The Barrel of Peace

The Armenians are very proud of Ararat, both the mountain and the brandy. According to the Bible, Noah’s ark stranded on Mount Ararat, and according to the legend, "mankind first tasted wine when Patriarch Noah planted the first vine in the fertile Ararat valley… "

Brandy has been made in Armenia since 1887, and they use white grapes from Armenia and Karabakh. We got to see hundreds of barrels in the factory, but one of them is extra ordinary:

”The Barrel of Peace” contains brandy from 2001, and will be opened only when the conflict between Karabakh and Azerbaijan is over.

My dad and me wrote our names on the barrel and also the words:”Skål for peace” in the book next to the barrel. (“Skål” means ”cheers”, and in Armenian it is ”Kenats”!)

In a certain place of the storage, there were many barrels with name tags on them. These barrels contain brandy for different presidents and artists, and were given as gifts from the factory. My dad is hoping he will have his own barrel soon…. :)

Of course, we also got he chance to taste Armenian brandy: 3 years, 10 years, and 20 years. I have absolutely now clue about brandy, nor do I like it, but the youngest one was not that bad.

The company during our day at the factory was quite interesting: an Armenian from California with a beautiful lady and a group of American business men. The man sitting next to my dad was a Telemark enthusiast from Colorado, and they ended up discussing Telemark style and Sondre Nordheim...

Kenats!