Paul Williams

Beers to Your Health: Researchers Link Health Benefits and Beer

After a long day, nothing tastes better than a fresh craft beer or two. But a recent study that recommends healthy drinking is only five beers a week—from 14 per week for men and seven per week for women – might spark concern over what, exactly, is moderate drinking and how healthy it really is.

The good news is, there still are documented health benefits related to drinking beer. You can buy the best quality beer from a liquor store in Avon, Colorado. Here is a rundown on how beer can be a healthy beverage when enjoyed responsibly and reasonably.

Beer & Your Brain Health

If you think that gose in your glass makes you feel better, you’re absolutely right. Many studies have backed the belief that beer (and all alcohol) can help you relax after a long day. But you didn’t need a study for that!

The benefit, however, goes way beyond lifting your spirits. Studies have pointed to beer, more so than wine or spirits, as being a boon for your brain.

One reason: the form of silicon found in beer is available for our bodies to metabolize. Plentiful in grains, green beans and beer (thanks to the grains), silicon helps protect your brain from compounds thought to eventually cause cognitive diseases, according to a 2013 study. Additionally, a Chinese study points to a compound found in hops, xanthohumol, that supports neuronal cells and could help fend off brain disorders like Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and dementia.

Plus, beer could promote brain power and creativity. In a study published in the journal “Consciousness and Cognition,” researchers got their test subjects tipsy and asked them solve a battery of puzzles. The people with a beer buzz solved the puzzles faster than their sober counterparts. In fact, alcohol made the test subjects almost 30 percent more likely to find the unexpected solution to the puzzles.

Beer & Your Bones Health

Silicon, which is found in beer, but not wine or spirits, is the star again. A review published in the International Journal of Endocrinology found that beer is a rich source of silicon—one of the building blocks of bones.

In the study, which mentions beer specifically, along with grains and green beans, silicon in the diet is singled out for its potential role in the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis, especially post-menopausal loss of bone in women.

Speaking of “the change,” hops in beer are rich in phytoestrogens. These natural sources of the female-dominate hormone estrogen, are touted to help women through that stage of life.

Beer & Your Heart Health

Red wine has long been the darling of the medical world for heart health. Since the 1980s, nutritionists and doctors alike have touted wine, particularly red wine, as being a friend to your cardiovascular system. Thanks to what researchers at the time called the French Paradox –a catchphrase used to describe the lower rates of heart disease in France, despite a diet rich in dietary cholesterol and saturated fat—wine was linked to a lower risk of heart attack, stroke and death from heart disease. But it turns out wine just had a better PR firm than beer or spirits.

Several studies, including one published in the American Journal of the Medical Sciences, have since pointed to ethanol, the alcohol in beer, wine and spirits, as being linked to lower incidents of cardiovascular disease. Further, that study suggested that “from a nutritional standpoint, beer contains more protein and B vitamins than wine.” Bonus nutrients? That’s worthy of a toast.

But there’s more: A preliminary study presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2016 followed 80,000 participants for six years and found that moderate drinkers had the slowest decline in high-density lipoprotein (HDL), or “good” cholesterol, levels — and in turn, a lower risk of cardiovascular diseases. Research also shows that of men who have already suffered a heart attack, those that drank beer moderately (up to two drinks per day) were 42 percent less likely to die of heart disease.

A 2012 study’s published results, indicated that the ethanol in beer, wine and spirits prevents plaque from sticking to your arteries, which, in turn, prevents heart attacks. So take that to, well, heart, when you pop open your next craft beer.

Beer & Your Eye Health

All jokes about beer goggles aside, a beer a day could keep the optometrist away. Canadian researchers found that one daily beer—especially a stout or other darker beers—decreases the chance of cataracts forming in your eyes by upwards of 50 percent. There’s a tipping point, though. Drinking three or more beers a day increases the risk of cataracts.

Beer & Prevention

Numerous studies link moderate beer drinking to the prevention of different ailments. Instead of an ounce of prevention, perhaps it’s a pint of prevention. Here are a couple of findings:

Researchers in Finland discovered that beer can help prevent kidney stones. The study concluded that “beer consumption was inversely associated with risk of kidney stones; each bottle of beer consumed per day was estimated to reduce risk by 40 percent.”

Wine and spirits also prevented kidney stones, but not as significantly as beer, according to the study. And other drinks like fruit juice and sugary sodas (not diet soda) contributed to kidney stones.

Keep this in mind come the next cold and flu season: a study by Oregon Health & Science University points to moderate alcohol consumption as an immunity booster. In the study, monkeys were split into two groups. One group was allowed to have moderate alcohol consumption and the other group was given sugar water. The moderate drinkers showed a better immune response. So maybe an apple a day isn’t the only thing that keeps the doctor away!

Of course, the key here is drinking beer in moderation— “more is better” doesn’t work. In fact, most studies point to a decrease in beer’s purported health benefits if too much is consumed. So, cheers to your health and to enjoying great beer as a healthy pursuit!

