On February 28th, Alberta-based liquor licensees received a bulletin from Alberta Gaming Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC) informing us that as of April 1st, additional taxes will be applied to what they bizarrely refer to as “high end wine”. There was no prior consultation with importers, retailers and restaurateurs, nor did the bulletin announce why the egregious increases in taxes were being implemented.
Rüdesheim Awakens
It seems that I'm the first human to stir. Disoriented by jetlag and fuelled by excitement, I give up on sleep long before the day dawns. After the final nocturnal trains, there's a depth of silence when one can hear the vines exhaling as they, too, enjoy the stillness. Before long, gleeful birdsong begins to pierce the expiring darkness. I tie my shoes and leave the hotel by the side door.
German Sauvignon Blanc? WTF?!? No, No... LAMF!!!
It took me a long time to realise it… And once I realised it, it took me a long time to care because I knew that despite having the truth on our side, the subsequent battle wouldn’t be an easy one. But eventually, following repeated exposure, I had to acknowledge an incontestable fact which I'm now going to share with you.
The Price of Chinese Food
Old Photos, New Mysteries
It was late at night and I was almost home, riding my bicycle through the quiet streets of an adjacent neighbourhood. I entered the dead end of a cul-de-sac through a pedestrian path, pedalling along a short street that remained at stark odds with the relative gentrification around it. Its run-down apartment buildings and houses did little to belie the disproportionate occupancy by miscreants, drunks, hard drug users and general down-and-outers.
