Wine Talk

Wine tastings, lectures and tests: Entering the world of the sommelier

By Matt McGinnis

08.19.12 | 11:35 am

I thought I knew a lot about wine. I mean I’ve worked at a winery, I’ve visited tons of them over the years and I even got married ...

Brew News

Craft beer boom: Industry could have $5.6 billion economic impact on Texas if laws are changed

By Matt McGinnis

08.07.12 | 1:05 pm

We pride ourselves on having a free market economy where supply and demand are the only regulators of prices and trade, but that’s not actually the case — especially when ...

Sausage Fest

Banger’s Sausage House & Beer Garden brings 103 beers on tap to Rainey Street

By Matt McGinnis

08.01.12 | 12:50 pm

Inspiration struck Ben Siegel late at night while jonesin’ for a drunk nosh, impatiently waiting in the long line at the Best Wurst sausage and hot dog cart. He wondered ...

perfect pairings

William Chris Vineyards winemakers dream big with Hye Society events

By Matt McGinnis

07.02.12 | 1:26 pm

When William “Bill” Blackmon and Chris Brundrett first saw a 100-year-old dilapidated house situated on a vast a plot of land on Highway 290 in Hye, Texas, they didn’t ...

liquid lucidity

Absinthe: Forbidden no more, but still dripping with mystique

By Matt McGinnis

06.13.12 | 10:45 am

How many things have you done just because you were forbidden to do them? Have you ever inhaled? Have you ever fooled around with a married person who isn’t ...

Drink Up

Whole Foods Market goes old school with a new way to take home wine on tap

By Matt McGinnis

06.07.12 | 1:30 pm

Now there is no need to get wasted, err, be wasteful, when drinking wine, thanks to Whole Foods Market being the first grocery retailer in U.S. to sell wine ...

drink up

Three summer cocktails for Memorial Day Weekend

By Matt McGinnis

05.27.12 | 11:05 am

Memorial Day has morphed from just a solemn day of remembrance for the men and women who fought for our country and died in war into the official kickoff of ...

a great year

Fall Creek Vineyards making wine in the right place at the right time

By Matt McGinnis

05.24.12 | 10:30 am

Sometimes things just feel right. As a wine drinker things feel just right when I am sharing wine with friends and telling stories over appropriately paired food. When is it ...

drink well

Austin mixologists compete in Manhattan Cocktail Classic (and share their recipes with us)

By Matt McGinnis

05.15.12 | 10:55 am

It’s not exactly a completely male-dominated profession like NFL football or Chippendales dancing, but if you look at the most celebrated mixologists in town you’ll note that most ...

4.0 Cellars to be picnic mecca of the Texas wine trail, plus perfect picnic pairings

By Matt McGinnis

05.11.12 | 11:00 am

Spring (forget the sweltering summer) is the perfect time for a picnic in Texas, and the Hill Country is an ideal location. The prime picnic and wine epicenter just got ...

drink up

Austin Food and Wine Festival gives Texas wine a Texas-sized round of applause

By Matt McGinnis

04.30.12 | 3:50 pm

We have a lot of pride in our state. Everything is not only bigger, but also better in Texas. Is that really true of everything? Sure we like to eat ...

finger lickin' good

"Brontosaurus ribs" by local chef win the Greenling Fan Favorite award at Live Fire! meat-cooking competition

By Matt McGinnis

04.27.12 | 2:30 pm

In Forrest Gump, Bubba rattles off over 20 different ways to prepare shrimp. It turns out that beef is pretty damn versatile too. On a beautiful April night at the ...

Meet the Tastemakers

Wine is just a condiment, at least that's what Austin's top sommeliers say

By Jessica Dupuy, Matt McGinnis

04.10.12 | 4:00 pm

Very rarely do you get to gather some of the city’s top sommeliers in one room, let them loose with a couple of bottles of wine in a bag ...

belgian brews

Welcome Adelbert’s: The newest in Austin's craft brewery explosion

By Matt McGinnis

03.28.12 | 11:41 am

Hundreds of people gathered beneath the beautiful sunshine in North Austin to celebrate the grand opening of Adelbert’s Brewery on Saturday. Brewmaster Scott Hovey opened the doors to the ...

2012 Tastemakers

Up close with Houston Eaves, CultureMap Mixologist Tastemaker Award nominee

By Matt McGinnis

03.09.12 | 2:00 pm

The old idiom, “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” is true in the case of Houston Eaves, the award winning bar manager at Contigo. His parents made ...

south american stimulant

Inspired (meaty) cuisine: The Cowboys + Gauchos carnivorous celebration

By Matt McGinnis

03.01.12 | 11:12 am

When you see a whole elk roasting over an open fire flanked by a lamb, a pig and a goat, you know you are at a carnivore-friendly fest. Chefs slice ...

Drink-o-nomics

Buy low and drink high at Brew Exchange: Beer on the trading floor

By Matt McGinnis

02.19.12 | 7:00 pm

The bell rings and pandemonium ensues — the screaming traders, the mad waving of colorful stock order slips, the smell of money. Wall Street? No, last week Brew Exchange rang the ...

drink up

Argyle Winery brings award-winning Oregon bubbly to Austin

By Matt McGinnis

02.15.12 | 1:10 pm

Argyle Winery winemaker, Rollin Soles, brought his mustache and a truckload of his fantastic wine to Austin last week, treating guests to 2008 Argyle Brut Rosé, 2008 Argyle Brut, 2008 ...

get tipsy

How to romance your date on Valentine’s Day with the right wine

By Matt McGinnis

02.13.12 | 11:00 am

Everybody wants to get laid, and Valentine’s Day is either a blessing or a curse when it comes to the pursuit of nook-nook. It’s potentially an excuse to ...

Beer love

Shiner gets a Wild Hare

By Matt McGinnis

01.28.12 | 10:09 am

It’s a great time to be a beer lover with hundreds of new craft brews popping up this past year. Yay beer! Now not-exactly-craft-brew-brewer, Spoetzl Brewery, is introducing Shiner ...