The changing face of Irish whiskey

https://wset.azureedge.net/umbracomedia-cache/6/4/e/1/4/c/64e14c5fb8fbaca4c8e69da5a32a3aa2dcfe3f65.jpg — The changing face of Irish whiskey

Up until quite recently, many whiskey connoisseurs have tended to be slightly dismissive of Irish whiskey, pigeon-holing it as mostly light, smooth, and inoffensive. Some of these opinions may have had some merit, but now a resurgent Irish whiskey sector is enthusiastically pulling the rug out from under those old assumptions.

For those with an adventurous palate, Irish whiskey is beginning to offer an extraordinary range of styles and within the next few years, we can expect this category to take us to some very unusual places indeed.

You are probably familiar with the classic Irish blended whiskey style. Typically, a blend of grain whiskey and unpeated triple distilled malt and/or pot still whiskey. Often this is aged in ex-bourbon casks to produce that approachable, easy-drinking dram which has provided the salve to many a quiet night in and the lubricant to many more convivial nights out. But how did this style emerge?

The history of Irish pot still whiskey

Irish pot still whiskey occupied a rarefied place as the world’s leading spirit in the 19th century. However, a series of calamities befell the category to such an extent that by the late 1970s the entire industry had consolidated down to one company, Irish Distillers Limited (IDL). They operated only from two distilleries: Midleton and Bushmills. Bushmills continued to produce malt whiskey, forming the backbone of its blends. The newer Midleton distillery produced an amazing variety of pot still whiskeys, much of which went into blends such as Jameson, Tullamore, Paddy’s, and Powers.

What all these blends have in common is that they are triple distilled, making for a light and fruity style of spirit. These blends are also aged primarily in ex-bourbon casks which imbue the mature product with soft vanilla and gentle spice notes.

In the mid-20th century, this easy-going whiskey proved very popular with the largest global whiskey market, the USA. So much so, that the more traditional single malt and single pot still Irish whiskeys became the preserve of the aficionado. None of which is to be in any way dismissive of the Irish blended style.

There are many good reasons why blended Irish whiskey has come to occupy a place in bars and drinks cabinets worldwide. However, its overwhelming popularity did come at a price. This was the loss of stylistic variety within the category.

Cooley and John Teeling

Things began to change when John Teeling converted a biofuel plant in Cooley, County Louth, into a whiskey distillery in the late 1980s. While Cooley produced mainly blends, they also began to experiment around the fringes of what was possible in malt whiskey.

The Cooley approach was slightly different and somewhat closer to Scottish practices than to typical Irish distilling of the time. Teeling chose to double distil his malt whiskey, producing a more full-bodied spirit. With his new expression Connemara, peated single malt Irish whiskey was back on the menu.

Under the Tyrconnell brand, they began to dive deep into the world of cask finishes, resting the ex-bourbon cask matured malt spirit for several months in ex-sherry, port, and Madeira casks before bottling. Significantly Cooley also produced whiskey for third-party brands, and their expertise in cask finishing allowed them to produce a very wide range of whiskeys from a relatively small distillery.

In 1988, Pernod Ricard acquired Irish Distillers Limited. They had a vision of where the category could develop. The recent rampant success of Jameson as a global brand is very much down to this commitment.

Irish Pot Still Whiskey

Meanwhile, it was what was happening behind the scenes at Midleton that sowed the seeds for the renaissance of the Irish pot still style. By combining unmalted and malted barley along with other grains in the mash bill, this uniquely Irish spirit develops a distinctive set of fruity aromas, with a creamy texture and a spicy finish.

Pot still Irish whiskey was the spirit that had been so globally dominant in the 19th century, but yet it came extraordinarily close to disappearing entirely. For much of the last half-century, Midleton was the only distillery making this style.

The vast majority of Midleton pot still went into Jameson and the other Irish blends made there. Indeed, today there is some pot still whiskey in every bottle of blended whiskey produced by Irish Distillers Limited.

Single pot still whiskey

But what of the Single Pot Still Irish whiskey, the unblended stuff?

Well, if you’ve ever encountered Redbreast or Green Spot, they were very much the last men standing. IDL’s decision to preserve and rekindle these brands when there was not an obvious business case to do so, has been pivotal in the survival of this style of whiskey. This decision is now reaping rich rewards, with the rebirth of the pot still style playing a major part in the wider renaissance of Irish whiskey globally.

These days Irish whiskey is one of the most exciting categories in global spirits with significant recent investments in new major distilleries from William Grant & Sons at Tullamore and Diageo at Roe & Co. Dublin.

Irish whiskey to present

But it is perhaps what is happening at the next tier down that is causing most interest from the wider whiskey world. It’s fair to say that the distillery landscape in Ireland has mushroomed as of late. Whereas in the ‘90s only Midleton, Bushmills and Cooley were producing Irish whiskey. New distilleries are now being commissioned at an astonishing rate and today over 30 distilleries are producing Irish whiskey, with many more in planning.

