Sarah Baird is a writer and culinary anthropologist whose food and drink writing has appeared in Southern Living, Serious Eats, CNN’s Eatocracy and beyond. Her first book, Kentucky Sweets: Bourbon Balls, Spoonbread, and Mile High Pie was recently published.
Sarah Baird
Drinking and Dancing at the South’s Last True Juke Joint
Over the last half-century, juke joints—rural Southern bars for dancing and music—have become an endangered breed. Sarah Baird travels up the Mississippi Delta to drink and dance at one of…
- story: Sarah Baird
- illustration: Jen Kruch
Fake Blood & Booze: Drinking at GWARbar
The legendary thrash metal band, Gwar, has taken their brand of (fake) blood-soaked rock behind the bar. Sarah Baird visits the band's Virginia watering hole—GWARbar—to chat tiki and what it's…
- story: Sarah Baird
- photo: Gwar
Swimming with Montana’s Magical Tiki Mermaids
Located inside a motel in Great Falls, Montana, the legendary Sip 'n Dip Lounge has become cowboy country’s premiere tiki bar, complete with swimming mermaids. Sarah Baird travels to the…
- story: Sarah Baird
- photo: Sip 'n Dip
The Life and Death of the American Pool Hall
Once a game of high society, pool—and the oft-demonized pool hall—have experienced a muddled history in both pop culture and real life. Sarah Baird on how the bad boy of…
- story: Sarah Baird
- photo: Carl Mikoy
Whatever Happened to Kentucky Common Beer?
Forgotten since Prohibition, Kentucky Common—Louisville's native beer style—is primed for a comeback. Sarah Baird on its origins and long road back to everyman popularity.
- story: Sarah Baird
- photo: Quinn Dombrowski
Tears and Beers: A History of Drinking Songs
For centuries the drinking song has provided a peek into the essence of a culture, a place and even the collective heartbreak of an era. Sarah Baird unravels the history…
- story: Sarah Baird
- photo: Otto Yamamoto
A Pulque Revolution Brews in Mexico City
Once revered as the Aztec "drink of the gods," pulque is amidst an unlikely revival. Sarah Baird travels to Mexico City to uncover the sticky, pungent drink's turbulent political history—from…
- story: Sarah Baird
- photo: Fecho
The Real Boozewives
The relationship between women and drinking has always been a fraught subject in America, from colonial times to the recent rise of the "cocktail mom." Sarah Baird explores the long-held…
- story: Sarah Baird
- illustration: Jen Kruch
Bali H’ai to Bourbon Street and Back: NOLA’s Tiki Love Affair
With its tropical climate and mishmash of cultures, New Orleans was practically predestined to become a tiki mecca. Sarah Baird tracks the city's tiki love affair, from its early heyday…
- story: Sarah Baird
- photo: Irene
Fast Booze Nation
From Sonic to Chipotle to Starbucks, fast food restaurants are more frequently adding alcoholic beverages to their menus. Will it catch on? Sarah Baird examines the new fast booze landscape.
- story: Sarah Baird
- illustration: Jen Kruch