Name your poison

Jenise's gin recipe got me thinking about hard drinks. What drink do you prefer to serve before or after dinner for your guests?

And for the rest of you, please just check the appropriate boxes below.

( ) I don't drink.

( ) My guests don't drink.

( ) I don't do hard drinks.

( ) I serve only wine.

( ) Water.

( ) Coffee.

( ) Tea.

( ) Fruit Juice.

( ) Punch.

( ) Soft drinks.

( ) Other.

Jenise's gin recipe got me thinking about hard drinks. What drink do you prefer to serve before or after dinner for your guests?

And for the rest of you, please just check the appropriate boxes below.

( ) I don't drink.

( ) My guests don't drink.

( ) I don't do hard drinks.

(S) I serve only wine.

( ) Water.

(F) Coffee.

( ) Tea.

( ) Fruit Juice.

( ) Punch.

( ) Soft drinks.

(F) Other (Liquers)
.

Our general approach when entertaining marked above (S = start i.e. pre-meal; F = to finish)

When on our own, fruit juice, water or soft drinks will be pre-meal and usually finish off the remaining wine post meal.

regards

Ian

Before: gin & tonic, margaritas, Dark & Stormy, or dry fino or amontillado Sherry.

After: cognac, armagnac, or single-malt Scotch, or Port, Madiera, or dry oloroso or sweet amoroso Sherry. Or of course a sweet wine such as Sauternes, Jurancon, German Auslese or higher praedikat, Tokaji Aszu, etc.

-Paul W.

I follow a former 4-star chef friend of mine's "recipe":

Before dinner: A light white wine; Fume or Savignon Blanc.

During the apitizer: A Pinot or Syrah.

With dinner [red meat]: An aged Cabernet Sauvignon.

After dinner: Dry Sherry, Tawny Port or Brandy [with cigars...my selection ]

Exquisite dinning!

Sounds like a great formula--except for the cigars (I don't smoke--my only non-vice). My neighbor gave me a Gispert (Lonsdale, I believe) handmade cigar. What do you know about them?

Sometimes, before dinner, a Blood Fizz (vodka with pomegranate or blood orange soda).

Wine with dinner.

Single malt, brandy (cognac, armagnac, etc.), or Tokaji.

We have no real consistent pattern here. Due to the fact that my wife's from Wisconsin, we often serve brandy cocktails before dinner. Brandy Manhattans are the winter mainstay with Brandy Old-Fashioneds an occasional alternative (prepared properly by muddling the cherry and orange with sugar and brandy). In the summer, gin-and-tonics are most common. Sometimes, we'll have a particular cocktail as a festive start to a dinner party. We often turn to rum drinks for these, with Planter's Punch being a favorite. Once in a while, we'll do something like Gold Cadillacs or other frozen drinks if it's really hot. White wine or rose may also be offered before dinner.

Then it's wine with dinner. For after, we'll do port, PX sherry, or a liqueur such as homemade Nocino or Strega.

For non-alcoholic beverages, we usually offer fruit juices, bottled water, tap water (which isn't too bad here and which some guests prefer), or sparkling cider. We'll usually offer coffee after dinner.


Mike

or a liqueur such as homemade Nocino or Strega.



Mike

Recipe?

The Strega is storebought. I make the nocino in the early summer, when you can get green walnuts. They should be about the size of golf balls and soft enough that you can stick a pin through them. The following recipe is from an article Georgeann Brennan wrote for the San Francisco Chronicle in May of 2004. I've used this as the base recipe, with changes made in the spices added (I've used star anise as well as adding a little more of the clove and cinnamon) and I've tried it using brandy instead of vodka. It's been a big hit and my wife has required that I double production each year since I started.

It works best with a little time in the bottle. I usually bottle in in September but wait until Christmas before drinking it.

Nocino:

25 green walnuts

1 quart vodka

2 cups granulated sugar

Zest of one lemon

4 cloves

1 stick cinnamon

Syrup:

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup water

INSTRUCTIONS:

Cut walnuts into quarters and put them in a large, clean jar with vodka, sugar, lemon zest, cloves and cinnamon. Close jar and set under sun for 60 days.

