Ugh.Those soggy, hot August Dog Days are upon us. Normally, this  is the time  that “get-up-and-go” activities  fall off to almost nothing except for school starting and temperatures soaring up to the high 90s. Not so for this August. No one needs sunscreen in an air conditioned room. Opportunities abound to sip and savor your favorite beers, wines, and spirits. There is so much to do and so little time! From the South’s largest German Bierfest to the promise (maybe) of a La Tomatina festival tomato fight, the list goes on and on and on. Folks bus to VIP brewery tours; executives from Italy, …

Starting with the July 4th Weekend’s Red, White & Blue Pub Crawl and two holiday parties featuring barbecue, beer, bluegrass and wine, this month's calendar of wine, beer, and spirits tastings offer opportunities to sample a little of everything. Brew Master Bobo, a Catholic monk from Belgium, comes to town. There's a Sour Beer festival and a Christmas in July party as well as an “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes” and the “Wine Wars." Also planned are a beer dinner in an authentic English-style cask ale pub along with three super wine tastings set for July 21, July 26 and July 27. Foodies …

A new winery opens, a mega Pinot wine tasting comes to Dunwoody, and two North Georgia wine festivals are among the highlights of this June’s wine, beer, and spirits events. Mark your calendars. Designate a driver.  A smorgasbord of activities awaits – everything from a commemorative festival for the movie “Deliverance” to a celebration of the California wines in “Bottle Shock.” There also are the Brookhaven Beer Festival, a “scary-etta" haunted pub crawl, and a Napa Cabernet Sauvignon tasting with wines priced at $100 and more, just to point to a few. June 1 – Marietta’s First Friday Art …

From the huge Atlanta Food and Wine Festival to Cinco de Mayo parties and the American Craft Beer Week fests in East Atlanta and Dunwoody, May is offering up an array of wine, food, beer and spirits tastings and dinners welcoming the summer months ahead. Other choices include the Smyrna Wine Stroll, the Blues, Brews and BBQ in Piedmont Park, a beer breakfast in Decatur, “Eats and Beats” in Buckhead, and two outdoor arts events in Duluth and Dunwoody, just to point out a few.   May 1  – “What’s Up With Wine Down Under -- Australian Wines” is the theme of a wine seminar and an eight-glass wine …

  March is the month for that favorite party, the time we celebrate Saint Paddy who chased the snakes out of Ireland and converted the heathen. But March 2012 is a month of much more. There are craft beers to seriously contemplate, Pisco Sours to sip in honor of Peru, the High Museum of Art’s magnificent wine tastings and auction, orgasmically grown wines to try. It all starts this weekend with a fine fest celebrating beer, barbecue, babes,and bourbon although not necessarily in that order. March 1 starts the month with a high-end German Riesling tasting from 6-8 p.m. Thursday at Le Caveau …

  Almost every metro Atlanta restaurant and then some are hosting Valentine's Day dinners for this month. There really are too many for us to list for fear some might accidentally be missed. Instead, look here at some of the wine, spirits and beer tastings and other events you can attend to find new tastes to treasure. On top of the list, there is a celebrity chef gastronomic blow out, an opportunity to make sushi at a Japanese restaurant (Samurai sword optional), a three-day mini beer fest, and a huge Cabernet Sauvignon wine tasting with enough Cabs and Cab blends to change the whites of …

Finally, we now are finished with our long, drawn-out, multi-week holiday rounds of parties and dinners. Christmas and New Years are over. Psychologists warn us that this the time for those dreaded post-holiday blahs! Not to worry. Because here is the recipe for defeating your after-the-holiday blahs. Think of the last few weeks as nothing more than a great warm up. The next 365 days offer almost every imaginable opportunity to grab your favorite drinking glass, take that significant other, call friends and designate a driver so everyone can get out and enjoy some top-rated food, wine and …

  December. The most wonderful time of the year is when those sparkling wines flow once the corks have been popped bringing celebrations and good cheer for everyone there. The Christmas and New Year holidays traditionally are times when the most Champagnes and sparkling wines are drunk and enjoyed. (Valentines Day comes in second place.) Restaurants, wine bars and retailers everywhere have shelves stocked with everything from those fine French prestige de cuvee’s (which sell for over $260) down through the inexpensive (but good) Spanish cavas to the bottom shelves where California-made …

It is Holiday Party Time! Metro Atlanta area wine and spirits enthusiasts are gearing up for a spate of tastings and special dinners scheduled everywhere from North Georgia’s mountains to the south metro area's rolling farmlands. More corks get popped during Thanksgiving-Christmas-New Year’s holiday weeks than at any other time of the year. Grab your datebook. Mark these down! The Duluth Wine Beer & Spirits Super Store at 2870 Peachtree Industrial Blvd. hosts its Holiday Wine Tasting from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 9, offering guests upwards of 50 vintages in The Crush Tasting Room. …