Credit: Courtesy Budweiser

Craft beer might not even have ten percent of the market^[6] in the United States, but the rapid rise in popularity obviously has some of the biggest names in brewing paying attention. With all the great choices^[7] out there, some of the older brands that your grandpa stuck to or that maybe you drank in high school because it was all that was available, have to figure out new ways to keep people interested. Essentially, old beers are trying to figure out how to be the new Pabst Blue Ribbon. How do they get younger people to care about their product and not that Belgian beer that comes in a goblet? 

If you're Budweiser, routinely one of the best-selling beers in the entire world^[8], you probably aren't going to make any big changes to your operation. No major ingredient adjustments, no rebranding campaigns; instead, you reach back to the past to capture the imaginations and dollars of nostalgic potential drinkers. You go vintage. 

Like Coors with the Banquet beers, and Miller Lite, who saw a nice bump in sales^[9] after brining back the 1970s design to their cans and bottles, the King of Beers has teamed up with the North Carolina's Vintage Editions^[10] to put out the handsome wooden crate filled with 18 bottles, all with labels from three different eras: 1918, 1933, and 1976. The three years represent Prohibition, the end of it, and the company's 100th anniversary. The case also includes two pilsner glasses. 

Hitting shelves across the country for $40 a case, Budweiser has upped the retro ante by introducing something that makes a great holiday gift, as opposed to something you bring over to your buddy's house to drink while you watch Monday Night Football. And the best part (or worst, depending on your taste), is that it's the same beer it was back in the day. 

The original 1918 label...

...updated in 1933...

...and again in 1976.

References

1. ^{^} Food & Drink (www.mensjournal.com)
2. ^{^} Close (www.mensjournal.com)
3. ^{^} Share on Facebook (www.facebook.com)
4. ^{^} Email (www.mensjournal.com)
5. ^{^} Print (www.mensjournal.com)
6. ^{^} ten percent of the market (www.brewersassociation.org)
7. ^{^} all the great choices (www.mensjournal.com)
8. ^{^} one of the best-selling beers in the entire world (www.bloomberg.com)
9. ^{^} who saw a nice bump in sales (articles.chicagotribune.com)
10. ^{^} Vintage Editions (vintageeditions.com)

"I was invited to all the events, did a few dinners at the James Beard House, then I started cooking vegan and the phone stopped ringing," says chef Matthew Kenney. But he never looked back. Back in the kitchen of the Park Lane Hotel his vegan chef friends Daphne Cheng of Suite ThreeOhSix and No7 restaurant's Tyler Kord are working side by side with his culinary director Scott Winegard to prepare a sold out, three-hour meal he's curated for the New York City Wine & Food Festival. It's taken time — longer than he thought. But finally the benefits of a vegan diet have crept into the public conscious, and he's been preparing for the questions for years, having launched the plant-based restaurant Pure Food and Wine ten years ago in Manhattan.

"Chefs these days are spokespeople for a lot of very important causes, and I think there's a responsibility to use that to promote wellness through the culinary arts," Kenney says earnestly. It probably doesn't hurt when the message is coming a from an easy-going surfer with leading man good looks. He's not the only spokesperson out there promoting the lifestyle. This year headlines have been made of newcomers to this way of eating like Jennifer Lopez, Beyoncé, and Jay-Z as well as long time adoptees like Jared Leto.

RELATED: Go Vegetarian, Live Longer
^[1]

Have no fear though meat-eaters, Matthew is not on a warpath against anyone's particular diet, but more in the pursuit of bringing a better tasting vegetable to your palate. It is this non-confrontational attitude that has gotten him this far, with successful schools in Santa Monica, Miami, New England and future expansions planned in places like Bangkok, Thailand. We talked to Kenney about the importance of educating yourself before attempting a vegan diet, how the landscape has changed, and what he thinks of the recent slew of food documentaries.

How long have you been cooking raw?
I opened Pure Food and Wine^[2] about 10 years ago. That was my first vegan project. I was a classically trained chef who even hunted at the time. It came later for me. I just listened to my body and the positive effects that occurred when I was eating more plants. When I coupled that with my love for the environment and animals it just seemed like the right area of food to explore.

What kind of restaurants do you eat at now?
I don't only eat at vegan or raw restaurants. I like to dine at traditional eateries, just ones that offer great vegetable options. In LA, I like Crossroads, Cafe Gratitude and Gjelina. In New York I drop by ABC Kitchen. I fell in love with restaurants and the experience before I worked with raw food. I think one day vegan restaurants will catch up with the ambiance of traditional places, but there was a lack of awareness until now. I think we'll see more vegan restaurants catch up to the experience of classical spots soon.

