It's always five o'clock somewhere

prince nez said:
90% of summer wine sales in Aus by volume are NZ sav blancs. All taste like lolly water to me tbh.

Lidl/Aldi wines are drinkable and decent value, this seems to be a global truth. Brought a bottle over to the gf’s parents’ the other night, the father is a bit of a wine collector. Never shops at Aldi obviously, and so isn’t familiar with their standard brain varnish. Complimented me on my taste in wine, little did he know they also sell this stuff in a Moree handbag.
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The buying power of supermarkets should mean that they can corner the market, but most decent wine isn't mass produced, or available after a couple of years, so doesn't in general fit the supermarket business model. That's why you see lots of young wines in supermarkets as they represent the raw mass produced product. The trick with young red wine is to let them breath for a couple of hours and even some wine from a carton will be pretty drinkable following this method before drinking i.e. pour in your wine glass a good two hours before your meal.

I notice in Lidl that most of the punters are buying white wines. I've never purchased red wine from Lildl, but a couple of times I've purchased whites around Euros 5.50 and they have been exceptional for the price. But by the following week they're well gone. Also a trick with white wine that you don't like is add water or soda water and turn into a spritzer.

Kingstonian said:
That is more a pub run by an ex footballer, which was not uncommon before they got paid so much. Sports bars have TVs everywhere and TV sport is the primary focus of the place.
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The old underpaid footballers certainly had the best names. Case in point: Dixie Dean.

I bought a bottle of Bols genever yesterday. I've never had Bols before. In general, most genevers aren't as refined as gins and even the Dutch will admit once you can't do a G&T with genever. In fact, it's best as a ''Head Butt'' as a chaser to a glass of pils. When I first came to the Netherlands if you asked for a G&T they didn't know what you were asking for. That's all changed now. Anyway, the Bols was pretty good in a G&T. I had one with just tonic water and then shaken very gently in the direction of Italy with some vermouth.
 
White wine is only good on a hot day - chilled - and only one glass before a meal. Good with nibbles. Then thats it.
 
Pimpernel Smith said:
The buying power of supermarkets should mean that they can corner the market, but most decent wine isn't mass produced, or available after a couple of years, so doesn't in general fit the supermarket business model. That's why you see lots of young wines in supermarkets as they represent the raw mass produced product. The trick with young red wine is to let them breath for a couple of hours and even some wine from a carton will be pretty drinkable following this method before drinking i.e. pour in your wine glass a good two hours before your meal.
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Australians have shown that you can mass produce decent wine. Its a mixed blessing commercially for growers but basically good..

It means we are used to BIG decent wines full of alcohol and cheap. And it will always be thus here.

Young wines demonstrably benefit from breathing - you can short cut it - its essentially just getting air into it - pour it into a carafe or back and forth a bit and you'll get air into it. Its no accident that young wines often taste better the next day after opening a bottle. Screw cap of course.
 
Continuing to explore genevers with these two:

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The Old Tom from Rutte distillery has absinthe in it, which I think makes it unique. You'll notice my bottle is from batch No.1. Good with angostora bitters as a pink gin.

The Notaris is as cheap as chips at Euros 9.99, but quality stuff. Wave in the general direction of Italy with some Martini extra dry and top up with tonic water and it's a winner.
 
Oakham brewery of Peterborough has lovely ales. Have been in their brewery tap by the rail station which also offers good Thai food.

Local Wetherspoon has a range of their beers @ £1.99 a pint. A 50p Camra voucher means £1.49. Enjoying a nice 6% Oakham Green Devil. Catching up with various folk I know at the same time.

Regards

Your Downmarket Correspondent
 
fxh said:
White wine is only good on a hot day - chilled - and only one glass before a meal. Good with nibbles. Then thats it.
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I used to be of this opinion, but I have gravitated to chablis as a regular drink.
 
I think there's a lot more issues with sustaining a quality drink with white wine. When I like a white wine, like Guinness, I really like it, but sadly that's likely only 1 in 20 bottles.
 
