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Champagne In First
I can’t recall a time, when offered one of those plastic pearly flutes of sparkling wine (so rarely actual Champagne, unless it’s Air France or Emirates or maybe Cathay) …I can’t recall ever saying, “No, just a water, thanks.” And when they’ve truly upgraded you and served you the bubbly in a real glass, I…
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Blue Moon & Mandarin
My plane was late landing in Nashville, and they couldn’t find me the right rental car. Gone midnight by the time I made it to the Gaylord Massif otherwise known as Opryland–a hotel so far bigger than necessary that it surely encompassed its own zip code–along with a strangely enormous human terranium inside. I’d had…
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Kölsch: The Beer That’s A Language Too
I took a late run in the day, when the train from Frankfurt dropped me off earlier than I expected in Köln (Cologne to the Francophiles and Englishmen). The rain had darkened the plaza and the Dom itself, not just the black soot of centuries tarnishing the cathedral’s façade and flying buttresses. Because the rain…
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Taking Port Into DXB
The bottle was a gift from new partners, and certainly not worth any more than the $25 limit imposed upon one by the policies of most corporations. I say this with conviction, because, unless it’s a rare vintage or from a top producer, Port in Portugal is very affordable…downright cheap (though I would never say cheap,…
