"I like my drink names to be a little cheeky, " said Mr. Farran.

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"I just like to drink beer and hang out with people, " says the 42-year-old.

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And that sort of manifested itself on that first morning when he very kindly asked me if I'd like a drink of water and got me some water, and then just minutes later repeated that question, and then repeated it again and again over that first day we were together.

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As for Italian wines, I'll be obliged to drink fewer from the north, since I paid more attention to regions like Piedmont and Friuli and Alto Adige than I did to, say, Campania, Abruzzi and Puglia in the south.

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It was as if I'd entered some sort of alternate universe where wine journalists could drink like leveraged-buyout kings.

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