2/2011 The Review of Beers, Spirits, & Wines

We were young, we were wild, we were living in New York, and dare we say it—we were ahead of our time.

In 2002 AlcoholReviews.com launched a downloadable magazine called The Review of Beers, Spirits, & Wines.  (Check out Issue 1 and Issue 2.)

It was to be a free magazine supported by advertising, and it online only—no printing, no schlepping bundles of paper magazines about in trucks.  We wanted to do something that was super cheap to produce and would capture the eyes of drink lovers and the firms that serve them.

If memory serves, we had a couple of paid outside contributors, Peter Millar of the U.K.’s Financial Times, and Professor Greg Kitzmiller of Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business.

The Review of Beers, Spirits, & Wines was laid out in—get this—Microsoft Word 98.  Adobe Photoshop was used to crop the photographs.  The look was decidedly old school—Issue 1 looked like something turned out by Fleet Street in the mid-20th century.  Issue 2 included National Review‘s signature blue border on the cover.  It was all very experimental and slapdish, mostly due to the fact that we did not know what we were doing.  Is there a designer in the house?  Anyone with magazine industry experience?  Cricket chirps.

The magazine lasted on two issues, not for want of passion, but for the simple fact that it was time-consuming to produce and we had a dissertation and Ph.D. to complete.

One day, perhaps, we will revive The Review of Beers, Spirits, & Wines.  One fine day…

Note: You also can view the magazine via these links: Issue 1 and Issue 2