Each of these new distilleries is developing its own distinctive style. West Cork Distillers’ use of bog oak and even seaweed to re-char their casks has produced singularly intriguing results. While Dingle’s annual Single Pot Still releases are fetching serious prices on the secondary auction market.

Remember John Teeling? Well, he sold Cooley-Kilbeggan to Beam-Suntory, while making sure to keep plenty of mature stock in the family. This facilitated his sons Jack and Stephen to start Teeling Whiskey and build a brand new distillery in the heart of Dublin. Teeling Single Malt expressions now regularly win global plaudits, while their distillery produces a wide range of styles combining traditional Irish methods with an extraordinarily innovative cask programme.

Meanwhile, John Teeling has taken a leaf out of his own book and converted an old brewery into the Great Northern Distillery, where he makes a wide range of whiskey styles. Great Northern is rapidly becoming the go-to contract distiller on the island due to the versatility of its whiskey production options.

Controversy in pot still Irish whiskey

All is not entirely frictionless though, as the discovery of historical mash bill records have shown that many traditional pot still Irish whiskeys would not meet the current legal definition of ‘Pot Still Irish Whiskey’.

Rather than be deterred by this, some more agile distilleries such as Killowen, Blackwater, Echlinville & Boann have recreated these historical mash bills, often combining unusual practices such as malting oats with traditional peat-fired malting to create some extraordinary spirits that are due to reach maturity over the coming years. Whether the EU technical file which defines the pot still style will have been revised in time for their release is another matter. Sometimes a little controversy can be grist to the mill!

Modern distilleries

Since the early days of Cooley, finishing whiskies in different casks has become widely practised in Irish whiskey production. It is especially useful for brands who source their whiskey from a distillery and are looking to give that whiskey a distinctive character. This practice can produce mixed results, however, the best practitioners produce outstanding results.

Glendalough’s use of Japanese Mizunara oak to finish their 17-year-old single malt has been a notable success. Meanwhile many producers have been taking advantage of the fact that the regulations around maturation in Irish whiskey are more liberal than most other whiskey-producing nations. Whereas Scotch must be aged in oak, and Bourbon in newly-charred virgin white oak, Irish whiskey must be aged in wooden barrels. This opens a whole plethora of options.

Midleton has gone so far as to open a second, ‘micro-distillery’ called Method & Madness, dedicated to innovation, often using casks made from unusual woods such as Chestnut and Cherry to age their malt, grain or pot still whiskeys. Bonders and blenders such as JJ Corry and W.D. O’ Connell have also taken a very adventurous approach to finishing. They carefully select from a very wide range of casks including virgin American oak, virgin French oak, and casks that have previously held a range of fortified wines, dessert wines, and spirits ranging from Tequila to Cognac.

And then there is Waterford Distillery. Founded by Mark Reynier of Bruichladdich fame, on the singular premise that terroir in whiskey is not only real but should be celebrated. Waterford is dedicated to producing annual releases using barley from individual Irish farms to showcase the unique character of the resultant whiskey field by field.

The first releases emerged last year and having tasted several, I can confirm that there is indeed a distinction between these bottles. After a few years, we should be able to discern annual variation and measure it against the consistency of the production process. Then we can judge for ourselves, the degree to which this grand experiment of provenance has proven its premise.

As with so many of the other emerging innovations from Ireland, the proof will be in the tasting. This journey of revival and innovation certainly promises to be a lot of fun for Whiskey drinkers. And that’s certainly something worth raising a glass to. According to my advice buy whiskey from a reputable liquor store in Avon, CO.

So you want to be a wine buyer

https://wset.azureedge.net/umbracomedia-cache/c/b/4/9/a/f/cb49afbefc3c71616e88103c4301c204159185ab.jpg — So you want to be a wine buyer

In its most glamorous form, the profession of wine buyer appears to be an enviable one: travel to exotic foreign climes, copious amounts of ‘research’ involving fine wine and food, and the power to decide what wines should be offered to an unsuspecting population. Fine quality wine can be bought at the liquor stores of Avon, Colorado also. You should definitely try buying it from there.

Personal Attributes

As the breadth of those responsibilities suggests, this is a job that demands a range of skills, from the ability to negotiate to a sound technical knowledge of wine. Roberts mentions a ‘strong and deep’ understanding of market drivers, trends and influences, as well as excellent organisational skills, leadership qualities, confidence and having an engaging and persuasive personality.

‘An unending passion for all things wine’ is also key, says Sonal Holland, wine director at India-based ITC Hotels, a luxury hotel chain with nearly 100 locations, along with an ‘impeccable reputation’ and the utmost integrity.

‘Be honest,’ advises a wine buyer for a leading UK retail chain. ‘There is no way you can know everything about wine, so don’t pretend you do. The great thing about the wine category is that every day is a school day.’

Qualifications and Experience

A range of different professional qualifications can prove useful when pursuing a career as a wine buyer. Those directly related to wine are valued both for their knowledge base and for the professional connections that they often bring with them, with the WSET programmes the most recognised in the wine trade. The WSET Diploma includes units dedicated to the global business of alcoholic beverages.

