Down on Drinks: Costa
Rican Treat Elusive
By William M. Dowd ,
fcnp.com
Wednesday, 04 July 2007
A reader e-mailed me for
help in locating guaro,
a sugar cane-based
liquor from Costa Rica.
"I saw a posting you
made regarding ... guaro.
After trying it in Costa
Rica, I have been trying
to locate it here. I
live in Florida, but
travel to California
frequently. Please let
me know if there is
anywhere I can purchase
guaro. Thank you."
Guaro is an elusive
liquor to purchase in
the States. A year ago,
I introduced my readers
to S Guaro, a 70-proof
liquor that was the
first American branding
for the pure cane sugar
liquor that usually
sells for under $20 for
a 750ml bottle.
Like vodka in Poland and
Russia and tequila in
Mexico, the clear,
odorless spirit once was
the province of the poor
drinker. However,
fancier bottling and
additional filtering
have raised both its
image and its popularity
among tourists.
Guaro tastes like a
vodka more than anything
else, and its
distributors recommend
it as part of a mixed
drink rather than
straight.
It began in the U.S. as
essentially a California
drink, with a marketing
campaign by distributor
S Spirits of Malibu that
began by creating a
word-of-mouth buzz from
serving guaro at parties
orbiting the Golden
Globes, Grammy and
Academy Awards shows.
The thought was that
such a campaign worked a
year earlier for Hpnotiq,
a pale-blue French
concoction of cognac,
vodka and fruit juices.
"We're trying that
grass-roots thing, too,
before we try to go
nationwide," Shari F.
Levanthal, marketing
director for S Spirits,
told me at the time.
The campaign was aimed
at a hip, club-hopping
market. The images of
the ads were to be in
that vein, such as an
edgy poster by graphic
artist Jerrel Conner,
the first commissioned
by S Guaro.
So, how has S Guaro, or
any other type of guaro
such as the 60-proof
Cacique, fared here
since them?
Results are mixed. For
example, last year when
I judged an
international cane
spirits competition in
Tampa, Fla., I was
surprised to note that
there wasn't a single
example of guaro among
all the rums and
cachacas. On the other
end of the spectrum, the
Four Seasons hotel chain
recently embraced guaro
by adding a drink made
with it to its cocktail
lists -- the guaro sour.
Richard Lovrich, art
director of the historic
Proctor's Theater
complex in Schenectady,
N.Y., is a friend and
former colleague who
visited Costa Rica and
brought me a bottle of
the liquor, a product he
quickly came to enjoy
with regularity during
several weeks cavorting
in Central America.
"I like the fact it
blends so well with
fruit juices, or just a
little ice and lime,"
Lovrich said, "and, the
fact that it's only 70
proof makes it much
easier to take. It's
almost as common as Coke
or Pepsi in Costa Rica."
If you're fortunate
enough to find guaro,
here's the recipe for
the Four Seasons
cocktail: Put two ounces
each of guaro and simple
syrup (equal parts water
and sugar) with a
half-dozen lime wedges
in a glass. Muddle all
the ingredients until
you get a thick lime
juice. Add ice cubes and
garnish with a sugar
stick.
An Unlikely Whisky:
Think whiskey, or
whisky, and you're
likely to be thinking
Scotland, U.S., Ireland
or Canada. But Alsace?
Uberach Alsace Whisky is
produced by Distillerie
Bertrand in the village
of Uberach, located in
the French province west
of the Rhine River. It
was launched in France
earlier this year and
its maker already is
looking to market
abroad. Attention from
American buyers
attending Vinexpo in
Bordeaux helped raise
such hopes.
The spirit is aged at
least three years in
barrels that once held
Banyuls fortified wine.
It then is sold as two
different products: a
single malt, blended
from a range of casks,
and the Single Cask, the
product of one selected
barrel. |
