Older whiskies aren’t necessarily better, but aging is a crucial process in the development of their character. And the same is true of whisky events.
Read more: The Forward, Eat, Drink + Think
Category Food
Included on the Farm
For many developmentally disabled children and their parents, the future looks bleak. Getting a job, living a fulfilling life and being independent often seem, at best, like vague ideas on the far side of a wilderness of anxiety and hardship.
Read more: The Forward, Culture
Jewish Farmers, Revolutionary or Ridiculous?
The unfailing response from people when I tell them I’m going to the Jewish farmers conference here, just outside San Diego, is a smile to see if I’m joking. Then, when it’s clear I’m serious, comes: “I didn’t know that there were any Jewish farmers.”
Read more: The Forward, News
Wheat, Whiskey and Women
Whiskey doesn’t seem like an agricultural product. But as we celebrate (or pray for) the rebirth of nature on Tu B’Shvat it’s good to bear in mind that what the Irish call “the brown” comes from fields of waving grain.
Read more: The Forward, Eat, Drink + Think
8 Whiskies for 8 Nights
Enough with the oil. Cut the grease of the festival of “lets-celebrate-religious zealotry-by-inducing-heart-disease.” Its time to talk about eight nights of truly miraculous golden liquids — ones that are indeed flammable, but ones that would only confirm your insanity were you to put a match to them. Give the kids their toys and retire to a comfortable chair to sit with friends and family and sip one of these nectars, which will, miraculously, transform neurotic in-laws into charming raconteurs and bigoted relatives into kindly old uncles.
Read more: The Forward, Eat, Drink + Think
Whisky and the 1%
At New York’s Marriot Marquis hotel in late September, middle-aged white American men sipped high-end scotch and bourbon as their republic splintered.
Read more: The Forward, Eat, Drink +Think
Sipping in the Summer With Whisky Jewbilee
This is a story of change. Of winter transforming into summer and of Scotch whisky giving way to American spirits.
Read more: The Forward, Eat, Drink + Think
Hunting for Tears For Fears
I was heading to Portland, Oregon — America’s hipster haven — to take in the inaugural Project Pabst, a weekend-long music festival from the makers of Pabst Blue Ribbon. Despite Pabst Brewing Company’s recent sale to a Russian owner, PBR, the post-ironic beer ne plus ultra, seemed perfectly suited to Portland. Home of semi-constant rain, famed locavore cuisine and an unparalleled density of bearded baristas, Portland is no bland Anywhere, USA to be experienced from the tedious safety of a chain motel. With notebooks, recording equipment and research in hand, this middle-aged, tea-drinking Yorkshireman was ready for his ethnographic adventure.
Part 1 — where I ate shungiku: Souciant, Music
Part II — where I arrive at the unicorn: Souciant, Music
Part III — where I discover Wyatt Earp’s brother: Souciant, Music
Part IV — where I devour a cock ‘n’ balls (rest assured, SFW): Souciant, Music
Plus, a surprising epilogue, featuring Curt Smith: Frontier Psychiatrist, Music
Whisky Jewbilee
The largest whisky event of the year took place last weekend at the Marriott Marquis. Stretching from sundown Friday to a later Saturday night, WhiskyFest NY was attended by hundreds of aficionados of the pungent malt. Sadly, I couldn’t make it this year, but I managed to stop by the first so-called “Whisky Jewbilee” run by Single Cask Nation just before the weekend. This wasn’t WhiskyFest, it wasn’t intended to be. It was more like a bar mitzvah Kiddush for whisky connoisseurs and the heksher gave it a distinctly Jewish ambience.
Read more: The Forward, Jew & the Carrot
To Bee or Not To Bee
Getting honey for Rosh Hashanah is the least of your problems.
Since 2006, farmers and scientists have been worrying about colony collapse disorder — the name of a mysterious syndrome which has killed 5 million bee colonies and literally billions of bees in North America. This is a big problem, and not just because of the honey. As noted food activist Michael Pollan points out early in the film, “Queen of the Sun,” 40% of our food comes from bee-pollinated harvests. If the bees die, we’re stuck eating bread or oatmeal all the time — or not eating at all.
Read more: The Forward, Arts & Culture
Dan Friedman 