Subject: Beverages

• Harry's Country Club

  March 26, 2009

• Recession Relief: Harry's Bar and Tables

  Flickr: Mick See GhostsSpring is officially here, with its lovely 50 degree weather. Anyway, buds blooming in Westport makes us think of one of the most famous patios in town, which belongs to one of the best bars in town. I talked with Harry's Bar and Tables bartender Sonya Lamberg, who confirms that with more people on the patio during the spring, "that means more at happy hour."Harry's (no relation to the equally good Harry's Country Club) offers a happy hour seven days a week.

  March 25, 2009

• World Wine Tour tonight

  California, Australia, Chile, France, South Africa. Five places on five different continents putting out amazing wine. Each with its own idiosyncrasies. That's the point behind the third World Wine Tour in Kansas City, which features nearly every wine-producing area on the globe. The event allows non-wine-experts one night of access to a library of wines -- chardonnay from all of the above-mentioned regions and others, for example. Or sangiovese -- it's known as the grape of Italian wine, but Ar

  March 30, 2009

• The secret to buying supermarket coffee

  Do you buy your java at the local supermarket or big box store? I do -- with mixed luck. I usually buy what's cheapest or on sale: I've had good luck with those big bags of Roasterie coffee or even the house brand of bean coffee at Costco. I grind my own beans and the morning and those brands taste fresh -- but what do I know? I also buy marked-down bags of coffee beans at Tuesday Morning and TJ Maxx! Jerry Baldwin, a co-founder of Starbucks, has written an article in The Atlantic about buy

  June 3, 2009

• Breakfast Buffet: Monday, 2/06

  No arguing with the main point of this post: Beer and (basketball) cake on Saturday night is underrated. [Recruiterlicious] Is Mountain Dew actually evil, or at least worse for you than other soft drinks? Read this first-person account of addiction, pain and sugar, Mountain Dew style! [Logtar]It doesn't take years of practice and struggle to achieve the look of a Jackson Pollock painting -- just a little spaghetti. [Instructables] Drinking from the other side of the recession. A French wine make

  April 6, 2009

• Be extra-nice to your Starbucks' barista today

  There's a good chance your Starbucks' barista just lost out on his or her share of $100 million. That was the fine a Californian judge issued to Starbucks for pooling tips for baristas and shift supervisors. Yesterday, an appeals court reversed that ruling saying that supervisors and baristas are essentially the same thing.The case was brought by a former barista named Jou Chau and ended up encompassing 120,000 former or current baristas who had their tips pooled. Breaking down the numbers,

  June 3, 2009

• Non-drinkers: bars' new best customers?

  Flickr: Thomas HawkBecause I'm a good friend, I've spent my share of nights at bars sipping on coffee, soda or mostly water trying to enjoy drunk people as much a sober person can. Being a designated driver has one major upside -- safety -- but some minor drawbacks, one of which is limited drink choices.Many bars are trying to change that, hence the growing popularity of "mocktails." The idea behind serving mixed drinks with a lot of flair but no booze is that designated drivers and non-drinkers

  April 8, 2009

• Bourbon dinner tonight

  City Tavern is hosting a small-batch bourbon tasting tonight, with a mind-numbing (literally) seven bourbons to choose from, along with six food pairings. If the weather holds up, it will take place on the patio outside.Flickr: Beer CoasterManager Ryan Asbury said the whole thing is being served "mix and match" style, meaning it won't be a sit-down dinner; instead, he'll have stations set up with bourbons and food. Pairings will be suggested but people are free to choose whatever they want. As A

  April 16, 2009

• More to do tonight: wine dinner at 1924 Main

  There's already a beer movie and a bourbon tasting tonight so why not a wine dinner to complete the booze trifecta? Readers of our Pitch Forks newsletter already know that starting at 6:30 tonight, 1924 Main hosts a wine dinner with Oscar Renteria of Renteria Winery.Renteria is a second-generation wine maker. His father, Salvador Renteria, was a Mexican immigrant who worked as a barber and pool-hall hustler before moving to California and becoming a vineyard farm hand. After years in the busines

  April 16, 2009

• Happy-Hour Hit list

  April 23, 2009

• Spring means spring cocktails and the loss of my dignity

  It is sad that the New York Times liquor blog Proof is closing shop after four months and 40 posts. It dealt with alcohol in serious ways (such as in its first post) but also with a sophisticated pizzazz.Flickr: The SkiniminOne of the posts I was waiting to highlight was written last month. "Your signature cocktail" talks about how what you order says a lot about you as a person -- but so does what you don't order but secretly would like to. As someone who harbors secret desires for fruity drink