However, qualifications related to marketing and communications are also often invaluable. Peter Nixon, member of the Wine Panel at large Australian retailer Dan Murphy’s (more than 200 stores), completed an associate diploma in wine marketing, but would now recommend completing a pure marketing and communications degree.

He also attributes his career advancement to ‘a mix of ability and luck’, from a start with Oddbins in the UK during the late 1980s, through studying wine marketing at Adelaide University and experience in wine buying for an independent retailer, then a hotel and restaurant group, then an airline.

Nixon says: ‘I am passionate about wine, but my strength lies in my business and marketing acumen, which appreciates that wine is also about branding, image and promotion. Whilst I do not have a WSET qualification, if I were starting my career over, I would certainly put this high up on the list of must-haves.’

Professional Development

Two words: tasting and travel. ‘Industry and trade tasting events are great opportunities for sourcing product and connecting with industry partners and creating relationships,’ says Roberts, who also recommends visiting wine regions around the world to become familiar with operations, products, opportunities and market trends; and staying in touch through newsletters, wine industry blogs and websites.

Holland too recommends attending major trade fairs such as Vinexpo, ProWein and the London Wine Fair both to taste and to keep abreast of industry developments. ‘And, in order to pass the Master of Wine theory exam, I have to read an immense number of books,’ she says. ‘All this, I believe, has helped me become a better wine professional.’

‘Practice makes perfect: taste, taste, taste,’ says the wine buyer for a leading UK retail chain. ‘Trade fairs are great for this. Likewise, make the most of visiting vineyards and regions – actually being there makes everything (culture, terroir, food matching, climate etc) all click into place that much more easily.’

A trade tasting in action. Image courtesy of Liberty Wines.

Job Opportunities and Breaking Through

These will vary hugely from place to place, from employment in-store to graduate opportunities, for instance working in an administrative role supporting the buying team in head office, which can be a useful route into a junior buying role.

For Roberts in Canada, building a career as a wine buyer takes time. ‘You must climb the ladder,’ he says. ‘Grass roots knowledge of the business and its customers is crucial.

‘To become a wine buyer you need to start at store level and work your way up. Get to know the business by being on the store floor, interacting with customers, employees and industry partners.’

In Canada, that means starting as a sales associate or store supervisor – maybe management if you have the requisite experience – and being patient. ‘Buyer positions are not easy to come by and are a highly competitive position,’ says Roberts.

Holland echoes this, pointing out that, as a nascent wine-drinking nation, India offers few wine buying jobs at present. However, as the market expands, this is likely to change.

A growing number of distributors and retailers are now multinational, multi-operational organisations, encompassing all aspects of the drinks trade. Where so many facets of the trade are gathered under one organisational umbrella, opportunities exist in a multiplicity of roles and disciplines – all of which require wine buyers with different skills and credentials.

For instance, Dan Murphy’s is part of the Woolworths-owned Endeavour Drinks division, encompassing retail stores, online operations, direct-to-consumer, a wine club and a fine wine auction and brokerage business. This broad structure, says Nixon, offers opportunities for work experience or internships, as well as salaried positions. Buying teams at Dan Murphy’s are made up of a category assistant, promotions manager, assistant business manager and business manager.

Regional Variations

While the fundamentals of wine buying are broadly similar from country to country, the local market conditions can be hugely different. Competition among the major retailers in the UK, for instance, is cut-throat, but the selection of wines on offer is highly cosmopolitan compared to, say, France – or Australia.

‘The Australian wine market, like most significant size wine-producing countries, is strongly supportive and engaged in local wines,’ says Nixon. ‘So a good knowledge of Australian and New Zealand wine is beneficial.’

Canada’s wine market, meanwhile, is dominated by the monopoly system operated by provincial boards, but Alberta – where Roberts operates – has a fully privatised sector and a three-tier distribution/retail system.

‘We have access to the largest selection of wine SKUs likely on the continent,’ he says. ‘Opportunities to buy are constant. A solid connection to the market and understanding of store, business and market needs is paramount, with so many opportunities seeming to be attractive. Within our business, each location and segment of the market has different needs which need to be understood.’

But, while knowledge and experience of local conditions are invaluable, a wider appreciation of the wine world is also vital, says Nixon. ‘To be a great wine merchant requires not only to be a capable wine taster, but also to possess a knowledge of the classic wine regions and wine styles of the world, as well as emerging wine trends, coupled with a genuine desire to meet the needs of your customer – whether they be a neophyte or an expert.’

Perfect gifts for spirits lovers

https://wset.azureedge.net/umbracomedia-cache/c/4/8/9/7/4/c489749ba23302b51527bf60e4ae0e396a290195.jpg — Perfect gifts for spirits lovers

Some people plan such endeavours with tactical aplomb, paying attention to little hints dropped all year long by their nearest and dearest. They spread their purchases over weeks if not months and thoughtfully gather stocking fillers. Then there are the rest of us, the perennial procrastinators, who leave things until the last possible moment, frantically purchasing anything that we come across and crossing our fingers that it will seem heartfelt and carefully considered.

