Alcohol | Page 2 of 2
Ararat: The Armenian Brandy They Call Cognac at Home
Ararat is an Armenian brandy made from grapes of the Ararat plain that nobody at home calls anything but cognac - and the European Union paid Armenia three million euros to drop the word by 2043. What is true about Churchill and Stalin, why Yerevan has two distilleries sharing one family tree, and how a tasting of three ages at the brand's museum turned out.
Noy: The Armenian Brandy That Used to Be Called Ararat
Noy is Yerevan's second great brandy, aging in cellars on the site of the old Erivan Fortress. It didn't take the name of the biblical Noah until 2002; before that the product was called Ararat. The factory was founded in 1877 by the merchant Nerses Tairyan, and it was made famous by the Russian merchant Shustov, who entered its cognac anonymously and won the Grand Prix in Paris.
Rum Destillery Rhumerie de Chamarel
Bulgarian brandy Pliska
Mirto di Sardegna: The Sardinian Myrtle Berry Liqueur
Mirto di Sardegna is a Sardinian liqueur made from the berries of the common myrtle: the berries are picked in winter in the macchia, the dense Mediterranean scrub that covers half the island, steeped in alcohol for several weeks and sweetened with syrup; the result is around 30% ABV and is drunk ice-cold after a meal. Corsica and a few corners of mainland Italy know myrtle liqueur too, but only the Sardinian one carries the protected name - and it was made at home long before anyone started bottling it.
Limoncello: The Lemon Liqueur from Sorrento and Amalfi
On the label limoncello looks like a centuries-old heirloom, but its documented history only starts in 1988, when someone on Capri registered the first trademark. What kind of liqueur it is, why the IGP mark belongs to the lemon and not to the bottle, how the Sorrento and Amalfi versions differ, and how a bottle carried home from the square below the cathedral in Amalfi tastes.
Jameson Distillery: Tour and Tasting
The Jameson Distillery on Bow Street in Dublin is the birthplace of the best-selling Irish whiskey - except that the whiskey has been distilled in Midleton for half a century now, and Bow Street is a museum with a tour and a tasting. Plus the founder's Scottish roots, the difference between whiskey and whisky, and the angels' share you can smell in the air of the barrel warehouse.