It hit him all at once during a visit to Bulgaria. An epiphany transformed Dushan Zaric’s approach to making and selling drinks in the swanky bars he’s opened everywhere from New York to Los Angeles.
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Vie’s Julius White Has Big Plans for the Chartreuse in His Home Bar
Few white-tablecloth restaurants double as cocktail destinations — or local hangouts. Vie, a Michelin-starred institution in Western Springs, Ill., does both. Just ask Julius White, Vie’s bar manager and assistant general manager. He has worked alongside Paul Virant, the James Beard Award-nominated chef at Vie, for nearly three years. The restaurant regularly appears on best […]
Tags: bartender, chicago, profile, restaurants

Two Texans Are Distilling Excellent Whiskey on an Abandoned Fort Worth Golf Course
Once associated almost exclusively with Kentucky and Tennessee, American whiskey is now being made coast to coast, and many places in between. This proliferation, and the popularity of brown spirits in general, led to an 8.1 percent increase in American whiskey sales in 2017, according to the Distilled Spirits Council. Helping lead that charge is […]

Queer Eye’s Karamo Brown Says, ‘Sometimes You Need to Spice Things Up’
Anyone who’s watched Netflix’s rendition of the universally beloved ”Queer Eye” franchise knows the name Karamo Brown. He is the grounded, calming soul of the Fab Five. As the show’s culture expert, Brown brings earnest compassion to every episode. A peek into the Houston native’s personal life shows that his good nature goes far beyond […]
Tags: profile, television

Meet the Tastemaker Bringing Natural Wine Education to NYC’s Coolest Restaurants
Being a sales representative in the wine industry doesn’t come with the most creative job description. But Alexis Schwartz of Zev Rovine Selections, a natural wine distributor based in Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood, has turned her position into something fluid — and become an influential force in New York City’s wine scene in the process.
Tags: natural wine, NYC, profile, restaurants

The Elk Room’s Andrew Nichols Despises Bloody Marys ‘With a Passion’
In May 2018, The Elk Room in Baltimore was named one of the best bars in the country. The accolade is in no small part thanks to Andrew Nichols, who can concoct “inspired drinks of and with nearly anything.” As the Elk Room’s bar manager, Nichols whips up historically themed, wildly creative cocktails like the […]

Night Shift Brewing’s Michael Oxton Says ‘We Have Enough’ IPAs
Michael Oxton is not afraid of hard work. He and his Night Shift Brewing co-founders, Rob Burns and Mike O’Mara, fervently pursued their homebrewing hobby at night for five years, while living in a shared apartment and working desk jobs. In 2012, they debuted Night Shift in Everett, Mass.

Why Bart Watson, the BA’s Chief Economist, Keeps a Lot of Wine Around the House
Bart Watson, Ph.D., is a beacon for those of us who love beer and analytics in equal measure. (We exist, and we are all over the internet.) The Brewers Association’s chief economist analyzes economic data, statistics, and market research to distill beer industry intel and predict trends. What does that mean, exactly? Well, Watson is […]

Being a Woman Winemaker of Color Means You ‘Have to Work Harder and Smarter Than Everyone Else’
There’s nothing like family. Especially the family that finds you, fully grown and ready to help you build your dreams. Robin McBride and Andréa McBride John grew up on opposite sides of the Pacific Ocean, Robin in Marlborough, New Zealand and Andréa in Monterey, Calif. They each thought they were only children. But in 1999, […]