Pure Food and Wine was one of the first places to really strive for that level of service. Is that what you were attempting?
My first thought when we built Pure Food and Wine was we just wanted a sexy, beautiful restaurant that people would be attracted to regardless of what was being served. Take sushi for example. Before Nobu^[3] nobody was doing Japanese in a restaurant setting like that. It took a little longer than I thought with the vegan movement, but we've started to see it happen. Brilliant chefs like Jean Georges in New York and Alain Duscasse in Paris are working to open vegetable based experiences. I just ate 22 courses at NOMA and I think 18 of them were vegetarian. Mario Batali did a vegan menu at Del Posto, which is fantastic, but you wouldn't expect it from him. It speaks loudly to the progress.

Is that encouraging to see?
Chefs these days are spokespeople for a lot of very important causes and, I think, bringing together wellness with culinary arts. When I went to culinary school it was all about more salt, more butter and then going out for a cigarette out back during lunch break. Our students go out back and have a green juice.

What advice can you give to people who want to start a vegan diet today?
Do your research. It's okay to start it immediately, but you have to do your homework. There's a lot of information out there now, even on our site. We decided to offer an online culinary school and a culinary nutrition course because people didn't know how to get their proteins and their fats. Some try to replace it all with a lot of nuts when lentils probably have the highest amount of plant-based protein. It shouldn't be as daunting as people make it though. It's not as scientific as people tend to think. These are basics. But you have to learn these basics.

A lot of vegans struggle with Thanksgiving and the holidays. What do you do in those large dinner situations? 
I never try to replicate anything. I never try to make a turkey out of a coconut or tofu. For me it's about doing food that feeds the spirit. That's what the holidays are about. I love lentils and legumes. I like roast sweet potato, or a nice squash dish. Maybe add some avocado, pistachios and a touch of lemon. We make our own cheese from sprouted raw cashew. It tastes amazing and it has a great balance of raw protein. In the beginning we did some comparative food, just so people would have a point of reference. But as time goes on and people are more open. You don't have to pretend the beet is a steak.

People have started to really care where their food comes from and there are a lot of food documentaries out there right now. Some of them seem to be trying to scare people into change, what are your thoughts on that?
I think some people think the shift will happen when our hospitals get overcrowded or when enough people see scare documentaries like Forks Over Knives^[4], but I personally don't think that. I don't think scare tactics work. I think when the plants are displayed in a better looking environment, when they taste better than the traditional cuisine, that's when things are going to move. That starts when chefs embrace it, and that's why I started a culinary school.

There's been a lot of attention on the vegan diet recently with a number of celebrities trying it out. Is that something that you've been aware of for a while?
Absolutely. We've placed chefs in the homes of a number of big stars, as well as helped educate some of their own personal chefs. One of our first clients was a very well known NFL quarterback. One of the most well known basketball players in the world recently worked with us and people have been noticing his health improvement. It's great to be a part of that.

RELATED: Going Vegan in the NFL
^[5]

The New York City Wine and Food Festival is a huge event every year, how does it feel to be able to offer a vegan option this year?
I've been watching all the food festivals for years, I check sites like Eater and I've been reading about the Burger Bash but we've never gotten invited. Last year they invited us to do the South Beach event and now to be able to do this one with my friends and chefs that I respect (like Daphne Cheng and Tyler Kord, who's friends with my colleague Scott Winegard) is a blast. In the future, I hope to see even more plant based options, but this is another huge step.

References

1. ^{^} RELATED: Go Vegetarian, Live Longer (www.mensjournal.com)
2. ^{^} Pure Food and Wine (oneluckyduck.com)
3. ^{^} Nobu (www.noburestaurants.com)
4. ^{^} Forks Over Knives (www.forksoverknives.com)
5. ^{^} RELATED: Going Vegan in the NFL (www.mensjournal.com)

Credit: Courtesy Sam Adams

You might see the ubiquitous logo everywhere today, but when Samuel Adams first started making beer in 1984, your local store mostly stocked bottles and cans from a handful of older breweries. You didn't have the wide selection of craft beers from independent breweries from all over the country that you have these days.

Flash-forward to 2014, Sam Adams shares the largest American-owner beermaker title with Yuengling, and it all started when Jim Koch started brewing his family's Louis Koch Lager recipe. It's the dream come crew for any homebrewer, but as these photos show, it took three decades of hard work to make it to the top. 

Jim Koch in 1986, when Boston Lager made it into the White House fridge.

Jim Koch with some of his many beer medals.

Jim Koch in a dunk tank of stale beer

Jim Koch selling Boston Lager in the early days of the company.

References

1. ^{^} Food & Drink (www.mensjournal.com)
2. ^{^} Close (www.mensjournal.com)
3. ^{^} Share on Facebook (www.facebook.com)
4. ^{^} Email (www.mensjournal.com)
5. ^{^} Print (www.mensjournal.com)

It sounds so simple: Boil water. Fill up a mug. Throw in a tea bag or two – maybe even the loose stuff. Grab a spoon, and wait. But there’s actually more to making a good cup of tea.

