Barbecue lovers from Pikeville to Paducah should give thanks for Wes Berry, the English professor and 'cue enthusiast whose new Kentucky Barbecue Book is a survey of all things smoked and sauced in the Bluegrass State. Packed with recipes from and interviews with the people who make smoked meat happen in Kentucky, the book offers a rare but focused peek into a lesser-known barbecue culture.

The past two years have seen the Jack Rudy Cocktail Co.’s flagship tonic syrup blow onto bar menus from New York City to New Orleans. It has become the secret ingredient in many a quality G&T, raising demand to the point that founder Brooks Reitz has finally been forced to move packing and shipping operations out of his dining room.

“He had taken four buses to get here,” says Andre Prince Jeffries, proprietor of Nashville’s Prince’s Hot Chicken, about a customer who came in to her restaurant not long ago. “He said that he was in a hurry. But, you know, we don’t serve fast food. I told him that he was going to have to wait. So he left.&rdquo

As the dust settles in Marion Square and the out-of-towners board their planes home, we’re taking a moment to look back on the whirlwind weekend that was this year’s Charleston Wine + Food Festival.