Best drinks from around the world: The unexpected origins of brilliant booze

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This was published 7 years ago

Best drinks from around the world: The unexpected origins of brilliant booze

By David Whitley
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Everyone knows you can get great vodka in Poland, fantastic beer in Belgium and marvellous New Zealand wines. But sometimes the good stuff comes from a surprising source…

Moldovan wine

The oft-forgotten former Soviet Republic was generally used as a giant wine rack in the old days of the USSR. The Mileștii Mici winery has the largest wine cellars in the world – stretching nearly 200 kilometres and holding nearly 2 million bottles – and those of the better known Cricova winery aren't too far behind. About three-quarters of Moldovan wines are whites, with well-known French grapes having long overtaken native varietals. See milestii-mici.md and cricova.md

Tourists enjoy a drink at a pool bar in Iceland's Blue Lagoon.

Tourists enjoy a drink at a pool bar in Iceland's Blue Lagoon. Credit: iStock

Palestinian beer

The Taybeh brewery, in the village of the same name on the West Bank, has been producing beers since 1995 – way before the microbrewing scene took hold in Israel, and with a good head start on most of the rest of the world. With the original, crisp-tasting golden style beer brewed according to German purity laws, Taybeh has expanded to make Belgian-style wheat beers and dark beers too. And they now export as well. See taybehbeer.com

See: The brewery where no on drinks alcohol

Brazilian sake

Brazil has the largest Japanese population in the world outside Japan, and sake breweries have sprung up there, initially to cater to the Japanese diaspora. But the appeal has spread beyond that. Azuma Kirin is the best known brand – it has been brewed under various names at a brewery in Sao Paulo since 1934 – but new interlopers are pushing premium products. These include Thikara, which makes a big noise about importing Japanese rice and polishing it. See thikara.com.br

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Utah whiskey

The Mormon state might not immediately strike you as the most obvious place for a distillery, but High West in the Park City ski area is making a serious impact.

It has the novelty value of being the world's only ski-in whiskey distillery, but the spirits they bottle up have spread across the US. The rye and bourbon efforts are impressive, but it's the Campfire that is the standout. Unashamedly smoky and not for the faint-hearted, it's a blend of rye, bourbon and scotch. See highwest.com

Icelandic gin

Martin Miller's Westbourne Strength gin was named as the world's top gin in the 2016 World Gin Awards, and while the company is British-based, the key ingredient comes from Iceland. Martin Miller's goes ludicrously over the top in sourcing the water that goes into the gin, sourcing the soft, volcanic-filtered aquifer water from Borgarnes in Iceland. So either botanicals or the water takes a 2400-kilometre round trip as part of the distilling process. See martinmillersgin.com.

Italian craft beer

Europe's traditional brewing nations – Britain, Germany, Belgium and the Czech Republic – are still providing some mighty fine ales, lambics and pilsners. But it's Italy that has had perhaps the most surprisingly enthusiastic reaction to the craft beer revolution. Microbrews (and usually rather strong ones) are being made around the country, although Rome is arguably the best city for drinking them. Specialist beer bars such as Bir & Fud in Trastavere or Open Baladin in Centro Storico are great bets to sample what has changed. See birandfud.it, openbaladinroma.it

Guatemalan rum

Rum is most commonly associated with the Caribbean, but arguably the most impressive ones come from Latin America. Centenario from Costa Rica and Diplomatico from Venezuela are both excellent, but the country that punches well above its weight is Guatemala. The Botran rums are marvellous enough, but it's the Zacapa line that's truly excellent. The Ron Zacapa Centenario 23-year-old is beautifully rounded and mellow, blended from a carefully controlled mix of aged rums, and is easily the best rum you'll regularly find in an airport duty-free shop. See zacaparum.com

English sparkling wine

Warmer summers have helped English wine start to emerge from its joke status to become a serious contender. Unusual white varietals such as bacchus, seyval and reichensteiner do well in the increasingly milder climate of southern England. But it's the sparkling wines that have made the world sit up and take notice. At a recent blind tasting in Paris, expert French winemakers proclaimed the 2009 Nyetimber from West Sussex was better than the top French champagnes. See englishwineproducers.co.uk

See: Europe's unlikely new wine capital - England

English vodka

It's not just the fizz that the Brits are doing unexpectedly well. An English potato farmer and crisp-maker caused a massive stir in 2010 when his single estate potato vodka was named the best in the world at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. Given that William Chase had been making it for only two years, this was quite an achievement. Since then, the Chase distillery has branched out into unusually flavoured single estate gins as well. See chasedistillery.co.uk

Tasmanian whisky

Another distiller that severely upset the old order is Sullivan's Cove, which was named the world's best single malt in 2014, much to the disgust of any true Scotsman. The distillery, near Hobart, is one of several that have cropped up on Tassie. Given that distilling was banned in Tasmania until 1991, this is a fair old effort. Many of them, including Sullivan's Cove, are open to visitors – and can be linked into a touring route. See sullivanscovewhisky.com, taswhiskytrail.com

See: Six of the best Tasmanian whisky distilleries

How well do you know the world's beers? Take the quiz below to test your knowledge

Quiz by Ben Groundwater

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