Saloon Series: The government is crushing the wine industry, literally
On Dec. 10, 2015 in Creedmoor, Texas, the U.S. government destroyed more than 500 bottles of wine. The image of a massive sledge falling upon bottles of wine, and the resultant destruction elicits pain...
View ArticleDemocrats under the influence
In late August 2014, five California legislators were photographed having a fun-seeming time on the balcony outside of the legislative chambers. At the center of the scene was Sen. Ben Hueso, D-San...
View ArticleSaloon Series: Exploring the whiskey world at Whisky Live USA
Whisky Live USA, the fabulous salute to a marvelous drink, rolled into Washington this past week. A month previous, Whisky Live USA was in New York and come June, it will land in Louisville, Kentucky....
View ArticleSaloon Series: Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day right with Irish drinks old and new
Some years ago, I lived in New York and had two friends recently arrived from Ireland. Neither of them thought well of America’s St. Patrick’s Day festivities. Considering the tsunami of green garb and...
View ArticleAnti-party law turns innocent kids into criminals
Orange County Republican Party Chairman Fred Whitaker got into GOP politics because of his “belief in individual liberty, limited government and a free market,” according to the party’s website. His...
View ArticleA maddening whiskey shortage
Tennessee is known for many things: country music, Elvis’s Graceland estate, beautiful mountains, and fine liquor. The state produces both moonshine (some of which is now being made licitly) and its...
View ArticleThe Washington Post’s ‘Reefer Madness’ campaign against booze
I enjoy Christopher Ingraham’s writing for The Washington Post. His WonkBlog posts are data-heavy, which makes them interesting. Like Ingraham, I have serious concerns about America’s long war on...
View ArticleLet’s free the antique alcohol market
It seems like every month, I get an email or two from strangers asking me the same question. They read something like this: “Hi. My elderly father died, and when I was cleaning out his house to get it...
View ArticleLet’s end discrimination in the drinks market
Everyone has heard this basic truth many times: the amount of alcohol is the same in a 1.5 ounce shot of liquor, a 4 ounce glass of wine and a 12-ounce bottle of beer. Guzzle six shots in an hour and...
View ArticleNasty politics may kill drinks reform in Colorado
Colorado loves its drinks. It is the home of Stranahan’s whiskey and great microbrews too numerous to list. The Rocky Mountain State also is the home of the Great American Beer Festival, which began in...
View ArticlePennsylvania’s bad beer regulation system lives on
Eight years down the road, supermarket beer sales are changing the entire alcohol beverage sales category in Pennsylvania, and not for the better. Given our state’s comically byzantine alcohol laws,...
View ArticleThe 21st Amendment continues to choke the drinks trade
Tennessee recently passed a law limiting any company from owning more than two liquor-store licenses. Why? Well, current holders of liquor licenses don’t want out-of-state grocery chains to enter the...
View ArticleBourbon can be made anywhere — even Ohio
Sitting on my desk is a tumbler of bourbon. Its deep amber color shines out through the dewy glass. Tom’s Foolery is its whimsical name. It is 90 proof (45 percent alcohol by volume) and tastes of...
View ArticlePennsylvania’s awful alcohol laws turn rational citizens into criminals
I am a criminal. I regularly break the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. At least once a month, I drive across the border to New Jersey, pull into the parking lot at Joe Canal’s Discount Liquor...
View ArticlePennsylvania’s drinks reform changes too little
The Keystone State’s Legislature could have gone big. Instead, it settled for a bill that is about as potent as near beer. Only the politicians are likely to be satisfied. Gov. Tom Wolf yesterday...
View ArticleWorry about bad marijuana—not Big Marijuana
From Brookings Institution: The three-tier system aimed to deter the vertical integration of the tied-house days, but now is controversial with critics who argue that the distribution tier is...
View ArticlePennsylvania’s drinks reform changes too little
From American Spectator: The Keystone State’s Legislature could have gone big. Instead, it settled for a bill that is about as potent as near beer. Only the politicians are likely to be satisfied…
View ArticleMy Father’s Day drinks wish list
Man does not live by bread alone. And a father, well, he needs even more, what with the middle-of-the-night wake-ups, the tantrums and the exploded filthy diapers. I have four children. Under the age...
View ArticleDo we still need the three-tier system for alcohol?
The 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which repealed Prohibition, left it up to the states to regulate the distribution and sale of alcoholic beverages. The states did not have to impose a...
View ArticleVirginia’s infamous food-beverage ratio prioritizes cronyism over consumers
Virginia may be for lovers, but the state’s draconian liquor laws make nights out on the town not so lovely. The commonwealth is home to some of America’s worst alcohol laws. Up until 2008 sangria was...
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