Beverages

Holiday Cheers

At a bar in Raleigh, drinks for the season feel like old friends.
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History in a Mason Jar

Today, long after Junior Johnson famously learned to drive hauling outlaw liquor, distillers are again providing the fiery flavor of the backwoods — all with the state’s blessing.
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The Grape: Yadkin Valley

As the first vines began to grow in the Yadkin Valley, few people believed European wine grapes would make it in the clay loam of the foothills and Piedmont. A few pioneers took a chance, however, and a region’s farming heritage lives on.
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The Grape: Duplin Winery

Using the thick-skinned muscadines that thrive in the heat of their eastern North Carolina homeland, one gritty family built the biggest winery in the state, one sweet smile and taste at a time.
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A History of North Carolina Wine: From Scuppernong to Syrah by Alexia Jones Helsley

Archivist and historian Alexia Jones Helsley developed an interest in North Carolina’s grape-growing and winemaking history while doing research in the western part of the state. She discovered a tradition ripe with success and failure, dreamers and risk-takers.
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Brewing Sunshine in a Gallon Jar

“The tea was warm and melted the ice in our glasses, and it went down sweeter and more delicious than anything I’d ever had.”
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Worms & Coffee

Lured by the simple sign advertising two daily staples — bait and a morning cup of coffee — regulars stream into the Midway Trading Post for easy conversation and an escape from a complicated world.
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Sweet Tea

In our dining rooms and diners, we stir together a handful of humble ingredients to produce an amber elixir that tastes like the South and feels like home.
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