Chef Niall posts his video diary from the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin, enjoying a pint in the Gravity Bar that looks out over the city.

Soda gembira, an Indonesian 'happy milk soda' with syrup and condensed milk, from Alhambra's Indo Kitchen.

Garlic-Kissed Carrot Juice: surprisingly delicious and not too garlicky.

Smirnoff Ice has, by Annie Scott's count, nine flavors. Secretly, she'd always assumed that they all taste the same. But do they?

Crate & Barrel’s six-way opener tackles plenty of happy-hour dilemmas: bottle tops, bottle caps, pull tabs, safety seals, jar lids, and snack bags.

Danish microbrewery Nørrebro Bryghus features simply beautiful bottles by Punktum Design.

Liquid Muse thinks Oval has everything today’s vodka should: A fancy bottle, a vague but plausible distillation story, and a price in the mid-$30s.

Stopping for a glass of local wine is just one of the perks of biking through Colorado’s wine country.

Eric Asimov demystifies wines from Alsace, “a most complicated and counterintuitive region.”

Lyke 2 Drink rounds up six Oktoberfest (or Marzen-style) beers, a good choice for drinkers who enjoy malty beers or need a break from 'hop monsters'.

Blackstrap Betty, by TikiWahine. The winner of the Forbidden Island Cocktail Contest!

Bibulo.us reports from the field: “Bols Genever, the company's first attempt in recent years to market genever outside the Netherlands.”

Apparently, German soldiers used to drink beer out of their boots. This glass version seems much more sanitary, but equally fun.

Leland of EAT attends Astor Center’s ‘Home Bar Basics’ seminar, taught by two PDT bartenders, and declares it well worth the $95 price.

Green Green Tea is carbon neutral, which makes it 'green' tea as well as green tea.

In old-school terms, a “Fancy Cocktail” is gum syrup, bitters, spirits, and curacao, stirred with ice, strained into another glass, and garnished with a twist of lemon… and sometimes a sugared rim.

Drinkhacker reviews a quartet of tequilas, including the $120 Don Julio 1942 that sports an agave-leaf shaped bottle.

Liquid Muse says Jack's Pumpkin Spice Ale is her kind of beer: flavorful and pumpkin-y.

Van Hoo, new vodka from Belgium in a cobalt blue Art Deco bottle.

The Baileys Shiver is my new go-to after dinner cocktail on a hot night.

Sparkling ginger cocktail: Prosecco with ginger syrup and a ginger-sugar rim

Justin Guthrie demos the Baltimore Bengali, a favorite recipe from now-shuttered DC speakeasy Hummingbird to Mars. He uses sous vide methods to create a curry-infused Bourbon.

Two at the Most experiments with Genevieve genever-style gin and creates the Barleyflower Cocktail.

The Singleton, a $36 12-year single malt that Drinkhacker feels most Scotch enthusiasts will likely find perfectly pleasant, if a bit entry-level.

Cocktail Buzz helps us hold on to the tail end of summer fruit season ("sometimes it takes a while to perfect recipes") with The Smash Daddy.

Beyond Drinks finds Volute Wine. packaged in a lightweight, eco-friendly aluminum bottle that protects the contents from light.

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month, Restaurants Unlimited donates $1 to the Komen Foundation for each “Cause-Mo for the Cure".

Rookie Libations turns the seasonal spotlight on pears as a cocktail ingredient with three drink recipes, including the P&G Cocktail.

St. Louis' Schlafly rolls out four beers in homage to the candidates. The small print on each label is funny, no matter your political persuasion.

The Cherry Blossom: Champagne, cherry puree, Cherry Heering liqueur, and rosewater. Part of Heering's "Accessorize 2009" contest, paring couture with cocktails.

Teastar -- 10 organic loose leaf teabags, packed in a clever star-shaped box. Once opened, the box is like an old-fashioned paper fortune-teller toy: Peer inside and choose your favourite brew.

If you've got the $2,000 to spare, you may find that Highland Park 40-year-old single malt features a light sherry-nougat flavor. (via Alcademics)

Mrs. Howell's Spicy Side, by Jennifer Essex. The fourth and final drink in a series of runner-ups from the Forbidden Island Cocktail Contest!

Veuve Clicquot's Champagne Labels, one of every variation since the 1800's lives in a little book in the VCP Maison de Patrimoine (incredible historical archives)

Eben Freeman, of Tailor Restaurant in New York City, shares his recipe for the Bazooka Bubblegum Cocktail with Epicurious.

Yes, it's a beer-filled USB drive. And it's raising some disturbing questions over at Gizmodo.

Martini Groove tracks down a vodka from Hawaii: Pau Maui, made from pineapples.

Papermag looks for insights into Mad Men characters based on their signature drinks.

The Clubland forces Jay from Oh Gosh to reconsider his anti-vodka views.

Tiare gets a little fruity with three new drinks, including the Peppered Rum and Plum cocktail.

Two at the Most experiments with two genever cocktails - the Amsterdam and the Rembrandt.

Louis XIII Cognac and Christophe Pilet ~ the latest luxury design collaboration: a crystal glass, a silver illuminated serving platter, a crystal candleholder and a display case.

Some sources say that the Michelada is named after General Augusto Michel, who supposedly drank his beer with hot sauce and lemon juice.

Underhill Lounge digs into why the Fairbanks Cocktail #2 – “a subtle and tasty update of the standard Martini” -- might (or might not) have been named for the famously teetotaling actor.

#72 on the Tipsy Texan’s David/Dale (DeGroff) Project: the Dirty Martini, using Dirty Sue brine.

I'm not sure that 'A Lulu' is a tiki drink, but its sweet and exotic taste is well balanced.