Four Maine companies are finalists for a 2019 Good Food Award, given annually to independent food producers who meet certain environmental and agricultural sustainability standards.

The Maine finalists were selected from among 2,035 entries in 16 categories, including cheese, confections, honey, pickles and preserves. In all, 401 products from 40 states were chosen by the nonprofit Good Food Foundation through a blind tasting.

Liquid Riot Bottling Co.’s Fernet Michaud is a finalist in the spirits category.

Liquid Riot Bottling Co. in Portland was recognized in two categories. Its Blushing Star Barrel-Aged Lager with Peaches is a finalist in the beer category, and its Old Port Straight Bourbon Whiskey and Fernet Michaud are finalists in the spirits category. Go here for the Liquid Riot recipe for a “Shrub Down,” a Thanksgiving-friendly cocktail made with the whiskey.

The brined coppa made by A Small Good in Rockport, which cures meat from pasture-raised hogs, was named finalist in the charcuterie category.

Artisan cider made from American heritage apples by David Buchanan, owner of Portersfield Orchards in Pownal, was recognized in the cider category.

And Bard Coffee’s Organic Costa Rica La Mirella made it to the finals in the coffee category. The coffee shop is located in Portland.

The winners will be announced Jan. 11 at a 1,000-person gala in the San Francisco War Memorial & Performing Arts Center. Tickets for the awards ceremony, hosted by Alice Waters, cost $235. If that’s too pricey, admission to the Good Food Awards Marketplace at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco, where the public can sample and purchase past and present award-winning products, is just $5.

EAT YOUR HEART OUT, DOWNTON ABBEY

And in the category of What Will They Think of Next? – according to a press release in our inbox earlier this week, Highland Titles, “one of the world’s leading innovators in land preservation,” has an unusual Christmas present on offer: “a unique and eco-friendly opportunity to purchase souvenir plots on its estate in Glencoe Wood, Scotland – granting the recipient the legal use of the Scottish Title Lord or Lady.”

The press release notes that forests in Scotland have been disappearing for more than 1,000 years, thanks to both industry and farming. Highland Titles’ approach to land conservation allows people to buy small plots of land, as small as 1 square foot and up to 1,000 square feet for as little as $43 so that the forests can be rescued, maintained and expanded. If being the unofficial Pope of Portland or the Mayor of Machias isn’t grand enough for someone on your Christmas list, consider bestowing Lord or Lady of Glencoe for him or her. Find more information at highlandtitles.com.

— Staff reports