MY LIFE IN GLUTTONY: A CULINARY ADVENTURE

September 12, 2020 by evebushman

JACKSONVILLE BEACH, FLA. (PRWEB) – Our fascination with food was confirmed on April 19, 1993 when Americans were introduced to the Food Network. Along with increased numbers of celebrity chefs and food-oriented reality television shows, there’s been an ever-growing demand for cookbooks and culinary storytelling.

In his latest book, My Life in Gluttony: A Culinary Adventure, Jeffrey Spear confesses “Living to eat is no longer an admission of gluttony or a problem with self-control. It has, in fact, become a badge of honor.” With this in mind, Spear gives readers a glimpse into his lifetime of culinary obsessions sparked by a willingness to eat just about anything and a job that takes him to some remarkable destinations around the world.

While his adventures in Malawi, Georgia, and Guyana are a bit off the beaten path, Spear also includes culinary encounters right here in the U.S. Readers will find Spear’s obsession with hot dogs in New York and flourless chocolate cake in Washington DC as compelling and engaging as his discovery of char-grilled mouse in Malawi and bunny chow in South Africa.

Over 306 pages, starting from his childhood home in Maryland to exotic destinations around the world including Ghana, Lebanon, Serbia, Hawaii, Paris, Russia, Montenegro, Buenos Aires, and Malawi (grilled mouse is a roadside treat), Spear describes the foods that made indelible impressions along the way. Including 96 crowd-pleasing and easy-to-follow recipes, from the familiar to the esoteric, this book is a gastronomic delight.

My Life in Gluttony is available nationwide on Amazon.com

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jeffrey Spear is an accomplished visual artist, graphic designer, cookbook author, food stylist, television personality, journalist, and cook. He is also a globally recognized food marketing consultant working with growers, manufacturers, chefs, and restaurateurs on every continent except Antarctica; helping them develop and introduce a wide variety of ingredients and brands to buyers around the world. Along the way, he also writes about food for a variety of trade and consumer magazines and online publications.

It goes without saying that Spear is exceptionally well travelled. He has enjoyed countless exotic and intriguing culinary encounters, most recently in Palestine, Malawi and the country of Georgia. He derives his greatest pleasures from everything and anything associated with food. Whether he’s eating, writing, or talking about it, wandering the aisles in a grocery stores, or preparing lavish dinner parties, food is his idea of a really good time.

My Life in Gluttony – A Culinary Adventure is his third and most ambitious cookbook preceded by The First Coast Heritage Cookbook and Yum! Tasty Recipes from Culinary Greats.

When not engaged with food, Jeffrey can be found relaxing on the sand, reading a good book, swimming in the surf, watching the passing wildlife, and enjoying the sun in his hometown of Jacksonville Beach.

Slow Wine Announces New US Editor for the Slow Wine Guide: Deborah Parker Wong!

July 6, 2020 by evebushman

NEW YORK (PRWEB) – Slow Wine Editore announces some important changes and news for the next 2021 edition of its English-language edition of the Slow Wine Guide, which this year successfully celebrated its 10th anniversary. Deborah Parker Wong, DWSET, one of the Slow Wine Guide contributors, has recently been named National Editor of the US edition of the guide, thus confirming her dedication and passion to put a spotlight on those American wineries that have made it their priority to be environmentally cautious, according to the “Slow philosophy.” Deborah, Global Editor at Somm Journal and The Tasting Panel, is an opinion-leading wine industry leader, communicator, journalist and author. She also guides tastings and educational seminars, and judges several wine competitions each year.

Bottom Row: Cami Sisk MS, Chairwoman of the Judges Panel Deborah Parker Wong, Eve Bushman, Stacie Hunt.
Top Row: Danny Ronen, Paul Ellis, Cassandra Brown, David Glancy MS, Roger Bohmrich MW

With the growth of “green” oenology in the United States, the guide started to include wineries from California and Oregon in 2017 and announced lately its expansion through Washington state and the east coast, with New York, Virginia, and Maryland wineries soon to be reviewed. “I am honored to have the opportunity to lead the Slow Wine editorial team in the US,” stated Parker Wong, “and am excited to be part of the next chapter in this ever-evolving time.”

