World Whisky Day is fast approaching on Saturday the 19th May 2018.
As part of the build up I’m featuring a series of blogs – both old and new – over the next month focusing on a country from each letter of the alphabet – if possible – that makes whisky.
Today is Y for Yemen.
Yemen doesn’t do whiskey.
It currently does war.
Which is destroying it’s rich history, culture and people.
One of those historical people who lived in the territory we now call Yemen was a character by the name of Jãbir Ibn Hayyãn. He was an early alchemist and is credited with inventing the alembic still – which to this day is the basis of modern distillation.
One thing Yemen does produce is coffee. It happens to be where the coffee craze originated from – at least according to an article here.
An enterprising American spirits maker has sourced some of those coffee beans and used them in a brandy based liqueur.
I give you Firelit Yemen Blue Bottle Coffee Liqueur.
It may not be whiskey.
But it does provide a link to one of the founding fathers of modern day whiskey making.
Without Jãbir Ibn Hayyãn and his experiments in Yemen – there would be no alembic still – and no whiskey.
I’ll raise a glass to him.
Sláinte.
WestmeathWhiskeyWorld 