Adele Ferguson - Tracking down specialty brew might get tougher

A BILL MOVING through Congress has some wine lovers worried they won’t be able to get their specialty wine in the mail any more, according to the newspapers.

The Comprehensive Alcohol Regulatory Act of 2010, introduced in the U.S. House earlier this month, is meant to strengthen state control of alcohol distribution.

It is supported so far by the National Beer Wholesalers Association, the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America and 31 Democrats and Republicans, but some wine lovers believe the bill will limit their ability to get the boutique wines they love and want Congress to step up to the plate and prevent deregulation.

Which reminds me of the time a German friend of mine was planning an old fashioned Christmas Eve spread with all the Old Country foods, only he couldn’t lay his hands on any Steinhagger and asked me if I could help him out.

Sure thing, I said, who do you want me to call? The Game Department? Oceanographic Commission? Board of Pharmacy?

The Liquor Board, he said. Steinhagger is a cross between whiskey and schnapps. Efforts to get Steinhagger at state liquor and specialty stores had been fruitless, he said, because nobody had it or could get it. Would I inquire of the higher-ups in the booze dispensing business if it was available anywhere in the state?

I WOULD. My friend on the liquor board was stumped for a minute but the board has a Man Who Knows, he said, and he asked The Man Who Knows. He was stumped too but said what we probably were thinking of was Steinberger Spotlise Kioster Eberbach, which is a wine and which is sold by Associated Beverages out of Seattle.

I hadn’t even gotten that all written down before my liquor board friend had a new bulletin from The Man Who Knows. Scratch Steinberger Spotlise Kloster Eberbach, he said. We have found Steinhagger.

It’s called Steinhagger Westphalen, is 90 proof, comes in little crocks and is classified in this country as gin. It is imported through California which means it takes a special order of a whole case to get some, at $84.64 a case.

I said I didn’t know whether my German friend wanted his old fashioned Christmas Eve $84.64 worth but I’d pass on the information.

I hadn’t had a chance to do that before there was new word.

SCRATCH Steinhagger Westphalen, said my liquor board contact. Even if your German friend is willing to pay the $84.64, it is not possible to import it before Christmas. But, he said, since he can’t get Steinhagger Westphalen, and if he doesn’t want Steinberger Spotlise Kioster Eberbach, there’s another drink quite similar to Steinhagger Westphalen called Scheinkhagen, which is served at Schniztlebanks’s in Seattle.

You’re putting me on, I said.

No, no, he said. It’s all a part of our job serving the public. We are here to be helpful.

Danke, I said.

Wilkommen, he said.

Last I heard, my German friend had decided to make do with a couple of cases of good, cold German beer.

(Adele Ferguson can be reached at P.O. Box 69, Hansville, Wa., 98340.)