Wine & Spirits

Drinks are the centerpiece of just about any celebration - revelers toast with Champagne on New Year’s Eve and rarely is a summer barbecue complete without a brew in hand. To help in choosing which wines to chill and cocktails to mix up for your spring soirees, AFM asked a few of our favorite beverage experts for their delicious input.

Eliot Wexler
Owner of NOCA
“There is so much great juice out there that I try to find wines that tell a story or that speak specifically of the place from which they came. Smaller producers doing things soulfully really resonate for me.”

We asked two local wine pros, Brent Karlicek, wine merchant for Postino winecafé and Postino Central, and Steven Kelley, sommelier at Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort’s Different Pointe of View restaurant, for their tried-and-true tips on purchasing for parties and pairing wine with your favorite foods.

March 13, I was invited to attend an Absinthe unveiling party and demonstration, The Green Hour, at Morton's Steakhouse in Phoenix. Everybody's favorite steakhouse has now added Pernod Absinthe to their bottomless liquor cabinet, and I pushed aside the fears of green fairy hallucinations to give the glorious green spirit a whirl.

If you’re looking for a little culture with your cocktail or a spiritual experience with your pint, you’re in luck. Ireland has plenty of intoxicating spots full of poetry and prose.