When most Americans think of sherry they think of the cheap-ass bottle their mom kept next to the stove for soups or (in my case) the dreaded sherry creams. Lately the tides have begun to change and their current has begun to flow towards Jerez, Spain and the insanely delicious sherry being produced.

The good people at the Sherry Council of America are doing their best to change our general apathy towards the drink. One way is by hosting one of the coolest contests ever; Copa Jerez, a food and sherry pairing competition. Competitors from around the world will claw and scrape their way to Jerez for what will likely be an epic struggle of gastronomy pitting teams comprised of chef and sommelier against one another. Continue Reading »

While advocates against alcohol advertising in motorsports have been pressing for years for the elimination of such sponsorships, there are a few teams out there, in a multitude of motorsports, which carry the colors of both popular and distinguished brands. Take Formula 1, for instance, where high rollers and lavish lifestyles are omnipresent, and the sponsors pay a huge premium for the exposure. Continue Reading »

Do you have a brewery named after you? Well, I suppose if your last name is Miller, Leinenkugel, or if you were for some reason named Oskar Blues then you might, but chances are you don’t. Technically, neither do I, but I still find it interesting nonetheless. I present to you, Privatbrauerei A. Kropf out of Kassel, Germany.

This brewery is one of my earliest memories of beer, as several bottles of Kropf Dark German Draft have sat dormant in our fridge for the last 18 or more years. But I knew they were there and being of German descendent myself, did I have any relation to Adolf Kropf? Well, who knows. But it’s definitely a cool connection. Continue Reading »

The wine world – particularly in Europe – has been hit hard by the painful blows struck to the international economy. Producers and sellers have had to deal with increased competition, changes in consumer behavior and deleterious farming factors caused by global warming. As a result, France is overhauling several regulations governing its wine production.

Some of the revisions can be seen as a positive step toward updating the country’s rigid and slightly antiquated rules. For example, in 2009, vin de table wines – the bastard bottlings sitting at the bottom of the French viticultural totem pole – were granted permission to list both vintage and grape variety on their labels. Continue Reading »

Diageo World Class Bartender of the Year Erik Lorincz (Connaught Bar, London) with the judges (left to right) Gary Regan, Dale DeGroff, Peter Dorelli, Alberto Soria, Salvatore Calabrese, Hidetsugu Ueno and 2009 winner Aristotelis Papadopoulos

Over the past year, 9000 of the world’s best bartenders competed in regional events all over the world to become the next Diageo Reserve World Class 2010 Bartender of the Year. Continue Reading »

A German marketing firm has caused quite the controversy over in Europe with the patenting of the name ‘Fucking Hell’. The firm has expressed the desire to use the trademark for “the marketing of a beer among other things.”

“In German the word for a lager beer is a Helles Beer, so we have also patented the name ‘Fucking Hell’, which means lager from Fucking of course.” — Stefan Fellenberg, ‘Fucking Hell’ trademark co-owner and spokesperson. Continue Reading »

Fans of Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast, Wine & Spirits, and the rest of the ratings mags should really be into this. Coca-Cola has done it! They have quantified the happiness of countries and, according to the “Happiness Barometer”, the top five are as follows:

• Mexico – 87.7
• Philippines – 86.4
• Argentina – 80
• South Africa – 80
• Romania – 79.7

Continue Reading »

The concept of “ambush marketing” is quite tricky and, in some ways, relatively brilliant. Essentially, it is a marketing campaign developed by a non-sponsor company that interferes with an event sponsored exclusively by a competitor. Major sporting events, such as the Olympics, have fallen prey to these gorilla tactics in the past. The bigger the event, the more money involved, the bigger the deal.

“Events like the Olympics and the World Cup are hugely expensive to put on, so they need big-money sponsors and this in turn means that the organizers must protect aggressively against ambush marketing,” — Phillip Johnson, a visiting senior fellow at Queen Mary, University of London. “But this means there is potentially huge exposure for anyone who manages to outwit them.” Continue Reading »