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Beer is the oldest and most widely consumed alcoholic beverage and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from cereals?the most common of which is malted barley, although wheat, corn, and rice are also widely used. Most beer is flavoured with hops, which add bitterness and act as a natural preservative, though other flavourings such as herbs or fruit may occasionally be included. Alcoholic beverages distilled after fermentation or fermented from non-starch sources such as grape juice (wine) or honey (mead) are not classified as beer.

Some of humanity's earliest known writings refer to the production and distribution of beer: the Code of Hammurabi included laws regulating beer and beer parlours, and "The Hymn to Ninkasi", a prayer to the Mesopotamian goddess of beer, served as both a prayer and as a method of remembering the recipe for beer in a culture with few literate people. Today, the brewing industry is a global business, consisting of several dominant multinational companies and many thousands of smaller producers ranging from brewpubs to regional breweries.

The basics of brewing beer are shared across national and cultural boundaries and are commonly categorised into two main types?the globally popular pale lagers and the regionally distinct ales which are further categorised into other varieties such as pale ale, stout and brown ale. The strength of beer may range from less than 1% abv (alcohol by volume) to over 20% abv in rare cases, though is usually around 4% to 6% abv.

Beer forms part of the culture of various beer-drinking nations and has acquired various social traditions and associations, such as beer festivals and a rich pub culture involving activities such as pub crawling or pub games such as bar billiards. 

Wine & Spirits is an American wine magazine. With offices in New York and San Francisco, the magazine publishes seven issues annually.

In addition to publisher and editor Joshua Greene, among the contributors are Tara Q. Thomas, Patrick Comiskey, Patricio Tapia, Peter Liem, with additional contributing writers such as David Schildknecht, Fiona Morrison MW, Bill St. John and Victor de la Serna. While the magazine has been rating wine on a 100 point scale for several years, Joshua Greene is an outspoken critic of the system.

Though not claiming to have invented it, senior editor Peter Liem was commended by Eric Asimov for discovering the word "gob-less" as a term for wines of grace, balance and finesse, in response to the increasing trend among wine critics who frequently apply the word "gobs" to describe wines of overwhelming power and fruity sweetness

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