You can read more about this issue in our January blog post on the subject and at www.freethehops.org.

Here's the message from Stuart Carter, president of Free the Hops: "Now is the time to call your state senator and let him or her know that you want HB196 to pass! Because the Gourmet Beer Bill has already passed the State House of Representatives, this is the final step before sending this bill to the Governor. It's very close, so please contact your senator to express your support ... When this bill was debated in the House, many legislators spoke of the dozens of phone calls they received from their constituents. Your phone calls and e-mails really do make a difference."

Here's a good article on the topc from Black & White: www.bwcitypaper.com/Articles-i-2008-03-20-215511.112112_A_Change_Is_Brewing.html

And a piece on The Terminal explaining the bill, plus another one related to homebrewing:
http://bhamterminal.com/mybirmingham/2008/03/03/free-the-hops-and-the-gourmet-beer-bills/ 

And for the view from the outside, here's a piece in the LA Times from March:
www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-beer10mar10,1,785594.story?page=1&ctrack=4&cset=true

One was a look at whether Birmingham could become one of the cities to have its own Zagat Guide. As the article notes, "Birmingham has begun to make a name for itself on the culinary scene." Highlands chef/owner Frank Stitt is up for a national chef award from the James Beard Foundation, with Hot & Hot's Chris Hastings up for the regional award that Stitt won several years ago. "But despite the accolades and recognition, there is one status symbol of culinary success that has eluded the Magic City: the venerable Zagat guide," says writer Ty West. The guides feature the results of customer surveys and is regarded as a "food and travel bible."

A Zagat's representative told the BBJ reporter that the company considers several factors to determine if there is demand for an area, including the number of reviews online at www.zagat.com, plus requests or petitions from members or from an area's culinary industry. Daniel Briggs, who runs daniel george restaurant in Mountain Brook with co-chef and co-owner George McMillan, told the BBJ that while the city is experiencing an increase in second- and third-generation chefs who are branching out from the area's established restaurants to start their own, he's not sure if the city could support its own Zagat guide just yet. Tom Robey, executive chef at the Veranda on Highland, said he believes the city will be able to support a guide in the next few years.

The other BBJ article was an interview with Robey, who became executive chef at the Veranda on Highland after spending 18 years at the Commander's Palace restaurant in New Orleans. A few tidbits: One of the things that sets Veranda apart from other restaurants in the area is its Sunday jazz brunch. When asked about his cooking style, he said, "I get the best ingredients and I let them speak for themselves. I don't feel a dish should have 17 different adjectives to make it a great dish." Favorite food at home? Grilling and a lot of Italian food (he grew up in New Jersey so ate a lot of Italian-American food. My follow-up question would have been, what's his favorite Italian restaurant in town?).

Food writer Robin Goldstein got 500 volunteers (including wine experts as well as everyday wine drinkers) to do blind tastings of more than 6,000 glasses of wine. The results? 100 wines under $15 consistently outperformed their more-expensive cousins. The results are detailed in a new book to be released May 1, "The Wine Trials: 100 Everyday Wines Under $15 that Beat $50 to $150 Wines in Brown-Bag Blind Tastings."

In another study, done by the California Institute of Technology and Stanford University, found that changes in the stated price of a  wine influenced not only how good volunteers thought it tasted, but even the activity of a brain region that is involved in our experience of pleasure. Volunteers tasted five wine samples which, they were told, were identified by their different retail prices: $5, $10, $35, $45, and $90 per bottle. While the subjects tasted and evaluated the wines, their brains were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI. The subjects consistently reported that they liked the taste of the $90 bottle better than the $5 one, and the $45 bottle better than the $35 one.

There was a catch to the experiment, however. Although the subjects had been told that they would taste five different, variously priced wines, they actually had sampled only three. Wines 1 and 2 were used twice, but labeled with two different prices. For example, wine 2 was presented as the $90 wine (its actual retail price) and also as the $10 wine. When the subjects were told the wine cost $90 a bottle, they loved it; at $10 a bottle, not so much. In a follow-up experiment, the subjects again tasted all five wine samples, but without any price information; this time, they rated the cheapest wine as their most preferred. Here's a link to an article on the study: http://pr.caltech.edu/periodicals/CaltechNews/articles/v42/price.html

According to an Associated Press story that's popping up all over, the Alabama Wineries Association and the Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourist Association came up with the trail to attract visitor's to the state's  wineries. But the Chilton Baptist Association has spoken out against it.

Tourist brochures, the story says, will list the eight participating wineries in the state, and visitors will get a "passport" to get stamped at each winery. Anyone who visits all the wineries will get a wine glass with the logos of each company.

We'd love to know more about this wine trail, but other than this AP story, a Google search doesn't seem to pull up anything official online. In fact, when you Google "Alabama Wine Trail," the first things that come up are the articles about the Baptist protest. The Alabama Wineries Association does not appear to have a working web site. The tourist group has a web site, but if there's anything on there about the wine trail, it's well hidden. We checked out the web site of Vizzini Farms Winery, which was quoted in the AP article -- nada. So we look forward to actually getting one of these brochures and enjoying some Alabama wine. We have had a viognier from Vizzini that was quite nice, which we picked up at Tria Market. (We've also seen Alabama wines at Whole Foods and even occasionally at Publix.)

