Beer is king.

Yes, yes, there are other beverages out there. But when you go to the game, when you come home from work, when you need refreshment on a hot summer day--it's usually time for a beer. And it's been that way forever. Beer, with all its storied history, has been the drink of choice in America since the first boats arrived from England, right? Wrong.

In fact, while the English have always loved their ale, the first drink to come to prominence in the New World during the Colonial is one that's all but vanished from the public eye in modern times: hard apple cider. And though beer and wine show up more prominently in history, cider's no Johnny-come-lately to the alcohol party. It's been imbibed since ancient Hebrews and Greeks cooked apples in fermented juice; its name, in fact, comes from Saint Gerome, who first referred to fermented apple juice as "Sicere" in the 4th century (leading to the English "cider" and the French "sidre").

By the time the English colonized America, they liked their cider just as much as their ale. They brought cider apple seeds and trees along for the ride, planting them extensively throughout the new colonies. The often-dry, sometimes-sweet drink quickly took the country by storm, mainly because it was so easy to make. Anyone with apples and a bit of time could brew their own cider; unlike beer, it could be drunk at any time of the day (supposedly, John Adams enjoyed a glass every morning with his breakfast). In addition, thanks to the fermentation process, cider was often cleaner than the water in local wells, giving it a reputation for health as well as taste.

But as the colonies developed and urbanized, cider's position as king of booze began to weaken. It was hard to transport the apples out west, where the arid climate proved unfriendly to orchards. The situation worsened with the arrival of German immigrants, who brought their beer with them. They created efficient breweries that produced on a massive scale, taking less time than the simpler, but lengthier, cidermaking process. Cities grew, beer rose to prominence, and cider became a farm drink--produced slowly, on a small scale.

The final blow came with the onset of Prohibition. With alcohol production driven underground, cider's weak position crumbled. Beer, whiskey, and wine all made comebacks when the alcohol ban lifted, but in the interim Temperence Movement members pushed nonalcoholic cider. In part thanks to Martinelli's, which touted its "non-alcoholic" sparkling drink, apple cider quickly became interchangeable with apple juice.

Nowadays, cider's reputation is somewhere between "sissy" and "soda pop." Even in England, where people guzzle millions of pints of Strongbow every year, the drink struggles to shake off the image of something cheap drunk by teenagers and old ladies. This may be changing; the Irish export Magners is growing in popularity with a 225% jump in sales in the past two years, and traditional country ciders are regaining credibility nationwide.

In America, the situation looks worse. Woodchuck is relatively popular, but it and Cider Jack are the only well-known domestic ciders left in the country. The drink's reputation--long in decline since the colonial days--now puts it somewhere below beer but above wine coolers. Order it with your buddies at the bar and you'll get more than a few stares. But remember cider's history and hold your head high.

Interested in making your own cider? Mr. Beer offers cider kits, or you can find instructions for doing it yourself online.

Recipes for cooking with cider on the site include Cider Bread, Spiced Cider, and Hard Apple Cider Cake.

Some brands of cider easily found in liquor stores include Woodchuck, Strongbow, and Cider Jack.

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Plenty of people are intimidated at the thought of buying wine, because 'wine is so confusing'. That is not too far from the truth, because the sheer variety of wine can certainly be bewildering. Therefore, most wine buyers, unless they are experts, prefer to stick to tried and tested brands and vintages. However, you can be a little adventurous when you choose your next bottle of wine. Don't believe us? Here's how:

First up, trying new wines is not as risky as you think. Sometime ago, the Wine Market Council released data that showed that Merlot, Chardonnay, and White Zinfandel are the most popular wines in the U.S. However, with close to 20,000 different wines available in the country, there's certainly room for experiment.

So when you choose your next bottle of wine, you could well afford to be a little daring and buy a wine you haven't tried before. Obviously, price will be a factor, but once you establish your budget, you could try asking the wine store staff to give you some helpful tips about various brands and labels.

Wines, as you probably know, are classified into five broad types depending on their method of vinification: table wines, sparkling wines, dessert wines, aperitiv wines and pop wines. However, unless you're an expert, and we're assuming you're not, you are best advised to classify wines according to taste. Ultimately, you will be the best judge of what tastes good to your palate, so no matter how much anyone recommends a label or a vintage, trust your taste above all else.

Tastes the best

Wines are essentially made up of chemical compounds fairly similar to those occurring naturally in fruits, vegetables, and spices. The taste of a particular wine depends on the grape variety that has gone into its making, but the 'oak cask' factor is at work as well - to be explained later.

So a wine may be dry, off dry, fruity, or sweet, depending on the grape variety. To take an example, a wine's sweetness is determined by the amount of residual sugar it contains post-fermentation, relative to its acidity. Dry wine, for instance, has extremely low residual sugar content.

However, when it comes to flavors, a wine may contain chocolate, vanilla, or coffee flavors, to take only three examples, and all of these come about as a result of ageing the wine in oak casks - hence the oak cask factor. Then again, if you detect a banana flavor, you can attribute it to the presence of particular yeast, and not any grape. Similarly, plenty of people report detecting animal scents in wine, once again attributable to natural yeasts.

