Alcoholic Beverages

Here's a sobering thought: Hundreds of bottles of Jack Daniel's whiskey, some of it almost 100 years old, might be unceremoniously poured down a drain because authorities suspect it was being sold by someone without a license. Officials seized 2,400 bottles late last month during warehouse raids in Nashville and Lynchburg, the southern Tennessee town where the whiskey is distilled. "Punish the person, not the whiskey," protested Kyle MacDonald, 28, a Jack Daniel's drinker from British Columbia.

Absinthe, an intense alcoholic spirit favored by artists such as Degas, Van Gogh and Hemingway, is making a comeback in the U.S. after being banned by the government for almost 100 years. Its rebirth in trendy restaurants and bars is a triumph of marketing -- and of maneuvering through a maze of federal rules on formulas and labels. It took a Swiss distiller, an importer and a Washington attorney four years to navigate the bureaucracy, even after the drink was legalized again in Europe.

THE nose was like an armful of herbs and dried grasses, followed by a whisper of smoke on the palate. In short, this whiskey was a bit like a noble old Scotch from Speyside, except that a splash of water brought out a bright note of anise. And except for the fact that it wasn't a Scotch at all. It was a 21-year-old bourbon. Bourbon is usually the most extroverted of spirits, but this long-aged example -- Black Maple Hill 21 years, cask No.

Idrank my first cocktail in New Orleans in my youth, downing fuzzy navels on Bourbon Street with my cousin Caroline Brady. Back then, I was content with cheap booze and plastic cups. Times have changed. Recently, while visiting Caroline and her family, I found a city with a renewed appreciation for serious cocktails.

State regulators on Wednesday shut down a Los Angeles skid row liquor store whose owner was arrested in a sting operation last fall on suspicion of buying stolen alcohol and cigarettes to resell to his customers.

A potential crisis in Margaritaville was averted Tuesday when U.S. and Mexican trade officials signed an agreement ensuring the continued northward flow of tequila. Mexico agreed to drop a proposed ban on bulk sales of the liquor to American bottlers in exchange for guarantees that the U.S. would better police its neighbor's national spirit after it leaves Mexican soil. Tuesday's agreement was signed in Washington by U.S.

Merced County's district attorney said he may have served alcohol to a 20-year-old man who was hit and killed by a car as he walked home from a party. Gordon Spencer said he didn't ask for IDs when he was a volunteer bartender at a Dec. 18 event for employees and guests at the Merced Golf and Country Club. Victim Greg Gomez had a blood alcohol level of 0.245. Spencer said he had expected the country club's manager to let him know if anyone who asked for a drink was younger than 21.

After seeking assurance that police enforcement would not be overzealous, Ventura County supervisors moved a step closer Tuesday to imposing $1,000 fines on those caught throwing underage drinking parties. Under a proposed ordinance, civil penalties could be imposed on any adult who holds an unruly gathering at which underage drinkers are served and police are called. A minor who throws such a bash without parental consent also could be fined.

If you've been out in L.A. lately, it's not unlikely that you've seen this: a weird rectangular, purple-shaded bottle of vodka sitting on a reserved table or behind the bar, and on the bottle Jimi Hendrix's face and his stringy Spider From Mars afro. And near the bottle a tall, very blond, very voluble guy, talking to someone about his newest venture. That someone is probably nodding in browbeaten amazement. Every few months, L.A.