Type Berliner Weiss flavored with peaches Maker Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Milton, Del. Alcohol 4.5 percent Cost $2.29 a bottle at Grape & Gourmet, Virginia Beach.

Type Standard American Lager Maker D.G. Yuengling & Son, Pottsville, Pa. Alcohol 4.4 percent Cost $7 for 28 ounces at Harbor Park, 150 Park Ave., Norfolk There is a saying in the craft beer world: "Life is too short to drink cheap beer." Sometimes, rules are made to be broken, and with beer, as in life, circumstance is everything.

By Jim Raper I WAS RIDING in a van with a half dozen other wine writers on a tour through the Napa Valley some years ago when the oldest scribe suggested we each name our favorite grape. Two of us who were the youngest members of the group blurted out "cabernet sauvignon." One sided with pinot noir, and votes also went to nebbiolo as in Barolo and sangiovese as in Brunello.

- Bill Manley, Link Type Hefeweizen Maker Privatbrauerei Franz Inselkammer KG Aying, Germany Alcohol 5.1 percent Cost $3 for 16.9 ounces at Total Wine and More, 1600 Crossways Blvd., Chesapeake.

Type India Pale Ale Maker Victory Brewing Company, Downingtown, Pa. Alcohol 6.7 percent Cost $2 for 12 ounces at Total Wine and More, 1600 Crossways Blvd., Chesapeake.

By Jim Raper Lauren and Jerry Bias say they are proud to be African American pioneers in the Virginia wine industry, but they don't want the distinction to define the winery - Sugarleaf Vineyards - they have established near Charlottesville. "Excellence is colorless," Lauren Bias is fond of saying.

Reviewed by Bill Manley, Link Type German pilsner Maker Bitburger Brauerei, Bitburg-Eifel, Germany Alcohol 4.8 percent by volume Cost $4 for 12 ounces at Lubo Wine Bar & Cafe, 1658 Pleasure House Road, Virginia Beach

By Jim Raper Correspondent