When you are young, extreme drinking often consists of testing just how much you consume. When you get a little older, there is a shift from quantity to quality and for the daring, esotericism. An article by Jason Wilson in the Washington Post led me an amazing source for the truly unusual potent potables. Eric Seed runs the Minnesota-based Haus Alpenz, a distributor that specializes in the kinds of liquors that seem like they went out of production years ago.

Seed's selections are deliciously eclectic. Some seem fairly tame such as the Purkhart Pear Williams Brandy and the Blume Marillen Apricot Eau-de-Vie while other such as the Nux Alpina Walnut Liqueur and the red Zirbenz Stone Pine Liqueur of the Alps are strangers to the most people in the States. The Haus Alpenz website also includes recipes on how to use things such as the Batavia Arrack which was used in punches in pre-prohibition America. And liqueurs such as the Rothman & Winter Crème de Violette are like drinking the past. Their websites lists the places to go to discover these unique tastes.