The Slow Wine community in the US is steadily growing after having expanded beyond Italian borders just a few years ago. “I’d like to thank former US editor, Jeremy Parzen, for his dedication the Slow Wine Guide and his contribution to our expansion in the US,” stated Editor-in-chief, Giancarlo Gariglio. “We are very encouraged by the positive response so far and look forward to continuing the Slow Wine mission with our American peers for years to come.”

The recent lockdown caused by the pandemic created an uncertain scenario for the Slow Wine movement, whose reviewing process is based on winery visits and blind tastings. To cope with the emergency, the editorial staff has recently announced a new digital approach consisting of virtual visits with producers to gather all the necessary information and parameters required by the guide.

“For ten years,” commented Gariglio, “we have personally visited more than 2,000 wineries, we have met their leaders, walked their vineyards and told their stories. The recent pandemic forced us to modify the way in which we work, but we are not slowing down. Thanks to technology and our learnings during the lockdown, we are substituting in-person visits with virtual meetings and tastings, and the result so far has been extremely successful. We can now share these digital interviews with our readers on our social media channels, a completely new offering for our followers.”

To get your own digital copy of the 2020 Slow Wine Guide, visit this link here. The Slow Wine Tour will come back in the US in 2021 with a new edition that is destined to remain in history.

About Slow Wine
The Slow Wine Guide, published by Slow Food Editore (the publishing arm of Slow Food Italy*), adopts a new approach to wine criticism and looks at a variety of factors to evaluate wineries in their entirety. They take into consideration wine quality, history and adherence to terroir, value, environmental sensitivity and ecologically sustainable methods of practice. Slow Wine was conceived to give a realistic snapshot of the current Italian wine landscape. The guide features reviews of over 500 different wineries, each one visited by Slow Food experts. It is available for purchase on Amazon.com as well as in select bookstores.

*Slow Food International is a global grassroots organization that envisions a world in which all people can access and enjoy food that is good for them, good for those who grow it, and good for the planet. A non-profit member-supported association, Slow Food was founded in Italy in 1989 to counter the rise of fast food and fast life and the disappearance of local food traditions, and to encourage people to be aware about the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes, and how our food choices affect the rest of the world.

“The Most Maryland Beer Ever” Celebrates 5 Years with New Look, New Recipe

July 2, 2020 by evebushman

FREDERICK, MD. (PRWEB) – June 2020 marks the return of what has been called ‘the most Maryland beer ever’ by The Washington Post: Flying Dog Brewery’s Dead Rise. This Limited Release sour ale is the first and only beer brewed with the iconic OLD BAY® seasoning and this year it is celebrating its 5th anniversary with a new look, new recipe, and even more OLD BAY.

Five years ago, Maryland’s largest brewery began a partnership with the Chesapeake Bay region’s own OLD BAY. Its initial release created a viral sensation that made it difficult to keep store shelves stocked. Since that time, Flying Dog remains the only brewery allowed to brew a beer using the famous OLD BAY seasoning, a product that runs in the blood of Marylanders and has gained enormous popularity outside of the region.

Initially released as a blonde ale, Flying Dog is taking Dead Rise back to its roots and giving it to fans as it was originally envisioned – as a gose. Perfect for summer days full of seafood, Dead Rise’s new gose formula blends OLD BAY with a refreshing lemony tartness for a beer low in bitterness and high in flavor. Dead Rise was brewed with Citra hops and carries a 5.7% ABV. The beer began shipping to distributors June 1, 2020 in 6-packs of 12 oz. bottles.

“For those of us who grew up in crab country, you can’t get more iconic than OLD BAY. We wanted our new Dead Rise formula to live up to that greatness,” said James Maravetz, VP of Marketing at Flying Dog. “The refreshing pop of tart, balanced with the OLD BAY’s salty and spicy flavor profile, created a beer that tastes like summer on the Bay.”

