It seems safe to say that beer was the first of the many distilled beverages we enjoy today. After all, grains were the first crops cultivated in Mesopotamia, the birthplace of civilization, and references to beer date back over 6,000 years. Even Gilgamesh’s epic, the earliest example of writing we have, describes beer as a main factor in moving man from a primitive to civilized state.
&l...
Tour Host Review
Dailey-Thorp Travel has been a leader in opera and music tours for over 30 years. The expertise and dedication of founder Mary Dailey have led to Dailey-Thorp Travel being named as the official North American agent of the European Festivals Association. The company’s close relationships with opera houses and festivals worldwide enable it to carefully plan tours that include the most sought a...
Host of the Month
Now that the great car racing organization NASCAR has taken to bragging that it sponsors the most popular sport in the U.S., there’s been a lot of talk about how NASCAR’s origins are rooted in the Deep South’s old moonshine culture.It’s certainly an old culture, and not one that’s necessarily limited to the South. One of President Washington’s first crises in of...
Festival Pick
Now that the Oxford Dictionary has added Homer Simpson’s “Doh!” to its lexicon, it’s becoming more common to hear travelers say exactly that – Doh! – when they finally encounter Portugal.Europe’s westernmost nation, well off the continent’s beaten paths and long beyond its starring role on the world stage, has quietly spent the past 30 years emerging...
World Heritage Site
Before World War II, the United States supported hundreds of beer breweries, almost all of them regional. Upstate New Yorkers enjoyed Genesee and Rheingold beers, Milwaukeeans swore by Pabst and Schlitz, and for years loyal Los Angelenos had been buying streams of cheap, reliable Eastside beer and Brew 102.
After the war, as brands like Budweiser and Miller began pursuing all-out national mark...
Museum Pick
The heyday of national park creation is a few years behind
us. In 1980, Jimmy Carter signed into existence several gigantic parks
in Alaska, while Ronald Reagan later added Great Basin, Gates of the
Arctic and Glacier Bay to the array.
Bill Clinton oversaw the creation of D...
I did a little travel planning the other day that left me mostly shaking my head in confusion.Very simply, I went online to check out the price and availability of a round trip flight from San Francisco to Madrid and a multi-leg air trip from San Francisco to Madrid, with a stopover in London. I also wanted to check out hotels in Madrid.In my past life I was a travel agent...
When I asked my friend if she thought Chinchon was interesting, she replied: “To drink or to visit?” My friend, like most Spaniards, associates two things with the town of Chinchón: its beautiful portico square, or Plaza Mayor, and Anís de Chinchón, the aniseed liqueur made exclusively in that town and commonly known as Chinchon.
Absinthe takes its name from Artemisia absinthium, the botanical name for the bitter herb wormwood and one of its ingredients, thujone, a natural chemical compound that is the supposed source of absinthe’s alleged mind altering properties.
Wormwood was first used to flavor alcoholic drinks as far back as 1792, when a potion was created by Pierre Ordinaire, a French doctor living...
Now that the great car racing organization NASCAR has taken to bragging that it sponsors the most popular sport in the U.S., there’s been a lot of talk about how NASCAR’s origins are rooted in the Deep South’s old moonshine culture.
It’s certainly an old culture, and not one that’s necessarily limited to the South. One of President Washington’s first...
Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was born in Kentucky, where his father was a seasonal distillery hand. One of today's better bourbons, Knob Creek, was named after the site of that distillery. As a young man in Illinois, Lincoln applied for and received a state license to sell liquor, and he operated several taverns. As a politician during the period when anti-alcohol forces...
Before World War II, the United States supported hundreds of beer breweries, almost all of them regional. Upstate New Yorkers enjoyed Genesee and Rheingold beers, Milwaukeeans swore by Pabst and Schlitz, and for years loyal Los Angelenos had been buying streams of cheap, reliable Eastside beer and Brew 102.After the, and Miller began pursuing all-out national...
Now that the Oxford Dictionary has added Homer Simpson’s “Doh!” to its lexicon, it’s becoming more common to hear travelers say exactly that – Doh! – when they finally encounter Portugal.
Europe’s westernmost nation, well off the continent’s beaten paths and long beyond its starring role on the world stage, has quietly spent the past 30...
It
seems safe to say that beer was the first of the many distilled beverages we
enjoy today. After all, grains were the first crops cultivated in Mesopotamia,
the birthplace of civilization, and references to beer date back over 6,000
years. Even Gilgamesh’s epic, the earliest example of writing we...
Champagne wine comes from the northeastern region of France of the same name. It is the most northerly of the great wine regions and has a marginal climate, exposing it to spring frosts, cold summers and wet autumns.
The resulting grapes are low in sugar, fine in flavor and high in acidity, the ideal material for making sparkling wine. But the scenario is one of massive variations between...
