California Coolers

[jowilker]

Funny no one has named Boones Farm an early entry to the cooler market, not that I ever drank any of it.

John

[cowdery]

Boones Farm definitely appears on my drinking CV. I came from a beer culture, but while still underage there was experimentation with fortified wines of the Mad Dog and Thunderbird varieties, evolving into Boones Farm, then on to Lancers and Mateus. I could legally buy 3.2% beer at 18 but wine was still out of bounds so, naturally, that's what we wanted.

As someone else mentioned about coolers, the appeal of wine was that girls would drink it.

I associate Boones Farm with my Freshman year in college, 1969-70. I don't know what kind of "wine" it was, but it wasn't a wine cooler and the wine coolers were like a decade later.

[ACDetroit]

That's funny Chuck! I worked with a guy years ago and he always said this phase!

"What's the word? "Thunderbird"! What's the price? "fitty twice"! I'll asume that's the Thunderbird!

Tony

[shyster512]

Mad Dog and Thunderbird. Now that's a hangover from the past. Threw up my first time on Thunderbird. Our area was dry so we got it from the bootlegger who also ran the taxi stand. Thanks for the memory.

[cowdery]

Speaking of memories and the obliteration of same, I think my first experience with fortified wines was with Ripple.

[OscarV]

Mine was Boone's Farm Apple Wine, I heard that if you pinched your nose while you drank it you would not taste it, they were wrong.

[spun_cookie]

Now don't forget Cisco... apple and other fruit wines mixed...

[cowdery]

I have a vivid memory of one time, drinking Boones Farm at the apartment of a friend, and listening to another friend, who was working at a pizza joint, describe how he was managing to eat every meal at the pizza joint (for free, being an impoverished college student) and some of the novel dishes he was creating from pizza joint ingredients. He wasn't from a poor family, he was just trying to save money on food so he had more to spend on drugs.

Ah, childhood.

[TBoner]

smokinjoe, you may be right. But after a few years of homebrewing and whiskey obsession, I can't get my wife to drink anything but good stuff:

baby Saz
Willett rye
Knob Creek
Dalmore 12
Dalmore 21
Guinness
Murphy's
Chimay Cinq Cents
any Belgian saison

You get the idea. Around Christmas, I got her to try Dickel. "It's okay," she said. "But it doesn't have nearly as much flavor as a good bourbon. Don't we have any Baker's?"

That said, if anyone wants some very dusty wine coolers from the 1980s, I happened on a country store in my dusty hunting with multiple cases of most every brand listed here, some of them clouded with infection or lees or caramel coloring or all of the above. All I ask for a case is that you pay for shipping and throw in a bottle of WT rye.

[smokinjoe]

smokinjoe, you may be right. But after a few years of homebrewing and whiskey obsession, I can't get my wife to drink anything but good stuff:

baby Saz
Willett rye
Knob Creek
Dalmore 12
Dalmore 21
Guinness
Murphy's
Chimay Cinq Cents
any Belgian saison

You get the idea. Around Christmas, I got her to try Dickel. "It's okay," she said. "But it doesn't have nearly as much flavor as a good bourbon. Don't we have any Baker's?"

That said, if anyone wants some very dusty wine coolers from the 1980s, I happened on a country store in my dusty hunting with multiple cases of most every brand listed here, some of them clouded with infection or lees or caramel coloring or all of the above. All I ask for a case is that you pay for shipping and throw in a bottle of WT rye.

A sure sign that angels do walk amongst us. And, you have one right there! Good for you, T.



JOE