Text 11048, 64 rader
Skriven 2011-05-20 09:26:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av JIM WELLER
Ärende: tastes 351
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 ML> But I spent only $6 for it, so that was no great
 ML> disaster until I discovered that elsewhere I could have
 ML> gotten it 3 for 10. Which is worse, spending $6 for a bad
 ML> wine or spending 10 for 3 bottles of it?
 JW> Depends on how bad it is. If it's drinkable then go for 3/10 but
 JW> if it's a disaster then loosing just six bucks is preferable.

How bad? Virtually no wine is bad enough to toss, unless
it's mechanically bad (corked, oxidized) and thus worthy
of being taken back to the vendor for refund.

Let's take a 3.33 bottle for alcohol value only. Let's define
a proof unit as proof x ounces; this bottle has 25 proof x
25+ ounces or 600-odd proof units. The cheapest beer I've
seen lately runs about that (8 proof x 12 ounces = 96 units,
case has 2304 units for $10-11) and is fairly nasty; for very
basic spirits your hypothetical Old Croak would have 80 proof
x 25+ oz or 2000-ish units for about $8-9. When I was young
liquor cost a hefty premium over wine and beer, but that's
now corrected, probably because of advances in distilling
and the increase in transportation costs.

The question is. What to do to get that valuable commodity
down the gullet?

 JW> Perhaps a shot of red fruit juice would improve the bottle. I have
 JW> saved a lot of bad bottles with a tablespoon of creme de cassis,
 JW> Ribena or even cranberry-raspberry cocktail.

Never thought about that. I wonder if unsweetened cranberry
might make something closer to my own palate.

  One can also macerate
 JW> cherries or plums in it and improve both the wine and the fruit.
 
An interesting idea: probably made better by the sacrifice
of some of them thar basic spirits to the cause.

Here's a time-honored solution to the problem, using
spices to beat down the palate and brandy to do the
same to the judgment:

Mulled Wine
cat: holiday, booze
yield: 10 to 12 servings

3 c water
1 c sugar
12 cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
1 lemon peel
750 ml Red Wine
1/4 c Brandy

Simmer water with, sugar, cloves, cinnamon sticks,
and lemon peel in a stainless steel pot for 10 min.
Add wine heated to a 'coffee temperature' then add
the brandy.

http://www.foodbar.co.kr/punch-1.htm

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