Inspiration and Information for your Tabletop

Genever: a delightfully herbal concoction made from juniper berries. This name may be unfamiliar to you, but its anglicized cousin you’ll likely recognize: gin.

From baked clay goblets to titanium reinforced crystal glass, the modern wine glass has come a long way. According to a study published in the 2017 British Medical Journal, wine glasses between 1700 and 2017 have gotten 7 times bigger. That contributes to the vast variety of glasses we have today. 

One of our top food trends to watch in 2020 is the increasing popularity of low to no-alcohol beverages and the restaurants that make them.

Ice is food. Yes, we've heard it time and time again in the foodservice industry, and we agree. We should pay more attention to our ice, particularly as it relates to clean, sanitary, and safe ice. But ice is much more than food.

If you look at just about any data source and analyze their beverage trends, there's one glaring fact you'll see in just about every single one of them: the non-alcoholic beverage market is growing at record pace.

Chefs have used it for years, though its origins with food go way beyond flavoring. In fact, it was first used as a method of preservation. Only in recent times, though, has this one ingredient found its way onto some of the country's best cocktail bar menus.

The ingredient?

Some things are just iconic. Often that's because they're the first.

We're well beyond the craft cocktail movement. It's become so commonplace, even national, casual bar and restaurant chains are jumping on the craft cocktail bandwagon in order to court younger generations.

The current cocktail revolution has also spawned the rebirth of many classic glassware styles. Gone are the days of always serving Manhattans in a Martini glass. We're witnessing the return of the coupe glass.

There are few articles of faith in my admittedly jaundiced worldview, precious few things that I believe to be right and true and basically unimprovable by man or God. This, however, is one of them: a properly poured beer or ale -- in my case, a hand-cranked Guinness -- in a clean pint glass of correct temperature is God's Own Beverage, a complete and nutritious food source, a thing of beauty to be admired, a force that sweeps away, for a time, all the world's troubles.