TDG: A Different Kind of Brew: Wine

[Fat Guy]

Last time we checked in with Alastair Bland, he was Going Wild in Urban America, eating a diet of figs and gathered foods for forty days and forty nights. Now, having survived the ordeal somewhat intact, Ally is making those figs into wine. Not just figs, either. Ally Bland can make wine out of anything.

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[FoodMan]

Interesting. Your parents must be very patient, bless their hearts .

So what's the difference between a ginger wine and ginger beer in your process? Is just that beer is carbonated?

Elie

[slkinsey]

Sounds a little like pruno.

[cdh]

Gah! Ick! Echhhhh!~

Is he really suggesting that we ferment 'wine' with baking yeast? Ew.

His beet stuff is probably choking on the alcohol it is producing. A champagne yeast that can ferment up to 18 or 20% might solve that problem, but, still... ewwww. Beet booze? Just make the still and process it all the way to vodka.

I've had the experience of a bottle of v-8 that hung out in the fridge a few weeks too long, and don't see the appeal of fermented vegetables.

None for me, more for him I guess.

[B33]

where were you when i went to school. nothing better than "wine" cheaper than busch lite

[Katherine]

While drinkable wines could be made using many different ingredients, they would even at their best need to be judged by a somewhat different standard from standard grape wines.

I started making wine from an English book full of recipes that used ingredients like these, in various blends with other ingredients.

The first recipe I made was for an orange wine. It called for putting the sugar, juice, and additives in the gallon jug, then adding the rest of the water to fill it. Silly me, I didn't realize there was a difference between a British and American gallon. It was so high in sugar it took a couple of years before it was fermented and ready to drink. Strong and sweet.

Even if you had proper proportions of ingredients with the potential to make a drinkable wine, they still need to be racked several times and aged in a jug for at least a year before bottling. If you have any standards at all, that is.

[presto]

While I have to applaud Ally's initiative and creative spirit, all I could think while reading the article is that prisoners have been doing this in odd corners of correctional facilities for many years...

[ScottNYC/GM]

Why does this just seem wrong to me?

[Cynthia G]

I think the first wine my dad made that I sampled was a tomato wine. Thankfully he moved on to more standard things and actually creates the best non-grape fruit wines I have ever had. His best is cherry wine that smells and tastes just like fresh cherries!

He also made mead one year that was absolutely spectacular.

We kids used to use his homemade wine as a medium of exchange when we were in college. He and I both acquired some beautiful artwork with it!

[dankphishin]

wow, i just cleared out a closet in my apartment, i might do this instead of growing other things! i want to try some with cucumbers.