Don't Hoggett That Port, My Friend!

So I went looking for a proper Hoggett decanter. Typically used for vintage Port, it has a round bottom and cannot stand up on its own, it needs a properly shaped concave base to hold it. The intention is that the host passes the Port and it cannot stop - no one can 'hoggett' the decanter, it must come back to be set upon the proper stand and all participants will benefit from it not stalling part way around the table.

This is a traditional Hoggett decanter:




So - I looked far and wide and found that these decanters were only readily available in Britain and that 80% of the sellers decline to ship to the colonies, while the reats want about half the not inconsideerable value of the item for shipping. They presumably book a junior clerk in business class and deputize him to do the delivery.

Being thus frustrated, I looked for alternate ways to accomplish the same thing. Having a background in chemisry, I simply contacted a chemical supply house and ordered a couple of round bottom 1000 ml boiling flasks and picked up a suitable base locally. The result (without stoppers at this point):



I shall try them out vey soon and report back. I have always wondered about using this sort of flask, especially at the end of a wine-laden dinner as all it would take is for a wine besodden guest to absent mindedly set the decanter/flask down on the table to result in a tidal wave of wasted wine. We shall see.

Reminds me of a discussion on the UK board about ship decanters. I looked up this Bill>

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-ship-decanter.htm

Ships decanters are great to look at but bloody awful to try and judge volume when pouring!

BIll - if you want to order a decanter from a UK shop for delivery to my home I'll post it onwards to you.

BIll - if you want to order a decanter from a UK shop for delivery to my home I'll post it onwards to you.

Very kind, Peter.

I'll play around with these for a bit first and see if I want to go for crystal.

Have you used a Hoggett and if so what did you think of it?