We’ve all seen it: You rent a vacation cottage and find a ‘curated’ wine rack prominently displayed on a sunny kitchen wall. The bottles are covered in a fine layer of dust, and the labels are from three or four years ago. The owners think they’re offering an aged luxury; a fine, 4-year-old bottle of … Read more
If you had tried to put beer in a tin can in 1933, you wouldn’t have ended up with a drink, you would have ended up with a bomb. While canned food had been a staple for a century, the first canned beer was delayed by a huge engineering problem. Beer presented a physical nightmare … Read more
The current obsession with ‘Wok Hei’ is a study in culinary absurdity. It has reached the point where entire books are written to ‘understand’ the so-called breath of the wok, a concept touted as a mystical key to authenticity. Even the Michelin Guide suggests it is ‘part art and part magic.’ While one expects romanticism … Read more
You’ve probably heard of Fat Tire by New Belgium Brewing. For many, it was the “gateway” into craft beer—a mainstay Belgian-style Amber Ale known for its bready, toasted malts and gentle sweetness. Now, imagine being told that this beer was a “supremely bitter IPA” and that you should be careful about ordering it. This confusion … Read more
If you’ve ever accidentally inhaled a cloud of freshly cracked black pepper, you know it provides a sharp, stinging “heat” that can rival a mild chili. In the popular Netflix series One Piece, the character Usopp even uses black pepper as a projectile in his slingshot, causing enemies to sneeze so violently they fly backward. … Read more
For ten years, the Carolina Reaper was the undisputed king of the hottest chili peppers in the world. However, the “pepper arms race” has reached a new peak. While Pepper X now officially wears the crown, there is also new information regarding the Dragon’s Breath, the pepper that once threatened to unseat the Reaper and … Read more