The Food Section: Appetizers

Wines for Cookies

Champagne with your sugar cookies?

The Race to Grow a Low-Caf Coffee Bean

"They've rooted through seed banks, assembled teams of agronomists and tasted countless cups of coffee, all in pursuit of what some people call the industry's holy grail, a bean that produces a great-tasting cup of "low-caf.'"

Knife and Fork Cocktails

More ambitious than Jell-O shots: the French Toast and other solid cocktails.

Wineries Go Urban

From Brooklyn to San Francisco, wineries are cropping up on city streets.

What to Drink When You're Expecting

What to Drink When You're Expecting [New York]

Dept. of Excuses to Drink: Wine May Protect Against Dementia

Wine May "Protect Against Dementia" [Decanter]

DIY Vintners Die from Grape Stomping

Amateur winemakers die treading grapes [Decanter]

A Nation of Sorority Girls Mourns: It's the End of Zima

MillerCoors ends production of Zima [Chicago Tribune via yumsugar]

Memo to Beer Snobs: Get Over Your Aversion to Canned Beer

Canned Beer That's Actually Good [CHOW]

In Italy, the Wine Flows from Water Taps

Due to a plumbing error, a vineyard in Italy's Alban Hills, south of Rome, accidentally sent sparkling wine through the water taps of homes in the town of Marino. The wine was meant for the Sagra dell Uva Grape Festival, where free wine gushes from a fountain instead of water.

Wine flowing from Italian taps is hailed as a 'miracle'  [Telegraph]

Last Days of the Tanoeiros

Portugal's centuries-old tradition of making and repairing oak wine barrels is coming to an end as they are pushed out by "bag in box" containers and a dearth of skilled tanoeiros (barrel-makers).

Portugal's wine barrel tradition fizzling out [Reuters]

Red Wine Resists Radiation

Is your fallout shelter stocked with Shiraz? Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have discovered that resveratrol, an antioxidant found in red wine, may help protect against radiation.

When the scientists gave acetyl-altered resveratrol to mice before exposure to radiation, they found that theircells were protected against radiation-related damage. The team is now conducting further studies to evaluate whether resveratrol can help protect humans as well.

"Currently, there are no drugs on the market that protect against or counteract radiation exposure," said Dr. Joel Greenberger, chairman of the department of radiation oncology at the University of Pittsburgh. "Our goal is to develop treatments for the general population that are effective and non-toxic," he added.

Wine Compound May Protect Against Radiation Exposure [USNews & World Report]

Bam! Pow! Uncork! Slosh!

The Japanese manga comic "Kami no Shizuku" ("The drops of the gods") follows the adventures of Shizuku Kanzaki, an anime oenophile in search of the world's finest wines.

The popular comic character has apparently emerged as a powerful force in Asian wine markets, triggering a boom in wine sales in Japan and South Korea.

Cartoon wine critic Shizuku Kanzaki boosts Japanese sales [The Times]

Traditional is Trendy

How did Rothaus, a very traditional, state-owned beer from Bavaria, buck falling beer sales in Germany and become a favorite of Berlin hipsters?

Wine Online

According to the Wall Street Journal, amazon.com will begin selling wine on the Internet this fall.

Wine and Conflict

Campaigners in Poland, a staunch ally of Georgia, are urging their compatriots to drink Georgian wine as a show of support for Tbilisi in its conflict with Russia.

Wine Spectator Defends Awards

At its online forum, Wine Spectator defends its Restaurant Awards after news that it bestowed an award upon a fake restaurant.

Vindicating Vermouth

A trend toward drier martinis, along with the advent of the vodka martini, "meant vermouth became largely ignored and, as a result, misunderstood."

Certified Crazy (About Coffee)

Sniffing and slurping with "Q graders," coffee industry professionals certified to distinguish and grade brewed coffees by taste and smell.

The Post-Baghdad Binge

A new study published today in JAMA (link) reports that binge drinking and other alcohol-related problems have been pervasive among national guardsmen and army reservists following deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan. The study found that the risk of developing new drinking problems in those who fought abroad, compared to the guardsmen and reservists who weren't deployed, was about 60 percent higher.

Hold the Sugar

Is Starbucks committing the cardinal sin of automatically sweetening their iced coffee?

Waterspeak

Sydney's Four Seasons Hotel offers a menu of 20 types of water with wine-like descriptions such as "bold" or "velvety." Some fetch prices as high as those for wine.

Tastemaking Tonics

Move aside Schweppes, a spate of upstart artisanal tonic waters have arrived.

"Dude, you're a bartender"

At Gourmet.com, Francis Lam has words for today's bartenders mixologists: "If you’re not inventing a new profession, why do you insist on a new word for what you do? That’s just being pompous."