If you want a wine to go with fish then you are looking for white.

With fish and chips a nice strong cup of tea suits me. Fish and chips is rather a heavy meal though. I am a fast eater but my brother was way ahead of me on fish and chips a while back. He does a lot of running though so probably burns off big meals quickly. Maybe I should switch to smaller portions. Grilled fish is very light in contrast.
 
doghouse said:
Negroni on EK 232 IAD-DXB.
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I hope you got ten alcohol units or more from that flight.

Kingstonian said:
Lees Moonraker. Strong ale. Sound Manchester brewer. Best of the current Wetherspoon festival offerings.

https://www.jwlees.co.uk/beer/moonraker

Maxim Raspberry Porter also very good indeed.

Black sheep chocolate orange is not a patch on Downtons version.
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Your interests in craft breweries and independent pubs don't agree with patronage at Wetherspoons
 
I am not really interested in ‘craft breweries’. In the UK ‘craft beer’ means expensive beers with a predominantly hipster target market.

I drink traditional ales, sometimes called Real ales, from handpumps or gravity dispense from the barrel. While I love proper independent pubs, Wetherspoons are extremely good value and usually pleasantly busy when many independents are empty.

I also get CAMRA ( campaign for real ale )vouchers to reduce the cost of already cheap spoons beer even further. Other old gits have given me student vouchers for spoons ales. Apparently you don’t have to be young or even a student to use these. Spoons are also where most people go nowadays, like latter day Lyons corner tea houses - but with alcohol.
 
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Kingstonian said:
Lees Moonraker. Strong ale. Sound Manchester brewer. Best of the current Wetherspoon festival offerings.

https://www.jwlees.co.uk/beer/moonraker
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At a sixth form quiz evening I managed to get hammered on Moonraker and it was a lot stronger than 6.5% back in the day. I was drinking pints of it, one of the teachers had three pints and drove home and admitted he was in a right state. In all my days of hard drinking that remains one of the worse hangovers I ever had, I literally crawled home and was in a right mess the next day.
 
I managed to get hammered on Fullers ESB which was strong in its day but not anywhere near 6.5%.

I should point out that I was sampling third of a pint. Moonraker is NOT a session beer, as all adults are aware.

Under 4% for a good session ale - Young’s Ordinary Bitter, Fullers Chiswick Bitter for London folk.
 
One of the few places I've had the fear in was Dubai. Started when I saw a long line of Afghan girls lined up being processed by a brutal looking Russian and all those stark skyscrapers and taxi drivers who didn't know where anything was. On arrival at the hotel there some Scot chap was speaking to some hooker on the mobile and he was trying to get rid of her as she had clearly latched onto him. The food sure wasn't fresh anywhere and I got talking to two young Brit aircraft fitters who complained it was the worse mission they had as you could go out and blow what is the equivalent of 200 English pounds in 20 minutes in a nightclub. The client representative I went to see said he felt sorry for all the expat families flying in as they're all beaming and smiling as they pick up their luggage thinking they've arrived, little did they know they wouldn't save a penny, it's too hot to go outside 9 months of the year and there's nothing to do for families.
 
Pimpernel Smith said:
One of the few places I've had the fear in was Dubai. Started when I saw a long line of Afghan girls lined up being processed by a brutal looking Russian and all those stark skyscrapers and taxi drivers who didn't know where anything was. On arrival at the hotel there some Scot chap was speaking to some hooker on the mobile and he was trying to get rid of her as she had clearly latched onto him. The food sure wasn't fresh anywhere and I got talking to two young Brit aircraft fitters who complained it was the worse mission they had as you could go out and blow what is the equivalent of 200 English pounds in 20 minutes in a nightclub. The client representative I went to see said he felt sorry for all the expat families flying in as they're all beaming and smiling as they pick up their luggage thinking they've arrived, little did they know they wouldn't save a penny, it's too hot to go outside 9 months of the year and there's nothing to do for families.
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It’s a hell hole. I thought you can actually drink there in the day normally except during Ramadan but perhaps not in public places. Been a long time since I’ve visited.

