Sarah Baird

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.

Beer

Hong Kong’s Hottest New Nightclub: 7-Eleven

Largely a product of lax liquor laws and exorbitant drink prices, 7-Eleven convenience stores have become the hottest new hangouts in Hong Kong's nightlife epicenter. Sarah Baird on the strange…

story: Sarah Baird
illustration: Sayada Ramdial

Places

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

Places

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

Cocktails

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

Places

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

Beer

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

Places

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

Places

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

Cocktails

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

Cocktails

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