Old alcoholic drinks

[Nick Armstrong]

As a student I attended many surgeries run by the late but otherwise indefatigatble Prof Rod Cawson in which he would regale us with hair-raising tales of the butterfly-shaped oral cancer of the floor of the mouth that he was convinced was caused by the frequent ingestion of locally-brewed calvados together with the habit of smoking cigareets backwards, that is you stick the lit end in your mouth! A French country variant of the mid-morning Nescafé and ginger biscuits more commonly found this side of La Manche, he say with a giggle

Cheery bugger warn't 'ee...

Can't help thinking it's the 'suicide ciggies' that caused the cancer rather than the filling of the trou normand with calvados. I've never heard of / seen that 'Gitanes à l'envers' manoeuvre....

[Petrushka]

I have a bottle of Jehan Foucart Calvados purchased in Normandy 10 years ago when I went to visit the D-Day beaches. Haven't tried any for a long time as it is very, very strong but at least I can be sure it will still be ok to drink.

[ardcarp]

Thanks for the bit about travelling alembics, Calibs! It's just asking for a bit of illegality isn't it? The problem with amateur distilling is that ethanol (pure alcohol) boils off at exactly 78 degrees C. There's a lot of other nasty stuff which boils off at slightly different temperatures. That's why home-made spirits can be so lethal. Got to dash off...pink rhinoceros escaped.....flying past window....help!!!***??!!

[Anna]

Covered in dust and cobwebs I found a bottle of the formidably strong Austrian Stroh Rum. They use it for their Feuerzangenbowle drink made by setting rum-soaked sugar on fire

Pre-Christmas there was a food programme containing an item what to use for flaming your Christmas pud - the wisdom was never use a bottle of brandy which has been opened and stored in the cupboard for a while because it won't flame satisfactorily. They tested various spirits including Stroh Rum - the pudding blazed and blazed, refused to go out - and by the end the pudding was a burnt crisp!
I went to a wedding reception a few years back where the bride was French, her family arrived with a large number of bottles of pear eau de vie they had brewed - the reception is still talked about to this day!

[amateur51]

Pre-Christmas there was a food programme containing an item what to use for flaming your Christmas pud - the wisdom was never use a bottle of brandy which has been opened and stored in the cupboard for a while because it won't flame satisfactorily. They tested various spirits including Stroh Rum - the pudding blazed and blazed, refused to go out - and by the end the pudding was a burnt crisp!

I went to a wedding reception a few years back where the bride was French, her family arrived with a large number of bottles of pear eau de vie they had brewed - the reception is still talked about to this day!

[Barbirollians]

I find I have a small bottle of Stolichnaya that was given to me by a friend after she went on a trip to the Soviet Union - Gorbachev was still in power ! - a bottle of kirsch bought to make a fondue in about 1990 as well !

[Dave2002]

Finally decided to try a bottle of Leffe Blonde which we’ve had “for a while”. So far so good, and I think there is one more to be dealt with. If I don’t reappear, you’ll know why!

[kindofblue]

Finally decided to try a bottle of Leffe Blonde which we’ve had “for a while”. So far so good, and I think there is one more to be dealt with. If I don’t reappear, you’ll know why!

This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship...! [Love Leffe Blonde...]

[hmvman]

... [Love Leffe Blonde...]

Me too!

[Dave2002]

This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship...! [Love Leffe Blonde...]

I used to like it a lot, but found it rather potent. I may get some more when I've run down the stocks of all the bottles we have. I'm aiming at clearing at least one of my wine rack towers down maybe by Christmas. The racks don't only contain wine. My attempts to run things down have been stymied in the past by various factors, including going out to eat with friends. Sometimes if we went out we'd take bottles with us, but then when we offered dinner in return more bottles would come back than we'd offloaded!

[gradus]

I've still got a bottle of greengage wine made around 20 years ago. It is till clear though it has thrown a sediment. It's the survivor from my short-lived enthusiasm for home made wine and its survival is due to the alcoholic potency of the rest of the batch. Presumably the only way to know if it is drinkable now is to emulate Dave, open the bottle and try it, possibly as a digestif?