A tipple with your newspaper

A few years ago my wife and I were making our way through Berlin with the kids. Now, there are both good and bad things about that, but one which we found quite civilized were some of the little kiosk news stands which are littered throughout the city. In most respects they seemed to be normal news kiosks. They differed in one important way, however, which is that you can buy a small glass of Prosecco with your morning (or, preferably, evening) news. Now, for those of you who don’t know, Prosecco is a type of Italian sparkling wine, like a champagne, a little on the sweet side but quite pleasant, really.
Now, the Moral Majority would find that nothing short of reprehensible, but I for one think of it as charmingly sophisticated. How relaxing to purchase a newspaper or magazine in the late afternoon, a small glass of Prosecco, and sit down on a sunny bench to find out what’s happening in the world. Unfortunately, as it was winter there were very few sunny corners to be found, and in fact a number of the kiosks we passed were closed. It seemed like such a pleasant idea, though.
Now, kiosks throughout Germany sell booze, so that’s no great surprise. In Munich you can buy a half liter of beer or a small airplane bottle of schnapps at many such kiosks, but to me that seems more like the last refuge of an alcoholic than a nice way to spend an afternoon (and anyone who reads this knows that I like beer, and even schnapps).
No, there’s something about the prosecco booth which appeals to me.
Now, if only we had one here in Philadelphia.

Water of life

Depending on your spirit of choice, you may think I’m going to write about Scotch, or perhaps Aquavit, but no, I’m not. Before one of my recent trips to Germany, a friend of mine who is interested in such things asked me whether there were any good German eau-de-vie’s, and I had to honestly answer that I didn’t know. I had tried any of a number of different schnaps, aperitifs, and digestifs while in Germany, but truth be told I really hadn’t paid attention to where they were from or which ones were better than others. I resolved, in the face of this question, to find out.
Fortunately, I have just the friend for that kind of question and I was visiting him on that very trip. So, he suggested I try any of the various products of a small distillery from the Black Forest called Schladerer. Fortunately for me, Schladerer makes a nice little sampler box of its most popular eau-de-vie, so I bought two of them and brought them home for a good, old-fashioned taste off.
And taste we did, coming to the conclusion that there are indeed good German eau-de-vie. We both liked the kirschwasser best, a clear cherry brandy. In fact, the inspiration for this post is the glass of same I had this evening from the full-sized bottle I bought on my last trip. The others were good as well, with my preference, from most enjoyable to least, as follows: Williams pear, raspberry, apricot, then plum.
I’m not sure if Schladerer’s products are available in the US (they are not available in the People’s Republic of Pennsylvania, where the liquor stores are state-run), but if you see a bottle by all means, give it a try.