The best beer, the best wine

And here's the world's best bar, too. [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( It’s the most wonderful time of year. And no, we don’t mean [gift-giving season](. We mean the year-end round-ups where we take stock of the the best eating, drinking, and living we did over the past 365 days and share it all with you. For our wine critic, [Elin McCoy](, a year can be measured in 2,705 bottles sampled. Her annual report on the [50 best wines under $50]( delivers top value as well as sheer deliciousness, whether your tastes run red, white, rosé, or orange. Sparkling fans: she found more great vino at a reasonable price this year than ever. Fun fizz from around the world. Photo Illustration: 731; Background: Getty Images; Bottles: Vendors Our craft beer expert, [Justin Kennedy](, kept his world closer to home while compiling his annual [best craft beer list](. So while that may have meant an over-index on the Northeast, there were still plenty of inspiring, creative brews to be discovered, from the traditional to the innovative—including one that pushes the entire industry forward. Not shown: three of 15 best beers we drank this year. Photographer: Joyce Lee/Bloomberg And for our food editor, [Kate Krader](, ’tis the season for [foodie stocking stuffers]( and especially cookies. Whether it’s an exquisitely decorated treat that evokes a falling snowflake, or a brilliantly decadent take on a classic recipe, there’s simply no better way to create instant holiday cheer than by [giving someone a cookie](—especially when you don’t have to bake them yourself. The seven best mail-order cookies to sugar shock your holidays. Photographer: Frank Frances for Bloomberg Pursuits In the coming weeks, we’ll have even more ranked lists, from top electric cars to travel destinations worth adding to your bucket list. [Bookmark this page]( to live your best life ever. [These 42 Delicious Gifts Will Satisfy the Most Discerning Foodie]( Taste-tested and approved. [The 50 Best Wines Under $50]( In the 2021 edition of critic Elin McCoy’s annual bargain list, there is plenty of fizz, some pet nat, and wonderful wines from unexpected regions. [The Most Delicious (and Best Looking!) Holiday Cookies for 2021]( Spread some holiday joy this year with delicious mail-order treats from these top bakers across the U.S. [The 15 Best Beers We Drank This Year]( Even with our craft beer expert staying close to home, there were still plenty of inspiring, creative brews to be discovered, from the traditional to the innovative. [These Are the 50 Best Bars in the World Right Now]( London is the place to drink, according to the World’s Best Bars list; the city took the top two spots this year. Brotherhood Among Billionaires Venture investor Lane Bess credits his appetite for risk for a successful career in Silicon Valley’s cybersecurity startups. It’s also what’s sending him into outer space. Well, that and a [billionaire space race that’s helping the ultra-rich]( live out their fantasies The flight will also serve as a bonding experience for Lane Bess and his 23-year-old son, Cameron. The pair used to shoot rockets together until Bess’s career grew more demanding. The flight, he said, was an opportunity to reconnect. Source: Blue Origin Bess is one of six passengers who’ll be soaring to the fringes of outer space thanks to [Jeff Bezos](’s space-exploration business, Blue Origin. The company’s third manned space flight happened today from its [launch facility in the West Texas desert](. “Part of who I am is seeking adventure and not being afraid to take risks,” Bess, 60, said in an interview. “It’s fulfilling a boyhood dream.” Bess joins a small but growing group of ultra-wealthy adventurers who’ve bought their way into outer space thanks largely to competing ventures founded by billionaires such as Bezos, [Richard Branson]( and [Elon Musk](. Yusaku Maezawa before the launch of the Soyuz rocket that carried him to the International Space Station. Photographer: Pavel Pavlov/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Space tourism has been around for two decades, but this year has seen a burst of activity due to a combination of soaring wealth, more rocket operators and technological advances. While wannabe astronauts have more options than ever for facilitating their space journey, that hasn’t translated to lower prices, according to Eric Anderson, chief executive officer of Space Adventures, the company that coordinated Japanese retail mogul [Yusaku Maezawa’s 12-day trip to the International Space Station](. A Blue Origin mural of Jeff Bezos, and his brother Mark, on a building in Van Horn, Texas, a 40-mile drive to rocket’s launch pad. Photographer: Paul Ratje/Bloomberg Bess, a former executive at [Palo Alto Networks Inc.]( and [Zscaler Inc.]( who now invests through his own fund, declined to say what he paid. But with a ticket to its inaugural crewed flight in July going for $28 million, you can be sure it wasn’t cheap. For the Person Who Has Everything It’s not delivery, it’s Ooni! The pizzas Dan Richer serves at his restaurant Razza in Jersey City, N.J., are among the best in the country. Replicating them at home—whether it’s a simple Margherita or a Di Natale bedecked with pine nuts, olives, and raisins—just got easier, and not only because instructions for making them are in Richer’s new [book](, The Joy of Pizza. Ooni’s Karu 16 Multi-Fuel is a portable pie maker that fits right at home. Photographer: Hannah Whitaker for Bloomberg Businessweek Unusually, the tome includes recipes tailored to cooking in pro-grade backyard ovens, like Ooni’s $799 [Karu 16 Multi-Fuel](. Hitting 950F in just 15 minutes, it’s the first and only oven that the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, the organization that codified rules for Neapolitan-style pies, has endorsed for home use. Read the [full review here]( and click through below for more [Bloomberg Pursuits in the pages of]([Bloomberg Businessweek]( magazine. [The True Believers of Guatemala Are Luring International Travelers]( [Mercedes’s Electric EQS Reaches Turning Point in Range Anxiety Debate]( [Luxury Brands Are Already Making Millions in the Metaverse]( [The Promise of Remote Work Has Not Yet Been Realized]( [At Last, Girlfriend in House of Gucci Murder Drama Speaks Out]( [The Slightly Masochistic Trend That Is Taking Skiing by Storm]( Seven Worth Skimming Our top stories of the week in fashion, culture, food, and travel - The last-ever Patek Philippe Nautilus is here. [No, really.]( - [Adele's fans are powerless]( in the face of an Amazon outage. - [Pantone’s color of the year]( is all made up. - Shake Shack’s founder is [investing in tacos](. - [A lack of three-bedroom apartments]( in NYC is actually a good sign. - Spending wisely in the Maldives where the [Holiday Inn is $500 per night](. - And just like that: [Peloton’s embarrassing plot twist](. And and if you read just one thing... The people and ideas that defined global business in 2021 This marks the fifth year of [the Bloomberg 50](, our annual look at those in business, entertainment, finance, politics, and science and technology whose accomplishments deserve recognition. Did we put the [Popeyes Chicken Sandwich]( on the list in 2019? Yes, and we stand by it. Our 2021 version is less tasty, perhaps, but no less culturally significant: Behold, the meme stock. In terms of actual humans, we talked to Karen Lynch, president and CEO of CVS Health Corp., about the vaccine rollout, and to David Baszucki, co-founder and CEO of Roblox Corp., about why kids are so obsessed with the gaming platform. Other honorees include Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman, for his heroism on Jan. 6; Lina Khan, the youngest chair of the Federal Trade Commission; and Olivia Rodrigo, for Sour, her smash-hit, angst-ridden breakup album. (Full disclosure: She declined to be interviewed, a rejection we won’t soon get over.) 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