Drinking Our Way Around the World

Every country seems to have its most popular drink and we try to sample each one. We hate to miss anything that the locals think is good. Some are soft drinks; some are not so soft. We're equal-opportunity drinkers. We try them all.  

First of all, everywhere we've traveled, there is one common denominator drink-wise: Coca Cola. In fact, we just learned that Coca Cola/Coke is the second most identifiable English word in the world, just behind “Okay” which is first. Most soft drinks are drunk warm, off the shelf in other countries. No ice mania like in the US. Usually the range of products is not broad. Unlike the diet, original, caffeine-free, vanilla, cherry, zero, ad infinitum offerings, there's Coke and, well, that's about it.

Peru had Inca Cola, a sweet, bright yellow, carbonated soft drink that was so sugary, it made our teeth hurt when we tried it. Pisco, however, is a distilled grape brandy that is absolutely wonderful. There's a controversy between Peru and Chile as to who makes the best pisco. Our friend, Gonzalo, is probably reading this and without a doubt, Peru wins this controversy in our book. Gonzalo makes the best “Pisco Sours” on the planet. We visited his friend's bodega, Vista Alegre, and got a first-hand look at the pisco-making process, sampling several pisco sours along the way. We have cruising friends who loved pisco so much, they converted a water tank in their boat to a pisco tank!

Rum in the Caribbean and South America was cheap, cheap, cheap. Every island seemed to have its own. Some rums we tried were magnificent and as sip-able as a cognac. Others never made it past our tongues for fear they would rot our throat and stomach linings on the way down.

Then, of course, there's kava in the South Pacific. David sampled kava in Tonga and Fiji where women traditionally don't partake of it. I was feeling a little left out. In Fiji, it was required by law that a certain amount of kava be presented to each village chief as a gift on arrival. We carried some with us all through our travels there. It's made from a particular black pepper plant (Piper methysticum) and tends to calm you, rather than intoxicate you. It also numbs your tongue and lips. We were told it gets stronger the farther west you go in the South Pacific. Originally, it was masticated by young men, spit into kava bowls, water was added and everyone drank. That's still done in some areas, but we (yes, even women in Vanuatu) sampled kava several times in Vanuatu and watched them make it the modern way, using a meat grinder. It tastes very much like mud water.

In New Zealand we tried L & P (Lemon & Paeroa), “world famous in New Zealand” and only in New Zealand. It's made with lemon and spring water from the town of Paeora and it's pretty good. It's a Kiwi-ana thing.

In Australia, Bundaberg Ginger Beer caught our attention first … mostly because we arrived in Bundaberg, I guess. Not to be confused with ginger ale, ginger beer is spicy and wonderful and we drank lots of it in Australia. We haven't started brewing it ourselves yet, but you can buy kits for it.

We sampled wines in many countries. Chile has its cabernet sauvignon. Malbec was best in Argentina. They even have malbec-flavored ice cream! Uruguay offered a new variety of wine … tannat … which is wonderful and still rarely available in the US. (I think the Uruguayans drink it all themselves.) New Zealand has perfected its sauvignon blancs. Tasmania has cool climate wines that were excellent. We especially enjoyed pinot gris. Australia has a vibrant wine industry, but their wines are expensive.

In addition to the fine wines offered in the Winelands of South Africa, we discovered Amarula. Oh, my, what a delectable cream liqueur. Made from the native marula fruit, elephants, zebra, kudu and rhinos all take advantage of this fruit when it's ripe in the wild.

Let's not forget maté, that bitter herbal drink that the Argentinos and Uruguayans drink constantly. We tried it and found it too bitter, but we're told it's an acquired taste.

We even threw back vodka shooters at the southernmost bar on the planet at the Ukranian Vernadsky Station in Antarctica. Talk about packing a wallop!

What's the best? Depends on our mood and where we are at the time. Wherever we are, that's the best at the moment. So what's your favorite drink?

The Blue View - Microbrewery Nine of Cups

 

A couple of years ago in Fiji, we were invited aboard another sailboat for sundowners. The skipper had brewed his own beer aboard and was eager to share some with us. That was the nastiest, foulest beer I can remember tasting, and after politely nursing it for an hour or so, I finally managed to down it all. So when we were aboard our good friends' sailboat Fifth Season in Sydney a year ago and were offered some homebrew, I was a bit reluctant to try it.

I needn't be. His brew was outstanding. He had brewed several varieties and it was like visiting a microbrewery. He had purchased a brewing kit and had been brewing beer for a year or more. I asked lots of questions and got a lot of good information and suggestions.

Beer here in Australia is quite expensive by U.S. standards. Brewing your own beer, on the other hand, is quite inexpensive. As a result, there is rarely a town in OZ that doesn't have a brew supply store. Even the local Kmart and groceries carry the basics.

I found a DIY brew-kit made by Coopers, an Australian brewery, that included everything I needed to brew my first batch. Fermenter, hydrometer, bottles, brew mix... everything was there. In addition, it came with a short video with all the instructions. The average sailor could do this. In fact a high IQ chimpanzee could manage it. Just the thing for me.

