Folklorama pavilions offer some intoxicating varieties of booze

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/08/2015 (3716 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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Folklorama: A trip around the world that celebrates food, dance, music, culture and more.

And after five pavilions and 12 drinks from around the globe, it’s also a whole world of hurt.

As the Free Press drinks guy, I was tasked with hitting Folklorama pavilions to taste/learn a bit about the drinks of the world. With cab slips and multimedia editor Melissa Tait in tow, off I went.

Our adventure began where any Folklorama drinks crawl should — the Irish pavilion. While there are copious drinks to try while watching barrel dancing and chowing down on Irish stew, you’ve got to go with Guinness.

“Guinness is just a part of Ireland,” said Tara Martin of the Irish Pavilion as I emptied my glass. “It’s the most popular beer here.” It was hot out, and the heavy, rich stout was served cold — who was I to go against the grain? I followed it up with a dram of Jameson Irish whiskey while fortifying myself for the night with a wedge of soda bread.

I kept the beer buzz going at the Belgian Club. With two dozen types of beer available, there’s no better place to sample great brews during Folklorama than at the Belgian Pavilion.

The Belgian beers offered run the gamut from light and crisp to heavy and alcoholic. “We also have four beers made by Trappist monks in an abbey from recipes used since ancient times,” explained the Belgian Pavilion’s Robert Huyghe.

First up was the Delirium Nocturnum (a pretty good description of my night as a whole, come to think of it), a strong Belgian dark ale clocking in at 8.5 per cent alcohol. Intensely carbonated and rich, it brings dried fruit flavours Hughye suggests would go well with a beef stew or a fish dish.

Between beer and waffles, the Belgian Pavilion isn’t the ideal stop for the gluten sensitive. But Mongozo, a gluten-free, organic, fair-trade brew, is a pale, German-style Belgian pilsner that’s darn tasty — one of the best gluten-free beers I’ve tried. Instead of being rice- or sorghum-based, Mongozo is brewed with malt before the gluten’s stripped out to less than 10 parts per million.

Next up was the Chilean Pavilion. I was in Chile in April on a wine trip and tasted loads of Chilean wine at this year’s Winnipeg Wine Festival, so I was eager to try something different.

The beer selection was decidedly un-Chilean (unless they’re making Bud, Bud Light and MGD in Santiago), but they had just what I was looking for — pisco sours. Pisco is a clear grape spirit — mix it with lime juice, simple syrup and foamed egg white and you’ve got a summery pisco sour.

The Chilean Pavilion’s version is more blue collar, made with pisco, lemon juice, sugar and 7-Up. Still, it was hot, went down easy, and helped wash down one of their delicious empanadas.

Three pavilions down, five drinks tasted. I was feeling good.

Our fourth stop was the Indochina Chinese pavilion. I started with the Tsingtao, an American-style Chinese lager. “It’s a lighter beer, a hint of bitterness, but pretty refreshing,” said ambassador Billy Nguyen. It wasn’t overly memorable, but thirst-quenching.

Nguyen passed me another cup, this one filled with a concoction of ice, 7-Up and Soho, a lychee liqueur made in France (the lychee fruit is most commonly found in China). I was impressed. Lychee’s a term used by wine geeks to describe the flavours of wine made from the Gewürztraminer grape. The same floral and spice notes came out in the cocktail, which I enjoyed while watching a tai chi demonstration.

Our final stop was the Scandinavian Pavilion. We rolled in just after 10 p.m., three hours after setting out, and I got right to work. First up were two Icelandic beers, Egils Gull and Brío; the former’s a serviceable Euro-style pale lager, while the latter’s a crisp, refreshing German-style pilsner that’s completely fresh and delicious.

Next up was a drink called Viking Power. “We make it with akvavit,” explained the Scandinavian Pavilion’s Kara Wickstrom-Street, “then mix it with apricot brandy, pineapple juice, lemon juice, orange juice and ginger ale.” While it didn’t gift me with the strength of 10 Norsemen, the refreshing drink got me curious about akvavit, a spirit infused with caraway seeds. “It’s a staple Scandinavian liqueur,” said Wickstrom-Street. “It’s 45 per cent alcohol, not for the faint of heart, and is better than tequila.”

Challenge accepted — and the akvavit blew me away. The mellow caraway flavours imparted in the Viking Power cocktail were intensely front and centre when simply poured over ice.

At some point after that, I tried the Faxe Amber, a Danish beer, but I’ll be honest — I wasn’t in top note-taking shape by this point.

I hadn’t been to a Folklorama pavilion in 10 years, and not much has changed. Maybe it was the copious drinks I consumed, but it was still piles of fun. Now where did I put that Tylenol?

ben.macphee-sigurdson@freepress.mb.ca