Ideas & Tips — Beer & Wine

Make the most out of the warm weather and throw a barbecue for your friends, family and neighbors. Here are our top tips for hosting the perfect grilling extravaganza: A little preparation goes a long way: Mareya Ibrahim, chef and author of East Like You Give a Fork: The Real Dish On Eating to Thrive, gives suggestion from AARP magazine that as the day of the event draws closer, you start by cleaning the grill. A good stainless steel grill brush can help get rid of stubborn meat, cheese and vegetables, she says. Next gather your grilling tools, including tongs; a basting...

We all know that a person's diet can have a dramatic effect on their longevity, but which foods are the most effective for extending the human lifespan? Nutritionists have studied the longest-lived ethnic groups in the world, including residents of the Japanese island of Okinawa (average lifespan of 81 years) and Seventh Day Adventists in the US, who outlive other Americans by an average of four years through a combination of alcohol abstinence and vegetarianism. These are some of the foods that these groups emphasize in their diets:  Fish. Loaded with omega-3 fatty acids, eating fish helps to prevent dangerous inflammation...

Craft beer is all the rage these days, so why not try your hand and whip up some homemade brew? Here are some tips for beginners: Cleanliness is key: According to popular recipe and cooking website Serious Eats, the best brewers agree that proper sanitation is the first step toward making amazing beer. That's because bacteria can prevent your yeast from growing and fermenting the liquid.  Fresh is best: The American Homebrewers Association says that, much like cooking, brewing can't be done well without high-quality ingredients. Find and use the freshest and best malt extract you can and you'll make the best...

Craft beer fans rejoice (or, alternatively, traditionalists despair)! The past decade or so has seen an astronomical rise in the popularity of craft beer in America, and now the independently crafted beverages have reached a milestone in their slow creeping domination of the American market. According to the Washington Post, Americans now drink more craft beer than plain Budweiser, with the craft industry shipping 16.1 million barrels in 2013 compared to Budweiser's 16 million. Although this figure doesn't include Bud Light sales, it is still representative of a shift in taste that points to a generational divide. According to Anheuser-Busch's...

Wine is virtually a culture of its own. As much a science as it is an art, culture, agriculture, geology, genetics and history all play a role in the creative process of making wine. Furthermore, for as intricate as the development of a good wine has always been, time has only added to its complexity. For centuries wines were known by the region where they were made, but with wine now being a global product, geography is no longer as secure of a way of identifying it as it once was. Here are a few geographical facts about wine: Changes in taste: Occasionally,...