Intangible qualities make whiskey special – aspects such as the aroma, or “nose”; its complexity; and its lingering flavor, or “finish.” But to boost whiskey’s value, purveyors of high-end whiskey convey the product’s heritage. A whiskey’s unique locale – what wine enthusiasts call "terroir" – matters greatly to its perceived authenticity.

My memories of Nana, my paternal grandmother, are vivid. She taught me the proper way to place a single slice of lox on top of a bagel smeared with cream cheese. The trick was to spread the lox out so thinly with the back of a fork that you could see the hole of the bagel and the white of the cheese through it. Lox was a true luxury food in the 1950s and not to be eaten lightly. Nana’s emphasis on frugality was, I now understand, the psychological residue of her experience of multiple life crises – immigration from Poland to San Francisco in the early 20th century, the 1906 earthquake, World War I, the Spanish flu, the Great Depression, and World War II.

One reason for the inconsistencies in the literature could stem from the fact that much of the previous research has traditionally treated alcohol as a single entity rather than separately measuring the effects of beer, cider, red wine, white wine, Champagne and spirits. Yet, even when broken down in this way, the research yields mixed messages. For example, one study has suggested that drinking more beer contributes to a higher waist-to-hip ratio.

I certainly understand how we associate alcohol with an exalted way of being, sort to speak; from being an essential element in any given cultural celebration around the world to also being a symbol of status, adulthood, and success. Even as I sit here writing this up, there is a glass of wine within reach. It is, rather sardonically, one of my versions of honest-to-God sophistication: getting to write on my desk while sipping on a cheekily-named California red while Alexa booms out my usual playlist—which, by the way, is fittingly yet unintendedly named “The Hemingway."

The "cider" revival refers to traditional alcoholic cider, made by fermenting apples, usually of more than one variety. It's produced like wine, which is fermented from grapes. A number of farmstead cider makers have emerged in New York, turning the beautiful heirloom apple varieties of upstate New York into delicious, unique ciders. These are often less sweet and more nuanced than mass-market ciders Americans may be used to.

Despite a promising start, the rest of this film feels very much like a PR piece for potential investors. Which perhaps isn’t surprising: directed by Sky Pinnick, the producer is Kirk Ermisch, CEO of Southern Wine Group, a Latin American wine importer. Vineyards are beautiful, Mendoza seems like a fun and vibrant city, and it is nice that so many winemakers featured are given the space to talk about wine in their own words—other than a few notes that flash on the screen, the vintners basically tell the story. 

More than 100 rare artifacts are displayed at the American Spirits exhibit, including such curiosities as the original paraphernalia for making moonshine at home, ratification copies of the 18^th and 21st Amendments and a collection of Roaring Twenties dresses. The flask collection alone show you how far camouflage was carried to hide the “hooch.”  One bar set, “Mr. Dry,” is in the shape of a casket, with the cork-headed corpse concealing a corkscrew body.  Even Carrie Nation’s own hatchet from one of many barroom-smashing raids is on display. 

Mexico carefully guards the name and legacy of its national spirit. Any liquor bearing the label “tequila” must be produced in Mexico, from blue agave (Agave tequilana azul) of the Weber Blue variety grown in Jalisco, or tequila of specially designated regions of Nayarit, Guanajuato, Michoacán and Tamaulipas. Distilleries are also carefully regulated, and assigned a NOM (Norma Oficial Mexicana) number. Much of the mass-produced tequila found in American liquor stores comes from fairly young agave plants, harvested when the sap is tart and acidic.