Here's a list of winners from the 2006 World Beer Cup. Damn, that's a lot of different beers, and styles of beer. 85?!? I better stop writing this and go drink some if I ever hope to catch up. I was a little suprised at how many of the winners I've never even heard of. Also that some of my favorite breweries weren't represented at all. On the other hand, I know nothing of the possible political machinations that might be involved in the beer-award world.

Just for a change of pace, here's an interesting article from Slate about sauvignon blanc. I remain in a generally happy state of wine ignorance -- I know that I prefer reds to whites, generally, and I usually have a favorite or two, which tends to change every few months, for no particular reason. I sat in on a brief (hour or so) intro to wine class once and one of the things that stuck with me, for better or worse, was the opinion of the teacher that most American whites taste like grass. I'm sure that's an overstatement and probably unfair but it's a taste-image I still can't really shake. I won't go into detail on what he said about Australian whites (hey, you might like them for all I know) but it was months before I'd even consider tasting, let alone buying one.