| APRIL 1998 | VOL.3 NO.4 |
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Cooking With Beer
Excerpts from Stephen Beaumont's Brewpub Cookbook, available this month at bookstores across the United States, from Siris Books.
Kitchen Table Tasting
On the Road Again
Taste of the Month
Some Foods and Drinks Make Bigger Impressions Than Others
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Stephen Beaumont's Brewpub Cookbook |
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A Taste For Beer |
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Great Canadian Beer Guide |
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A World of Beer |
Taste of the Month -- Some Foods and Drinks Make Bigger Impressions Than Others
The unseasonable heat we saw in the east at the end of March placed an unlikely contender in the driver's seat for this month's TOTM. And as the weather just continued to grow hotter and my mind slipped into summer sipping mode, the case was as open and shut as the bottle from which I poured my drink.
That drink was pastis, an anise-flavoured spirit from the south of France. Poured over ice and diluted with cool water, it is to my mind one of the finest summer drinks in the world. It is refreshing in the afternoon, appetizing before a meal and curiously quenching at any time. And besides, anything that invokes such powerful memories of Provence definitely rates highly in my book.
There are several brands of pastis on the market, but most are regional specialties unavailable outside of the south of France. One of my favourites, for example, is Casanis, which is virtually undetectable outside of Provence. Others which are more readily available, such as "51" and Ricard from the French drinks giant Pernod-Ricard, tend to be either too mild or too sharp for my palate. Which brings me to the pastis I am sipping even as I type these words: Henri Bardouin. It is a highly herbal drink, flavoured with such herbs and spices as cardamon, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and sage in addition to the standard star anise, and also highly enjoyable.
Unfortunately, it comes from a small distiller in the Midi and so its availability outside of France is sporadic at best. If you can find it, however, the Henri Bardouin pastis is a wonderful drink, all summer long.
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