Teddy’s Top 10 Beverage Journal Articles

“Most cultures made beer before they had an alphabet.”  —Matthew Weiner, Mad Men creator

When I started writing for the Maryland and Washington Beverage Journals in the summer of 2003, I had already been a movie reviewer and entertainment journalist for six years. So, I was fairly adept at quoting and referencing films and TV shows. But every once in a while, I would come across a great quote that seeped into my new niche of covering the beer, wine, and spirits trade. And that one from Mr. Weiner is perfect to lead off this feature on my Top 10 Beverage Journal Memories.

SO many memories. But here are the ones that have rattled around in my brain and occupied the most thought over the years:

1. The Ellicott City floods. When you write feature stories, generally, it’s not “hard news.” Features are mostly “puff pieces.” And I don’t write anything else! I am not interested in “investigating,” uncovering the “hard truths,” exposing “the big lies.” Feature writers get invited to more buffets. We get more smiles. Our articles get framed and put on people’s walls and sent to moms and grandmoms. Then, on July 30, 2016, a storm dropped six inches of rain in two hours on Ellicott City, causing massive flooding in the historic district. Then, on May 27, 2018, historic Main Street flooded again after receiving more than eight inches of rain in two hours. My bosses at the Beverage Journal trusted me with providing coverage of how the town’s devastated bars and restaurants fared. Suddenly, this was more than a job. This was a true responsibility. And I believe I responded with some of the finest journalism of my career.
   
   
2. Annual legislative previews. The one assignment I could absolutely count on each and every year I’ve worked for the Beverage Journal is my annual legislative preview. And for most of the years, this meant reconnecting with three gents – MSLBA Legislative co-Chairs David Marberger of Bay Ridge Wine & Spirits and Jack Milani of Monaghan’s Pub and attorney and MSLBA lobbyist J. Steven "Steve" Wise – for quotes and insights on what readers should expect to come out of Annapolis in the year ahead All three are princes among men and true soldiers for our industry at the state capital. Keep fighting the good fight!
   
   
   
   
3. Oliver’s Old Towne in Laurel. In 2022, I got to write a feature story on this splendid tavern located in Laurel’s historic Main St. district. It was important to me for two reasons. One, growing up in Laurel, it held the distinction of being the first bar I ever had a legal drink in when I turned 21. And, two, in 2016, I published my first novel titled “The Totally Gnarly, Way Bogus Murder of Muffy McGregor,” a comic murder mystery set in my hometown circa 1986. Owner Lenny Wohlfarth was nice enough to let me host my first book signing at Oliver’s. And, to this day, he has a poster of the book’s cover hanging on his wall.
   
   
   
4. My 20-year anniversary feature. There is no prouder feature I have written than the 2023 one in which I celebrated my 20-year anniversary of writing for the Beverage Journal. And I looked damn good in the photo, too! Two decades in any job is an accomplishment. But in journalism? Quite rare. And I fear it will only become more rare with the profession becoming increasingly splintered and partisan, and with artificial intelligence taking the place of many entry-level positions (AI can easily “write up” press releases, obituaries, etc.) Like my good friend and author Gus Russo told me recently, “I’m glad I am old now because I was young then.”
   
   
   
   
5. My series of articles these last four years. Throughout my tenure with the Beverage Journal, I have been the main writer on several series of articles, everything from my short Industry Snapshot interviews with bartenders and other beverage biz pros to the yummy product profiles. But at the end of 2021, the magazine needed to get creative and editor-in-chief Patten asked me to pitch some ideas for new monthly features. The result? An engaging series of venue profiles that I’ve been very proud of: “Best historic bars/restaurants” (2022), “Coolest themed bars/restaurants (2023), “Best self-named restaurants and bars” (2024), and “Funny/Quirky-named restaurants and bars” (2025).
   
   
6. The Horse You Came in On Saloon. And then there is the case of this popular watering hole in Baltimore’s Fells Point neighborhood. This place – a place that I love, by the way – would have been fantastic to include in two of the four above series (historic and funny named) or in a standalone feature in earlier issues. But The Horse became my “Great White Whale” over the years. Yup, this Ahab couldn’t secure an interview with an owner or a manager no matter how many phone messages he left, e-mails he sent, hosts or hostesses he talked to, etc. Sigh. There is always that “one that got away.”
   
   
7. My funny named bars and taverns in movies and TV feature article. There was one month where personal and other professional commitments got the better of me, and I couldn’t make deadline with a bar, restaurant, or tavern operator interview for the quirky-named bars and restaurants series. Having been a film reviewer and entertainment journalist from 1997 to 2021, I was delighted that Steve Patten accepted my pitch to write up a compilation feature on fictional eating and drinking places in movies and TV shows with funny names. What followed was a truly fun piece riffing on everything from the Club Obi Wan in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” and The Ink and Paint Club in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” to The Regal Beagle on “Three’s Company” and “The Drunken Clam” on “Family Guy.”
   
   
   
   
8. The Adam Carolla interview. Carolla was a comedian and radio and TV personality I vibed with and had enjoyed listening to since first discovering him as co-host on “Loveline” with Dr. Drew in the ‘90s on MTV and then later as co-host of “The Man Show” with Jimmy Kimmel. So when I learned that he had started a beverage venture dubbed Mangria (a line of pre-mixed, high-alcohol wine cocktails inspired by his own concoctions of wine, vodka, and juice), I knew I had to try and use the power of the Beverage Journal to get an interview with him. Carolla didn’t disappoint, giving me one of the funnier Q&As of my career.
   
   
9. The Bobby Flay interview. Probably no article I wrote up over the years garnered more compliments and questions in the days and weeks that followed publication than my interview with Bobby Flay in June 2012 when he opened Bobby’s Burger Palace at Arundel Mills Mall in Hanover. I was delighted to tell people that Flay was EXACTLY like he was on TV in person. Smart, quick-witted, high energy. And I got to actually sit down and interview him over a burger lunch! Too bad the eatery is no longer open. In fact, the planned chain is down to only two locations as of press time. But what a memory! And, wow, what an underrated bar that place had, too!
   
   
10. John Deitz. And, finally, nobody is perfect. The biggest mistake I have ever made as a journalist was fairly early on in my tenure at the Beverage Journal. I spelled former Republic National Distributing Company President John Deitz’s name wrong in a feature interview! And not just once, but throughout the entire article! You see, I had been raised by a German grandmother. I took German in high school for three years. When the man told me his name was “Deetz,” I assumed the emphasis – as with most German words – was on the second syllable. So, I spelled it “Dietz.” Achtung, gesundheit! Not in this case! Thankfully, Steve Patten and publisher Lee Murray didn’t fire me. But the correction and article re-run was expensive, I’m sure. On the positive side, it taught me a VERY valuable lesson! Always, always check the spelling of names. Never assume. And in the two decades since, I have literally had the name “John Smith” spelled three different ways in articles I’ve written for various outlets.

Cheers, everyone!