors and shit,” […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
The History of Weak American Beer
In The Atlantic, Joe Pinsker writes about the historical conditions that shaped the flavor and body of America’s popular commercial brews. Like the cultural melting pot of America itself, various factors, including market forces, thirsty laborers, WWII rationing, religious movements and the idea of temperance all thinned our big brand beers into the light, offensively […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Booze at Breakfast
The weisswurst frühstück Obama was enjoying is a beery Bavarian stalwart: boiled sausages with mustard, freshly baked pretzels and a cold weissbier, the operative word here being cold. Alcohol in the morning must be fresh and zippy. A bit of fizz, something dry, a hint of sweetness, a sharp kick – as drinks writer Henry Jeffreys puts […]