Unusual wines?

[peter]

After checking out the remains of the tea party, I noticed a few bottles rolling round the shed floor, one said sprout wine.

We had an winning entry in our show last year of mint wine.

Reggie Perrins son-in-law made nettle wine and Tom Good made pea-pod wine.

I've made dandelion, father used to make cowslip.

What unexpected bases have people really used for wines?

[The Grock in the Frock]

well peter,the ubby is the brewer in this family.hes made dandelion,bannana,elder flower,redcurrant,rhubarb,and many more ,but nothing unusual,his fav is orange wine

[Chantal]

I went through a wine making phase about 20 years ago; an episode not to be forgotten. My carrot and barley wine had the same chemical content as petrol, I could have run my car on it. The sloe and rose hip wine took the lining off the bucket and our U bend has never been so clean, before or after. I made about a dozen different sorts (parsnip's another one I recall) and at racking off time invited a couple of friends round to help and sample. We had no more than a teaspoon each of each variety before we passed out. I woke up face down in my dog's bowl; one of my friends subsequently became teetotal. By the time the stuff was bottled I was too scared to touch it so tried to give it away to no avail. I kept it for a few years and then used it as drain cleaner. I think I'm better at growing than brewing...

[Angi]

I made runner bean wine about three years ago. Once was definitely enough!!

[Guest]

I made pumkin wine a couple of years ago and it was so foul that when I opened the demijohn to rack it off into bottles I nearly passed out. I poured in down the sink and the whole kitchen stunk for days. It was like a of a combination of super sweaty socks and cabbage that had been boiled for about 3 hours.

On the other hand my mum once made blackberry wine from a recipie which just involved putting layers of blackberries and sugar into a jar and leaving it to ferment. She put it away and promptly forgot about it entirely. Finally she found the jar one Christmas after about 5 years in the back of a cupboard and it had turned into the most fantastic blackberry liquer. It was lovely but so strong, a small glass sent you off to sleep in your chair for hours - came in very handy for shutting some of the relatives up The cat also sneaked a bit out of a glass left on the floor and passed out for the rest of the day.

Sue

[Sue]

Sorry that was me - thought I had logged in

[peter]

Chantal, what a picture you conjour up.

Bet the poor dog thought you had scoffed his dinner.

[richard p]

having tasted my father's brews and then my own, including the sprout, i now only use blackberries or plums both of which we have plenty of. the only other base i would consider using is apples,though extracting the juice is more work than the soft fruits and results are dependant on variety.

[The Grock in the Frock]

dose anyone on this forum make their own whiskey,if so please pm me at once with the details,it costs me a fortune,not that i'm an plonkie or any thing.the ubby made blag baileys once ....worse thing ive ever taisted in me life

[Chantal]

Um, isn't that illegal? I have images of Grock and Lizzie in the Liverpool equivalent of the General Lee being pursued across the plots by the Committee...

Peter, I'm lucking it wasn't the WATER bowl! Took me some time to get the soggy Winalot out of my hair though. I was young.

[lizzie]

Would Grock and I set up something like illegal whiskey distilling? The commitee would only run if there was a glass or two in it for them!!!!!! I don't drink at all (Grock takes my share).

I've had visions of the lovely Chantal, face down in the Winalot and the others waking up saying "Who am I, Where am I and what the hell happend there?"

You should have saved the plonk in readiness for any petrol strikes or for selling on. You'd have made a fortune!!!!

I made peach wine once many years ago. I tasted fine, went down quite well and you didn't feel drunk. Then you stood up and found you'd lost the use of your legs and suddenly the world began to spin. It just hit you like a wet kipper. You were then left with the hangover from hell. Never made it after that.

[richard p]

distilling whisky is illegal, but i somewhere i heard about a canadian drink called applejack, basically u bury a barrel of apple wine in the snow. wait till the water freezes, take the ice out and u are left with the alcohol, least i think that was the method.

[Guest]

Just a word of warning, before you stick the diamond white in the freezer. freeze distilling concentrates any methonal and fusel alcohols to dangerous levels (these are removed in conventional distilation)Methonal is toxic and can cause blindness the fusal alcohols are also toxic.

[Johnboy]

Many years ago I had a West Indian friend (sadly no longer with us) but he had an enormous patch of Blackberries at the back of his house and as they ripened he use to pick them and simply stuff the berries into a demi-John with an air lock. He simply let nature take it course and it made the most wonderful wine. When that wine was about five years old it tasted more like a Liqueur. It was fabulous.
He told me that they used to make a wine back home, not of blackberries but of a similar berry, by the same method and he was only doing what his father had done.

[vivie veg]

This Christmas I eventually polished off some Rhubarb wine vintage 1989.....yummy. Have also made Ginger and Rhubarb by adding ground ginger to wine at the first decanting stage.

I have also made Parsley wine....however this has to be bottled as champagne, so it will not stop fermenting! again yummy!

I've just had a thought re extracting the juice from apples. I've always found that frozen apples readily give off their juice when defrosted...Would this juice be suitable for wine making?