Just ask Jesse Jacobs, the founder of San Francisco-based Samovar Tea,^[1] who knows how to make a damn good cup. And it makes sense: He’s been in the business for more than a decade with Samovar's lounges and, with his company's new Mission District location, is serving hundreds of daily customers – coffee purists and tea bag^[2] users alike – what he calls "third wave tea." According to Jacobs, you can think of tea in three different stages – the current and third one we’re in now goes beyond the little mesh bag (or the “factory-produced dust stuffed in a bag”) to give people "boutique, artisan, hand-crafted, family-sourced teas" that are just as readily available as good, artisan coffee^[3].

RELATED: The Best Foods for Building Your Abs^[4]

"No one's done that in tea," says Jacobs. "No one has made it accessible." Jacobs did just that by paring down the tea menu at Samovar's new shop and providing his customers with a healthy alternative to coffee.

"You need energy to stay focused and present," he says. "And that's really where productivity is at. And I think that's where San Francisco and a lot of the tastemakers and foodies and techies have gravitated to tea because it's about that level of effectiveness, more than just busyness." 

So if you can't make it to San Francisco, how do you brew the best cup of tea on your own? Jacobs offers some tips:

Step 1: Trade the tea bag for whole leaf, unflavored tea.

"The first thing with brewing the perfect cup is to source good tea. And good tea is tea that's produced in small batches, and that is unflavored, because unflavored tea will have its own flavor ... It's like the wine cooler versus wine. Wine coolers are sugary and taste good, but there's a whole world of health benefits and appreciation you get with a great Pinot. Doesn't have to be expensive." 

If possible, stay away from tea bags, Jacobs recommends. "In terms of health benefits, caffeine, and flavor, you suffer all of those in exchange for convenience. And even price." 

To pick which type of tea to drink, Jacobs says to decide by function and the amount of caffeine. "You want chill out and relax? Go with a green^[5] or herbal tea." Otherwise, stay with an oolong^[6], a pu-erh^[7], or a black^[8], which Jacobs says you can re-steep more than the lighter^[9] options.

RELATED: The Complete Guide to Caffeinated Tea^[10]

But what does good tea look like? "Anyone can become a tea expert just by looking at the leaves," Jacobs explains. "The leaves need to be consistent in size, shape, and color. And that consistency is only possible when there's a human hand involved in the process, picking and processing the leaves. No machine can mass produce consistent tea leaves."

Step 2: Use fresh, boiling water.

"Bubbling, brook-fresh is ideal from a mountain stream, but second to that would be filtered." Jacobs suggests boiling about a mug of water per 1 Tbsp of tea and steeping it for 3-5 minutes. For gear, he recommends getting a kettle^[11] and a strainer or infusing basket^[12] — all things you can find on Samovar's website^[13] or in most grocery stores. 

Step 3: Make it personal.

"The most important thing is – here's the deal – tea is personal. Brew it to how you like it. Good tea has what they call patience, which actually means like a tolerance, a threshold, for brewing it many times. So try with these guidelines: a tablespoon of tea, three minutes, 16 ounces boiling water. If it's bitter, reduce the water, reduce the temperature, reduce the tea. That's where tea is cool. It can be very personal. There's really no doing it wrong other than: Use whole-leaf tea, use good water, and boil it."

So you've looked for the right leaves, followed the brewing instructions — what's next? Jacobs says you should look for one more thing. "Any good tea brewed with those instructions I gave you will have a complexity. And by that I just mean it has an aroma, it has a taste, it has a body, it has an aftertaste. If you can enjoy any decent slice of pizza, you have what it takes to enjoy a good tea." 

References

1. ^{^} Samovar Tea, (www.samovartea.com)
2. ^{^} tea bag (www.mensjournal.com)
3. ^{^} coffee (www.mensjournal.com)
4. ^{^} RELATED: The Best Foods for Building Your Abs (www.mensjournal.com)
5. ^{^} green (shop.samovartea.com)
6. ^{^} oolong (shop.samovartea.com)
7. ^{^} pu-erh (shop.samovartea.com)
8. ^{^} black (shop.samovartea.com)
9. ^{^} lighter (shop.samovartea.com)
10. ^{^} RELATED: The Complete Guide to Caffeinated Tea (www.mensjournal.com)
11. ^{^} kettle (shop.samovartea.com)
12. ^{^} basket (shop.samovartea.com)
13. ^{^} website (shop.samovartea.com)

Credit: Spencer Platt / Getty Imagese

It was confirmed Tuesday that Burger King, one of the largest fast food chains in the world,  acquired Tim Hortons, the iconic Canadian chain popular for its coffee and doughnuts, for a reported $3 billion in cash^[1], $11 billion overall. The deal will turn the two joined companies into the third largest quick service restaurant company in the world. With headquarters planned for Canada, some have pointed out that it was a deal based mostly on taking advantage of Canada's lower taxes^[2], and people on both sides of the border are taking to social media to voice their unhappiness with a deal that is turning one of Canada's most recognizable establishments into an international food service operator. How serious is the news to some Canadians? The country's opposition party called a press conference^[3] to decry the sale and the effect it might have on the thousands of people Tim Hortons employs across the country. 