Brewed with the rugged spirit of the Chesapeake Bay watermen, the name Dead Rise is a nod to their traditional fishing boats, used year-round to gather shellfish feasts. A portion of the proceeds from Dead Rise also benefit Maryland’s crabbing industry through the Maryland Department of Natural Resources’ True Blue Program, an annual campaign aimed at raising awareness for the struggling industry. The True Blue Program highlights and rewards those restaurants who make it a point to serve local, Maryland harvested crab.

The concept for the beer was developed as part of the company’s Brewhouse Rarities program, dreamt up by a Flying Dog staff member with a deep devotion to their favorite state, seasoning and seafood. The new gose formula was also designed to turbocharge the flavor of whatever seafood is on your plate. The recipe’s new lemony tartness freshens up the beer and helps flavors pop. In addition to seafood, try Dead Rise with salty starches like tater tots and fries, lighter proteins like turkey, chicken and tofu, or rich sauces and creamy condiments like melted cheese, bechamel and avocado and ranch dressings.

About Flying Dog Brewery:
As one of the fastest-growing regional craft breweries in the United States, Flying Dog has been brewing world-class beer that pushes the confines of traditional styles for 30 years. Flying Dog attracts everyone from craft beer connoisseurs to those just catching the wave with up to 20 styles available at any given time. Introduced to Flying Dog by the Gonzo writer Hunter S. Thompson, artist Ralph Steadman has produced original art for Flying Dog’s labels since 1995. Recent accolades for Flying Dog include its Pale Ale ranked as the #1 American Pale Ale in the U.S. by The New York Times. For more information, visit http://www.flyingdog.com. Flying Dog is now available on Drizly.

FireFly Farms, Among the Most-Awarded in the US, Proudly Celebrates Another 15 Awards for its Handmade Cheeses in 2019

November 25, 2019 by evebushman

ACCIDENT, MD. (PRWEB) – FireFly Farms, nationally and internationally-awarded maker of artisan cheese, proudly celebrates another successful year earning fifteen new individual awards won by its acclaimed line of cheeses in national and international cheese judging programs in 2019. Six of these awards were earned at October’s World Cheese Awards, making FireFly Farms one of the most awarded cheese makers in the United States.

Moo and Blue cheese from FireFly Farms website

“It has been a great year for FireFly Farms,” remarked National Sales Director, Cristi Menard. “These fifteen new awards bring FireFly Farms’s individual award count to a staggering one hundred and twenty!”

“FireFly Farms is proud of its respected place among American cheese makers,” remarked FireFly Farms’ President Mike Koch. “American cheese making is booming, and the quality of American cheeses now rivals that of our European peers. We’re proud that as the competitions grow, FireFly Farms’ cheeses continue to be recognized among the very best!”

The cheese judging programs recognizing FireFly Farms’ cheeses included:

The Good Food Awards hosted by the Good Food Foundation and held in January in San Francisco, California. The Good Food Awards were created to redefine ‘good food’ as being tasty, authentic and responsible.
The American Cheese Society Competition & Judging, the leading competition of American-made cheeses which takes place each year in conjunction with the annual American Cheese Society conference. The ACS cheese judging, held in July in Richmond, Virginia, is the largest annual competition held in the United States with nearly two-thousand individual entries from hundreds of American cheese manufacturers. Three awards were earned by FireFly Farms at the 2019 ACS Competition and Judging.
The Maryland Cheese Guild’s annual Maryland Artisan Cheese Contest held in conjunction with the Maryland Wine Festival annually in September at the Carroll County Farm Museum. Five awards were earned by FireFly Farms at the 2019 Maryland Artisan Cheese Contest.
The World Cheese Awards hosted by The Guild of Fine Food in the United Kingdom and held this year in October in Bergamo, Italy. This worldwide event is the largest cheese competition on the planet. Six awards were earned by FireFly Farms at the 2019 World Cheese Awards, making it one of the most highly recognized cheese makers in the United States.

