Archive for August, 2007

Some of the strangest beverages from around the world are more likely make you gag than quench your thirst. You might have heard about certain drinks packing a punch, but some of these could knock you down with a feather!

Baby mice wine, China

Two or three-day old baby mice are drowned in rice wine. The mice must be bottled before they open their eyes or the wine will be poisoned, according to folklore. The drink is believed to be good for your health, if not for that of the mice.

Ammonia Coke, USA

Coke with a little ammonia may sound like a disgusting combination of hair dye and pop, but it is a popular cure in for various ailments in the southern states of the US. It is even available in some pharmacies. Not one to try at home.

Spruce beer, Canada

This is made from the boiled boughs of black spruce. The beer is quickly brewed from yeast, molasses and pine resin. The carbonated green beer smells like a cocktail of bottled pine trees and beer.

Oellebroed, Denmark

This thick soupy porridge-like beer is made from soaking stale Danish-style rye bread in water and boiling it in beer with sugar. It is served hot with whipped or double cream.
In traditional Danish kitchens, families usually had a big pot on the stove in which they threw leftover bread and beer dregs. This was served as a cheap, filling and nutritious everyday meal, morning and afternoon. It’s also available as a ready-mixed powder that you stir into hot water.

Kvass, Russia

This early form of beer was traditionally made by baking and fermenting whatever grains, fruits or vegetables were available, most often rye, wheat or barley. The low-to-medium strength beer is often flavoured with fruits or herbs such as strawberries and mint.

Retsina, Greece

This wine and resin-based tipple dates back more than 3,000 years in the Attica region of Greece. Retsina was born of the need to preserve and ship wines. Doing so in pine kegs transferred a resin flavour. Ancient wines tended to spoil easily so other exotic ingredients, from herbs to seawater, were added to help preserve them for longer. Today, the resin is added rather than drawn out of the barrels and many find it too resin-based. It has been described as akin to turpentine.

Cynar, Italy

Made from artichoke leaves, Cynar is one of Italy’s many bitter liqueurs, used to aid digestion. Without first acquiring the taste, the brown, syrupy bitters can prompt a shudder or two.

Urine, India and the Far East

Wee-drinking dates back at least 5,000 years and is mentioned in the religious text Damar Tantra. Part of the teachings of yoga and ayurvedic medicine involve daily drinking of steaming-fresh morning wee to aid spiritual enlightenment.
Supporters of urine drinking claim it has been practised in Thailand, Japan and China for many hundreds of years. It is drunk as a cure for many health conditions.