While politicians are quick to seize on any bit of news that they can turn into a sound byte, the sale actually is such a national concern to more than a few Canadians that it is the main story on the front page of Tuesday's Globe and Mail^[4], the largest-circulation national newspaper in the country. Not only is the story of such national importance that it is the first thing readers will see when they wake, it also merits another story, "Tim Hortons: How a brand became part of our national identity^[5]," showing just how personal this is to Canadians, how it is about more than just a place that has a hold on 62% of the country's coffee sales (Starbucks comes in second at 7%), and that it's something that transcends dollars and cents. The chain, named for and co-founded in 1964 by the Hall of Fame Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman who died in a car accident in 1974, has over 3,000 restaurants across the Great White North, and is part of Canadian culture in a way that one might say Coca-Cola or Ford trucks are America. As Sonya Bell at The Guardian^[6] put it, "In a diverse country that touches three oceans, Tim Hortons is our great common denominator." 

RELATED: Chris Drury Knows How to Win ^[7]

Although a doughnut from Tim Hortons hardly counts as fine dining, Canadian cuisine – one of the most important things to any nation's culture – has been gaining popularity in America. On the fourth episode of Parts Unknown,^[8] Anthony Bourdain explored just how important food is to Canadians, spending most of the episode with Dave McMillan and Fred Morin of the popular Montreal restaurant Joe Beef, eating seared foie gras in an ice fishing shack, a pressed beef bologna sandwich at Wilensky's, breakfast with a generous helping of shaved truffles on a train, and a visit to an old sugar shack. If it isn't the best episode of the series, it certainly is the most hunger-inducing, and it showed Americans just how well Canadians know how to eat. 

While Bourdain showed-off what is great about Canadian food, regular and casual disinterest or disdain for Tim Hortons is another example of America just not getting it. This past July, popular New York deli Mile End created some buzz for Canadian staple, poutine. The restaurant that serves Montreal-style bagels and smoked meat ^[9](which is, it should be pointed out, owned by actual Canadians), unveiled its Poutine Week menu^[10], and caught the attention of Gawker writer and "former Montréaler," Michelle Dean. Dean wrote^[11] that the restaurant was, "trying to ruin its [poutine's] glory with vegetables. This blasphemy cannot stand." Offering up five different twists on the popular and simple Canadian dish of fries, gravy, and cheese curds, Mile End put everything from red onions and celery atop their plates, to salsa verde, prompting Dean to ask Mile End owner Noah Bernamoff, "What is this bullshit you are serving at your restaurant?" and demanded New Yorkers "Resist the urge to colonize it with nutrients."

Using the term "colonize" might seem a little drastic to some, and the Americanization of Canada's favorite artery-clogging food might not rank as high on the pain scale as a team from California winning two Stanley Cups in the last five years when the trophy that comes from and symbolizes the national winter sport of Canada hasn't been hoisted by a team from there since 1993, but these things are all related and tie into Burger King buying Tim Hortons and the emotions it stirs up. When America gets its hands on any food from another country, you always hear how it isn't real [insert name of country here] food. You can't take a person that calls Taco Bell "Mexican food" seriously. Although the doughnuts and coffee Tim Hortons is popular for might not be Canadian foods per se, the restaurant that serves them is undeniably part of the country's national fabric, and the American co-opting and corporatization of these things is unsettling to many who cherish the things that make Canada so different from its similar looking neighbor to the south.  "We delight in these things because – unlike much of what we have, as the northern neighbour of a world giant – it’s “so Canadian," as Sonya Bell sums it up. 

References

1. ^{^} $3 billion in cash (online.wsj.com)
2. ^{^} taking advantage of Canada's lower taxes (www.huffingtonpost.com)
3. ^{^} press conference (www.thestar.com)
4. ^{^} Tuesday's Globe and Mail (www.theglobeandmail.com)
5. ^{^} Tim Hortons: How a brand became part of our national identity (www.theglobeandmail.com)
6. ^{^} The Guardian (www.theguardian.com)
7. ^{^} RELATED: Chris Drury Knows How to Win  (www.mensjournal.com)
8. ^{^} Parts Unknown, (www.cnn.com)
9. ^{^} smoked meat  (www.seriouseats.com)
10. ^{^}  its Poutine Week menu (montreal.eater.com)
11. ^{^} Dean wrote (domesticity.gawker.com)