Vintage Port

[TNbourbon]

...I would suggest, since you don't use much of it (and don't take this facetiously) that you add a few drops to the next bourbon/rye vatting you do in the glass. The result will likely be very good...
Gary

Been there, done that, Gary! See here, in which I blame you quite prominently :
http://www.straightbourbon.com/forum...hlight=Vesuvio

[BarItemsPlus1]

Gee Tim you got a flogging on doing that...just read the post...LOL
Ok, question....anyone sampled Beam's Masterpiece Port Finish??
Just a quick reminder....I have now had my port barrel sitting for about 3 months. I am possibly considering drinking it in a few weeks, then it's onto filling it with Bourbon....I did have a post here, let's see if I can find it...
Yeah...found it
http://www.straightbourbon.com/forum...ht=rebarreling

[Gillman]

Thanks, Tim and Troy both.

Re: Tim, I'll have to come up with new ideas (Madeira?).

Re: Troy, your idea of finishing bourbon in an ex-port barrel sounds great. It's been done before commercially as you said, but that does not mean you can't improve on what was done.

Gary

[TNbourbon]

...Tim, I'll have to come up with new ideas (Madeira?)...

Funny you should mention that, Gary -- while puttering around here earlier regarding the port, I thought to run a Google search on a bottle of Malmsey I have here. Seems it's about a $300 bottle -- 'Justino's Madeira', 1933 vintage, from Vinhos Justino Henriques, imported by Broadbent -- but I didn't pay even a third that several years ago. I might just pack it along in April. Most Madeira is nigh unto indestructable, so opening won't be a big deal -- unless, of course, we empty the bottle .

[Gillman]

Wow what a treat that would be. Malmsey goes for ages, yours would be very prime at present. Plus once you open it, unlike port, it will keep just as well as when closed. It has already been exposed to oxygen and air and heat, when first made and rolling around in barrels in sultry Old Madere before bottling. Nothing can harm it now. It is and will always be perfect - in our lifetime anyway.

Gary

[JeffRenner]

It has already been exposed to oxygen and air and heat, when first made and rolling around in barrels in sultry Old Madere before bottling.

Agreed - after all, oxidized wine is referred to as being "madeirized."

I'd like to share a favorite poem on the topic of Madeira by the British musical comedy duo Flanders and Swann. I wish you could hear it as performed. There are some wonderfully clever word plays in it. The odd numbered verses are read in couplets - i.e., two lines at a time.

Sadly, I have their album "At the Drop of a Hat" on vinyl and my turntable is out of commission, so I can't even hear it myself.

Note that they dispute that it keeps once opened, but that was clearly for the sake of argument.

Jeff

Have Some Madeira, M'Dear
(Flanders and Swann)

She was young! She was pure! She was new! She was nice!
She was fair! She was sweet seventeen!
He was old! He was vile and no stranger to vice!
He was base! He was bad! He was mean!
He had slyly inveigled her up to his flat
To view his collection of stamps,
And he said as he hastened to put out the cat,
The wine, his cigar and the lamps:

'Have some Madeira, m'dear!
You really have nothing to fear;
I'm not trying to tempt you-that wouldn't be right.
You shouldn't drink spirits at this time of night;
Have some Madeira, m'dear!
It's very much nicer than Beer;
I don't care for Sherry, one cannot drink Stout,
And Port is a wine I can well do without;
It's simply a case of Chacun a son GOUT!
Have some Madeira, m'dear!'

Unaware of the wiles of the snake in the grass,
Of the fate of the maiden who topes,
She lowered her standards by raising her glass,
Her courage, her eyes-and his hopes.
She sipped it, she drank it, she drained it, she did;
He quietly refilled it again
And he said as he secretly carved one more notch
On the butt of his gold-handled cane:

'Have some Madeira, m'dear!
I've got a small cask of it here,
And once it's been opened you know it won't keep.
Do finish it up-it will help you to sleep;
Have some Madeira, m'dear!
It's really an excellent year;
Now if it were Gin, you'd be wrong to say yes,
The evil Gin does would be hard to assess
(Besides, it's inclined to affect m' prowess!)
Have some Madeira, m'dear!'

Then there flashed through her mind what her mother had said
With her antepenultimate breath:
'Oh, my child, should you look on the wine when 'tis red
Be prepared for a fate worse than death!'
She let go her glass with a shrill little cry.
Crash, tinkle! it fell to the floor.
When he asked: 'What in heaven ... ?' she made no reply,
Up her mind and a dash for the door.

'Have some Madeira, m'dear!'
Rang out down the hall loud and clear.
A tremulous cry that was filled with despair,
As she paused to take breath in the cool midnight air;
'Have some Madeira, m'dear!'
The words seemed to ring in her ear
Until the next morning she woke up in bed,
With a smile on her lips and an ache in her head-
And a beard in her earhole that tickled and said:
'Have some Madeira, m'dear!'

[BourbonJoe]

Two good inexpensive Australian ports are 1. Benjamin 2. Clocktower Tawny.
Joe

[bluesbassdad]

If you'd care to hear "Have Some Madeira, M'Dear" on CD, performed by The Limeliters (1960's folk group), go here.

Although they lacked the college-boy charm of The Kingston Trio and the folksy, political sensitivies of Peter, Paul and Mary, The Limeliters became my favorite group during the folk boom. The soaring tenor voice of Glenn Yarbrough, which embodied one of the most intense vibratos I've ever heard, somehow combined with two quite ordinary baritones to create the effect of a much larger group. On their hard-driving numbers they would often end with barbershop quartet-style chord modulation at the end, with Yarbrough's voice standing out like a wind-whipped flag on a 100 ft. pole, uniting everything below it.

Yours truly,
Dave Morefield

[gr8erdane]

That Madeira can be kept indefinitely is great news to me. I had balked from buying it to use in a recipe I learned while working as a prep cook back in college. Always figured I wouldn't use it enough to justify buying a bottle so have substituted other wines for it and have always found it lacking. Now I can buy with confidence!

[Gillman]

Dane, I have a bottle partly opened which was first tasted about 6 months ago, and it's as good now as then. They say with Madeira that all the bad stuff that can possibly happen to a wine has already occurred (in its production - intentionally to give it that raisiny taste), so it is almost indestructible. I have some that I'll try to remember to bring to sampler. I use it to flavour some of my blends but it is nice to drink on its own too.

gary