Northern Arizona Celtic Heritage Society 
Asturias | Brittany | Cornwall | Galicia | Ireland | Isle of Man | Scotland | Wales
This section is intended to acquaint the viewer with an overview of the wines, ciders, beers and whiskies of the Celtic regions. Selections of these spirits will be available for sampling (at a nominal charge) at the Arizona Highland Celtic Festival in July.
| Cider has been produced in Brittany since the early 6th century. Production flourished during the Middle Ages. Cider is traditionally served with crepes and galettes. |
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| Beer has been brewed in Brittany since the
early 1600s. Beer drinking among young adults is gaining in popularity. This is
due, in part, to the association of brand names with the popularity of Celtic
music and the Breton cultural identity movement. Best known brands include Coreff,
Lancelot (both barley beers) and Telenn Du (a buckwheat beer). |
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| Wine production is widespread in the region,
particularly in the area of Nantes, where vineyards predated the Romans. The
Muscadet grape produces the region's signature expression - a dry white wine.
Nearly one-half of the area's grape production is exported. |
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| Chouchen is a type of mead. It is made from
water and fermented honey and was the Celts' favorite drink because they
believed it offered immortality for humans and a "sacred state of drunkenness"
for the gods. |
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| Calvados is a dry apple brandy. In the early 1700s apple brandy distillation was restricted to Brittany and Normandy, to protect the grape brandy trade throughout the rest of France. Normandy is the more well-known region for Calvados production (the town of Calvados is situated in western area of the region), but Breton Calvados is highly regarded in its own right. |  |
| Production of cider, wine (including
fruit flavored wines) and beer is plentiful in Cornwall. This is because
of the ideal weather and flourishing vineyards and orchards. High quality
spring water is abundant in the region, which is essential for the production
of spirits. The sparkling wine "Camel Valley Brut 'Cornwall' - 1999", was served to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on her visit to Cornwall in June 2000. Mead is a honey wine closely associated with Celts. Mead production has been a staple of Cornish activities for eons. It is arguably the first alcoholic beverage created. It is mentioned in "Beowulf" and was known to the ancient Greeks and Romans. The term "honeymoon" has a direct connection with mead: when a couple was married, they would drink mead for the month after the wedding. This was supposed to help produce a baby boy. |
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| Galicia | |
| As in Cornwall, production of cider, wine,
including fruit flavored wines, is plentiful in Galicia and Asturias. This is
because of the ideal weather and flourishing vineyards and orchards. High
quality spring water is abundant in the region, which is essential for the
production of spirits. |
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| Wines of Galicia are primarily from the area
called Rias Baixas - an area of estuary-like irregularities in the convoluted
Galician coastline. At least one wine incorporates a Celtic knot design on its
label to celebrate the ancient ties between Galicia and the Celtic lands to the
north. Aguardientes is a distilled spirit at 80% alcohol by volume. Galicians have developed a spectacular way to serve it: combined with roasted coffee beans and set afire in a china or earthenware bowl! |
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Perhaps no other country (with the possible exception of Scotland)
is so directly associated with its alcoholic beverages. "The light music of whiskey falling into glasses made an agreeable
interlude" Irish whiskies are generally characterized by being smoother than
most other distilled spirits (they are usually distilled three times), and made
in relatively small batches. |
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| At only 227 square miles, much of it desolate, the
Isle of Man does not offer a lot of room for spirits manufacturing. There is,
however, an interesting enterprise there and here's what some of the literature
says about the manufacture of ManX Manx Spirit: |
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"Brandies and cognacs are distilled from grapes; rum comes from cane sugar; calvados starts life as an apple. ManX is distilled from the finest single malt whisky which has been matured in oak casks by our Celtic neighbours, but this is followed by a purification process prior to bottling." Essentially ManX Spirit is single malt whisky that has undergone a "redistillation technique" that creates a crystal clear spirit while retaining the complex tastes of the original malt. |
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| Scotland | |
| Single malt Scotch whisky is distinguished and categorized
by the region from which it comes. There are five primary regions that produce
single malts which are distinctly different from each other from the criteria
of color, aroma, and taste. These regions are the Highlands, the Lowlands,
islands, Campbeltown, and the island of Islay (pronounced "eye-luh"). "Single"
means the whisky is the product of a single distillery (not a blend); "malt"
means the whisky is made from malted (germinated) barley grain; and "Scotch"
means the product was distilled and aged in Scotland. |
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| Blended Scotch whiskies are popular around the world. Blends usually consist of one to four single malts as their base, and 30 to 40 grain whiskies. These components are expertly blended by the Blend Master to create Scotland's most recognized product. Beers and Ales from Scotland are now characterized by either those produced by state-of-the art international conglomerates or those produced by smaller independent breweries using traditional methods of production. |
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| Wales |
| Beer has been a part of Welsh life for ages, but in the
mid-1800s beer drinking became even more popular. The Industrial Revolution and
Wales' metal industries (tinplate production, ore smelting and steelworks)
combined to provide great amounts of backbreaking labor for workers These men
drank beer that was restoring and low in alcohol … it could be consumed by the
pint to less negative effect than other beers with higher alcohol
content. Blended Welsh whisky is produced and bottled in Brecon, Wales. |
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| Asturias |
Sparkling apple drinks are often named after occupations connected with their manufacture or musical instruments such as "Sidra El Gaitero" (the bagpiper) and "La Gaita" (the bagpipe), two ciders from Asturias. |
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Asturias | Brittany | Cornwall | Galicia | Ireland | Isle of Man | Scotland | Wales
Click on a flag to learn more about its region.
 Asturias |
 Brittany |
 Cornwall |
 Galicia |
 Ireland |
 Isle of Man |
 Scotland |
 Wales |