I was watching a report by Lídia Heredia, in an American liquor store, talking about the tariffs that will be imposed on products coming from abroad (There is no need to remember European wine) like Mexican tequila or Canadian whisky.
Some might think it's not that important, and that anything can be done anywhere. Yes, but no. Of course, someone can plant Xarel·lo or Taladrado wherever they want, but the Xarel·lo and Taladrado varieties won't thrive everywhere, and if they do, they'll never express themselves as they do at home (ours). However, in the case of Canadian whisky, there's a matter of, let's say, American nationalism and pride, which is extremely important. The famous cocktail we've seen so many times in movies, perhaps the most famous, called the Manhattan, is made with Canadian whisky.
It can be made with other whiskeys, of course, and in many Catalan cocktail bars, in fact, they ask you what you'd like or make suggestions for reinventions, which are wonderful. They're based, naturally, on knowledge of this history. Because the original Manhattan is made with Canadian whisky. You've probably seen the bottle, with its white label and black cursive letters that say Canadian Club 1858. And it's made with Canadian whisky, precisely, because of a prohibition imposed by the authorities, who always screwed up everything. Because of or thanks to Prohibition, people made liqueurs at home with whatever they had, of very poor quality (hence the mixes with juice and sugar). Since there was no American whiskey, but there was Canadian whiskey (which was imported illegally, of course), the original recipe for a Manhattan is made with Canadian. Any story by the wonderful Dorothy Parker transports you to the atmosphere of that time when everyone pretended to drink iced tea. When someone bans something fun, the same thing usually always happens: they keep doing it, but on the sly.