The results were outstanding. So far I've made several lagers, several varieties of Pale Ales, a cider, and an English Bitter. Each batch makes 23 liters or about six gallons, and costs roughly $20-$25 a batch. That's roughly 35 cents for a 12 ounce bottle or 42 cents a pint. Not bad.

Lest you think the rule that “nothing is ever easy aboard a boat” doesn't apply here, there are a couple of catches with brewing aboard a sailboat. The first catch is that we have to be anchored or berthed somewhere for a couple of weeks. Unless I can figure out how to gimbal a 6 gallon container of fermenting beer, we can't go sailing without the risk of turning the bilge into our fermentation vessel. We missed a weather window once because the brew wasn't ready to bottle. And since it requires a large amount of water for washing and sterilizing everything as well as for the beer itself, it's best done somewhere that we have access to water ashore.

So while Nine of Cups is berthed here in a quiet marina with plenty of water, I'll brew up a couple of batches. Of course, with that comes the necessity of frequent taste tests to maintain proper quality control.

Our youngest son was interested in trying his hand at homebrewing, so I checked to see what was available in the States. It turns out that Coopers markets the same brew kit via Amazon in the U.S. I highly recommend it.

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A Beginner's Guide to Vegemite

 

One of my blog posts about grocery shopping in Australia mentioned Vegemite. As Vegemite neophytes, we've evidently got a lot to learn. But of course, Kiwis and Aussies have had a lifetime to truly experience the wonders of this delicacy. We received lots of comments and recommendations about trying Vegemite and the proper way to eat it. Today, January 26th, is Australia Day and we thought this was the day to give Vegemite a try, paying attention to all the hints we received.

Vegemite, in case you didn't know, is a yeast substance and a by-product of beer production here in Australia. Supposedly the first guy to come up with the recipe was looking for a vitamin B source during the war years. He probably had left-over yeast sludge from making his home brew. Anyhow, the result is Vegemite and Aussie's eat it the way Americans eat peanut butter … in great quantities and with gusto.

Supermarkets provide lots of shelf space for Vegemite and Vegemite wannabes. I also found another option which is Vegemite Cheesybite, a combination of Vegemite yeast product and long life cream cheese. Doesn't that make your heart flutter?

Over Thanksgiving dinner, our Aussie friends were coerced into trying pumpkin pie. They'd never tried it before. “Why turn a veggie into a fruit pie?” Craig asked. Everyone politely ate some. No one spit it out, but they didn't ask for seconds either.

The discussion somehow turned to Vegemite. I pulled out a small, unopened jar from the locker.

“Why not try it now?” Craig prompted.

“No”, I responded quickly. “We want to photograph it just in case David vomits or spits it out. We want to capture it on video or YouTube, but not at the dinner table.”

Jody added, “When we were kids we'd spread butter on Vita Weet crackers and then the Vegemite and squeeze the crackers together till all the butter and Vegemite oozed through the cracker holes like little worms. Then we licked it off.” That sounded appealing and very promising.

“Hold on to that jar. It'll be worth gold to any Australian in another part of the world where you can't get Vegemite.” Aha, an investment prospect.

Wendy and Ian laughed. Ian said “Spread on the butter first. You need a layer of butter and then the Vegemite.” “You don't need much”, added Wendy.

Leanne, an Aussie friend, e-mailed from Fiji after she read the post: “Less is better”.

That point became very clear to us.

Then Steve from Auckland sent an email. He distinguished between Marmite and Vegemite.

“To the uninitiated, it's like comparing the taste of used engine oil from a diesel versus a gasoline engine. That doesn’t stop the arguments between proponents of Vegemite vs Marmite from becoming similar to intensity and extent as your average religious war. Vegemite appears to be more popular in Australia … Marmite was originally an English brand though the NZ version is apparently not the same as the UK version. Since NZ’s Marmite production facilities were in Christchurch and were badly damaged by the earthquakes, there has been a shortage of Marmite in NZ as the factory is still not up and running again …. This has been widely reported as Marmageddon.” This is obviously serious stuff.

Steve went on to say, “My wife likes to eat Marmite and chip sandwiches … a concoction involving spreading Marmite on fresh, fluffy white bread and then a layer of potato crisps topped with another slice of bread. I commonly refer to this as a crime against the gastronomic universe. This doesn’t deter her at all.” We liked Steve's input. It really gave some personality to the discussion.

I was wondering if Vegemite was available in the USA and a quick internet search revealed that it's available through Amazon.... “It's Vegemite, it's good and it's available in America. It gets to the point where you don't care how much it costs, as long as you have it.” So, Americans reading this have the opportunity to experience Vegemite without having to come to Australia. Though we highly recommend the trip.

Witness our first taste of Vegemite.

http://youtu.be/bCnJAA_iq94

Mmm...mmm...good!

Happy Australia Day!

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