Beer/Drinks

There are a number of reasons alcohol is off-limits for some people when cooking or baking, such as an allergy or an inability to use it when preparing food for children or those who might be in recovery. Maybe it’s not in your pantry, now that we’re shopping less often, or even your budget.

Where to start? COVID-19 upended all our oenophile habits, shifting how we buy wine (online more than ever), how we taste and learn about it (virtually) and where we end up drinking it. (Not at parties, bars and restaurants.) Thankfully, many cities considered wine shops to be essential businesses.

Wine consumption is up among millennials, but you couldn’t tell from the way it’s being advertised. Marketed around tasting notes and points, instead of any sense of fun, wine is still perceived as intimidating. Grape varieties, regions and industry terms can be difficult to grasp. To make it more approachable, we should meet the new wine drinkers.

Beer goes back a long, long way – after humans learned how to plant, grow and harvest grains, it didn’t take them long to stumble on the fermentation process that would create beer and other alcoholic delights. Here’s a look at the history of and the numbers behind the suds: