Category: Pairings

To some, there’s no better drink than a perfect pint of Guinness. Fans of the Irish stout prize the beer for its creamy texture, toasty flavors, and stately appearance. Though the drink’s appeal is timeless, Guinness is experiencing a heyday among contemporary drinkers. And with that bump in popularity comes a surge of fads, with trends like “splitting the G,” 60/40 pours, and Turbo Guinnesses swarming pubs and social media

Set your navigation southwest from Paris and follow your wine-loving heart to the Loire. There, along the curving river’s central stretch, you’ll find the country’s third-largest wine region: a verdant, chateau-studded valley where waves of vines give birth to grapes destined for an effervescent future. You’ll find it in a bottle of Bouvet-Ladubay’s sparkling wine. Bouvet-Ladubay is located in Saumur, a Loire region that is one of France’s most acclaimed

Today on the “VinePair Podcast,” Adam, Joanna, and Zach discuss whether backlash against The 50 (formerly 50 Best) is brewing in the wake of a social media firestorm within the bar community. Are recognition-seeking bartenders tired of working guest shifts, endlessly politicking, and vote-wrangling? Do they, instead, want to work to make their bars better? Can the bar industry learn from what happened to the wine industry’s former obsession with

Over decades of regular trips to Europe, Regine Rousseau, the Chicago-based founder of wine marketing and events consultancy Shall We Wine, never really subscribed to the directive often preached by U.S. travel publications: When traveling abroad, try not to let your American show. “Number one: I like wearing really bright colors, so I rarely blend in anywhere,” says Rousseau, also senior sales advisor at Verve Wine Chicago. “Number two, I

Gin was somewhat of a tough sell in the early days of the craft cocktail revival. Consumers were more reluctant to dive into the botanical booze like they had for brown spirits. This sometimes compelled bartenders who embraced gin to hatch creative ways to promote the category. In one legendary story, for instance, a member of Pegu Club’s roster of acclaimed bartenders would sell guests on gin by telling them

This episode of The Buildout is brought to you by Farmer’s Gin. As a bartender, I’m always looking for spirits I’d feel confident pouring and recommending to guests, and Farmer’s Gin is one of them. It delivers exceptional quality at a price that makes it a true workhorse behind the bar or even your home bar. It’s made in Idaho using regenerative, organic certified grain, and grown on a family

Take a palatal tour from the ancient volcanic sands of Campania to the quiet medieval town of Montefalco to the high Alpine foothills of Piedmont. Taste the expressive fruit and earth notes of a Barolo (the King of Wines), the complex nuttiness of an aged white Pecorino, the bright minerality of a Prosecco from the hills north of Venice, or the luxurious full body of Amarone della Valpolicella from Veneto.

On Wednesday, The 50, formerly known as 50 Best, announced its highly anticipated annual list of the World’s 50 Best Bars. At this year’s live ceremony in Milan, Hong Kong’s Bar Leone defended its crown as the No. 1 bar in the world, after making waves as the first bar in Asia to claim the top spot in 2025. Italian bartender Lorenzo Antinori opened Bar Leone in June 2023, bringing

Mexico’s magic is indisputable. From its ancient ruins and colorful cities to its extraordinary food, art, music, and landscapes, the country has an uncanny ability to inspire creativity. And when it comes to Mexico’s best-known spirits, tequila and mezcal still reign supreme. But they’re only two pieces of a much larger drinking culture that includes everything from ancient beverages like pulque and tepache, niche agave spirits like bacanora and raicilla,

Every year, with every new list of the best rye whiskeys, every booze writer out there tries to convince you that this (this!) is finally rye’s time to shine again. By now the story is well-told without much new to add: Rye used to be cool! Rye used to be what Americans drank in the 18th century and early 19th when East Coast-based farmer/distillers mainly only had rye grains to