The essence of fruit ... eau de vie.
Western fruit combines with European methods POUR A GLASS OF eau de vie and savor its taste and aroma--an ineffable mix of one part pure ripe fruit and one part pure late summer in the countryside. "It's almost Proustian," says Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon Vineyard. "Eau...

Why switch to grass?
Regarding "Switchgrass may yield bio-fuel bounty" (SN: 1/19/08, p. 46): Distilleries have been around since the dawn of time, including barleycorn (whiskey), maize (whiskey), potatoes (vodka), sugarcane (rum), and arcane brews distilled from beets, bread crumbs, and bamboo. The ethanol molecule cares not one wit about its particular provenance,...

White lightning.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] I SEE that the highest grades of Chinese baijiu ("white liquor"--it's pronounced bye-jee-oh) were retailing at over $3,000 a bottle this Lunar New Year. It is good to know that all the T-bonds we have been shipping over there are having their coupons put to...

Kyoto Protocol extension opens capital-generating opportunities.
Byline: MELODY M. AGUIBA The Kyoto Protocol's potential extension beyond 2012 and a national consciousness on reversing climate change open immense capital-generating opportunities the Philippines should take advantage of. Philippine Biosciences Co. Inc. (Philbio), Philippines' biggest Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) company, foresees that more certificate...

The road to ethanol.
Alcohol Can be a (;as: Fueling an Ethanol Revolution for the 21st Century by David Blume (International Institute for Ecological Agriculture, $47) is a phonebook-sized collection jam-packed with political cartoons, historical images and how-to articles. Ethanol has a fiascinating past. In the early 1900s, it was called ethyl and...

Biofuel investors eye India sorghum plants.
Byline: MELODY M. AGUIBA Biofuel investors are engaging on a business mission to India to observe field trials on sweet sorghum in a bid to put up sweet sorghum ethanol plants in different parts of the country. Fuel Inc. and a potential partner, Far East...

New hybrid sorghum variety bared.
Byline: MELODY M. AGUIBA New hybrid varieties of sweet sorghum will be developed by the University of the Philippines-Los Banos (UPLB) together with the Department of Agriculture (DA) which can further raise yield potential of the biofuel crop. The International Crops Research Institute for the...

Ethanol industry booms in Brazil; Alcohol-based fuel sells 40% less than the price of gasoline.
Byline: ALAN CLENDENNING SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- The gap between rich and poor is wide in Brazil, but its drivers are largely equal at the pump. Day laborers jammed in minivans and professionals motoring solo in air-conditioned comfort can buy gasoline -- or pay about 40...

CADP to build P1.4-B ethanol fuel plant.
Byline: Melody M. Aguiba Central Azucarera Don Pedro Corp. (CADP), Philippines' largest sugar conglomerate, is putting up a P1.4 billion ethanol plant in Negros Occidental targetted to start commercial production by late 2009. The company is taking advantage of the definite market for ethanol in...

Bicol technology venture firm plans sorghum bio-ethanol project.
Byline: MELODY M. AGUIBA A technology venture firm, Tropics Agro Industries Inc. (TAII), has embarked on a five-hectare sweet sorghum planting in Bicol, aiming to produce bio-ethanol after a successful adaptability study in the region. The company is just one of the ventures expected to...