A "Taste Scale" for Riesling

Concerned that consumers have only a one-dimensional notion of Riesling as just a "sweet white wine," producers are considering the creation of a "taste scale" that would be printed on wine labels to indicate information about gradations of dryness and sweetness.

Vintage Medicine

Many grateful patients thank their doctors with a bottle of wine.

Somethin' Special

"a thick and fizzy, jet-black blend of espresso and seltzer topped off with a bracing wallop of pure cane sugar," Manhattan Special is back, from today's New York Times.

WhiskeyTown

Time Out rounds up "America's Next Top Bottles."

Fun Fruit Drinks

Make your own horchata and aguas frescas, courtesy of the LA Times.

Better Home Brewing

Ten ways to make coffee taste better, according to Epi-log.

Cocktail Culture

Three phases of the cocktail renaissance, according to New York Times' Frank Bruni.

Summer Sips: Sweet Tea Vodka

John T. Edge sizes up Firefly Distillery's Sweet Tea Vodka. Made with and tea from the Charleston Tea Plantation and sweetened with Louisiana sugarcane, "The stuff should be swill, consigned forever to be a base spirit for Long Island Iced Teas. But it’s not." Add lemonade for a Drunken Arnold Palmer. 

Sangria Variations

New York magazine rounds up five new takes on sangria concocted by New York City bartenders.

Margarita Variations

Eight twists on the classic margarita, from cocktails infused with watermelon to guava.

Pink Picks

As appreciation for dry rosé wines has increased, so too has the number of dry rosés produced by U.S. vintners. The San Francisco Chronicle surveyed more than 135 domestic pink wines to find the best.

Hangover Helper

In The New Yorker, searching for a cure for the common hangover.

Big Beer Nation

The Toronto Star suggests today's best brews come from the US. With over 1400 craft breweries nationwide in '07, more breweries mean better beer. "U.S. craft beer is probably the most diverse and interesting brewing scene in the world," aficionado Cass Enright said. Courtesy of "Epi-Log."

Brunello Block

Following Italy's impoundment of millions of bottles of brunello di Montalcino, Washington threatens to block imports if shipments don't show lab analysis confirming wine that's 100% sangiovese, Eric Asimov reports on "The Pour."

Merlot Mind Games

How thinking about price, context, and ratings motivates wine choices. Earlier: The price of pleasure.

Cube Control

A guide to a dozen specialty ice cubes favored by the top mixologists. And you thought ice was just ice.

Nebbiolo Through a Nipple

A Parisian eatery serves wine in baby bottles. That's right. Wine in baby bottles. See for yourself. Via gastrokid.

Beer Fest

Six beer festivals worth the trip.

Wine Taster Buys Nose Insurance

European winemaker and taster Ilja Gort has taken out an $8 million insurance policy on his nose. He purchased the policy after hearing about a man who lost his sense of smell in a car accident. The policy covers Gort for the loss of either his nose or his sense of smell,

A Tongue for Taste

Wine expert Tim Hanni's unconventional theory of taste contends that taste in wine is physiologically predetermined by the number of taste buds on one's tongue.

Pairing Beer and Glass

Which is the right glass for which style of beer, and does the shape matter anyway?

Live Fish, Red Wine

Animal rights activists are coming down against a Belgian rite involving the consumption of tiny live fish immersed in red wine.

RIP: Postum

Postum, the caffeine-free coffee alternative made from roasted grain, has been discontinued by Kraft Foods, and fans of the beverage are bidding up the price of the last remaining jars on eBay. NPR's Scott Simon sat down with a Postum devotee for one last drink.

Pepsi, Naturally

Pepsi is launching Pepsi Raw, an "all-natural" soda sweetened with cane sugar and containing no artificial preservatives, colors, or flavorings.

Irreconcilable Differences: Cabernet vs. Chardonnay

Is there any hope for "mixed couples" -- where one partner prefers red wine and the other prefers white -- to find common ground in their wine choices?

Tipsy Tasters

Santa Barbara wineries are fighting back against drunken tourists cruising the wine country in limos.

Top Wine Expert is a Teetotaler

Tim Hanni, one of the wine industry's top experts, is a recovering alcoholic who hasn't had a drink in 14 years. Considered a maverick in the wine world, he is responsible for developing the "progressive wine list," a menu format that organizes wines from lightest to heaviest. He also created the Budometer, a quiz to determine wine preferences.

Full Disclosure

Setting a new benchmark in the transparency of winemaking, Bonny Doon Vineyard has pledged to begin disclosing all wine ingredients on its white and red wines beginning with vintage 2007 (ingredients will be listed in two sections on the back label of each bottle). More than 200 additives to wine are currently allowed by the U.S. government.

Gaga for Grapefruit?

It's official, grapefruit is making a cocktail comeback (according to the Washington Post).

Get Your Glögg On

Chef Marcus Samuelsson's recipe for the Swedish spiced wine. See also: 10 winter cocktails.

