From the editor | April 11

We may spend most of our time indoors these days, but it’s still the weekend and that often means kicking back with a boozy libation. Today we look at some surprising spirits from around the world –– from the old-school tipple that might overtake whiskey in Ireland to glacial vodka crafted in Bolivia at one of the highest distilleries in the world. Cheers!

Barbara Fletcher, Senior Editor

Good Sh*t

Move Over, Whiskey: How Gin Became a Tipple of Choice in Ireland

Once outlawed as “mother’s ruin,” gin is back in fashion — thanks to the lifting of a 200-year-old law.

From an ornate drinks room overlooking the River Shannon, spirits expert Cathal Quinn is in full flow telling the story of the drinks craze gripping Ireland. “They say you eat with your eyes,” he declares, carefully filling a large goblet with ice, deliciously scented Mediterranean tonic, raspberries and a strong measure of gin. My mouth is watering, and I’ve never tasted gin before. “But you drink with your eyes too.”

Quinn organizes gin tastings and a gin cruise master class on Lough Derg from the picturesque village of Ballina in County Tipperary. On this cool summer evening, he’s giving us a rundown of the history behind this once-berated spirit, known as “mother’s ruin” and the “demon drink” in Britain during the early 1700s for the destruction it wrought on households. Ireland may remain a country of staunch port and whiskey drinkers, but gin is returning with a trend-setting vengeance.

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Good Sh*t

The Smooth New Spirits Boozing Up Bolivia

A young crop of distillers is making spirits from unusual ingredients for locally obsessed drinkers.

From the distillery, where tall copper stills gleam in the sunlight that streams in through the over-two-story, all-glass facade, you can see the entire Cordillera Real, its craggy peaks smothered under deep snow and ice. But the glaciers do much more than provide a kick-ass view from what is likely the highest distillery in the world. They provide a key ingredient to the vodka made there.

“Vodka comes from the word voda, which means water” in Slavic, says Leonardo Diab, the commercial manager of Innobe, which produces 1825. “We have amazing water because it comes practically straight from the glaciers, which are very close.” The only other ingredient in 1825 Vodka is alcohol made from wheat grown in the Amazon region of Bolivia.

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