Are you a connoisseur?
One day......
(http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l394/stopintime/003.jpg)
Oooooooo....XO!!!
I am sorry, I am wrong...that is Louis XIV isn't it?
Quote from: zooom on April 23, 2010, 06:08:34 AM
I am sorry, I am wrong...that is Louis XIV isn't it?
I think it's XIII, but you're close enough [thumbsup]
Should be ok to pour a few spoons in my grouse cream sauce?
:o
How much of a guzzle off that bottle would it take to get a decent buzz going? ;D
Quote from: RAT900 on April 23, 2010, 06:28:23 AM
How much of a guzzle off that bottle would it take to get a decent buzz going? ;D
Wait for it to be opened, try and I'll give you a buzz before you can open your mouth [evil]
Quote from: stopintime on April 23, 2010, 06:30:46 AM
Wait for it to be opened, try and I'll give you a buzz before you can open your mouth [evil]
[laugh]
Ok you're right, that is the good stuff you don't take pulls straight from the bottle.....
you mix it up fancy like with RC Cola and those maraschino cherries and sip it all elegant and girly-like..right??
Quote from: RAT900 on April 23, 2010, 06:28:23 AM
How much of a guzzle off that bottle would it take to get a decent buzz going? ;D
A guzzle off that bottle probably costs like 200$
One of the items on my bucket list is to drink a good wine or liquor older than I am; alas, the longer I put it off, the more expensive the proposition gets!
Quote from: triangleforge on April 23, 2010, 06:56:59 AM
One of the items on my bucket list is to drink a good wine or liquor older than I am; alas, the longer I put it off, the more expensive the proposition gets!
did that on my 29th Bday when I had a 30 year old scotch with a cuban cigar!
Quote from: cyrus buelton on April 23, 2010, 06:52:12 AM
A guzzle off that bottle probably costs like 200$
not if its someone else's stash... then its the best kind of cognac on earth...its free!! :)
Quote from: RAT900 on April 23, 2010, 07:03:11 AM
not if its someone else's stash... then its the best kind of cognac on earth...its free!! :)
[laugh] [laugh] [laugh]
My guess it tastes like crap like all other cognac, but must be an acquired taste, so for some it is heaven.
I've had some Dom Perignon before........it was make the beast with two backsing nasty. But I guess I am not a champagne drinker.
a mere $1799
http://www.bevmo.com/Shop/ProductDetail.aspx?N=40+4294967049+4294967050&area=spirits&No=0&ProductID=1587&Ns=SalesPrice (http://www.bevmo.com/Shop/ProductDetail.aspx?N=40+4294967049+4294967050&area=spirits&No=0&ProductID=1587&Ns=SalesPrice)|1
I had a bottle of Dom the real estate agent gave us.
had some friends over for dinner and popped it open.
delish.
used some in my sauce i was making
then i found out how much that bottle cost.
oops
;D
Quote from: JEFF_H on April 23, 2010, 07:18:02 AM
I had a bottle of Dom the real estate agent gave us.
had some friends over for dinner and popped it open.
delish.
Must be an acquired taste!
One and only time I've had Dom was at a Portland punk club back in early '80s, after the show, out of a dixie cup. One of the girls who hung out with the band (which for some reason called me its manager [laugh]) had stolen a bottle from her dad's wine collection.
Somehow, it all seemed to fit -- and I still remember how good it tasted.
Quote from: triangleforge on April 23, 2010, 09:06:39 AM
One and only time I've had Dom was at a Portland punk club back in early '80s, after the show, out of a dixie cup. One of the girls who hung out with the band (which for some reason called me its manager [laugh]) had stolen a bottle from her dad's wine collection.
Somehow, it all seemed to fit -- and I still remember how good it tasted.
This is the most punk thing you will read on the DMF today. [thumbsup] This story makes me want to destroy passerbys.
Ive got a bottle of DP chilling in the fridge.........since '98 (got it as a wedding present).
Not sure when Ill pop it..........
Quote from: rgramjet on April 23, 2010, 11:18:59 AM
Ive got a bottle of DP chilling in the fridge.........since '98 (got it as a wedding present).
Not sure when Ill pop it..........
You've had a bottle of champagne in a refrigerator for 12 years? The cold and vibration has likely ruined it. If it has been allowed to warm and then been recooled more than a time or two in that 12 years I have little hope for it. Open it tomorrow to avoid further damage.
sac
......these purists that I hang out with.....
