The Spirit World

For classic cocktail fans like me, Crème Yvette is one of the many ingredients we wish we could find. It’s been defunct in the U.S. since the late 1960’s or so, when Charles Jacquin et Cie stopped production. Thankfully, we have other violette liqueur options to use now, but almost no one has tasted the […]

Wine Hotels Collection is the first exclusive club of Wine Hotels & Wine Resorts in the world. Wine Hotels Collection was created in order to reunite wine hotels of high quality, where each member has to fulfill norms of service of quality,  paying attention to each detail, architecture, decoration, etc. A club in effect that helps wine […]

If you’re not a captain of industry or you don’t have celebrity status, then you might want to check out my Artists Picks, great moderately priced wines under $10. I’ll be reviewing a different wine in each post, describing the terroir, region and providing tasting notes.
The Douro Valley in Portugal is a spectacular landscape of […]

Comeing up quick - May 16th and 17th May is the Savor American Craft Beer and Food Experience.
Described as a ‘must attend for craft beer aficionados and foodies alike’, SAVOR will offer a memorable craft beer and food experience to a limited number of attendees under the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, DC.
There will be […]

I attended the 5th annual American Distilling Institute conference earlier this month, and am happy to report that artisan distilling is thriving in the U.S. When my husband and I started our distillery four years ago, there were about 65 small distilleries in the U.S. Now there are 144 in operation and/or under construction. They […]

Last week saw the fifth annual gathering of the American Distilling Institute convene at the historic Seelbach Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky. As the trade association for the burgeoning small-scale craft distilling industry, the Institute chose an appropriate location for this year’s theme: whiskey. But the sense of history came not just from the architecture of […]

Last August, I participated in the Bordeaux International Educator program held outside Boston. Returning to New York via Amtrak, I had occasion to meet Gilat Ben-Dor, CSW, MBA, whom had participated in the program as well. A relative newcomer to the world of wine, Gilat has had an eventful introduction to the industry, reinforcing her […]

New York girls have reinvented the ancient act of dressing. Perhaps inspired by the lushness of Sofia Coppola’s divine Marie Antoinette, an enterprising group of Manhattanites have begun throwing dress up cocktail parties complete with the sparkling addition of an on call hair stylist.
A pre-nightlife event, fulfilling that childhood game of make believe, each girl […]

I spend a lot of time in liquor stores. I mean a LOT of time, mostly in the liquor section (as opposed to wine). So I tend to notice when new things come into the Chicago market, and also when things go on sale or are discontinued. Its interesting to see how many products have […]

Absolut Vodka, perhaps the last state-owned vodka in Europe, will be privatized next year. The Swedish government will auction off its parent company Vin & Spirit, considered the crown jewel of entrepreneurial heritage in the state.
The sale of the company could fill the state’s coffers with the equivalent of about five billion euros. The government […]