Ten of FireFly Farm’s cheeses, including four recently launched cheeses, were recognized with new awards this year:

Piloted in 2015 and launched this year, its soft-ripened cow’s milk cheese Bloomy Breeze received a prestigious Super Gold Medal at the World Cheese Awards. The Super Gold designation was awarded to eighty-four cheeses in this year’s competition, only six of which are manufactured in the United States.
Piloted in 2015 and launched this year, its long-aged cow’s milk blue cheese Moo & Blue received a prestigious gold medal at the World Cheese Awards and a second gold medal in the Maryland Cheese Guild’s Artisan Cheese Contest.
Launched in 2017 for FireFly Farms’ fifteenth anniversary, its soft-ripened spruce-banded goat’s milk cheese Merry Goat Round Spruce Reserve received a gold medal and a Judge’s Choice Award in the Maryland Cheese Guild’s Artisan Cheese Contest and a bronze medal in the World Cheese Awards.
Launched this year, FireFly Farms’ herby harissa flavored fresh goat cheese received a bronze medal in the Maryland Cheese Guild’s Artisan Cheese Contest.
FireFly Farms’ fresh goat cheese received a silver medal in the Maryland Cheese Guild’s Artisan Cheese Contest.
Its soft-ripened goat’s milk cheese, and one if its three originally launched products, MountainTop received a Good Food Award and a bronze medal in the World Cheese Awards. These two new awards bring MountainTop’s total individual award count to thirty – FireFly Farms’ single most-awarded cheese. Previous awards include a 2005 selection by Saveur Magazine editors as one of their 50 favorite American cheeses and its international recognition at the World Cheese Awards in 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2013, 2014, and now 2019.
Its washed-rind goat’s milk cheese Cabra LaMancha received a third-place award in the American Cheese Society Competition & Judging and a silver medal in the World Cheese Awards. These two new awards bring Cabra LaMancha’s total individual award count to twenty-two. Previous awards include a 2005 selection by Southern Foodways Alliance as one of the “Top 10” American goat’s milk cheeses and its international recognition at the World Cheese Awards in 2008, 2009, 2012, 2015, and now 2019.
Its long-aged goat’s milk blue cheese Black & Blue received a second-place award in the American Cheese Society Competition & Judging. This new award brings Black & Blue’s total individual award count to twenty. Previous awards include a total of seven first-place finishes in the ADGA commercial products competition in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2016.
Its long-aged goat’s milk Italian-style cheese Bella Vita received a second-place award in the American Cheese Society Competition & Judging in the ACS’s highly competitive Italian-style cheese category open to all milk-types. This new award brings Bella Vita’s total individual award count to thirteen. Previous awards include a 2010 first-place award at the American Cheese Society Competition & Judging, and a Super Gold Medal at the 2010 World Cheese Awards

“These fifteen new awards for our handmade cheeses are just fantastic,” commented FireFly Farm’s head cheese maker, Dan Porter. “We are especially proud of the recognition for our newly launched cow’s milk cheeses. It’s so nice to see the efforts of farmers and our cheese makers recognized.”

About FireFly Farms Inc.
Founded in 2000 by partners Mike Koch and Pablo Solanet, FireFly Farms now comprises a community of cheese makers and cheese mongers dedicated to making excellent cheese and creating value for their regional farming community as well as Garrett County Maryland’s rural economy. They are committed to ensuring their operations are sustainable and protect our natural environment for future generations. FireFly Farms is a proud member of the Maryland Cheese Guild and the American Cheese Society. They enthusiastically support the growth of sustainable farming, food production, and artisan cheese making in their region and across the nation.

Maryland’s First Double Gold for Straight Bourbon Awarded to McClintock Distilling

April 22, 2019 by evebushman

FREDERICK, Md. (PRWEB) – McClintock Distilling announced today that they are the recipients of the double gold medal for their Matchstick Straight Bourbon at the San Francisco International Spirits Competition (SFWSC). This marks the first time a Maryland distillery has won double gold in the Straight Bourbon category and makes the two distillers, aged 29 and 30, two of the youngest distillers to ever win double gold for any category. McClintock joins national brands such as Knob Creek, David Nicholson and McKenna Bourbon in the double gold category and is one of the only independently owned craft brands represented this year.

