Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms What's Your Tipple?

Brexit has not killed romance . Yesterday were given a bottle of 10 year old Madeira by my sons old school friend and his German fiancés. They are getting married on Friday at a registry office, followed by a big outdoor ‘wedding do’ in July .
We lent them some outdoor games, including an illuminated Cornhole I made for my daughters festival.. I think there is a business to be had supplying outdoor games, as the kids these days seem to like festival type events

So the point is, I don’t know anything about Madeira, the place I’ve never fancied going to ( call me a philistine) or this wine…(call me a philistine again) is it a fortified wine? Is it Port like or just a wine I chill.
Advice appreciated .
MM

Fortified wine. Available in various "styles". An internet search is probably your best bet if you have the name from the bottle. 10 y.o. sounds quite decent

Anyone remember Barley Wine ? Strong stuff and an amazing colour, I haven't seen it in maybe 45 years

Yep, 45 years ago is about when I tried it. I too haven't seen any since, but to be honest I reckon that's a good thing.

Good call Graham, I googled the Henriques & Henriques Sercial 10 year old and the young man did us proud - £22 for a 50cl bottle. Plus a gold award winner in 2022.
Pale, dry, smooth, nutty amber ,chilled aperitif and good with with cheese. Friend for dinner tomorrow so will try it .

As his wife to be was from North Germany I did ask her about places to visit in Germany and she strongly recommended the North German.seaside and small islands . Hope I did not get the island thing wrong but it is just too far off our route.

Barley wine, I seem to remember was a beer and they sold in spit and sawdust places like Yates Wine Lodge & Uncle Toms Cabin in Blackpool, back in the day .
MM

Whiskey......Wine.....Water

Not all in the same glass at the same time though.....

Jameson with one ice cube.
Picpoul de Pinet.....🤷🏻‍♂️
or
tap water.

🇬🇧🇬🇧

Hmm, I wouldn't have described my late parents' front room quite like that, they bought it in small bottles from old fashioned "off-licences" (remember those ??). Agreed though, available in pubs too as I discovered when I became an undergrad. Quite syrupy stuff but really good, served in goblet-shaped glasses as I recall.

Barley wine - Whitbread sold it as "Gold Label". It used to be in 1/3 pint bottles. Popular with old dears allegedly, who could tolerate two.
The brewery in it's wisdom decided to repackage in half pint cans. Two of those were too much for the usual consumers who could end up falling off their bar stools so sales fell away. Dad (worked for Whitbread) ended up bringing a couple of trays home every few weeks as stock would go out of date. He related the above story to me. I could manage two cans, Mum couldn't

My mother could sink three Barley Wines.

If you want to be a heathen, tip a measure of Pedro Ximenez (the grape variety) over a scoop of vanillla ice cream.


Pedro Ximénez (also known as PX and many other variations; Andalusian pronunciation is the name of a white Spanish wine grape variety grown in several Spanish wine regions but most notably in the denominación de origen (DO) of Montilla-Moriles. Here it is used to produce a varietal wine, an intensely sweet, dark, dessert sherry. It is made by drying the grapes under the hot sun, concentrating the sweetness (similar to straw wine production), which are then used to create a thick, black liquid with a strong taste of raisins and molasses that is fortified and aged in solera.

The reason is that in Germany a certain quantity is ordered (0.3 litres, for example).

Markings on the glasses are prescribed in the catering trade for control purposes. These ‘calibration marks’ are called "Eichstrich"!

If the drink is not poured up to this mark, the guest is dissatisfied

But:

If more litres of beer are served than the restaurateur charges, the tax office is dissatisfied and assumes tax evasion....