When approaching this Great Pumpkin Latte Tasting between Whole Foods, Dunkin' Donuts, and Starbucks, we had to ask ourselves, what's more important: pumpkin flavor, or pumpkin spice flavor? It might not seem like it's asking too much for a drink with both "pumpkin" and "spice" in the name to taste like, well, both. But after tasting these three versions, it does seem too much to ask, which is really a crying shame. More

While cider may not have been served at the first Thanksgiving, it was the beverage of choice for the American colonists. It was difficult to grow hops for beer and grapes for wine in the inhospitable New England soil. But by 1623 the first European apple trees set up root in American soil and, by the turn of the century, the colonists were consuming cider daily as a safer alternative to their often-polluted water supply. More

Among my fellow beer nerds, it's not the need for long sleeves that makes it autumn. It's not the burnished leaves or the candy corn. The real reason to be excited for the coming of fall is the arrival of autumn seasonal beers. Here's a sampler of this year's pumpkin brews. More

Once a year when hops are ready to be pulled from the vine, some brewers celebrate the season by heading out to local farms to harvest hops fresh. Once gathered, the hops need to be added to the brewing kettle as quickly as possible—the delicate flowers spoil rapidly, especially if exposed to heat. More

By substituting rye for some of the barley in the mash, brewmasters give these beers a hint of spicy warmth and a touch of rye-bread flavor. More

Surely jack-o-lantern-flavored, cinnamon-perfumed beer isn't serious beer. We tried seven pumpkin beers, and as it turns out, some were actually pretty good—especially with a bowl of chili. More

Now that the nights are cooler and the leaves are starting to change, I'm looking at aged spirits with renewed enthusiasm, and one style of spirit in particular: Calvados. More

Apple brandy has a long and distinctive history in the United States, with the spirit produced by the nation's oldest continually operating distillery--still owned by the Laird family in New Jersey--making appearances in records of the Revolutionary War and in the diaries of George Washington. Literally, hundreds of small farm distilleries produced Applejack, New Jersey's signature spirit, during the nation's formative decades, and today artisan distilleries such as Clear Creek Distillery in Oregon and Germain-Robin in California, produce spectacular apple brandies. More