For syrup, combine 1 cup sugar with 1 cup water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature. Store covered in refrigerator. Add syrup to steeping nuts to ensure they are covered at all times. If necessary, make additional syrup, but not to exceed 1/2 cup. At end of 60 days, add any remaining syrup, then strain liquid through a fine mesh sieve lined with several layers of cheesecloth. Discard nuts, lemon, cloves and cinnamon. Bottle liqueur and seal.

Makes about 1 quart

Yum. So you pour the syrup in the nut bottle over the course of the 60 days? Will the extreme summer heat (100 - 115 degrees) be good or bad or will it matter? Also, where do you get green walnuts?

I find that I don't lose much to evaporation with the containers I use, so I usually end up adding all of the syrup when I'm getting ready to bottle. I've also found that a little extra syrup may be necessary to get the level of sweetness and viscosity that I like.

I started with green walnuts from a tree in my neighbor's yard. I outgrew that last year, though, and ended up purchasing the walnuts from Mount Lassen Farms. If you call them up sometime around the middle of April, they'll give you an estimate on when the nuts will be ready and the URL of the webpage for ordering them (which is a little difficult to find).

I think there's also been a pretty good discussion of this on one of the EGullet fora, but I can't remember which one off the top of my head.


MIke

Green walnuts? Mike are you referring to unripe? Are these of the type I usually call English Walnuts? Surely they aren't Black Walnuts....but I bet the black walnut meats would make a terrific liquor.

I've always used the English walnuts, Bob, but I think black walnuts would be worth a try.

They are indeed the unripe fruit. They're fun to work with. You put them into the vodka and a day later, the stuff looks like motor oil.


Mike

I don't really ever have pre-dinner drinks. After dinner, I don't mind a Scottish single malt whisky (preferably from the southern half of Islay) and a Cuban cigar. But most of time, the wine we have for dinner is enough.

I've always used the English walnuts, Bob, but I think black walnuts would be worth a try.

They are indeed the unripe fruit. They're fun to work with. You put them into the vodka and a day later, the stuff looks like motor oil.


Mike

I've always had this macho fantasy of being able to drink motor oil.

I've always had this macho fantasy of being able to drink motor oil.

Will Old Engine Oil do? It's a bloody brilliant beer (seriously).

-O-

Before dinner, something light and sparkling. Prosecco, Sekt, Champagne, Bugey-Cerdon, or if we're feeling particularly merry, Kir Royale. I don't like strong drinks at that point; they're an appetite-killer.

After? Depends on the meal, but we've been known to do PX, Port, Banyuls, and sweet Germans once the cheese is disposed of. And at the very end, coffee. If there's a chocolate dessert and I don't have an appropriate Banyuls, then it's coffee with dessert.

BTW, speaking of beer, I found a terrific Czech porter on my trip last week called "18.1%." Czerny Brothers.

I'll have to look for the Czech porter--porter and stouts being a couple of my faves.

I've always had this macho fantasy of being able to drink motor oil.

Will Old Engine Oil do? It's a bloody brilliant beer (seriously).

-O-

Anything that, "...starts like an imperial stout and finishes like a scotch ale" is going to score major points with me. I have a closet full of Strong Winter Ale, Nut Brown Ale, and English Bitter (all homebrews) plus a 12er of Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale. As soon as my larders are running a little low after Christmas I will try and track this baby down. Thanks for the tip.

The Sierra Nevada Porter is outstanding. You should try it.

I've tried everything Sierra makes and haven't found a loser. Some I am more fond of than others but you are right, that porter is good. I'm also a big fan of Samuel Smith. I think their Taddy Porter is the best to be found over the counter.

For us,

Wine with meals. Beer or scotch while waiting for the meal to cook. As in watching the grill. Dina will, occasionally, have a beer with meals...sushi for instance.

I like beer, but only by itself. Never with food. But I'm more likely to drink scotch on the rocks while grilling.

Richard

Your scotch of choice?

I've tried everything Sierra makes and haven't found a loser. Some I am more fond of than others but you are right, that porter is good. I'm also a big fan of Samuel Smith. I think their Taddy Porter is the best to be found over the counter.

Have you ever tried Old Peculier [sic]?