Raising a stink

Photo by Mike Peters / China Daily

A friend of his mother's asked about him soon after graduation. When she learned what Cowell had been studying, she remembered her friends Jim Spear and his wife, Liang Tang, the managing partners of The Schoolhouse, an eco-retreat that has become a local leader in the Slow Food movement. She urged Cowell to join them for a season as an intern. Cowell was successful in gaining an internship there and headed for Beijing in December 2012. "After a few meetings, we began discussing my interest in vinegars," he says, and soon a product line that would also include liqueurs began to take shape.

"In the San Juan Islands, like much of the Northwest, there is an overabundance of the Himalayan blackberry. (When I was young) my parents would use these 'berries' to make alcohol infusions, among other delicious food concoctions."

"Chris is a self-starter and really reliable," says Schoolhouse co-founder Spear. "He has been a tremendous asset, including as a host, sharing what he's made with guests." At the recent holiday dinners that have become a trademark of the resort, Cowell was front-and-center with his line-up of liqueurs, offering samples and snappy patter as guests sipped his bottled Erguotou concoctions, including infusions of apricot, hawthorn, Yunnan coffee, and an exquisitely balanced five-spice blend.

"We are already using our own vinegars for salad dressings for special occasions," says Spear. "Going forward, all of our Western salad dressings will use our own vinegar. Later this year we will be offering vinegar coolers (vinegar and soda water on ice with simple syrup to sweeten them) as well as vinegar sorbets and other specialty products."