Weird in a glass

Mixology offers a world of combinations and concoctions, but do you have the stomach for it

Mixologists are getting creative. Drinks now come infused with peanut butter, bacon, hickory wood chips and even nachos. But innovativeness in beverages is actually old hat— people have been doing it for centuries. Whether they are as tempting as the new brand of tipple experiments is a subjective matter of course. Today, we look at the lesser appetising (read disgusting) drinks.

Before we move to foreign shores, it’s only fair that I begin with India, where cow urine has been converted into a refreshing soda that is neatly packaged with a prominent display of the chief ingredient on the label.

Speaking of cow, Vermont produces white vodka, which is made from cow milk.

China, our competitive neighbour, has gone a couple of steps further. They have a mice wine infused with three-day old baby mice and another wine that incorporates the private parts of a seal, deer and Cantonese dog. It is believed to boost human male virility. If that doesn’t make you queasy enough, there’s a snake wine served with a preserved snake corpse or Mexican mezcal that has a scorpion floating in it!

But enough with the animal parts, let’s move to more human subjects, literally. The Sour Toe cocktail from Yukon, Canada is served with a mummified human toe that has definitely not had a pedicure!

But here’s the big one, the Alaskan Inuit creation of seagull alcohol. All it requires is a dead seagull, stuffed in a bottle of water, which is exposed to sunlight till it putrefies. The liquid is then strained out and consumed. Knocking down this drink is supposed to give you the fastest high, the meanest hangover and presumably, the worst aftertaste.

But let’s end on a more appetising note. A company in Illinois, USA has developed a TV addicts' dream — a Pizza beer, which actually uses a margherita pizza as a flavouring during the brewing process. Now isn’t that nice

The writer is a corporate executive chef for Mars Enterprises, Mumbai