Drinkable Images: Feeling Tiki-fied

Feeling like a bit of a human yo-yo this week. Just returned from Japan a day and a half ago and now I’m heading about two-thirds of the way back in that direction to Hawaii tomorrow. Not that I’m complaining (Nor is my MileagePlus account)! In honor of my trek to state No. 50, here’s…

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The Drinkable Week: Japan through a glass

It’s the first “very special episode” of The Drinkable Week. (Grab the tissues and don’t do drugs, kids.) This week, I’m in Tokyo and in the Kagoshima and Kumamoto Prefectures experiencing shochu, the treasured spirit of the southern island of Kyushu. The itinerary, very generously organized by the Japan Sake & Shochu Makers Association (JSS), included tours of…

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Drinkable Images: Late night Tokyo

The Japanese drinking scene is serious business. There are plenty of environments in which to imbibe but, perhaps, the best place type of place end up after a crawl into the wee hours is one of the many 5-seat holes in the wall that fits only you, four friends, a bartender and whatever beer, wine,…

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The Drinkable Week: Beer! Beer! Beer!

The U.S. brewery count passes 4,000, Jim Koch writes a book and unveils the Sam Adams Nitro line and Red Robin doubles down on craft beer. • One of the big pieces of news to come out of the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) last week was that the number of breweries in the U.S. crossed…

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Back from GABF

So this turned out to be one of the better Great American Beer Festivals for me personally. I won 1st place in the Beer & Food category in the 2015 North American Guild of Beer Writers (NAGBW) awards for my article, “Feeding Frenzy,” in All About Beer Magazine. It’s a tremendous honor to be recognized,…

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Drinkable Week: ABInBev rides the Golden Road & a bit of whiskey news

Another local docks with the global mothership, an Upstate New York bourbon comes of age and a very merry PDX-mas …All on the latest edition of the drinkable week. • Another week, another craft beer acquisition. Anheuser-Busch InBev announced that it is acquiring L.A. brewery Golden Road, founded by Meg Gill and bar owner Tony…

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