A heavy travel schedule and sporadic access to email resulted in fewer posts last week, but a great deal happened off-camera. Watch for the results in the weeks ahead, as we report on some interesting dining destinations in Manhattan and a batch of rare spirits.

Speaking of spirits, cachaça is the national drink of Brazil, where well over one billion liters are produced each year. It’s sometimes referred to as Brazilian rum, since cachaça is also distilled from sugar cane. It forms the basis of the country’s signature cocktail, the caipirinha---essentially a mojito without mint leaves. Most of that billion-plus liters are consumed within the country, but exports are increasing. We focused on Leblon, a brand created in 2005 by master distiller Gilles Merlet, and offered both reviews and cocktail recipes.

In Glass Half Full, our weekly roundup of the web’s most interesting food, wine and spirits stories, we covered the menu for the Trump/Macron Bastille Day dinner at Le Jules Verne, the hidden risks of writing a cookbook, the collapse of the Blue Apron IPO, and the fact that the Vatican is not a gluten-free zone.

As always, we appreciate your support, and remain committed to bringing you all the news that others are too afraid, myopic or lazy to cover.

Here are last week's posts:

Leblon Cachaca

Glass Half Full: 7/20/2017