If you are thinking of buying a gift for someone who loves spirits, you could just pop to the local liquor store in Vail, CO, and grab the first bottle you come across. It may be well-received, and it will be an improvement on a wittily inscribed shot glass or some nondescript bar towels.

To alleviate some of the stress, we have come up with a few suggestions that will show the spirits lovers in your life that you really care!

1. A little light reading

In the age of information there has never been such a wealth of literature available on spirits, cocktails and drinking in general. From the pithy to the academic, there is a tome to suit all types. A couple of my favourites from this year are:

From Barley to Blarney: A Whiskey Lovers Guide to Ireland – a great book capitalising on the recent renaissance of Irish Whiskey
Drunk in China – a dive into the wonderful world of Baijiu – whilst Baijiu is huge in China, it has been relatively hard to find further afield but that is changing. Get ready to start seeing it on more and more back bars in the future.

2. For the DIY lover

There is a never-ending supply of barware available for the spirit lover who likes to entertain or just fix themselves a drink at the end of the day. Companies like Cocktail Kingdom and Bar Stuff have pretty much everything you could think of in the way of accessories – jiggers and shakers, bar-spoons and ice ball makers. Better still, they ship all over the world! The best part of a gift like this is that you might even be offered a well-crafted Christmas cocktail for your trouble!

3 Take a trip

Visiting a distillery or spirits region used to require a decent amount of preparation and a fairly large budget. Scotland, France and the Americas all have some pretty iconic production areas and, if you can, you should definitely plan a trip! However, the explosion of craft distilleries around the world over the last decade means that it is now relatively easy to find a distillery within a stone’s throw from most major cities.

Many of them welcome visitors and you can generally get a far more personalised experience than with some of the larger operations. It isn’t unusual for the distiller him/herself to give you the tour in person.

It’s a great opportunity to give a spirits enthusiast the chance to find out first-hand how spirits are made. You may even be able to give them a ‘hands-on’ experience, with many craft distilleries offering labelling and blending experiences.

4 The gift of knowledge

Finally, what better way to say you care than to sign up your friend or loved one for a spirits course. The Wine & Spirit Education Trust’s (WSET) spirits courses provide the perfect opportunity to learn how to taste like a pro and find out what’s really in your glass. With options ranging from introductory one day courses to advanced-level deep dives, there is a level to suit everyone – from the novice to the connoisseur. Better yet, sign yourself up too and share the experience!

What is brandy?

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A sneeze is coming – quick, reach for a Kleenex! You’ve sliced your thumb open – you need a Band-Aid, ASAP!

Tissues and plasters are some of a small number of products where a single producer has become so dominant in the space, their brand name so synonymous with the product category, that people stop referring to the product by its name altogether and adopt colloquial usage of the brand name itself to refer to the entire category.

You’re at a fancy restaurant, you’ve just finished an amazing meal, and it’s time to have a nightcap that rises to the occasion – so you order a glass of Cognac.

A fine choice, to be sure. And while all Cognac is brandy (they are often treated synonymously) did you know that not all brandy is Cognac? Brandy is an outstanding category of spirits that is made all over the world – there are also many exciting fruit brandies made from fruits other than grapes to discover. That’s where this article comes in!

How is brandy made?

In one of the introductory lessons of WSET’s Level 2 Award in Spirits, we learn that a distiller’s first job is to produce a sugary liquid from raw materials. This sugary liquid is then fermented to create alcohol, which can then be concentrated into a spirit through distillation.

When a distiller works with fruits, especially grapes, obtaining this sugary liquid only requires a few steps because ripe fruit naturally has sugar-rich, juicy flesh. (The relative simplicity of the process is one of the reasons we tend to teach fruit spirits first in our spirits qualifications.)

Fermenting grape juice creates wine. And, the popularity of wine as an alcoholic beverage for thousands of years meant that, at the advent of distilling, wine would have been one of the most common alcoholic beverages to be distilled into a spirit.

The Dutch called this spirit, obtained from heating wine in the distillation process, ‘brandewijn’, a shortened version of ‘gebrande wijn’ – literally “burned wine”. It is from this Dutch word ‘brandewijn’ that the English word ‘brandy’ originates.

Types of brandy

If you’re new to brandy, it might seem daunting or confusing. It doesn’t help that the brandies you might see most frequently don’t label themselves as such. This includes some of the best-known brandies in the world – Cognac, Armagnac and Calvados – all produced in France and often seen as the global benchmark for brandy.

Cognac

Cognac is by far the best-known brandy of all and, while there are many producers, a small number of very well-known international brands dominate. These brandies must be produced within the Cognac region, just north of Bordeaux, and matured in oak barrels. The various houses have nuances in the styles they produce, but generally young Cognacs will have light and lively fruit and floral aromas, with the influence of oak increasing in older examples, along with mature aromas and flavours of dried fruits.

