Make mine wine, that’s what I always say. My auto signature on e-mail tells you this, as I have been a wine lover for as long as I care to remember. Don’t know for sure if my age plays a part, but lately I have begun finally to discover other beverages besides wine (although they will never replace it) including quality beer and even a spirit or two. Up until a year or two ago, I would average about a beer a month (lawnmower refreshment) and almost never any spirits, besides the occasional Campari or Pastis (my spirit weakness).

With all the renewed interest in microbrews and craft brews, and the standard high quality imports, I too have been experimenting with beers from around the world. I prefer full flavored English ales, Pilsners and many German beers like Tucher and Weihenstephaner…but one thing is certain, I have been sampling more and more of these each month at the expense of my wine intake. And I like it!

As for spirits, I usually have a few bottles of Pastis—Pastis 51, which I bring back when travelling—and sometimes a bottle of Campari, and that is more than enough…well, until recently. For Christmas a few years ago, I was given an old copy of a Zane Grey collection of short fishing stories. Zane, best known for “Riders of the Purple Sage” from 1912 was an avid fisherman, and in case you did not know, so am I. I especially enjoy reading short stories like these from Tom McGuane and the Hemmingway stories of Nick Adams, who both liked to cast a line. So one evening a few Decembers back, I decided to soak in the tub and crack open the Zane Grey book and I thought, this would be a nice time for a warm snifter of Cognac. Turned out, I happened to have a bottle of Pierre Ferrand 30 year in the house, which up until that moment had no chance of being consumed. The combination of the hot tub and the warming stories of childhood fishing in the creeks of Zanesville, Ohio just made that cognac so comforting that I, after all this time, finally understood the pleasure of brandy!

Shayne Hebert, Central Florida Wine Supervisor. Follow Shayne on Twitter: @ABCwineshayne