What are you drinking right now?

[Bhowie]

God forbid a drink evolves.

 

[cptjeff]



God forbid a drink evolves.

So you're okay with strawberry- bannana martinis made with rum? This isn't a matter of the proportions of vermouth drifting a little over time, this is a matter of a large number of people entirely missing the point.

 

[Bhowie]

Yes, that is exactly what I meant.

 

[LabelKing]

I have a soft spot for blended fresh fruit daquiris.

In fact, Hemingway preferred his daquiris blended.

 

[DNW]

Sipping on my 3rd glass of Temptation bourbon. Glad to see many of you still drink alone.

 

[Piobaire]



I still laugh about what we think sangria is supposed to be in this country. In Spain, the idea is to get rid of old half full bottles of wine and fruit that's been sitting in the fridge for a while. It's just a punch made of leftovers, more or less. The recipe is just some wine, some brandy, some fruit and some fruit juice. Throw into bowl. For the mexican version, use Tequila. When I see people talking about precise recipes, using high quality ingredients, or single serving versions, I can't help but laugh. Whatever floats your boat, but that's not exactly in the spirit of the drink.

Thank you for that insight. If it's specifically for old half bottles why are Spanish sangria pitchers usually 1-1.5l? Could it be so a 750 bottle of wine and the other ingredients will fit? Sangria is hundreds of years old and dates back to Roman times far before bottles were invented or used for wine. Should we laugh at modern Spaniards for using wine from glass bottles in sangria? I'm sure sangria is often made in Spain as you say but I'm also sure it's made with freshly opened bottles of wine...in Spain. Also, do we need to use Tempranillo so you will not laugh? I mean, that's the grape used for centuries there.

 

[cptjeff]



Thank you for that insight. If it's specifically for old half bottles why are Spanish sangria pitchers usually 1-1.5l? Could it be so a 750 bottle of wine and the other ingredients will fit? Sangria is hundreds of years old and dates back to Roman times far before bottles were invented or used for wine. Should we laugh at modern Spaniards for using wine from glass bottles in sangria? I'm sure sangria is often made in Spain as you say but I'm also sure it's made with freshly opened bottles of wine...in Spain. Also, do we need to use Tempranillo so you will not laugh? I mean, that's the grape used for centuries there.

Way to miss the point. Sure, make it with whole bottles, half bottles, any grape you damn well please. That's the point. It's not specifically for ANYTHING. The point is that it's a throw together anything that's lying around drink, not a precise proportions drink, and that when you're talking about precise proportions or insisting on a particular quality of ingredients like you would for a martini, sidecar, or whatnot, you sound ridiculous. It's cheap punch, not a craft cocktail, and when you act like it's a craft cocktail, you're treating it like something it's not, and was never intended to be.

Asking for a precise recipe for sangria, or insisting you use good wine, is like somebody asking what glasses and temperature are best for drinking Boone's Farm.

 

[Piobaire]



Way to miss the point. Sure, make it with whole bottles, half bottles, any grape you damn well please. That's the point. It's not specifically for ANYTHING. The point is that it's a throw together anything that's lying around drink, not a precise proportions drink, and that when you're talking about precise proportions or insisting on a particular quality of ingredients like you would for a martini, sidecar, or whatnot, you sound ridiculous. It's cheap punch, not a craft cocktail, and when you act like it's a craft cocktail, you're treating it like something it's not, and was never intended to be.

Asking for a precise recipe for sangria, or insisting you use good wine, is like somebody asking what glasses and temperature are best for drinking Boone's Farm.

I do not think either of us were treating it as a craft cocktail. He wanted a basic recipe, my advice was not to use plonk for the base wine. If you think I was suggesting to use a $50 bottle of wine you're way off base; you seem to have read a whole bunch of stuff into our small exchange that just was not there. If you're going to try making something new to you why use plonk when you can get a decent bottle of wine for this use at the grocery store for $8?

But to get back to your point, no, you are being inconsistent to say "use any grape." You scoffed at B's thought a drink might evolve. If drinks do not evolve you need to use rustically made Tempranillo or another varietal that the Romans brought to what is now Spain when they conquered it, or maybe to imitate the stuff drank across Europe for centuries, "claret" from Bordeaux. My point to your comments is sangria has evolved...in Spain. It's not what it was 1800 years ago, it's not what is was 500 years ago. It makes sense if you live in 2013 United States and want to try your hand at making sangria that you use a bottle of wine that doesn't taste like crap.