  April 14, 2009

• Missouri wines bring home the gold

  Look who's racking up the wins in national and even international competitions. None other than several regional wineries.St. James Winery, about an hour south of Columbia, Missouri, returned from the 16th annual Monterey Wine Competition with three double-gold medals and one gold, for chardonel, concord dessert wine, strawberry wine and country red wine respectively. Flickr: Capn Madd MattThree Missouri wineries and a Kansas winery also took home hardware from California's 2009 Jerry Mead

  April 20, 2009

• Kansas says bring on the booze

  Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has been busy lately. She signed 12 new bills into law yesterday. Hidden in the middle of the press release her office sent out was Senate Bill 212, "an act concerning alcoholic beverages" and more specifically, "concerning shipment of wines."Let's take a closer look at the eight-page bill (PDF), which significantly changes the wine-law landscape in Kansas.

  April 21, 2009

• JJ's Restaurant wine dinner tonight

  JJ's Restaurant on the west edge of the Plaza (910 West 48th Street) hosts a wine dinner tonight with Adam Sbragia, whose family owns vineyards all over California. His family's wine is called appropriately Sbragia Family Vineyards. The dinner will take place in JJ's Saber Room starting at 7 p.m.The five-course menu is heavy on game and seafood. The first course is grilled scallops with salsa martini served with a sauvignon blanc, and the second course is lobster panna cotta with a chardonnay. S

  April 21, 2009

• George Riedel tonight at the American Restaurant

  Among wine connoisseurs -- the kind of people who drop more than $50 on a bottle of wine not because it costs a lot but because it's good -- drinking out of normal wineglasses just won't do. As most casual drinkers are aware, white wine is usually poured into a cylindrical glass, whereas red wine needs a rounder vessel. (Quick wineglass breakdown: The larger the mouth, the more air in the glass and the more the wine oxidizes. For reds, oxidizing is good; whites, not so much. Champagne goes flat

  April 28, 2009

• Is it iced-coffee weather?

  Yesterday with the rain pouring down, I felt like a nice hot cup of joe. But first, I had to check IsItIcedCoffeeWeather.com to make sure my coffee was supposed to be hot. It was!For those not in the know, IsItIcedCoffeeWeather.com is a Web site where the you enter a zip code and it tells you whether the weather is right for iced coffee.There is no explanation just a big "No. Try it hot," like the one I got yesterday if the weather isn't right for iced coffee. If you live in place where it's hot

  April 30, 2009

• Fight is a brewing: Starbucks and McDonald's take off the gloves

  To paraphrase former Vice President Thomas Marshall, what this country needs is a good one-dollar cup of coffee. Yet McDonald's and Starbucks are determined to take coffee to a higher (and more profitable) level.  Two days ago I was sent this incredibly boring Starbucks' promotional video in which CEO Howard Schultz sits around a table with some frightened baristas and asks them what they think of Starbucks' new print ads. Surprise! The baristas say they like them and they all laugh at the

  May 5, 2009

• Drinks of Spring

  Last fall I wrote about autumn favorites like chai tea and apple cider -- drinks that perfectly fit a season. With spring in full bloom, here's what I'm sipping on the patio. Pretty much anything with ice in it sounds tempting at the moment. It's been iced coffee weather for the past several days but at the moment my favorite drink is one-minute real lemonade.I'm not big on powders of any sort, especially when it's a substitute for fresh fruit, and lemonade powder is the worst. Frozen lemonade c

  May 13, 2009

• Now Open: Grand St. Coffee

  Grand St. Coffee owners Scott Mullins and Nathan Anderson admit not knowing much about the coffee -- or restaurant -- business before opening their new store at 2015 Grand last Friday. But they do know what their built-in customers want. "We own the building and this space was just a shell. So we surveyed the loft owners and asked them what they wanted," Anderson said while passing out fliers for the business in front of the store. "We went off of what they told us, and the fact that there reall

  May 20, 2009

• Two wine events tonight

  If you're looking for some fun tonight, you're in luck. The wine gods have produced two events. Soho 119 in Leawood hosts a dinner focused on Asian wine. The five-course menu features items you might not expect to be paired with wine -- pho noodles, sushi roll of unagi, pad thai -- from relatively ordinary grapes like pinot grigio and zinfandel. The dinner starts at 7 and costs $45 per person; make reservations by calling 913-338-5800.If you need a crash course on wine before attending a pairing

  May 20, 2009

• Wet dreams: Power & Light's pricey pool

  And now for some completely different Power & Light District news. Here's how much it costs for a membership at the P&L's rooftop pool, The Jones, which opens June 20. Full credit goes to KSHB Channel 41 for breaking it down: Corporate- $3000 (The membership card will have the Company name instead of a single person, making it accessible to any of the employees.)Up to 12 guests no line no cover (with cabana reservations)4 guest no line no cover (without cabana reservations)Towel service

  June 9, 2009

• Natural wine and a hangover, or genetically modified wine and feeling great?

