Thursday, July 16 2009
Tradition: You're Doing It Wrong
If you can't trust a guy in a dress and a pointy hat, who can you trust?
From the 'all things old become new again' file, Decanter reports Liquid Cocaine Found in Bottles of Bolivian Wine:
The discovery of liquid cocaine in bottles of Bodegas Kohlberg wine has shocked the owners of the 40-year-old winery in northern Bolivia.
The narcotic was found during a drugs inspection by customs officers in Bulgaria, at the port of Varna-West.
The Kohlbergs condemned the adulteration of their wines. 'This illegal action is absolutely not what we stand for,' said Lisette Kohlberg.
Of the 1020 bottles of Kohlberg wine – 765 litres - discovered by Bulgarian authorities, news agencies reported 714 litres was liquid cocaine. The rest – 68 bottles – was reported to be real wine.
Who ordered a leaf blower?
Smuggling cocaine in liquid form is apparently not uncommon, but this is a pretty impressive scale. What's amusing about it is that a hundred years ago instead of being arrested and tried for smuggling, you could have gotten your bottle of cocaine wine from the local grocery. Coca-based wines, 'tonics' and beverages, along with those made from opium, cannabis and occasionally radium (!) were widely available and endorsed by no less than the Pope himself. Coca-Cola™ was originally named that because one of it's active ingredients was cocaine (The company still imports eight tonnes of coca leaf every year to flavour their drink, but prefers not to talk about it).
I feel sorry for the Kohlberg company: they're not going to be able to explain this easily, and few importers will deal with them in the future, regardless of their culpability--or even if they get charged with a crime. Still, I can't help but be amused at how much things change over time. I wonder how well radium ferments out . . . ?
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