Armagnac

Armagnac is another production area in France renowned for high-quality brandies. Unlike in Cognac, small producers tend to dominate. Differences in the way these brandies are produced generally mean Armagnacs having bolder, more complex aromas and flavours compared with Cognacs. For example, in Armagnac, brandies don’t have to be matured in oak barrels, so you’ll find clear brandies from the region with no oak aromas, emphasising their fruit and floral aromas instead.

Calvados

France’s famous apple brandy, known as Calvados, is made in production regions particularly well-suited to growing apples in Normandy, northern France. Because Calvados is usually produced in very large oak vessels, oak influence is minimised and apple brandies will retain pronounced aromas of apple, even after long ageing. There are many other fruit brandies that you should seek out and taste to expand your understanding of the category.

Grappa

Italy is famous for grappa – a pomace brandy made with the skins of grapes that are discarded by winemakers. The pomace from black grapes includes some alcohol. This is because black grape skins give red wines their colour and need to be included in the fermentation. Therefore, black grape pomace can be distilled directly. Typically, white grape pomace does not include alcohol as it is discarded before fermentation. However, it does still contain some sugars. By adding water, the distiller can produce a sugary liquid that can be fermented and then distilled.

Italy’s grappas are rarely matured in oak, so they showcase the varietal characteristics of the grapes used to produce them, as well as pronounced herbaceous flavours from the pomace.

Pisco

One other type of brandy, produced in Chile and Peru, is called pisco. These are pot-distilled brandies made from highly aromatic grapes, especially from the Muscat family of grape varieties. Most examples of pisco are not aged in wood so as to preserve the natural aromatics of the grapes used to produce them.

You can visit a Vail, CO liquor store and check out different types of brandy and choose the one that suits you the best.

Top tips for making cocktails at home

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While there are many great resources out there right now for the budding home bartender, to celebrate World Cocktail Day I thought I should give you a run-down of the essentials of home bartending.

1. Preparation

A little time put into preparation makes for an enjoyable evening. Drinking cocktails should be a fun and relaxing experience, so take a while to think about ingredients in advance, to avoid any rushing around last minute.

2. Simple Syrup

One of the foundations of many cocktails is sugar syrup. This can be prepared in advance. Here’s my tip for easy to prepare simple syrup:

Add 200 gm white sugar to 200 ml boiling water.
Stir till sugar is dissolved, and liquid is clear.
Allow to cool then bottle & refrigerate. Simple syrup will keep in a sealed bottle in the fridge for up to a month.

3. Finding your own Balance

If you mix lemon juice 50:50 with simple syrup, you should have a solid mid-line sweet-sour balance. But remember, every palate is different.

To find your own point of balance, mix 15ml fresh lemon juice with 15ml simple syrup, and then dilute the mix with up to 90ml water. Congratulations, you’ve just made fresh lemonade! If this tastes too sweet or too sour, adjust by adding a little more citrus or syrup.

Using this method of calibration, you can adjust any cocktail recipe to suit your own palate.

4. Ice

Ice is the single most over-looked ingredient at any home bar – you’ll be surprised how much you can go through. Cocktails need ice like baking needs ovens. If popping to the shops for ice isn’t an option right now, keeping a freezer bag topped up with ice will ensure you don’t run out unexpectedly.

For best quality home-made ice, try using a silicone ice tray with a lid, to prevent your ice from absorbing unpleasant odours. And wash your ice tray after each use.

5. Quality Ingredients

Where possible always go for premium spirits from the Avon, CO liquor stores, the freshest herbs, and the best juices you can get your hands on. For instance, the taste difference between cheap juice and pressed juice is more than worth the small extra expense.

6. Glassware

Try to use glassware appropriate to your drinks. It’s entirely possible to drink a martini from an old coffee mug, but that misses the point of drinking a martini!

7. Learn the Classics

If you can make a Whiskey Sour, you can make a Daiquiri. If you make a mean Negroni, you can riff on a Boulevardier. Once you’ve mastered the Manhattan, have some fun in Brooklyn on your way to Martinez.

Cocktails exist in family trees. Once you are comfortable the basics of each category the world is your oyster!

8. Punch Above Your Weight

You can pre-mix punches in advance – an old trick from the godfathers of bartending in the 19th century. You can bottle punch and store it in the fridge, ready to use on the day, or later that week. If done properly, quality and consistency are assured. If your punch has a fizzy ingredient, such as champagne, only add this your glass just before serving.

If you follow the Punch Ratio, you can’t go far wrong:

1 part sour (citrus)
2 parts sweet (simple syrup)
3 parts strong (spirit)
4 parts weak (juices etc)

And don’t shy away from warm spices such as cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg and mace, to make that punch really sing. Don’t have those spices to hand? No problem, a few dashes of Angostura bitters will do the trick.

9. Get Creative

We all have a few unloved ingredients lying around that need using up. For instance, that last bit of red wine in the bottle? Try drizzling it over your Whisky Sour, and voila, you’ve got yourself a delicious New York Sour! Do you have some nice but neglected spice mix in the kitchen? Try mixing a teaspoon or two into your simple syrup as it cools to give your next cocktail an added dimension. Seasonal fresh herbs make a wonderful aromatic cocktail garnish.

