Moonshine and firewater

It’s a familiar enough scene; you visit a foreign country on business or pleasure and somehow find yourself, at some ungodly hour of the night, sitting in a bar with a few new acquaintances who persuade you that the best way to cement your incipient friendship is to down a few shots of the local firewater.

Waiting for your flight home you while away a few minutes scrutinising the contents of the duty free shop and come across a bottle of the same rocket fuel which left you with a hangover from which you are only now recovering. Still, it would make an ideal present for the folks back home.

If you’re planning to visit Iceland you absolutely must pick up a bottle of Brennivin. This schnapps is also known as ‘Black Death’ and is made from fermented potato pulp and caraway seeds. The literal translation of Brennivin is ‘burning wine’ and it is typically used to wash down ‘hakari’ – that’s putrified shark meat to you. Nice.

Argentinians are well known for their habitual joie de vivre a fact that is quite remarkable given the country’s production of Fernet-Branca. Manufactured using herbs and spices such as myrrh and saffron, this is a bitter spirit and its effects have been described by a journalist from MetroWise.com thus: “Imagine Jägermeister without the sugar. You shoot it, immediately getting a strong hit of mouthwash – drying the mouth out, stinging the tongue. It’s kind of like getting hit in the nose. Your brain hurts, your eyes sting and water, you cough a bit. Then, as soon as it begins a warm wave of relief washes over and you are left baptised in Italian herbals and golf-ball-eyed awake.”

Beware alcoholic products when visiting Uganda! The national drink, known as waragi, has a kick that has been known to be fatal. With a name derived from ‘war gin’, the colonial name for this abrasive alcoholic beverage, this weapon of mass destruction is made from a combination of distilled cassava, bananas and millet or sugar cane. Unadulterated waragi is sold in sachets and is well known as a public health problem, since those who indulge often finish the session in hospital or, even worse, the mortuary.

Closer to home, Austrian spiced rum Stroh has an unenviable reputation. Available in four variants that represent the alcohol percentage strength, from 40 for wimps through to 80 for those contemplating suicide, Stroh has attained internet cult status and spawned the catchphrase, “Stroh, no!” If you’re not feeling well add it to Lemsip, since it is said to lead one to sleep like a hero, sweat like a beast and awaken completely cured.

New post on at Tuesday, 15 December, 2009, 6:45 am and is archived in Food and drink, Lifestyle. Subscribe to answers with RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or make a trackback from your web.