Interviewer at UC Berkeley's Oral History Center, Bartender and oral historian Shanna Farrell's book - 'A Good Drink - In Pursuit of Sustainable Spirit' features stories of farmers, distillers and bartenders driving the transformation.
The world of spirits is surely shifting towards sustainability. There is increased discussion on reducing the carbon imprint induced by huge volumes of water required for distillation, not to mention the bars that generate mountains of trash. Shanna Farrell stresses on the urgent need to sustainable spirits movement. This not just reduces waste while producing but a shift towards organic during farming process posing environmental hazards when crops are grown using fertilizers and chemicals.
Highlights
The book also features -
Arturo Campos, a fourth-generation mezcalero in Jalisco, Mexico, working with his father to preserve traditional ways of producing mezcal and the owner of the White Lyan bar in London who eliminated individual bottles and ice. She visits High Wire Distilling Co. in South Carolina, where a husband-wife team are bringing a legendary moonshiner’s corn, Jimmy Red corn, back
from near extinction using sustainable practices. At the Maker’s Mark distillery in Kentucky, Farrell sees if it’s possible to pre¬serve local ecology while producing spirits on a large scale. These people are part of a growing trend to recognize spirits for what they are—part of our food system.
From agave fields in Mexico to the American South, small sustainable spirits businesses are galvanizing a good-drink movement. "A Good Drink" encourages readers to think “farm to bar” about what they drink by engaging with spirits on a deeper level. Farrell shows how a spirit’s unique history – from who made it to how they made it – becomes a new way to enjoy that next drink.
For readers who have ever wondered who grew the pears that went into their brandy or why their cocktail is an unnatural shade of red, "A Good Drink" is an eye-opening tour of the spirits industry. For anyone who cares about the future of our planet, it offers a hopeful vision of change, one pour at a time.