Finally, here's a list of some relatively uncommon brands that you could go for the next time you choose a bottle of wine:

Nebbiolo: A red wine that tastes of leather, tar, stewed prunes, chocolate, liquorices, and roses

Tempranillo: Another red wine that contains vanilla, strawberry and tobacco flavors

Melon de Bourgogne: A white wine with lime, salt, and green apple flavors

Viognier: Yet another white wine that tastes of peach, pear, nutmeg, and apricot

Chenin Blanc: A white wine with wet wool(!), beeswax, honey, apple, and almond flavors

Sangiovese: An earthy red wine that tastes of herbs, black cherry, and leather

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The fact that Rhode Island is home to several wineries and vineyards producing fine wines is testament to the secret of successful grape cultivation called "terroir" based on climate, soil, geography, and topography. The Big Four have impact on the grape growing environment which translates directly to bottled wine.

Climate-regions found in the middle of the 30th and 50th degree latitude are best for growing grapes. Little Rhody's latitude of 41° N with influential coastal breezes gives it the ripe altitude.

Soil-grapes prefer deep, well-drained, sandy, or gravelly loam soils. Any gardeners from the area will attest to tools bent out of shape from encountering rocks along the rites of passage.

Geography/Topography-- since grapes can grow on sloping land, The Ocean State has rolling hills in the north and west with lowlands in the south and east which benefit by warmer ocean breezes. Let the virtual vineyard tour for wine tasting begin by blazing a trail on the mainland beginning in Cumberland to our north, then veering along the scenic coastal route wine-ing south and east.

Diamond Hill Vineyards (3145 Diamond Hill Rd., Cumberland): a tasting room and gift shop on the premises, Diamond Hill has been growing grapes since 1976. Products include-- Estate Pinot Noir, Estate Pinot Noir Rose, River Valley White, Blackstone Blush, Cranberry Apple, Spiced Apple, Blackberry and Blueberry.

Shelalara Vineyards & Winery (Coventry): a small winery, Shelalara hosts events at their locale. Their product line consists of California wines, glacier(dessert wines), and fruit essence wines low in sulfites.

Sakonnet Vineyards (162 West Main Rd.,Little Compton): founded in 1975, fifty acres produce viniferous varieties including Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Noir, and Cabernet Franc as well as Vidal Blanc-- one of the French-American hybrids. Wine production has climbed to over 30,000 cases annually with many wines receiving awards in domestic and international competitions. One such award among several is the "2009 Edible Communities Local Hero Beverage Artisan Award." The Hospitality Center is open every day through all seasons for tours as well as for hosting events and functions.

Greenvale Vineyard (582 Wapping Rd. Portsmouth): listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places, Greenvale is a farm that has been run by the same family since 1863. They produce about 3500 cases of wine annually from 24 acres of grapes. Open for tours and tastings, there's jazz every Saturday from Memorial Day through October with a year long schedule of concerts and open houses.

Newport Vineyards & Winery (909 E. Main Rd -Rte. 138): 60 vineyard acres were originally planted in 1977 on a hill overlooking RI Sound with the goal of producing fine wines while preserving agricultural land from rapid development. Recipient of several awards, one is "Riesling Best of Show" out of 458 entries in 2008. One may shop in the store for vino and other unique gifts, schedule a group tour, or attend one of their publicized events.

Langworthy Farm Winery (308 Shore Rd., Rte. 1A, Westerly): the farm was built in 1875 on the historical homesite of Governor Samuel Ward. One can relax on one of the porches surrounding their Bed &Breakfast while sipping a glass of their vinery finery. Having planted Vinifera grape vines in the spring of 2002, the first stainless steel barrel of Chardonnay was produced that same year. Since then, several have fermented with intriguing names influenced by the locale-Rhody Riesling, Westerly White, Napatree Cabernet Sauvignon. The winery is open to the public.

Location, location, location has afforded the smallest state an impressive yield of fine wines rivaling those from the north of France. The grapevine trail offers natives and out-of-town tasters many flavorful opportunities to sample what grapes have wrought when favorable "terroir" prevails.

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Can you replay in your head the last pleasurable experience when opening a bottle of wine? Those that didn't yet learn about the rabbit corkscrew are probably really tired of trying to open bottles of wine and do almost everything wrong. In fact, unless you happen to have an opener that is reliable and durable, you can destroy the entire evening for everyone present.

Because of this, people have to get a rabbit corkscrew and keep it in their kitchen. Everyone knows that this is a device that can greatly help the user when opening a wine bottle. And the design is so simple that no manufacturer can go wrong, so you basically can buy it from any producer. Because this opener will not damage the cork, it makes a clean open, and it is perfect for people not accustomed to opening wine bottles.

The rabbit corkscrew makes a perfect present for any occasion. You can wrap it as a Valentine's Day romantic gift, along with an inspired wine bottle, or you can just give it away to some happy new house owners. The idea is that this is one of the few things you can get to anyone without risking to make a bad present. Even people that are not that much into drinking wine will ultimately use it, as it makes a great asset in any kitchen.

A person that has never opened a wine bottle before will probably not succeed to do so with a regular opener that required force. But with the easy to use rabbit corkscrew, all he has to do is to pull the handles gently and the cork will come out by itself in no time. Since there is no mechanical force involved, the opener will last almost a lifetime when used properly, and since it is priced very low, it makes a great acquisition in any home.

Furthermore, those that are into wines and invite people over for wine tasting gatherings will benefit the most from the rabbit corkscrew since it can save them the embarrassment of pulling a cork the wrong way or braking one inside the bottle. Where a regular bottle opener fails, this one thrives, and this is why wine enthusiasts prefer this accessory to any other opener.

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