Spirit drinks

[504RP]

Anyone make their own Beer,Whisky or Wine ? Today being Valentine’s Day. I happed to be driving by an old Winery and i had bought the wife some flowers for Valentines day so I decided I was going to also pick up a bottle of wine for my wife. She likes wine. And likes the Red musky dime wine that this local winery makes.

Usually I would have stopped by a liquor store to have bought it. But I since i was driving by the winery anyway that has its vineyards located on the same location that they have the winery where they make the wine. I decided to go through their sampling room and try some of their other wines and see if could find a wine that the wife had never tried before that she might like so I could surprise her for Valentine’s Day.

I had planned on picking up a bottle of red musky dime because that has always been one of our favorites. And when I went to get a bottle of it off of the shelf there was a pink musky dime and a white musky dime wine on the shelves next to the red. And one of the sales women approached me when I was looking at the wine and asked if she could help
me find what I was looking for and if I would like to sample any of their wines. Which I did and I was surprised at what I have been missing out on all of this time. Have always bought the red musky dime wine thinking it was number one until today after sampling the pink and white musky dime wines. And i
was amazed at how much sweeter the white musky dime is over the red. So it looks like I am going to be spending more time in that sampling room. Trying out other wines. I am not an alcoholic or even a big time beer drinker but here lately I have enjoyed trying out different wines and whiskey.

The winery is an old family owned and run winery called Wiederkehrs Winery. People come from everywhere to tour the winery and eat at their restaurant. I really don’t see why though. I do think they make a good product( a good tasting wine ) but I wouldn’t drive a 1000 miles just to go tour it.

The little town where it is located does put on a week long grape festival because of the winery and because of it a lot of people come from different states to participate in the festival. And enter their home made wines in the festival amateur wine makers competition to be judged and they give away ribbons like they would at a fair. There’s no big money to be won. Maybe a $ 100 for first place maybe more, been a long time since I have went to one of the festivals.

They have an old fashioned grape stomping contest where they have wooden tubs ( wooden wine barrels cut in half) filled with grapes that drains the juice into a bucket as the grapes are being smashed. The one who produces the most grape juice during the timed event is the winner.

Because of the festival and because a co worker of mine started his own grape vineyard I got interested in it enough that I started making my own wine and could very easily make hard liquor or beer now that I have learned to make wine. And I enjoy making it. So I guess I can see in why people that are on vacation and traveling across the states that likes wine might be worth their time to tour the winery and the festival.

 

[jamiesf]

We have a neighbor that makes wine, best I have ever tasted!

 

[Named'em Tamed'em]

I bitch a bit but I don't wine, I'll have an IPA please.

 

[daneg]

Time to run a batch.

 

[504RP]

Time to run a batch.

How many gallons do you run at a time ?

I bitch a bit but I don't wine, I'll have an IPA please.

IPA ?

 

[daneg]

Usually just 5 gal.

 

[504RP]

Usually just 5 gal.

A 5 gallon Carboy ? You make wine ?

 

[CowboyRam]

I have made wine in the past. I stopped because I just don't drink much wine. I prefer beer.

 

[504RP]

I have made wine in the past. I stopped because I just don't drink much wine. I prefer beer.

Is beer harder to make than wine ?

 

[CowboyRam]

Is beer harder to make than wine ?

I don't know. I have never made any beer.

 

[daneg]

A 5 gallon Carboy ? You make wine ?

Kind of like wine until it goes through the still!

 

[504RP]

Kind of like wine until it goes through the still!

I think I know what you’re talking about. On wine once the mesh hits a certain specific gravity your strain the mesh out and it’s ready to bottle it. Where if you boil the mesh and condense it you can get a lot higher alcohol content !

 

[Ouachita]

I was making my own beer when I met up with my darlin. She was making her own jellies and jams at the same time.
We started comparing notes and soon figured out that we were compatible.

After 20-30 years of marriage we discovered that previous jelly crap didn’t have anything to do with real life.

Now we make fun of each other’s ugly nakedness. We’re both goofy looking, so we just laugh, and laugh and laugh at each other.

 

[504RP]

I was making my own beer when I met up with my darlin. She was making her own jellies and jams at the same time.
We started comparing notes and soon figured out that we were compatible.

After 20-30 years of marriage we discovered that previous jelly crap didn't have anything to do with real life.

Now we make fun of each other's ugly nakedness. We're both goofy looking, so we just laugh, and laugh and laugh at each other.

Is beer hard to make ?

 

[Ouachita]

Is beer hard to make ?

Beer is the easiest of all homemade alcoholic beverages

 

[Ouachita]

I've made the beer for 30 years. She started making wine shortly after we got married. I tried my great uncle Tobe’s still, but I couldn't make it produce anything palatable

 

[504RP]

It’s probably been 3 years ago when I made my first wine. When I was making it I learned that i learned enough that I wasn’t too far from having the knowledge of how to make beer or whiskey too.

Had three 5 gallon Carboys that I used the concentrate that all I had to do was add the water,sugar and yeast to let it work off. Made Blueberry, Strawberry,Peach which all turned out pretty good I thought.

The store where I bought my ingredients from sold the stuff to make beer and always wanted to try that too. Bought my own cork press and still have everything along with all of my wine bottles. Was planning on making some mead wine toward the end of last summer and have a about 10 quarts of honey to make it with.

Am getting the urge to start making some of these things once winter is over and the temp gets warmer so that every will ferment. Was in Hot Springs Arkansas to watch the horse races and before the races started was sightseeing in the historical part of town and came across this wine store. They had some tomato wine that bought a bottle of. Wasn’t too bad. Made 5 gallons of tomato wine myself but it didn’t turn out nothing like what I bought. Think I still have a couple of cases of it left. Thought maybe it might get better with time.

 

[greybeard]

My brother made and brought me some really good jalapeno beer.
(he also blew up 1/2 his kitchen a few weeks later, trying to make some different beer)
I no longer partake of the brew or product of the vine.

 

[504RP]

I am not a real big drinker myself. Occasionally in the summer I might get a six pack of beer, haven’t drink any whiskey in years up until the last few weeks when I bought a pint and learned they have started selling flavored whiskey. They wasn’t selling flavored whiskey since the last time I drank any over 7 or 8 years ago. Started drinking a little bit of wine when I was learning how to make it a few years ago. Gave way more of it away than I drank of what I made. It’s turned into kind of a hobby more than anything. Plan on learning how to make beer. Would like to make some whiskey but I don’t think that’s legal so I probably won’t be making any of it.

 

[Stonewall Joe]

My brother made and brought me some really good jalapeno beer.
(he also blew up 1/2 his kitchen a few weeks later, trying to make some different beer)
I no longer partake of the brew or product of the vine.

I have some friends that make their own beer, they claim it's great and call in an IPA and I believe that's the right name if IPA stands for It's Pretty Awful