Boulder's Avery Brewing Company is probably the best argument in favor of Southwestern beer superiority. In terms of flavor, packaging and lunacy, their beers rank highly in our little pantheon of liquid love. Oak-aged barley wines? Fifteen percent alcohol by volume (ABV) stouts? Imperial Oktoberfest Lager? Every year this brewery churns out beautiful bombers that make our tender clutches quake when we spot them in reach-in refrigerators.

Xavier Mascareñas

Saucy meat and the cobbler is sweet

Enjoying a smoky, saucy plate of barbecued meat is one of life’s simple pleasures. Trying to categorize exactly what style of barbecue you're digging into, however, can spin your brain around worse than slamming a case of beer and hanging upside down from a tree. You have Kansas City-style sauce, which is thick with tomato and molasses. There's sweet and spicy St. Louis-style. People in Georgia like their sauce with bourbon and brown sugar, while Alabama natives prefer a dab of mustard and vinegar in theirs. The Carolinas have their own subsets of barbecue sauce by region, from tomato and vinegar in the north to lots of black pepper in the south.

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