Drink of the Day: Salamander Brandy

I was just trying to research what the hell "salamander brandy" is, & also, could it possibly be possible to get it in California? Apparently it's illegal because of animal cruelty, although this website says it's legal in Slovenia but impossible to export & still difficult to get a hold of without the correct contacts.

"How do they make the brandy? There are several different methods. The simplest is to take two salamanders (live), toss into a barrel of autumn fermenting fruits, leave for a month and then distil. The sophisticated method is to pour the warm, freshly distilled brandy over the salamanders (one lizard for every five litres of brandy), collect the results in a suitable vessel and then drink. The X factor is the poisonous mucus the salamander gives off to frighten away its predators."

It's an aphrodisiac that's been used since the middle ages & it's effects are supposed to be kind of a cross between acid & ecstasy.

"... a traditional medieval method of getting in touch with your deeper sexual feelings - and getting off your face in the process. The erotic charge of the drink is powerful, but tends to be indiscriminate in its target, so that anything in the natural world can become sexually attractive - trees, plants, animals or even humans.

[...] To quote Macbeth's coven: Lizard's leg and howlet's wing for a charm of powerful trouble, like a hell-broth, boil and bubble. In the Middle Ages, salamander brandy was certainly used to conjure up and exorcise demons, and the area around Skofja Loka where the brew is found had an unusually high proportion of tried witches. But the salamander is not all bad; it is also the sign of the alchemist. Its ability to walk unharmed through extreme heat or fire led the creature to become a symbol of self-restraint, chastity and purity, metaphorically surviving the temptations and rigours of red-hot earthly pleasures."

Please contact this blog immediately if anyone has connections in California!

A few suggestions for American brand names:

Salabrandy!

Brandymander!