My second wife lived there for a while in her early 20s. That’s about the only time you’d want to go there, as there’s little to do between the mall and the nightclubs. That said, it is a great base for traveling to other parts of the ME with richer histories and more forgiving climates.
 
3 x 9oz of pinot grigio plus a tall can of Stella.

Then afterwards 2 x 6oz of pinot grigio, half a bottle of cava and a double Johnnie Walker Black.

I started off with a few mates at the footy game and was down to only one whose girlfriend pleaded me to return him today...as in not in the wee hours of the next morning.
 
Opera 33 in Milano:

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Strange alchemical gins:

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Negroni with a licorice stick:

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My kind of absinthe with the right, almost phospherescent louche effect:
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Time for lab class:
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1x 9oz wine. 1 whisky sour. 1 brandy cocktail. 3 Johnnie Black rocks. 1 glass of champagne. 1 old fashioned. 1 $75 dollar Johnnie Blue/Remy XO/benedictine cocktail. 1 smoked brown cocktail. 1 tromba anejo on the rocks. 2 Jameson on the rocks.
 
Fwiffo said:
1x 9oz wine. 1 whisky sour. 1 brandy cocktail. 3 Johnnie Black rocks. 1 glass of champagne. 1 old fashioned. 1 $75 dollar Johnnie Blue/Remy XO/benedictine cocktail. 1 smoked brown cocktail. 1 tromba anejo on the rocks. 2 Jameson on the rocks.
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Mixing wine and spirits. Be careful.
 
doghouse said:
I plan on doing just that tonight myself.
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Same advice and have a splendid Easter. One of the good things about getting old is that alcohol has a quicker effect so it is cheaper to get merry. I try not to get completely trolleyed these days. Also have days off the alcohol.
 
Kingstonian said:
Same advice and have a splendid Easter. One of the good things about getting old is that alcohol has a quicker effect so it is cheaper to get merry. I try not to get completely trolleyed these days. Also have days off the alcohol.
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I try to get 72 hours in but it's the opposite for me. My tolerance is increasing so it takes quite a bit to get sloshed.
 
My pal Noel died last week. Liver gone. He was never that happy with life - unless you talked to him about music when he was in his element. When he stopped work and came into money, via an inheritance, he was drinking all the time. I heard reports about him having the shakes, but I assumed he would soldier on for many years.

I see the older regulars in spoons. I had a couple of pints with them at lunchtime but I don’t want to end up down the pub everyday. It’s different for working folk but it is easier than people think to get into drinking too much. Silly government advice from our nanny state does more harm than good. The recommended weekly limit is a good night out and people know the temperance movement have hijacked the issue.
https://health.spectator.co.uk/no-w...are-so-extreme-just-look-at-who-drafted-them/
 
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Johnnie Walker Blue, Remy XO, Benedictine.

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Johnnie Walker Black, Wiser's Deluxe, Lemon juice

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Bulleit Bourbon, Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye, Calvados, Brown Butter, Salted Caramel Smokey
 
I don’t really understand mixing different whiskies and brandy and Benedictine.

Each to their own though.
 
Kingstonian said:
Same advice and have a splendid Easter. One of the good things about getting old is that alcohol has a quicker effect so it is cheaper to get merry. I try not to get completely trolleyed these days. Also have days off the alcohol.
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Indeed. And I have the same strategy myself.
 
Kingstonian said:
I don’t really understand mixing different whiskies and brandy and Benedictine.

Each to their own though.
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My mate decided it was time to propose to his girlfriend so ordering a 75 dollar cocktail seemed like the thing for a financial district man to do.
 
I just walked into a home bar. There's a new chap working here. He quickly tidies up and tries to get a menu for me. The other chap who already knows me instinctively pours a glass of pinot grigio and places it in front of me as the other one is about to ask what I want. He then puts the rest of the bottle on ice - presumably because I usually drink the whole bottle.
 
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