I don't think he is, but Dwarf ale (and indeed elf wine) being much stronger that human ones has been mentioned numerous times in past WotC properties such as Forgotten Realms novels, etc. Rich has a history of writing for these settings (he took 2nd in a contest to design a new setting for WotC prior to starting OOTS, and I believe he has published work for WotC as well).
He also has a number of good gaming articles on his site.