Ah, Ouzo! So synonymous with Greece, its name alone can conjure the sun-drenched beaches and seaside tavernas of the Aegean, and the sweet smell of sun-dried octopus grilling over olive wood charcoal. Now oh so fashionable for natives and travelers alike, ouzo had somewhat more humble (and much more favorable) beginnings.
It started life as tsipouro, tsikouthia or raki, a strong,...
The company’s aim is to provide a great Scotch whisky experience, whether for connoisseurs, amateurs, or those just interested in learning a bit about Scotland’s national drink.
The company’s founders, Caroline Dewar and Helen Arthur, are both whisky experts. Helen has written a number of books on the subject, including the first comprehensive guide to malt whiskies...
Making the trip to Islay definitely separates the men from the boys. The Holy Grail we set out to attain was the distillery of Laphroaig. The aim: to trace the internationally known whisky back to its source, a tiny island in the Inner Hebrides just off the west coast of Scotland. Islay (pronounced I-la) is just three miles wide but has an impressive 130 miles of coastline.
While the name “Champagne” has an ease and a familiarity for most Americans, the same does not apply – yet – to “Franciacorta.” Franciacorta is first an area, located between Lake Iseo and the city of Brescia, in the northern Italian province of Lombardy. It is also the name given to the sparkling wines made – as they are in Champagne and Franciacorta – by the...
Dailey-Thorp Travel has been a leader in opera and music tours for over 30 years. The expertise and dedication of founder Mary Dailey have led to Dailey-Thorp Travel being named as the official North American agent of the European Festivals Association. The company’s close relationships with opera houses and festivals worldwide enable it to carefully plan tours that include the most...
The first one to feel the bite of pure alcohol on his tongue was probably an Arab alchemist of the eighth century, living in the area of present-day Morocco. Vodka, which in some of its forms comes very close to being an almost purely alcoholic brew, appeared in Europe later – we know that alcohol was being distilled from wine in Italy by the 11th century.
The nickname for Cognac’s inhabitants, “cagouillard,” means snail and refers to their love for a slower pace of life. In fact, had it not been for their river, the Charente (which Henry IV dubbed, “My kingdom’s nicest”), the Cognaçais would have been content to make a modest name for themselves with just their salt trade and local wine.
As North America's first distilled drink, and its first commercially-produced alcohol, tequila's history is long and rich. Its roots reach back into pre-Hispanic times when the natives fermented sap from the local maguey plants into a drink called pulque. The history of tequila's development from the traditional beverage to the modern spirit parallel's the often turbulent, chaotic growth of Mexico...
Absinthe takes its name from Artemisia absinthium, the botanical name for the bitter herb wormwood and one of its ingredients, thujone, a natural chemical compound that is the supposed source of absinthe’s alleged mind altering properties.
Now that the great car racing organization NASCAR has taken to bragging that it sponsors the most popular sport in the U.S., there’s been a lot of talk about how NASCAR’s origins are rooted in the Deep South’s old moonshine culture.
Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was born in Kentucky, where his father was a seasonal distillery hand. One of today's better bourbons, Knob Creek, was named after the site of that distillery. As a young man in Illinois, Lincoln applied for and received a state license to sell liquor, and he operated several taverns. As a politician during the period when anti-alcohol forces...
The company’s aim is to provide a great Scotch whisky experience, whether for connoisseurs, amateurs, or those just interested in learning a bit about Scotland’s national drink.
To this day, no one quite understands the mystique of Scotch whisky. Is it...
Making the trip to Islay definitely separates the men from the boys. The Holy Grail we set out to attain was the distillery of Laphroaig. The aim: to trace the internationally known whisky back to its source, a tiny island in the Inner Hebrides just off the west coast of Scotland. Islay (pronounced I-la) is just three miles wide but has an impressive 130 miles of coastline.
While the name “Champagne” has an ease and a familiarity for most Americans, the same does not apply – yet – to “Franciacorta.” Franciacorta is first an area, located between Lake Iseo and the city of Brescia, in the northern Italian province of Lombardy. It is also the name given to the sparkling wines made – as they are in Champagne and Franciacorta – by the....jpeg)
The first one to feel the bite of pure alcohol on his tongue was probably an Arab alchemist of the eighth century, living in the area of present-day Morocco. Vodka, which in some of its forms comes very close to being an almost purely alcoholic brew, appeared in Europe later – we know that alcohol was being distilled from wine in Italy by the 11th century..jpeg)
The nickname for Cognac’s inhabitants, “cagouillard,” means snail and refers to their love for a slower pace of life. In fact, had it not been for their river, the Charente (which Henry IV dubbed, “My kingdom’s nicest”), the Cognaçais would have been content to make a modest name for themselves with just their salt trade and local wine.