"alcohol" news and stories

With the legalization of making beer at home, microbrewing took off as homebrewers figured out how to sell their beer in the commercial marketplace. Whiskey is distilled beer, so it only makes sense that the passion of some of these brewers led them to diversify their business to also include distilled products, as well.

With home distilling still illegal, craft distilling isn't necessarily following the same growth pattern as craft brewing, but you will find small brewers such as Oregon's Rogue Ales and California's Anchor Brewing distilling innovative spirits such as single malt high proof rye and spruce gin. Like the craft brewers, many craft distillers are unfettered by tradition and shareholder profit pressure so they explore and create adventurous spirits that the big corporate distillers don't have the freedom to.

Jagermeister in the snow. Photo: janeyesee, Flickr

Our counterparts over at AOL U.K. recently ran an article entitled "Comedy Booze" lamenting the unfortunate habit some guests have of using parties to re-gift hard alcohol they found unfit to stomach back when they received it. From Greek ouzo to French pastis, it's a multi-culti takedown.

Of course, sometimes that famous Brit wit doesn't cross the pond. We know some folks who adore pastis, and others for whom a bottle of Jagermeister might be considered quite a smashing (or quite funny) addition to a party.

That said, we can certainly sympathize with the sentiment. After the jump, three things we think you should never bring to a party. Tell us what we missed!

Restaurant menus abound with unhealthy choices. Photo: smoorenburg, flickr

Hanna Raskin's first waitressing job was at a small Greek diner in Michigan. In the 15 years since, she's worked at a chop suey joint in Mississippi, an exclusive Arizonan country club, a vegetarian eatery and an Irish pub. She currently picks up odd shifts at a seafood eatery in the North Carolina mountains, where she cracks crab legs for helpless tourists. This is the ninth in a series of posts.

Server discretion, like sobriety checks and seat belts, helps prevent deadly car crashes.

Backed by laws that decree certain ruin for restaurants that serve drinks to overly intoxicated patrons, most servers don't hesitate to cut off customers who've had enough. But they're understandably reluctant to police other equally dangerous behaviors observed at the table, raising the question of whether servers ever have an ethical obligation to intercede.

Restaurants are in the business of providing their guests with food and drink, which makes the prospect of withholding either seem counterintuitive at best. But when the requested item would harm the diner, does the "just doing my job" argument falter?

Absinthe drip and sugar cube. Photo: Alex Van Buren.

So we've been all about Bastille Day for the last 24 hours, from petanque to moules frites, brioche burger buns to a gorgeous vegetable tian and even a Francophile-friendly absinthe-spiked cocktail.

We're not the only ones itching to get out the door and toast our friends in the Old Country (or the wonderful eats and drinks they've sent our way). For those who will celebrating the occasion at home, Chow has recipes for three lovely terrines; Serious Eats discovers the tapenades of Provence; and one of Slashfood's own beer columnists breaks down Saison style beer at Gourmet while his colleague tackles eight great aperitifs, several of which are French.

Perhaps the triumph of the online articles, however, is France Magazine's enormous feature on aperitifs. From Lillet to Suze to Noilly Prat, it's all there, and we'll be printing it out and tucking it into our bag. (They've just unlocked the online files especially for Slashfood.) Happy celebrating!

A strawberry reflects. Photo: Paraflyer/Flickr

• Retro berry flavor: A Strawberry Charlotte recipe from the 1940s.
• Sit-down chains like Applebee's and Ruby Tuesday are waging discount price wars to win your patronage.
• Is it possible for one establishment to have a good selection of brews and delicious food, or are the two mutually exclusive?
• The Minimalist makes Greek Nachos.
• The swizzle stick isn't just a souvenir of drunken shenanigans. It's also a controlled way to stir a drink.
• Biryani on a budget -- where to get it in New York for under $25.
• First the rise, then the fall. Australia's booming wine industry is starting to suffer as prices slide.