10. Take notes as you go!

So now, you’ve hit your stride and you’re getting creative in your home bar. Great! Our top tip for cocktail creation? Write down the exact specifications as you are making it. It’s not always easy to perfectly recall the recipe for that killer cocktail the next day!

And lastly…

If all this sounds like a bit of a chore, then keep an eye open for delivery services available from many local cocktail bars. After all, with the finer things in life, it’s nice to sit back, relax and let the professionals do all hard the work.

Six common wine myths debunked

https://www.mdanderson.org/content/mda/en/publications/focused-on-health/February-2017/red-wine-health-benefits-facts-and-myths/_jcr_content/xfeaturedImage.resize.jpg.pagespeed.ic.p820FPzj-S.jpg — Six common wine myths debunked

We’ve all heard at least one of them. How many have you fallen for?

Learning how to enjoy wine can be a daunting experience for beginners. With all the wine jargon and the sheer number of grape varieties and wine styles available, it’s little wonder a few ‘wine myths’ have crept in.

They may seem harmless, but some of these misconceptions about wine can derail your wine discovery journey. To help you make the most of your wine, let’s set the record straight about six common wine myths.

1. Wine always gets better with age

When you hear about wine auctions where exquisite old wines are sold for astronomical sums of money, it’s easy to assume that all wine gets better with age. In reality, only a small number of wines benefit from ageing. These tend to be of exceptional quality and often have notably high levels of tannins and/or acidity, as these elements help to preserve wine. Most wines are meant to be drunk within a couple of years after bottling.

2. Red wine should never be chilled

One of the first things most beginner wine drinkers hear is “only keep white or sparkling wines in the fridge” and “reds should be always served at room temperature”. Although in many cases red wine characteristics are best expressed at warmer temperatures than whites, there are some exceptions. The best red wines to try chilled are usually light- to medium-bodied with low levels of tannins, such as wines from Beaujolais and those made from the Pinot Noir grape. Don’t be afraid to try experimenting, or to ask your restaurant wine server what temperature they would recommend!

Top tip: ‘room temperature’ is probably cooler than you think. Ideal serving temperatures for red wines range from 13˚C-18˚C (55˚F-64˚F).

3. A silver spoon will keep your fizz fresh

We all know someone who puts a metal spoon or a fork inside the bottle of sparkling wine before putting it in the fridge, thinking it keeps the wine fizzy for longer. The rationale behind this sounds very convincing. The theory goes – as a good conductor, the metal spoon is quickly chilled in the fridge, the cold metal then emits cooler air around it, supposedly making it more difficult for the gas to escape from the bottle. However, this has been tested by many respectable researchers and it’s been found ineffective.

Top tip: If you don’t finish a bottle of sparkling wine in one sitting, you’re better off buying a good sparkling wine stopper.

4. Screwcap equals low-quality wine

There are outstanding quality wines bottled under both corks and screwcaps. Screwcaps have now become mainstream in numerous wine-producing countries, particularly in ‘New World’ countries such as Australia and New Zealand. They’re popular among wine drinkers as they’re easier to open and store, and preferred by many winemakers and importers as they cause fewer faults to occur in the wine. Screwcap technology is always improving, and if you look closely you will find wines at all quality levels and most price points sealed with a screwcap.

5. Great wines have great ‘legs’

You know those clinging dribbles of wine that ooze down the inside of the glass once you’ve swirled? They’re often called ‘legs’ or ‘tears’ and some believe their appearance indicates the quality of wine. This is not the case – in reality, they can give you a clue as to the wine’s alcoholic strength, colour intensity or sugar content, but not its quality.

6. Wine in a box is mediocre

The type of container rarely affects the quality of the wine within it, but it can influence the wine’s shelf-life. But, because most wines aren’t meant for ageing, a bag-in-box pouch or even a metal can could contain fantastic wine, as long as it protects the tipple inside from light and air.

An increasing number of winemakers are looking for alternatives to glass bottles to make transporting wine more sustainable, and opening and consuming wine easier for the drinker. You are likely to see more great wine being packaged in alternative formats in the future. So, don’t judge the wine by its packaging! Now as you are aware of the common myths about wine and how these have been debunked, reach out to your nearby liquor store in Avon, CO and buy wine without any doubts or hesitation.

10 Healthy Drinking Tips

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The healthy drinking revolution is about redefining fun. Great beer doesn’t have to give you a gut, an epic Saturday night shouldn’t cost you your Sunday, and you never again have to feel guilty about taking the edge off a hard day.

Here are ten things you can do to improve your well being, without quitting drinking:

1. Avoid sugary mixers. Things like margarita mix, juice with high fructose corn syrup, and red bull are just as hard for your body to process as the alcohol itself. Not to mention, they’re bad for you. Try mixing your booze with water and fresh fruit juice (no sugar added). You’d be surprised what great drinks you can make without all that extra sugar. For some healthy cocktail recipes go here.