  Love it or hate it, genetically-modified crops are here to stay. You probably eat them all the time but since companies aren't required to state which foods are made with GM seeds instead of natural seeds, it's impossible to know .Now comes ML01, a GM yeast that its creator, a professor at the University of British Columbia named Hennie van Vuuren, claims can cure the headache aspect of the red wine hangover -- and for many white wines too.The science behind the GM yeast is well-known. As Th

  June 11, 2009

• The Sonoma Valleys of the Midwest

  The muddy water of the mighty Mississippi River doesn't immediately conjure up images of wine. But vineyards in four Midwestern states are trying to get their land designated as an official appellation area called the Upper Mississippi River Valley. Appellation law works so that wineries from a certain geographic region can distinguish themselves from wines of another region. Napa, for example, has more than 300 wineries. Those wineries are technically the only ones allowed to use the words "Nap

  June 15, 2009

• Kona Grill

  June 18, 2009

• Boulevard Pilsner: not your grandfather's lager

  Schlitz has recently had a rather successful comeback by reintroducing its original recipe and playing up its retro-chic factor. Light, simple and All-American, it represents the classic beer of a simpler time.Boulevard clearly intended to go this direction with its new American lager called Boulevard Pilsner. It's the cheapest beer the company makes ($5.99 for a six-pack) and the logo is right out of the '50s. The actual Boulevard logo is nowhere to be found. Even the Smokestack series had the

  June 26, 2009

• Italian wine class tonight

  The problem with learning about wine is that there is so much to learn. People will make the mistake of trying to learn everything from one book or over the course of a special dinner, and come away with their slightly tipsy head overloaded with information. Which brings up another reason why it's hard to learn -- it's only fun to talk about wine when you're drinking it, but that doesn't make for the best scenario to remember information. As with other complicated subjects such as classical

  July 1, 2009

• Knob Creek has done run out of bourbon

  Knob Creek is one of the more popular bourbons in America. In fact, it's too popular. The Louisville Courier reports that the Clermont, Kentucky, distiller just tapped its last barrels dry and the next ones won't be ready for six months.One of the bourbon's strongest selling points is that it's aged in wooden barrels for nine years, double that of many whiskeys in the price range. The long aging process results in its distinctive sweetness -- but also means having to forecast sales nine years ou

  July 8, 2009

• A few words about Bordeaux

  Notice the appellation sticker below the main label. The best place to start learning wine is with Bordeaux and Burgundy. While both terms are used a lot, many people remain unclear about what they mean. First, both refer to regions or appellations in France, not a specific type of grape. So right away, you know anybody who says "I'd like a glass of Californian Bordeaux" has no idea what they're talking about. Even fewer people know the specific grapes that make the two regions famous. Burgundy

  July 15, 2009

• Starbucks trying not to be Starbucks anymore

  What does it say about Starbucks that the company's closing stores, only to reopen them under a different name? It says that despite an expensive ad campaign and lowering prices, Starbucks is still struggling to shake its pre-recession image.The new non-Starbucks Starbucks will not only feature different names but also wine, beer, poetry readings and, most importantly for coffee drinkers, real manual espresso makers instead of the automatic push systems the company has been so criticized for. Th

  July 17, 2009

• Whiskey & Ice: A relationship on the rocks?

  The idea of a summer drink without ice is as perplexing as the wall of drinks at QuikTrip. Vanilla or Cherry flavor shot? What the heck is a Rooster Booster? QT itself has made it clear you're supposed to use ice, offering two kinds for those staggering in from the heat. But there might be one exception to the rule and that, fellow drinkers, is Scotch whiskey. Forget flavor shots -- the dividing line among whiskey enthusiasts is one drawn in water.  Recently the Daily Dust highlighted the I

  July 20, 2009

• Love and assault with a frying pan

  You might not think that novels involving food could get better than Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, but a lot has been written since you were six. Each month, the Kansas City Library assembles a list of recommendations tied to holidays or the birthdays of famous authors. To celebrate Culinary Arts Month, Kansas City librarian Angela Kille has put together a "Fiction for Foodies" summer reading list.

