CNN
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A tiny wooden hut with smoke sprouting from its chimney sits at the base of a windswept hill dotted with lambs. Inside is a large iron cauldron, scuffed from centuries of use and smothered in flames. As its interior bubbles, mountain barley and wild hops are married together to create a delightfully sweet, sour and cloudy ale known as allude to.
Gathered around the cauldron is a group of men who’ve stood in this very hut every year on this very day for as long as they can remember. At the helm of it all is one specially elected shulta who oversees the sacred process. Brewing aludi together is part of their unofficial brotherhood and a hallowed preparation for the coming festival.
Soon this special brew will be used to mark the start of Atnigenobaa two-week long festival in the northeastern Georgian region of Tusheti that’s filled with paganistic ram sacrifices, shrine worship, folk dancing and fiercely competitive horse racing.
Tucked away deep in the mountains dividing Georgia from its Chechen and Dagestani neighbors, Tusheti is accessed only by a long, narrow gravel road that climbs 10,000 feet above the gorges below.
It’s a wild, untamed treasure hidden on the frontier of Europe.
