People

Jeanine Donofrio and Jack Mathews

Rectangular white subway tiles wall the modern kitchen of Jeanine Donofrio and Jack Mathews. Clean black lines—the edges of appliances and shelves, the typescript of cookbooks—carve out this ...

That’s the Beer Talking—and Saving

Homer Simpson famously called alcohol the “cause of—and solution to—all of life’s problems.” Craft brewers (and husband-and-wife team) David and Quynh Rathkamp wouldn’t exactly agree with ...

Tea Time for Yaupon

Like Game of Thrones’ Cersei Lannister, yaupon is a complicated villain. A native Texas holly, it’s grown out of control in the Piney Woods near Bastrop ever since the devastating fire of ...

A Whiskey 100 Years in the Making

To become the first whiskey distillery in Austin since Prohibition, Still Austin Whiskey Co. had to fight against the architect of Prohibition himself. Long-dead Senator John Morris Sheppard of Texas ...

The Bee Philosopher

Ask local author and bee expert Jack Bresette-Mills about beekeeping, and it soon becomes obvious that the act of tending bees is not a mere hobby for him, but rather something akin to a spiritual ...

Comanche Oaks

Leon Caldwell, owner of Comanche Oaks farm in La Grange, has been in the farming business since 1987 and has the proud distinction of being one of the first certified organic farmers in Texas. Legend ...

The New Bee Bubble

Photo Above: Sustainable Food Center Apiary with Brandon Fehrenkamp of Austin Bees and Tara Chapman of Two Hives Honey. Move over schoolyard-bird wranglers. If nonprofits Whole Kids Foundation ...

Gary and Dee Kelleher

As the founders of Empresario, LLC (Texas’ first self-appointed “Spirits House”—sort of the Condé Nast of Texas booze brands), Dee and Gary Kelleher are at the helm of distilling, importing, ...

Chasing the Silver Bullet

At the Salt Lick’s Pecan Grove building in Driftwood, we sat at no-frills, classroom-like tables set with wine glasses. Our tasting leader, U.C. Davis professor Andrew Walker, was the featured ...

The Power of Ten

In 2006, Michael Pollan published “The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals.” It was a groundbreaking book that tackled the idea of rethinking the modern food system, and it ...