DOÑA REMEDIOS TRINIDAD, Sierra Madre—It was a crazy idea for a weekend getaway: five grown men to cycle across an unchartered, rugged mountain pass that cuts across the Luzon provinces of Bulacan and Nueva Ecija just to take a dip in a remote, crystal clear lake.
With their huge copper vats and open fires, little-known backyard liquor makers have toiled for generations on Philippine coconut farms to distill their equivalent of Russian vodka.
