For Chosen People who love the holiday season, it can be a conflicting time of year. Sure, the sons and daughters of Abraham like to shop and celebrate and raise of cup of good cheer as much as any goyim, but with red and green decorations everywhere you can start…
Oh, they’ve been around. For a while now. But a few weeks back Clean Plate Charlie stumbled onto a Japanese ball-perfecting machine. Sounds sort of lecherous. Right?Fortunately, it is not. Ice balls have become a popular means for improving the quality of spirits on the rocks. In fact, Macallan even…
Ground has been broken–in more ways than one–on the new Funky Buddha in Oakland Park. The first anchor of what is slated to become Oakland Park’s new culinary district celebrated the start of construction this week. The former warehouse will be converted into 18,000 square feet of brewery, production facility,…
The breakthoughs in food science just keep coming. First it was the genetically-modified yeast in our beer, now it’s ice cream with distilled spirits somehow frozen into them.SnoBar is gracing Florida with its entire line of alcoholic ice cream indulgences. This isn’t a frozen daiquiri or a slushy treat with…
I’ve seldom made a secret of the great, big spot in my craft-beer-loving heart that’s reserved solely for Michigan’s popular Founders Brewing Co. The Grand Rapids-based brewery is where I first cut my craft teeth nearly — gulp — ten years ago, when my future best friend took me to…
With the breeze and the cold front that passed through, fall is definitely in the air. Okay, so it may not be the same sort of crisp weather you find up north–but hey, it’s something. Whether you’re feeling nostalgic for the change of season or you just want to try a…
More than 75 locals and select media packed inside the Pompano Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza on Wednesday to nosh on a four-course meal paired with select beers from Boynton Beach-based Due South Brewing. Even South Florida radio personality Paul Castronovo from the Paul and Young Ron morning show was visiting. The…
It’s a given that Wednesday, November 21, is going to be a non-stop party. After all, Thanksgiving Eve is one of — if not the — biggest bar night of the year. While you’re pretty much guaranteed to find a crowd (and lots of college kids) where ever you go,…
This week, scientists in Spain announced they had identified and isolated the gene in yeast that causes beer to foam. A blog about the discovery ran on NPR’s food blog, The Salt, extolling the virtues of more resilient, longer -asting foam.Confused? So were the commenters on NPR’s Facebook page who…
Russians like their vodka plain and simple, with no fruity mixers or funny business. Zoya Harms, the bartender at three-month-old Russia House Restaurant and Vodka Bar in East Boca — where there are 86 different kinds of vodka served — wouldn’t have it any other way. “These vodkas really shouldn’t…
Good news hemp heads; looks like you don’t have to move to Colorado after all. (It’s beautiful out there, but all that snow could really complicate a late-night Funyuns run). Nectar Ales’ Humboldt Brown Hemp Ale — which, perhaps sadly for some, is made with THC-free hemp seeds — will…
This Friday, November 16, Gulfstream Park will host a boxing doubleheader. The Don King event, which will be televised on Showtime, features two matches. Junior middleweights Omar “Oh!” Henry from Chicago will battle “King” James de la Rosa from San Benito, Texas in the first match. The second match pits…
Usually when it’s your friend’s birthday you have to throw them a party, get them drunk, and let them sleep it off on your couch. This year, Tap 42 in Ft. Lauderdale is celebrating their one year anniversary by throwing YOU a party. …
‘Tis the season for stouts, and appropriately enough, Stout Day 2012 falls on Thursday, November 8. As a long-time fan of bitter, hoppy IPAs, I’ve only recently come around to the rich, dense, smoky beauty of a good stout (and damn; am I ever glad that I have). In terms…
Have you ever thought it would be cool to make a vodka/white wine spritzer? Neither have we. But apparently, someone else has. Absolut will be releasing its newest product, Absolut Tune, touted as a sparkling fusion of vodka and white wine, on Tuesday. The company sent us a bottle to…
If Mitt Romney wins the election tomorrow, he’ll have something to celebrate with. Alcohol-free whiskey. Now, whiskey is not a wimpy drink – quite the contrary. This particular form of spirit is typically equated with cowboys, grizzled old men and drinkers who know what they’re doing. It takes balls (at…
We’re pretty clumsy here at Clean Plate Charlie. We trip over things, walk into doors, and break things. Especially glasses. That’s why we love Ikea, home of the six-piece wine glass set for two bucks.So we’re adding the following to our list of things we can never accomplish (alongside climbing…
For a craft beer enthusiast, the most horrifying Halloween brew would be a watered-down, mass-produced, soulless barley pop. But one needn’t go the taste-free route in order to be festively freaky on Wednesday. The American microbrew and niche beer scene has enthusiastically risen to the occasion of creating celebratory and…
Word on the street — and last week, Huffington Post — is that Florida is experiencing a “brewing boom.” Certainly, the number of beer-related activities and craft beer specialty venues has surged in recent years. Riding that wave this week is Kapow! Noodle Bar in Boca Raton which will host…
For a long time, Halloween was all about the kiddies. But in today’s Peter Pan complex of a society, growing up and letting go of the games and traditions of our youth never seems to happen. And so Halloween has grown up, too. Instead of silly pranks and adorable ghosts, we’ve…
It’s about that time once again to fulfill your patriotic duty; and we’re not talking about voting (though with early voting starting today, that certainly can be part of it). Dress in your finest red, white, and blue regalia and head down to your local pub or specialty store and…
Wine pairings have been around for quite some time. And it’s certainly no secret that we like our craft beers around here. But we are always looking for new and exciting ways to get alcohol into our bodies and so spirit pairings were destined to become a thing.And now they…
