CLIMATE COCKTAIL:
Cane and Roil
Flooding
Bartender Notes
There’s a classic cocktail called a Corn and Oil. It, like our Cane and Roil, is made with distilled sugarcane, known in most cases as rum. The C-N-R is a fairly straightforward sour, subbing out the falernum for a pecan syrup which still has an allspice and citrus backbone, shaken up with some citrus and rum and poured over crushed ice. Easy to make, easy to drink.
Flooding the Nation's
Bread Basket
When it comes to climate change, extreme heat and drought are what most Americans worry about first.
Farmers worry about drought too, just not in 2019. Thanks to climate change and the topsy-turvy nature of weather systems it creates, farmers can no longer easily predict how—or when—the next planting season will challenge their ability to produce crops. Considering that the US agricultural exports generate $1 billion annually, it’s a real problem when our nation’s bread basket is filled with water.
Flooded agricultural lands
Flooded agriculture lands
The period from June 2018 to May 2019 was the wettest on record since 1895.1
The “Great Flood of 2019” has affected over 14 million people across Nebraska, Missouri, South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, and Kansas. NY Times2
The "Great Flood of 2019" has affected over 14 million people across Nebraska, Missouri, South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, and Kansas. NY Times2
First, heavy rains saturated the soil. Rivers, primarily the Missouri River and its tributaries, overflowed their banks. As water levels climbed to ten feet in some places, levees failed. Floodwater overtook entire farms: homes, barns, equipment, stored crop harvests, and livestock. Farmers couldn’t plant and all they can do is wait for the land to dry out.
Corn plants after flooding
Corn plants after flooding
Burst silo due to flooding on Iowa farm
Burst silo due to flooding on Iowa farm
Houston post-Hurricane Harvey
Houston post-Hurricane Harvey
ROILED
"The storm roiled the waters of the harbor."
It’s a word that brings caution. In 2019 a tropical storm brought 20 to 40 inches to Southeast Texas, sending roiling waters across a region best known for it’s petrochemical industry.
Where endless grassland used to soak up pulses of water, the now paved over landscape had no chance to absorb this 1000 year storm deluge.
Houston post-Hurricane Harvey
Houston post-Hurricane Harvey
Supercharged storms are carrying more water and raining down on places that haven’t been built to handle it. The end result is the expectedly flooded roadways, but the worry is that if one of these floods breaches the defenses of a refinery, a new kind of weather disaster could be brewing.
Petrochemical plant
Petrochemical plant
Agricultural flooding, Whatcom County, WA
Agriculture flooding, Whatcom County, WA
Five Types of Floods3
An Inland Flood occurs when moderate precipitation accumulates over several days, intense precipitation falls over a short period, or a river overflows because of an ice or debris jam or dam or levee failure.
A River Flood occurs when water levels in rivers, lakes, and streams rise and overflow onto the surrounding banks, shores, and neighboring land due to excessive rain from tropical systems making landfall, persistent thunderstorms over the same area for extended periods of time, combined rainfall and snowmelt, or an ice jam. River flooding is one of the most common types of inland flood.
A Coastal Flood occurs when there is a higher than average high tide made worse by heavy rainfall and onshore winds. Lower elevation also plays a factor in coastal water flooding up on land.
A Storm Surge is an abnormal rise in water level in coastal areas, over and above the regular astronomical tide, caused by forces generated from a severe storm's wind, waves, and low atmospheric pressure. Storm surge is extremely dangerous, because it is capable of flooding large coastal areas. Extreme flooding can occur in coastal areas particularly when storm surge coincides with normal high tide, resulting in storm tides reaching up to 20 feet or more in some cases. Along the coast, storm surge is often the greatest threat to life and property from a hurricane.
A Flash Flood is the most dangerous type of flood and is caused by heavy or excessive rainfall in a short period of time, generally less than six hours. Flash floods are characterized by raging torrents after heavy rains that rip through river beds, urban streets or mountain canyons, sweeping everything before them. They can occur within minutes or a few hours of excessive rainfall or after a levee or dam has failed, or after a sudden release of water by a debris or ice jam.
Shoal Creek flooding, Grand Falls, MO
Shoal Creek flooding, Grand Falls, MO
In real-time, you can monitor the nation's rivers and streams using an interactive map produced jointly by NOAA and the National Weather Service5
Preparing for local creek to overflow. Author's house, 2012.
Preparing for local creek to overflow. Author's house, 2012.
CLIMATE COCKTAIL RECIPE
Cane and Roil
Glass: Georgian
A sour, riffing off the Corn and Oil, roiled oil being an issue in Houston, and grassland (cane), an answer.
2 oz. Mt. Gay Black Barrel
.75 oz. spiced Pecan syrup
.75 oz. Lime juice
.5 oz. Grapefruit juice
To serve:
Shake and strain to a Georgian glass
Fill with crushed ice
Garnish with feathered Grapefruit swath
SPICED PECAN SYRUP
Note: by volume
10 oz. Light brown sugar
8 oz. Quality water
3 Pecan
1/4 oz. Allspice
Peel of 1 Lime
8 Clove pieces
2 oz. Chili tamarind (available at Mexican grocery stores)
In a blender, combine:
Sugar
Quality water
Chili tamarind
And quickly pulse.
In a hot pan for a couple of minutes, combine:
Allspice
Cloves
Lime peel
This will loosen the oils.
Then to the pan, add:
Pecan-Chile tamarind-Sugar paste
Bring to a quick boil
Simmer for 20 minutes
Strain solids and set aside to cool.
FEATURING
Mount Gay rum
Mount Gay rum
REFERENCES
1 NOAA National Centers for Environmental information, Climate at a Glance: National Time Series. (October 2019). Retrieved from https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/national/time-series/110/pcp/5/5/1895-2019?base_prd=true&firstbaseyear=1901&lastbaseyear=2000
2 New York Times, “Great Flood of 2019” Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/09/11/us/midwest-flooding.html
3 NNSL The National Severe Storms Laboratory, Floods 101. Retrieved from https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/svrwx101/floods/types/
4 NOAA's National Weather Service: River Forecast Centers. Retrieved from https://water.weather.gov/ahps/rfc/rfc.php
5 NOAA's National Weather Service interactive flood map. Retrieved from https://water.weather.gov/ahps/index.php
LEARN MORE ABOUT OIL REFINING AND CLIMATE ISSUES
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