Cultural Beverages

From My Wiki

A tradition at many Aspiration-led international open source events is that each participant is encouraged to bring a compelling beverage from their country or region!

As a general rule, these beverages should be of the "adult" variety, as alcohol so often helps to knit the social fabric of multi-cultural gatherings. But all beverages are welcome and encouraged; liquid diversity is the ultimate goal.

We held a beverage sharing party on the last evening of the event, where we all sampled, sipped and savored the products of our respective cultures. Some participants actually recall some of the proceedings.

For those interested in what this all looked like, check out Alice's pix at Flickr.

At Dimitris' most excellent suggestion, below we are attempting to re-construct our collective memory of what was consumed:

• Makers Mark, a Kentucky (US) bourbon whiskey, was brought by David Taylor, to cover gunner's absent-minded butt
• Home-made apricot rakia, brought by Branislav Jovanović; for the record, it was/is 50% vol. alcohol (someone asked about the percentage, but I wasn't sure then)
• Jägermeister, a German herb liqueur blended from over 50 ingedients is best served chilled, which it wasn't that evening because Michelle Thorne didn't leave it in the freezer long enough.
• Yatir Forest 2004, Israeli red wine, was brought by Elad Wieder, and was one of the very few bottles that were empty that night...
• Polish Flag - shot made of Polish pure rye vodka and raspberry syrup with small-leaved linden flowers extract, carefully poured into shot glass to form two separate layers, red and white. Goes well with singing loudly and with Bruderschaft drinking ceremony (remember to kiss each other three times)! :-) There is also a version of that with tabasco, called Mad Dog, but we didn't have tabasco. :-)
• Monastyrka - 43% plum vodka traditionally prepared (in various kinds) by catholic and orthodox monks throughout whole Eastern Europe for many hundreds years now.
• Gammel Dansk is a Danish alcoholic beverage, which can be drunk in the morning with the breakfast meal. Its name translates directly from Danish as "Old Danish".
• Ouzo is a Greek liqueur with a distinctive anise flavor, often mixed with water or ice and enjoyed together with fish mezedes (appetisers) shared with others at taverns. When water or ice is added to ouzo, which is clear in color, it turns milky white.
• (add your cultural beverage here!)