The Canadian Whiskey Fungus

Photo: Caren Alpert

The Mystery Of The Canadian Whiskey Fungus -- Wired

The air outside a distillery warehouse smells like witch hazel and spices, with notes of candied fruit and vanilla—warm and tangy- mellow. It’s the aroma of fresh cookies cooling in the kitchen while a fancy cocktail party gets out of hand in the living room.

James Scott encountered that scent for the first time a decade ago in a town called Lakeshore, Ontario. Just across the river from Detroit, Lakeshore is where barrels of Canadian Club whiskey age in blocky, windowless warehouses. Scott, who had recently completed his PhD in mycology at the University of Toronto, had launched a business called Sporometrics. Run out of his apartment, it was a sort of consulting detective agency for companies that needed help dealing with weird fungal infestations. The first call he got after putting up his website was from a director of research at Hiram Walker Distillery named David Doyle.

Read more ....

My Comment: And here I am .... thinking that mold was exclusively a grape/wine problem.

Italian Vineyards Are Being Invaded By A New Spieves Of Moth

The moth is common in North America and was first spotted in Italy in 2006

New Moth Species Invades Italy's Vineyards -- BBC

A moth with a taste for Chardonnay leaves, which has infested vineyards across northern Italy, is a new species of leafminer, scientists say.

The pest was first discovered by Italian scientists in 2006, but they were unable to identify it.

Now, by examining a snippet of the moth's genetic code, researchers have confirmed that it is a previously unnamed species.

The team published their findings in the journal ZooKeys.

Read more ....