  July 20, 2009

• Toddy coffee comes to Waldo

  The Coffee Girls has relocated from the Crossroads to Waldo, bringing toddy coffee and an updated menu to its new neighborhood.  The coffee shop, which opened two weeks ago, sits adjacent to Kennedy's Bar. Both venues have the attractive feature of sliding glass windows that can be opened when the weather is nice. Coffee Girls also has a wraparound patio.

  July 21, 2009

• The Westside Local is open for business

  The doors opened last Wednesday. The taps flowed on Friday. And the cicadas were singing by Sunday. Such is life in the beer garden at the Westside Local. "This space is as much yours as it is mine," said proprietor Troy McEvers, who was operating on four hours sleep a night -- the result of trying to get the Westside Local up and running last week.

  July 21, 2009

• The chance to play winemaker

  ​The sun sets over the vineyard where your grapes are growing. They're harvested and pressed before being carefully aged in oak casks. These are the dreams of those who have begun to consider retirement. Well, them, and Korean pop music producers. A recent Bloomberg article visits the Bordeaux vineyard of California-based Crushpad, a custom-wine company that has been helping clients create their own vintages since 2004. The French arm of their do-it-yourself wine operation opened in May of thi

  August 4, 2009

• Should American wines have lot numbers on the bottle?

  ​Buying wine you've never tasted always requires a small leap of faith. You can take the words of a trusted reviewer, consider the points awarded or ask the advice of the wine shop staff. Dr. Vino suggests that the United States might be able to improve consistency and help give wine drinkers more confidence in their purchases if the U.S. followed the lead of the European Union and mandated a lot number be placed on wine labels in an effort to track recalls and consumer complaints. Currently,

  August 5, 2009

• Frozen coffee drinks are closer to meals than drinks

  ​As kids, we kept hearing that breakfast was the most important meal of the day. Now it turns out the choices we're making in the morning can have some big ramifications on our health. From Eat This, Not That  (the sister blog of the book by the same title) comes a list of frozen coffee drinks that can take up a big chunk of your recommended daily calorie intake. Consider the Oreo n' Cookies Cappuccino Blast from Baskin Robbins -- which runs you 950 calories, 37 grams of fat, and 111 gram

  August 6, 2009

• Murphy-Goode dream job winner at The American tomorrow

  ​Everyone has a dream job. Hardy Wallace just happens to have a lot of people's dream job. The social media expert (and blogger at Atlanta's Dirty South Wine) was recently named the new lifestyle correspondent for Murphy-Goode Winery. As one of his first stops on a barn-storming tour, Wallace hosts a cocktail hour at The American tomorrow night. Attendees will be able to taste Murphy-Goode wines (sauvignon blanc, sonoma chardonnay, sonoma merlot, sonoma cabernet and liars dice zinfandel) and

  August 10, 2009

• Breakfast Buffet: Thursday, August 20

  In light of news that the FDA will now oversee the labeling of gluten-free beer, a few recommendations on what to drink if you're trying (or need) to avoid gluten. [The Wort Hog]KC Beer Blog notes that the next beer tasting is the 4th annual Black Clover Beerfest -- a mix of hip-hop acts and beer tasting at the Riot Room in Westport. [KC Beer Blog]Could rutabagas be the next big biofuel? It doesn't seem like they're doing much else these days. [Associated Press]Like a bad movie villain, bispheno

  August 20, 2009

• Down the hatch: Mountain Dew Voltage

  ​A recent post about sodas gone by the wayside led me to the soda aisle to see what colored and flavored offshoots are surprisingly still around. Green Tea Ginger Ale is apparently still going strong in its first year -- or is on the way out: a single two-liter bottle was all that remained on the shelves of Target. When I came across Mountain Dew Voltage, I figured I owed the drink a chance. This would be my first mistake. Introduced in 2008 as the winning flavor in a  "dewmocracy competi

  August 20, 2009

• Coffee clash! Will Starbucks lose customers?

  ​There's been some concern percolating in the media and blogosphere -- and Wall Street! -- lately about the decision by Starbucks to raise the prices of some of their products -- you know, those "complex" drinks like fancy, Venti-sized lattes and such. Other, less complicated coffee drinks will see a slight price decline. Will loyal Starbucks patrons stay loyal if their morning java drink costs a quarter more? Before you imagine mass revolt of Starbucks addicts, consider this: currently,

  August 25, 2009

• Check your brew level with the Beer Gauge

  ​If you've ever received a short pour from a bartender or had a pint come to the table with the beer a full inch below the top of the glass, you know that it's hard to not be annoyed.Well, now you can find out exactly how much you're missing, thanks to the Beer Gauge -- a piece of cardboard that rests next to the lip of a standard U.S. pint glass and shows you how many ounces of liquid are actually in the glass and what percentage you've been shorted. The Beer Gauge inventor, an engineer named