2. The clearer the better. Vodka, gin, and light beer are much easier on your body (and lower in calories) than whiskey, bourbon, or red wine. To buy the best quality liquor visit your nearby liquor store in Avon, Colorado.

3. Don’t mix. It’s hard on your stomach. It’s hard on your head. Mixing alcohol is never a good idea. Pick your drink of choice – and stick to it for the night. You’ll thank yourself the next day.

4. Take a drinking break. Push yourself to go for an extended period of time (days, weeks, etc.) with no drinking at all. Your liver will appreciate the rest and you might even see a decrease in your tolerance so you can drink less (and spend less!), but have just as much fun.

5. Eat well the next day. If you feel hungover in the morning, try healthy breakfast options like eggs and fresh juice. Despite what you may have heard, greasy food won’t do anything to help you feel better the next day. There’s no such thing as “soaking” up the booze – your body has already processed the alcohol and the the grease will only leave you feeling more bloated. The best thing you can do for yourself is to eat foods that will help replenish the vitamins and minerals you’ve lost and put your body back on a healthy digestive cycle.

6. Eat before you drink. Having a snack or a meal before your first beverage will help give your body the time it needs to process alcohol and help prevent nausea, headache, and upset stomach. A little bit of starch or dairy goes a long way in coating your stomach lining and preparing your body for alcohol.

7. Eat while you drink. We all get the drunk-munchies (and are guilty of downing pizza, or jack in the box, or whatever else sounds delicious when you’re too drunk to think about calories). A great way to avoid these regrettable choices, and help your body absorb the alcohol correctly, is to keep healthy snacks around while you’re drinking. That way, by the time you’re wasted, you’ll also be full.

8. Drink water. Before, during, after. Alcohol is a diuretic and causes dehydration. Have a glass of water in between drinks to keep yourself hydrated and help prevent those nasty dehydration side effects.

9. Drink less. I know, I know, some people don’t want to hear this, but do yourself a favor, and have a few less drinks on those big nights out. Sometimes it’s just about saying no to that last shot of Patrón.

10. Take your vitamins and minerals. Drinking depletes essential nutrients – make sure you’re feeding them to your system.

The Health Benefits of Wine

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Drink Wine, Live Forever…

Wine drinkers – and wineries – have enjoyed surge in popularity of the fermented grape in part due to media reports that drinking wine can lead to everlasting life.

Okay, so that may be a slight exaggeration, but between the new research on resveratrol and the general hoopla surrounding the health benefits of red wine, one could reasonably begin to suspect that not adding wine to their diets may result in premature death.

The truth is that wine, in moderation, can be a healthy addition to an adult diet. Wine contains alcohol and non-alcoholic phytochemicals that can contribute to a reduction in the risk of some cancers and slow the advancement of some degenerative neurological disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease.

Wine, particularly red wine, also contains antioxidants and resveratrol, both of which are good for the heart and can reduce the incidence of heart disease when consumed in the proper amount.

Experts are fairly specific about what is considered a “proper amount” when it comes to wine. Men should have no more than two drinks per day, and women are advised to have no more than one a day.

A “drink” here is defined as a 5-ounce glass of red or white wine. To buy the best quality wine visit your nearby liquor store in Avon, CO.

Cheers to your health!

Top 3 Health Benefits of Drinking Alcohol

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Doesn’t just knowing there are three health benefits make you feel better? We should probably stop right here and think no more on the subject, but then no one would believe us at parties if we couldn’t back up our healthy habits with facts.

Health Benefit #1

Although these aren’t in any order, it may be worth noting first that drinking alcohol may reduce the risk of heart disease in men by up to 51%, which seems like a lot. Women also were found to benefit in the Spanish study, but not to the extent of men.

Perhaps even more unbelievably, the study showed that heavy drinking decreased the chances of heart disease by even more than 51%, but the study did not address the inevitable side effects of drinking tons of booze; namely cirrhosis, alcoholism and perpetual unemployment.

Health Benefit #2

Gallstones are nasty little accretions that occur in the gallbladder that are typically made of cholesterol. Sometimes these can get lodged in a bile duct and cause pancreatitis. It’s very serious and very painful and you don’t want it.

Thankfully, studies have shown that drinking can lessen the risk of gallstones, which are actually very common due to the high fat content in the average diet. Studies are inconclusive as to how much alcohol is needed to have a positive effect, however, which makes dosing difficult …

Health Benefit #3

For those of you who already drink and have already had a heart attack, studies show that continuing drinking can better help you to avoid a second heart attack. Again, though, women do not appear to share in the joys of this discovery.

It probably goes without saying that these health benefits are conferred – if and when they are conferred – only by drinking in moderation. Studies show that excessive drinking is only healthy for 1% of the population, and ironically that 1% does not read this blog.

Now as you know the health benefits of alcohol reach out to your nearest liquor store in Avon, Colorado and grab amazing beverages.