Hollie Stephens

Joined: Jul 1, 2021

Hollie Stephens is an award-winning writer focused primarily on drinks, originally from the UK and currently residing in New Mexico, USA. Her work has appeared in Food52, Ferment, Wine Enthusiast, and other outlets.

Whom may we thank for this delicious invention?

Who Invented Pizza?

A holly sprig is the traditional garnish for a Christmas pudding.

A Brief History of Christmas Pudding, Britain’s Imperial Dessert

Today's vintners are creating new wine notes with ancient techniques.

Amphorae Amore: Modern Winemakers Are Bringing Back an Ancient Tradition

8 Fascinating Facts About Mead, the World's Oldest Alcoholic Drink

An 1858 cartoon shows Death rowing down the polluted River Thames.

How London's Great Stink Turned the Tide of Victorian Pollution

In 1858, Londoners were overwhelmed with the stench rising from the River Thames. Joseph Bazalgette built an entire sewer system to get rid of of the smell.

9 Delicious Facts About Oysters

We don't know if oysters are really aphrodisiacs—but we do know that professional oyster shuckers use a knife called the Chesapeake stabber.

Edgar Allan Poe is depicted in an engraved portrait, circa 1845.

9 Intriguing Facts About Edgar Allan Poe

The life of Edgar Allan Poe, author of 'The Tell-Tale Heart' and other horror stories, was as strange as his fiction.

Napoleon Sarony, Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain

9 Fascinating Facts About Oscar Wilde

'My own business bores me to death; I prefer other people's,' Oscar Wilde once said. Read on for more about this master wit, poet, and playwright.

Frederick James Havell's painting, "The Double Lock and East Entrance to the Islington Tunnel, Regent's Canal" (1827), shows two horse-drawn canal boats passing through the lock, approaching the tunnel. Construction of the Regent's Canal began in 1812.

Blasts on the Barges: The Dangerous Lives of England’s Early Canal Workers

England's canal system powered the Industrial Revolution and Victorian prosperity—but it had a dangerous side.

How Stale Sandwiches Helped Save New York's 19th Century Drinking Establishments

New York's bars have an impressive history of employing creative strategies for getting around limitations—including, in the late 1800s, serving sandwiches of dubious edibility in order to comply with restrictions on liquor service.