Holiday Beers

The New York Sun rounds up the dark, seasonal beers of winter.

Anatomy of a Champagne Bottle

The essential characteristics of a champagne bottle, from cork to "punt" (that indentation on the bottom).

Snooth Like That

Snooth.com is a online rating tool and search engine for wine.

Global Bubbly

The San Francisco Chronicle provides a field guide to the wide world of sparkling wines, from Australia to Lithuania and everything in between.

The Case Against Wine Bores

On his blog, Eric Asimov considers the problem of "wine bores": "You know the type, the person who only talks about wine, all the time, nonstop.... Even passionate wine-lovers can’t stand to be around wine bores, not because they have special knowledge of wine that is threatening but because they are bores."

Kickapoo Joy Juice

A cocktail improvisation created by American troops in World War II Italy: Just add grappa and grapefruit juice.

Understanding "Red Wine Headaches"

Chemists at the University of California, Berkeley, have created a device that can detect biogenic amines, the chemicals that many scientists believe cause "red wine headaches."

Nuke Your Nebbiolo

Refrigerating leftover wine can slow its deterioration, but red wine straight from the fridge is too cold to drink. A few brief zaps in the microwave will quickly bring your wine back to room temperature.

Hallowines

Wines for Halloween, from "Pure Evil Chardonnay" to "Hocus Pocus Syrah."

Getting Crafty

Major brewers Anheuser-Busch, Molson Coors Brewing, and SABMiller have entered the craft brewing market with craft beers that avoid using the parent company's name. Who knew that the tasty white beer Blue Moon was owned by Coors?

Urban Vintage

A growing number of small vintners are bringing winemaking to city surroundings.

Chill Out

Chillable red wines for hot summer days.

Tastings Gone Wild

Long Island's wineries are attracting unruly groups of drinkers who are sloshing and guzzling their way through free tastings.

Beer for Bags

Got beer? Get a bag (official site).

Wine Online

Food & Wine picks the 10 best online wine shops.

Pow! Wham! Slosh!

A collection of Batman-themed cocktails, from the "Bat Bite" to the "Robin's Nest." Via sf.

To Study or to Slosh?

In the New York Sun, Matt Kramer dissects two schools of thought about wine tasting: the formalist "you have to study it" technique and the more populist "pull the cork, pour, and glug" approach.

The Great Vodka Debate

A debate is brewing over a European Union initiative to define vodka simply as diluted ethyl alcohol. Writing in the New York Times, Serge Schmemann says that his "beef is with the whole brouhaha over a liquor whose greatest, and only, virtue is that it is colorless and tasteless."

Best Beers

The Guardian travels from China to South America in search of the world's best beers.

Guide to Glassware

CHOW offers a guide to drinking vessels, from champagne flutes to Pousse Café glasses.

Kosher Coke

In order not to lose sales from observant Jews during Passover, Coca-Cola produces a special, seasonal "Passover Coke" blended with refined sugar rather than high fructose corn syrup, which is proscribed during the holiday. Via megnut.

Cool Off

Four spring coolers to quench late winter warmth.

Golden Elixir

The Financial Times explores Québec’s ice cider industry.

Make Your Own Moonshine

CHOW offers an haute moonshine how-to.

Neat Fee: Annoying

Drink: The "neat fee" is the price of keeping ice out of your single malt scotch. Says Ruth Reichl: "Seems like a stupid move to me, a perfect way to annoy your customers."

Ice is Hot

Drink: For the modern mixologist, ice is the new hotness.

Sparkling Wine Advice

Drink: Sparkling wine advice for every budget.

Wine Glasses for Twentysomethings

Drink: Beyond the sippy cup: break-resistant wine glasses for clumsy twentysomethings.

Illy vs. Starbucks

Drink: Frowning upon frappucinos, Illy seeks to fight back against Starbucks' global dominance.

TeaMap

Drink: TeaMap tells you where to find tea rooms in your local zip code.

Drinking with the Times

Drink: The art of oddball mixology, specialty tonics, big beers, aged tequila, and drinking while pregnant are on tap in the New York Times special drinks issue.

Bond and Lillet

Drink: Casino Royale gives a boost to the tiny French producer of Lillet, an aperitif made from wine, fruit liqueur, and quinine that is an essential ingredient in James Bond's signature cocktail.

Pork Margarita

Drink: Cocktails for swineophiles: the pork margarita.

Booze is Money!

Drink:  New York Magazine wonders what's taken restaurants so long to set up bar annexes and ouzo rooms.  Four drink spots opening in Manhattan this month include more wine bars and a place that specializes in all things Shochu.

Trump and Tonic

Drink: How about a Trump and Tonic?

Beer History

Drink: In the New York Times, William Grimes reviews two new books on beer and American history.