New Times Beerfest Taste Test, Round Two: The Lightweights

 We’re about four days away from the New Times Beerfest on November 12 from 7 to 11 p.m. in Esplanade Park, with a portion of the proceeds to benefit the Humane Society of Broward County. Sister Hazel provides tunes, and a slew of local restaurants — including Charm City Burgers, Moe’s Southwest…

Seminole Hard Rock Wine and Food Festival, in Pictures

Thousands of people flocked to the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino’s inaugural Wine and Food Festival yesterday. As the sun broke free from late-morning clouds, guests ate from more than 20 restaurants, sampled more than 300 wines and spirits, and watched interactive cooking demonstrations. Clean Plate Charlie was there…

New Times Beerfest Taste Test: Round One, Pale Ales

We’re days away from the 14th-annual New Times Beerfest on November 12 from 7 to 11 p.m. in Esplanade Park, with a portion of the proceeds to benefit the Humane Society of Broward County. Sister Hazel provides tunes, and a slew of local restaurants, including Riverside Market, Moe’s Southwest Grill,…

Blind Wine Chick Alex Elman Wine Tastings at Whole Foods Market

It’s not every day that your wine tasting is interrupted by a thumping tail, but then not every wine tasting is conducted by a self-titled blind wine chick.I met Alex Elman at the South Beach Whole Foods Market to chat about her wine on Halloween where we were interrupted by…

Seminole Hard Rock Wine and Food Festival Features More Than 300 Wines

This Sunday, we all gain an hour of sleep when daylight-saving time ends and we set our clocks back one hour. Which means, technically, we can start drinking at the Seminole Hard Rock Wine and Food Festival earlier.Sample fare from 20 restaurants, including Martorano’s, Bongo’s, Sea Level, and China Grill,…

Bastardizing Booze: Alcohol-Free Whisky, Scotch in a Can

From the world of dubious ideas, we have alcohol-free whisky. And here I thought Jameson was an acquired variety of torture that illuminates you’re a) in the industry b) friends with people in the industry or c) a drunk. Now available for distribution, ArKay is the brand of the unfortunately named, booze-free whisky…

Happy Hour: Laser Wolf In Downtown Fort Lauderdale

Want a Patron shot and a Corona? Hit up Himmarshee St — there’s nothing here for you, bro. If you haven’t heard, Laser Wolf is the laid-back beer bar half a mile away from the congestion and confusion of Riverfront. It’s one of Fort Lauderdale’s few places that serve good…

Watch Almost 7,000 Bottles of Wine Crash To The Floor (Video)

You know the saying – it’s no use to cry over spilled wine…or something like that. But what if it’s 6,810 bottles of wine. That’s something to cry over.That’s exactly what happened at Superior Discount Liquors in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. According to ABC News, a 31-year old shelf collapsed at the…

Mark Your Calendar for New Times Beerfest on November 12

Beer lovers, rejoice. The 14th-annual New Times Beerfest is a couple of weeks away, on November 12, from 7 to 11 p.m. in Esplanade Park in downtown Fort Lauderdale. The event will benefit the Humane Society of Broward County. (Check out the ridiculously cute dogs and puppies from the Humane Society and…

The List: Sick of Pumpkin Beer? Five Pumpkin Cocktails

Looking to start a bar fight at your favorite neighborhood haunt? If so, there are several tactics to use that are guaranteed to result in hurt feelings and/or fisticuffs.These tactics include but are not limited to– poorly executed your-mama jokes, extolling the virtues of Neil Diamond, and hurling insults about…

Happy Hour: Landlubber’s Raw Bar And Grill In Plantation

My friends, aware of my mission to find the best happy hours in Broward County, are always recommending their favorite spots. Sometime in the past week an acquaintance mentioned the name of a place in Plantation. She said it was the bar to drink at when all you have is…

Tryst in Delray Beach Is the Place to Sip a Funky, Aged Beer

Until I started writing about beer a couple of years ago, the only reds I’d had were hypersweet lambics and Killian’s from the ’90s, the Coors-bought lager made red by caramelized, malted barley. I was underwhelmed by them until I sipped a gueuze.Though it’s also a lambic, the gueuze should…

Make a Toast on Facebook to Win a Bacardi Oakheart Stein

In one of the more ingenious Facebook contests, Bacardi is giving away 5,000 Oakheart steins per week to fans who submit three-word toasts.Just become a fan of Bacardi Oakheart on Facebook and submit a three-word toast. The first 5,000 entries per week will win a stein. …

Happy Hour: JG McGuinness In Weston Town Center

Weston’s JG McGuinness opened in March in the location that Swig, a martini bar for moms, used to call home. The decor, reminiscent of every other high-end Irish pub, still looks new and well-maintained. But one look at the crowd and it’s obvious: these roots might be growing from a…

Food-Truck Event in Delray Beach This Friday Night

While the comfortably familiar tradition of Oktoberfest rages on — how are those lederhosen holding up, by the way? — there are also a few new events to check out this weekend, including a new concert series in Delray Beach. Friday night will see the launch of “Mix of Music…

South Florida Craft Beer: Why Hoppy Is Sexy Right Now

Why are hops-forward, American craft beers so popular right now? And why are there so many hoppy Marzen beers, a style that has not been a traditionally hoppy beer? These are the questions that grew out of our beer exploration in this week’s review. For an explanation, I asked expert Greg Engert — the…

Pumpkin Beers: A New Times Taste Test

It’s Decorative Gourd Season, inspiration for our second round of seasonal beer tastings. For those who’d prefer drinking pumpkin pie to eating it, these are the beers for you. At the Great American Beer Festival in Boulder, Colorado, last week, there were 37 entries for the pumpkin beer category, with…

Booze Like a Bootlegger With These Prohibition-Era Cocktails

Prohibition, the latest documentary by Emmy-award winning Ken Burns that airs October 2 through 4 on PBS, focuses on how the law that tried to prevent drinking was based on an effort to “cling to the myth of an agrarian Jeffersonian America that never really was,” Burns told sister publication…