There are eight wineries in Alabama, according to the state Department of Agriculture: Wills Creek Vineyards in Attalla, Morgan Creek Vineyards in Harpersville, Perdido Vineyards in Perdido, Bryant Vineyards in Talledega, White Oak Vineyards in Anniston, The Winery on Main in Clanton, Ozan Vineyards in Calera and Vizzini Farms Winery in Calera. (By the way, Ozan, also in Calera, is getting ready to release its Chilton County Peach, 06 Merlot, 06 Sangiovese, Shelby Blanc Scuppernong, and 06 Vidal April 17.)

Now I don't want to get into a theological discussion about wine, but even Billy Graham once pointed out that Jesus drank wine. In a Time magazine article in 1977 about new President Jimmy Carter saying he would not serve anything stronger than wine, Graham pointed out that Jesus miraculously turned six huge jars of water into wine at the wedding at Cana (John 2: 1-11). "That wasn't grape juice, as some of them try to claim," added Graham, reported Time.

And here are a few interesting insights on what the Bible says about wine, courtesy of the web site www.godandscience.org:

• "Go eat your bread with enjoyment, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has  already approved what you do," Ecl. 9:7
• "Thou doest cause the grass to grow for the cattle....and wine to gladden the heart of man," Psalm 104 14
• Most of Jesus' parables were about vineyards. He used wine and wineskins, and vines, and winepresses to illustrate spiritual points.
  
• John the Baptist did not drink wine (Luke 1:15 & 7:33), but Jesus did drink wine, and was even accused of being a drunkard. (Luke 7:34) 
  
• Jesus gave wine the highest honour of representing His precious blood during the last  supper, and asks His followers to use wine in remembrance of His death until He comes.  (Luke 22: 18-20)

As the Primaverans explain on their blog, each barista was given three minutes to pour one drink that embodied their skill. The drink was then photographed & projected onto a screen, accompanied by the scores of a panel of blind judges who analyzed the following: 1) Balance & Symmetry 2) Color Infusion & Definition 3) Use of Space 4) Overall Impression. Brett's winning pour was a small rosetta latte.

(Next time we're in Atlanta, we'll definitely be checking out Octane. Brett says it's the best coffee shop in the state, and we love what it says at the top of their web site: "We open early and close late. We're not sure, but we think it has something to do with the coffee.")

We never have that problem anymore, because here's what we started doing: We refuse to order our entrees at the same time we order our appetizers. Even if we already know what we want for the main event, when we order the appetizer, we tell our server we haven't decided yet on the entrees and will wait to order until after we've finished our appetizer. If they don't take the hint and come ask us again for our order, we'll nicely tell them that we aren't in a hurry, that we want to take the time to really enjoy the meal. As a result, it's not unusual for us to spend two or three hours having a three-course dinner.

We enjoy each bite, each sip. In between courses we get a chance to talk, or may enjoy a chance to chat with our server or the owner or the restaurant's resident wine expert, whether it be a formal sommelier or a particularly wine-savvy server.

We've never really had any problems with this approach. In fact, servers and restaurant owners often seem to really appreciate the fact that we want to take time to fully enjoy the meal.

The "Timetable" blog over at The Terminal earlier this week had an entry about dining al fresco. Their favorites were Rojo, Cantina, Bottega and the Garage Cafe. Definitely have to agree about Bottega. We were there last weekend (review to come soon, really!), and while it was just a tad too chilly to eat outdoors that evening, we loved the patio with its fountain surrounded by vines and the enclosing hedge. Veranda just down the street has a nice outdoor spot, as well, both in front of the restaurant (surrounded by a wooden fence, though) and the balcony on the second floor, which is even better.

Five Points South has several outdoor dining spots, including Mesa, the Grill, Cosmo's Pizza, and the soon-to-reopen Mellow Mushroom, and Cobb Lane and the J. Clyde just down the street. Also on Southside, in the Lakeview/Forest Park area, V. Richard's and O.T.'s.

In Homewood, SoHo has some good outdoor dining spaces, although we've heard mixed reviews on some of the food. There's Zoe's, which is always good for what it is; Jackson's Bar & Bistro, which we don't know much about; Salsarita's, which we have not heard much good about; Grey House Grill, where we had a very disappointing brunch. Also for al fresco in the downtown Homewood area is Dave's Pizza and DeVinci's, and Chicago Mike's Hot Dogs. Also in Homewood, over at Brookwood Village, Cocina Superior has a great outdoor space.

Several restaurants at Patton Creek in Hoover offer nice outdoor spots, including Cafe Lazio and Cajun Steamer.

In the downtown area, there's Bottletree and Metro Bistro. Over at Pepper Place, Bettola and Cantina.

Any great outdoor dining spot I'm missing? Leave a comment!