  September 3, 2009

• Thoughts on molecular mixology

  ​The concept of molecular mixology is not as well known as molecular gastronomy -- likely because of some combination of a non-equivalent marketing push (think what Top Chef did for molecular gastronomy), the public's resistance to double-digit prices on cocktails and a bunch of bartenders who choose to make drinks without labeling the process. Tales of the Cocktail 2009 explores a lecture on how influential molecular mixology is in relation to the history of cocktails. It's an interesting bre

  September 9, 2009

• Moonshine still here

  ​Moonshine is like pickling -- odds are you know somebody who engages in the practice -- and whatever you've sampled out of a mason jar has either been fantastic or mouth-numbingly bad. The main difference is that moonshine is illegal, while pickles are kosher with the law. Salon decided to look into whether our current do-it-yourself culture will expand into distilling spirits, despite that fact that it's currently illegal to brew your own liquor without a licensed and registered still. The m

  September 10, 2009

• The three wines you need in your wine rack right now

  ​You've probably had to cut corners in your home bar and there is nothing sadder than an empty wine rack. So in the interest of letting you shop smarter while still having the kind of bar that is ready should you suddenly discover your house has become a party, here's a quick guide to three wines that will help you through the rough times while making it look like you're living easy.Your dinner wine should come from Burgundy. As the weather gets cooler and you move towards heartier meals, ther

  October 5, 2009

• Wine in Brookside celebrates first anniversary

  ​Wine in Brookside, our winner this year for Best Wine Tastings, celebrates its first anniversary next week. The folks there hope lots of customers will join in the celebration at 112 W. 63rd Street.  The week's events kick off with a wine sale on Monday, October 12 -- five percent off everything in the store. Tuesday is a special wine and food pairing for $100 per person. At Friday's wine tasting, customers can enjoy a birthday cake from Andre's and Foo's custard. And a big birthday sal

  October 8, 2009

• What's Puck-o-lating in the world of coffee

  ​Just as he has done with pizza and airline food, celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck is hoping to change the iced coffee market. Nation's Restaurant News reports that Puck will be rolling out a line of bottled iced coffee drinks along the line of Starbucks' Frapuccinos. The Wolfgang Puck Culinary Iced Coffees will come in four flavors: Vanilla Fusion, Double Blend Mocha, Creme Caramel and Cafe Au Lait. A single bottle of the packaged coffee drink will cost $2.39, a four-pack $7.99."The coffees selec

  October 15, 2009

• Top 10 hot but liquor-free drinks

  ​Yep, it's cold outside. That makes us think about hot drinks. Here are the metro's Top 10 non-alcoholic warm-ups, according to Fat City: 10) Arrowhead Stadium -- Hot Chocolate. There's something about concession-stand hot chocolate: It's the right amount of sweetness and chalkiness that makes you feel like a kid again. 9) Madame Hatter's Tea Room -- Kansas City once had a dozen little tea rooms like this retro venue in Bonner Springs, mostly designed for ladies after a weary day of rig

  October 15, 2009

• Craft beer trends: Collaboration and barrel-aging

  ​The Boston Beer Company is a great barometer for what's happening with the craft beer market, so the announcement of the Samuel Adams Barrel Room Collection is great news for beer fans.The limited-edition brews are aged in barrels that go back to when the makers of Sam Adams first began experimenting with the process 16 years ago. Barrel aging -- a burgeoning trend in craft brewing -- offers brewers the opportunity to infuse a richness of flavor such as fruit or smoky overtones, depending on

  November 9, 2009

• Does anybody drink a basic cup o' joe these days?

  ​On occasion, Fat City is written from the hallowed tables of coffee shops across the city and over the past several weeks, it's become apparent to me that everything but coffee seems to be going out the door. Take for example a recent lunch hour I spent at Coffee Girls in Waldo -- here's a sample of the orders that I overheard at the counter: Toddy coffee (my order); double shot of espresso; a water; umm ... a Diet Coke; steamed skim milk and decaf coffee; hot tea. Not a single cup of unadult

  November 13, 2009

• Keeping it local: A holiday wine guide

  ​The Missouri Wine and Grape Board has a few suggestions for in-state wines you can select when looking for the right complement to your holiday meal. I've added a specific bottle to each recommendation  -- all of which are solid, if not world-beating wines. With the first course or even by itself, the MWGB recommends a sparkling wine such as the semi-sweet white Vignole from Stone Hill Winery. 

  November 17, 2009