Marching Proud Boys wearing black Fred Perry polos and getting into fisticuffs with Antifa. Anonymous hacktivists wearing creepy, plastic Guy Fawkes masks and messing with the computers of law enforcement and other organizations they think corrupt or cruel. Oath Keepers proclaiming to be “Guardians of the Republic” and traveling to the U.S. Capitol with paramilitary […]
Bottled Up Rage: A Review of The Whiskey...
I make frequent car trips between Washington, D.C., where I work, and Ohio, where I have extended family, friends, and a man cave stocked with beer, a crossbow, and power tools. On U.S. Route 76, I inevitably pass a modest billboard advertising the Jean Bonnet Tavern. Few of the innumerable drivers hurtling by at 70 miles per […]
The military and whiskey’s 250-year hist
KCET, a public television station in Los Angeles, published an essay by me on the U.S. army’s long relationship with whiskey. As I note, “for military men and women, whiskey holds an additional appeal beyond its glorious amber color, robust flavor and mood-alleviating powers — it may even be more American than apple pie (which […]
My New Book “Moonshine: A Global History
No matter where you go on earth, there is moonshine. It has been made from just about every imaginable foodstuff: grapes, grain, raw sugar, tree bark, horse milk and more. College students in the developed world drink it; so do day labourers in the world’s poorest slums and villages. All moonshine has two characteristics: it […]
Let It Flow: Chipping Away at the Three-...
From producer to distributor to retailer to consumer—usually, that’s how it works in America. Three different sets of hands are placed on alcoholic beverages before they reach the consumer. But, this hoary old way of doing things is being eroded at the edges. The Enterprise Blog has posted my quick take on this matter—-“Let It […]