Binny's Blog

In a beer scene dominated by all the hottest styles and latest releases, sometimes it's refreshing to take a look at the classics.

In 1981, the Widmer family fell in love with Tuscany, purchasing the Brancaia estate in Castellina in Chianti.

Not only is Westland Distillery leading the charge for American single malt whiskey, but they're capturing the Pacific Northwest in every bottle of single malt whiskey they produce (yes, whiskey with an E, it's American).

Its origins are lost in lore. Some argue that a hotelier deserves the credit for tossing all the ingredients together for a guest, while the guest's descendants argue that it was their forefather who came up with the recipe.

Both crisp and soft, and oh so satisfying, corned beef hash is the PERFECT hangover cure after St. Paddy's Day. Concocted as a cunning means for using leftover meat, hash owes its name to the French word hacher - to chop, the only technique involved in its preparation.

All those legendary, unobtainable bottles - are they worth the hype? The Barrel to Bottle crew tastes iconic, collectible whiskey, so you don't have to.

What would St. Paddy's Day be without corned beef and cabbage? Though the Irish certainly enjoy the lion’s share of recognition, immigrant Jews of early 20th century New York City also deserve a larger cut of the credit for what we know today as corned beef.

Sour beers make up one of the most sought after styles around today. Sours are the ultimate beers for beer nerds, perfectly illustrating how beer is a combination of science and art.

Fruit, earth, meaty and savory and floral characteristics: when you're talking about wine, syrah from the Northern Rhone includes some of the most intense and complex reds in the world.

Winter keeps holding on in Chicago, so we're talking about wine perfect for the weather: mulled wine and ice wine.