At Sugar Hill Creamery, in Harlem, the hand-made ice cream will cost you more these days, because, according to owner Petrushka Bazin Larsen, everything costs her more. "Everything is going up, from dairy, milk and cream, to just our cups," she told correspondent David Pogue. "Costs me more to get the cups here than it is for the cups. Do you know what I'm saying? The freight charges are gastronomical!"

No matter what business you're in, your costs have gone up, for all kinds of reasons. For Dariusz Paczuski's vodka company, Rocket Vodka, the costs of the glass itself, "depending on the size of the bottle, are up 17% to 25% on the larger size bottles." …..

A whole lot of legislation pours out of Sacramento in the final days of August, and one bill takes a shot at the very curious regulations that cover California’s small-batch, craft spirit distilleries. Alcohol and spirit distillers like Alameda’s St. George Spirits and Menlo Park’s Rocket Vodka are treated much differently than wineries, beer breweries, and large-scale liquor producers.