Believe it or not people; there is indeed more to the world of alcohol than Jack Daniels and Bud Light! Actually, there’s a lot of unique alcohols nowadays, and numerous variations of liquors that we all love and enjoy – bacon vodka, bacon whiskey, bacon moonshine (seriously, what’s with this obsession over bacon?)… Yet there are drinks that go beyond this level of uniqueness that is truly for the adventurous of palate. You can bet that if there are sugar and yeast to be found in the four corners of the world, there’s going to be people who tried turning it into alcohol. In honor of these drinks, I present to you a list of the 10 most unique alcohols that you surely didn’t know about!
Although there is proof of the creation of mead as far back as 7000 BCE China, it’s safe to assume that people usually connect this drink to the Vikings of medieval Europe. The mead family offers many unique alcohols, all of which are essentially honey wine, though some include other ingredients including an array of different fruits and spices. There’s light meads and heavy meads, but it’s going to be sugary sweet no matter how you cut it. If you can accept this fact, then you’re going to have a great time trying out mead!
The less well-known agave liquor, but undoubtedly the spirit drink of Mexico, Mezcal is one of our unique alcohols that you definitely need to try. Made in Oaxaca, it’s different from tequila in that the agave is cooked, giving it more of a smoky flavor than its superstar cousin. Some bottles even contain a worm! But don’t worry it’s not really a worm – it’s a moth larva!
A green dragon of an addition to these cocktails, it’s made of numerous botanicals – namely wormwood. Originating from the late 1700’s Switzerland, despite its portrayal as being hallucinogenic, it is not. It is however stiff and licorice-like, and definitely an interesting try. Perhaps whoever thought it was hallucinogenic might have just drunk too many – though I suppose getting drunk could be considered a type of hallucinating – thinking that Taco Bell at 2 am is a good idea is clearly the result of hallucinating. But I digress…
This addition to our unique alcohols is produced in Southeastern Asia and India. It’s basically the grandfather of rum – it’s made of sugar cane or coconut blossoms along with red rice or fruit, depending on what manner of arrack your looking for. It comes in two variations: The darker, heavier Batavia Arrack, and Ceylon Arrack, which is the lighter tasting of the two. Try it with coke or standalone, perhaps with an orange peel garnish. However you like your rum, you’re sure to get a kick out of it’s more exotic grandfather!
A liqueur from California made primarily of aloe vera. It’s light, fruity, and floral – an all-around delicious spirit that’s perfect for light cocktails! I’m not really sure if you can use it to treat burns, but you can certainly use it to treat the monotony and boredom of your everyday liquor! What’s more, thanks to its transparent appearance and equally transparent and refreshing taste, this liqueur is great in a whole slew of cocktails, which you can find online or simply get creative with!
Here’s an extraordinary addition to our unique alcohols – an Italian bitter liquor made out of artichokes, along with 13 other botanicals. These unique alcohols were released in Italy in the ’50s, and since then have been used as an appetite stimulant and a cocktail ingredient. It remains very popular among Europeans, especially when mixed with orange juice.
Liquid bread from eastern Europe with love – though liquid bread in a slightly more literal sense than you’d expect from alcohol. It’s actually made of fermented rye bread croutons along with sugar or some kind of fruit (like raisins). It’s somewhat bitter but also sweet, relative to what manner of sugar and how much is used.
Eiswein or ice wine – whatever name suits your fancy. It’s a wine made of grapes that froze on the vine, a practice that dates back to the Roman Empire. It’s a sweet and tasty nectar that’s perfect for pairing with dessert – thus this wines dub as a dessert wine.
It seems like there’s a lot of weird beers out there these days, but this one is unique even among the unique – chicha. Essentially it’s Latin American corn beer. It varies based on the brewing style and the manner of corn used. It’s slightly sweet, mellow, and nutty. With a little fruit garnish it’s actually quite refreshing on a warm day!
Let’s finish off our unique alcohols strong – and by strong I mean weird! Kumis: what is it you may ask? Why it’s fermented horse milk! So yea… It’s an important cultural drink for the people of the Central Asian Steppes. The drink reportedly tastes exactly how it sounds – a light but boozy sour milk. Horse milk evidently has significantly more sugar in it that cows or goats milk, giving it the capability of fermenting like wine. As such, it’s booziness is more relative to wine than beer, which some might expect. That said, this milk booze also comes in cow and goat milk variations.
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