I wonder how many pesticide residues make it from grain ethanol past distillation into liquor? Still, there may be other reasons to favour an organic tipple, like the fact that it encourages biodiversity. Good greens have also given up bottles, and corks, in favour of plastic boxes. But if the drinks industry doesn’t use corks, there’s almost no reason to preserve the groves of cork oaks. And plastic boxes can’t be recycled. Or can they? It’s enough to make my head spin.
Sorghum beer
Ok, maybe 126. Sorghum beer, anyone?
“Sensually mapping the world”
An article by Andrew Jefford over at the Financial Times’ Food and Drink section dissects the concept of “appellations d’origine controlée.” This refers to a system which provides legal protection for a name of an agricultural product made in a particular way in a particular place. Thus, champagne is not just any old sparkling wine, but, “wine produced by a special method, from pinot noir, pinot meunier and chardonnay grapes grown in a circumscribed region of France lying east of Paris.”
The article is a great read. Here’s a longer sample, to give you the — as it were — flavour:
Thanks to the efforts of some 250 local growers with 9,000 ha of meadows irrigated by the river Durance via an intricate series of canals in place since the late 17th century, even hay from the stony Crau plain achieved certification, in 1997, to protect and expand the reputation of this uniquely sweet, nutritious animal feed; only these growers have the right to tie their bales with a distinctive red and white twine. The hay is cut three times every summer, the first cut being ideal for horses and beef cattle, the second cut for dairy cattle and milking ewes, and the third for sheep and goats… Appellations are a way of sensually mapping the world.
Beer diversity
There are 125 different styles of beer. I just need a cold one.
Taro wine
Japanese like taro wine made in Palau. Hugh Johnson unavailable for comment.