Tom Harpel at Tandoku gives a shout out to St. Peter’s, the British microbrewer, for their porter (which I haven’t yet tried). I first tried their Fruit Beer in 1998 or 1999 in a small pub in London, but most of the sources of their beers I’ve found in the States have been, unfortunately, skunked. I’ll have to try his sources.

Ironic that Metafilter considers the story of bourbon nothing more than a battle between two producers. I think a lot of the story is the independents that have entered the market in the last ten to fifteen years, particularly Labrot and Graham (makers of the incomparable Woodford Reserve).