Insisting drinks do not evolve makes you sound not only ridiculous but taciturn. You spoke about the "spirit" of the drink...the original spirit had much to do with the fact water was often unsafe to drink and fermented beverages were not full of harmful bacteria. Is this the spirit of the drink you were referring to? If not you're being inconsistent.

 

[NewYorkIslander]

Smooth Ambler Old Scout...have the 10 year old, would love to get my hands on one of the VERY Old Scouts (19 would be nice). If anyone has any leads, let me know!

 

[Aneil4lom]

Iced Tea with half a lime squeezed into it. I don't have any beer or wine in the house and I'm loath to open a bottle of scotch or rum.

 

[b1os]



loath to open a bottle of scotch or rum

Herein lies the problem. One should always have an open bottle of Scotch or rum around. Rule #2.

 

[cptjeff]



I do not think either of us were treating it as a craft cocktail. He wanted a basic recipe, my advice was not to use plonk for the base wine. If you think I was suggesting to use a $50 bottle of wine you're way off base; you seem to have read a whole bunch of stuff into our small exchange that just was not there. If you're going to try making something new to you why use plonk when you can get a decent bottle of wine for this use at the grocery store for $8?

You and I have different definitions of decent wine, then. To me, decent wine starts at around $15 a bottle. Below that is drinkable wine, and the bottom is, as you say, plonk. But Sangria drowns out just about everything that distinguishes plonk wine from decent wine anyway, and besides which, the drink is traditionally made with the plonk. Because it's a cheap punch.

But to get back to your point, no, you are being inconsistent to say "use any grape." You scoffed at B's thought a drink might evolve.

No, I scoffed at the idea that trying to make sangria nice was evolution, not at the idea that drinks evolve. I suggested using Tequila instead of brandy in my initial post. That's evolution, based on whatever spirit was around in Mexico. Using different grapes isn't even that, since it always would have been made with a zillion different grapes. Spain doesn't only grow Tempranillo. I'm not being a purist about the ingredients, I'm just mocking the idea that sangria HAS any specific ingredients. It's always been a throw everything together based on whatever's around sort of thing, making the very idea of a recipe, especially a precise one, a radical departure. I'm arguing against that radical departure.

Insisting drinks do not evolve makes you sound not only ridiculous but taciturn. You spoke about the "spirit" of the drink...the original spirit had much to do with the fact water was often unsafe to drink and fermented beverages were not full of harmful bacteria. Is this the spirit of the drink you were referring to? If not you're being inconsistent.

I'm not insisting that drinks don't evolve, but I do insist (and this may not be all that relevant to the current conversation) that when something departs suddenly and radically in spirit and ingredient from the original, it's not an evolution so much as it is a brand new thing, even if it tries to claim the same name. It's the same reason I don't consider a bubblegum martini made with flavored vodka, cherry juice and who knows what else a martini. Maybe a lizard species evolves into godzilla, but at some point it stops being the lizard and starts being godzilla.

Oh, and the romans weren't making sangria. It may have evolved from the punches and wine coolers they were making, but sangria, as we've known it for the last few centuries, involves a spirit.

 

[cptjeff]



Herein lies the problem. One should always have an open bottle of Scotch or rum around. Rule #2.

You should also always have a few spirits around that you're not afraid to open.

 

[Piobaire]



You and I have different definitions of decent wine, then. To me, decent wine starts at around $15 a bottle

snip

Oh, and the romans weren't making sangria. It may have evolved from the punches and wine coolers they were making, but sangria, as we've known it for the last few centuries, involves a spirit.

I did not say the Romans made sangria. I said sangria was originally made from the grape varietals they brought to Spain. Also, funny you should say the bolded, as that would have changed what was originally known as "sangria" into your Godzilla.

As to the first two sentences, setting a dollar amount as a price point for "decent" wine is a losing battle. I've tasted wine I thought was horrible that was in the triple digits. And speaking of Spain, I've been drinking decent wines from there all summer starting from $8 a bottle. Last year Wine Spectator's top 100 wines of the year, at #41, was a Chianti that costs $7. I bought two cases of it.

Anyway, enough of this. You have your laughs at our expense and we'll stop ******* up an enjoyable thread.

 

[Aneil4lom]

Herein lies the problem. One should always have an open bottle of Scotch or rum around. Rule #2.

I'm in total agreement. what's Rule #1 though?