McClintock Distilling released the first small batch Matchstick Straight Bourbon in December of 2018 and sold out within hours of the release. It is a wheated, rye finished bourbon and is one of the first organic-certified straight bourbons on the market. McClintock uses all non-GMO, organic, heritage grains that are milled in house using a historic-derived stone burr mill to produce their whiskies.

“We are absolutely ecstatic to win double gold at the San Francisco International Spirits Competition. It is one of the oldest and highest regarded competitions and we never dreamed that we would be considered among these other amazing whiskies. We are working hard to keep the Matchstick in stock without compromising the quality of the product. ” – Braeden Bumpers, Owner, McClintock Distilling

The company is currently sold out of the award-winning Bourbon but Bumpers says they will have a large release of the Whiskey in August. Their goal is to keep the Matchstick and their Bootjack Rye Whiskey in the market regularly by 2020. They are also planning to release more barrel-aged gins this year (Their Reserve Cognac-aged gin placed double gold last year at the NYISC).

McClintock Distilling joins Sagamore Spirit as Maryland Distilleries that earned double gold this year at the SFWSC. Both are members of the Maryland Distiller’s Guild and work to increase the knowledge and market presence of Maryland Distillers in the industry.

The San Francisco World Spirits Competition is one of the oldest of its kind and was founded in 2000. It is founded on integrity and impartiality with a blind judging process. The competition brings in some of the highest regarded judges in the world and as such as become one of the world’s most esteemed spirits competitions.

McClintock Distilling also won Silver medals for their Bootjack Rye Whiskey, Forager Gin, Reserve Gin and Maryland-Heritage White Whiskey as well as Bronze Medals for their Gardener’s Gin, Epiphany Vodka and Spiced Pear Cordial at the SFWSC this year.

Learn more at http://www.mcclintockdistilling.com. If you would like more information about this topic please contact Braeden Bumpers at 202-557-9914 or email at braeden (at) mcclintockdistilling (dot) com.

McClintock Distilling, an organic craft distillery located in Frederick, Maryland, offers vodka, gins, and whiskeys. McClintock Distilling strives to maintain a sustainable and locally sourced business with a focus on product quality, environmental impact and community betterment. McClintock Distilling is committed to bringing the McClintock experience to all of our customers through every drop. For more information please visit http://www.mcclintockdistilling.com.

McClintock Distilling is Certified as Maryland’s First and Only Organic Distillery

February 5, 2018 by evebushman

FREDERICK, Md. – McClintock Distilling has been officially certified as Maryland’s first ever USDA Organic Distillery as of the permit issue date of January 20, 2018. McClintock Distilling has been using organic ingredients from the opening of the business in December 2015 and went through a year of compliance with the Maryland Department of Agriculture before the certification became official.

Every aspect of production was considered for the certification, from the grains used in whiskey production to the botanicals included in McClintock’s award-winning Forager gin. Representatives from McClintock, the USDA and the Maryland Department of Agriculture worked closely throughout 2017 to ensure compliance as this is the first distillery to go through the process in the state.

“We are thrilled to be the first distillery in the state to be organic certified. Using one hundred percent organic grains was part of our mission to ensure that we get the best possible ingredients to make the best possible spirits. As an added bonus we get to support responsible farms that are using non-GMO grains and reducing the pesticide and nitrogen pollution of our waterways” Braeden Bumpers, Owner, McClintock Distilling

Being organic certified is part of McClintock Distilling’s overall mission to increase sustainability in alcohol production, both at their facility in downtown Frederick and off-site. The distillery itself is powered by one hundred percent renewable electricity purchased through Clean Choice Energy and the owners designed and built a proprietary closed loop cooling system that has reduced wastewater in the facility by several hundred thousand gallons a year. The distillers also work closely with local farmers to ensure that all spent grain mash gets re-used as animal feed in Frederick County.