Hello, Berry Bros....

Likely going to bottle Uh Oh No. 1 tonoght or tomorrow.  Meanwhile, another diversion:

Hello, Berry Bros.  

It's snowing here in New York and I was rummaging around in the cellar for rock-salt when I came across a dusty unopened bottle labeled "Vinatage Port / 1966 / Gould Campbell / Bottled 1968 / Berry Bros. & Rudd LTD London / Produce of Portugal". It's not a typical Gould Campbell label - no graphics or logos, just the text I've included above. I have a vague memory that I might have purchased this in London, maybe in 1993 or 94. Are you able to tell me anything about this mystery bottle? (Not how it got to be in my cellar, that's just a miracle, but how it got to have the label it has.) I'd be very happy to send a picture if that would help. 

Thanks. 

Steve Lewis.

 

Vermouth, phase 1, a la Yvette van Boven

More diversions.

This is from Yvette van Boven's Home Made.  The fist phase of a vermouth that can be red or white, dry, semi-sweet, or sweet.

Infusing in the alcohol for two weeks are grapefruit zest and juice, orange zest, juniper, clove, saffron, cinnamon, thyme and oregano.  After straining, the alcohol will be combined with a white or red wine and a varying amount of sugar.  (YvB uses sugar rather than sugar syrup, and I say, Yeah, if you can get it to dissolve, why dilute the drink? I'm expecting to finish at about 19% alcohol.)

Whether red or white, I'd like to use one of our own wines.  I'm thinking one of the 2007 reds, which were pretty light, and semi-sweet.

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And an update on that ginger beer made with wine yeast:  I let it stay at room temp for 48 hours or so, then put it in the fridge.  This morning I opened it to see if there had been any brix drop - whoa!  Only a slight drop but carbonation out the wazoo.  I might just do another, larger batch in a jug with an airlock and leave it at cellar temp for a week or so to see what sort of poison we get.

Diversion: Ginger beer. Ginger wine?

Yesterday I made ginger beer in the way described by Yvette Van Boven in Home Made - 3 cups water, 3/4 cup demarera sugar, juice of 1 lemon, 1/4 tsp. yeast, 2 inches of ginger grated to a pulp, all into a big PET bottle and 24 hours later the bottle is rock hard with CO2 and you have a delicious ginger fizzy drink.  (I had it with dinner.)

Then I wondered, 'What if I made it with winemaking yeast?'

So, just now:  1 quart water, 3 inches of ginger, 3 1/2 cups demarera sugar, juice of 1 really big lemon, and somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 tsp. Montrechet yeast.  The mixture was 22 brix before adding the yeast - maybe really slightly higher, since some of the sugar might not have dissolved yet.  Let's see what's happened this time tomorrow...