Im sure it'll be fine.
Plus, if I pop it, what will I have to show MTV Cribs when they drop by unexpectedly??
Need the fridge to have a touch of pimpiness.
:-)
Y'all do realize that liquor in a bottle does not improve at all with age, right?
If it's in a wooden barrel for a long time, that can change taste, since ethanol dissolves some of the wood components and some water evaporates through the wood. However, scotch or cognac or whatever put in a bottle a century ago will not taste any better than when it was bottled. It could be worse due to rotten corks or oxidation, but not better.
Some wine improves with age, but this is by no means universally true. As SacDuc points out, it's only true even for those wines if they've been properly stored. Most whites, including champagnes, do not benefit from aging at all once they're bottled off the lees (although in high school I tasted a '58 d'Yquem that made it clear that Sauternes certainly can benefit from bottle age).
mstevens - I am going to point out another bottled alchohol product that DOES change as it sits in bottle. Lambic's which are a living ale's with the active yeast and fruit sugars in the bottle after being corked do in fact continue to ferment and change as they age.
why age anything is it doesn't increase the proofage? ;D
Quote from: RAT900 on April 26, 2010, 11:59:49 AM
why age anything is it doesn't increase the proofage? ;D
[thumbsup]
If you got it, drink it. They will make more.
sac
zackly!!
Quote from: zooom on April 26, 2010, 11:55:08 AM
Lambic's which are a living ale's with the active yeast and fruit sugars in the bottle after being corked do in fact continue to ferment and change as they age.
This is true of any bottle-conditioned beer, or generally speaking anything with little floaties at the bottom of the bottle. A good barleywine will take a couple years to peak, but will start getting bad at the same rate after that.
Quote from: mstevens on April 26, 2010, 11:39:57 AM
Y'all do realize that liquor in a bottle does not improve at all with age, right?
If it's in a wooden barrel for a long time, that can change taste, since ethanol dissolves some of the wood components and some water evaporates through the wood. However, scotch or cognac or whatever put in a bottle a century ago will not taste any better than when it was bottled. It could be worse due to rotten corks or oxidation, but not better.
Some wine improves with age, but this is by no means universally true. As SacDuc points out, it's only true even for those wines if they've been properly stored. Most whites, including champagnes, do not benefit from aging at all once they're bottled off the lees (although in high school I tasted a '58 d'Yquem that made it clear that Sauternes certainly can benefit from bottle age).
You are mostly correct in this post, there are few wines, beers, or spirits that will taste better aged in a bottle. Most of the "taste" comes from ingredients that are added during the distillation and/or fermentation process. Although some benefit from being in a bottle, as zooom pointed out with Lambics. Corks were used in bottling for two reasons. One, cork was very abundant at the time and cheap. And two, cork is porous. It allows some oxygen to enter the bottle and some fermented gases out of the bottle, effectively changing the taste. Unfortunately, this can also be a bad thing as too much oxygen will undoubtedly "turn" a good wine, beer, or spirit.
The proper storage of a bottled wine or spirit is the most important part. A lot of things come into play. Ever notice the term wine cellar has the word cellar in it? People began storing wine in cellars because they found out that too much exposure to sun light, or almost any bright light, will change the flavor in a bad way. That is also the reason why almost all red wines and almost all good beers are bottled in dark glass. Dark glass (i.e. sunglasses) help to block the sun. White wines are often kept in a wine chiller, not a wine cooler or refrigerator. And there is often no light in the chiller or a light that only comes on when the door is open minimizing the exposure to light.
In regards to the champagne that has been in the fridge for 12 years, as long as it stays in the fridge and doesn't see drastic temp changes it will be fine, although the best place for it would be a dark corner in a closet at room temp. A good rule of thumb for champagne is buy it room temp, keep it room temp until you plan to drink it. Even though champagne has a cork it is carbonated which helps to keep the taste ruining oxygen out of the bottle. I personally think the reason why people have that one bottle for so long is because is was given to them on a special occasion and they kinda wanna wait for another special occasion to open it.
My $.02
Quote from: rgramjet on April 23, 2010, 11:18:59 AM
Ive got a bottle of DP chilling in the fridge.........since '98 (got it as a wedding present).
Not sure when Ill pop it..........
Nate juice is bottled?
Someone actually paid money for it?
On both counts... [puke] [puke] [puke] [puke]
Back to topic...
At > 20% the price, I cannot taste much of a difference between this and Louis XIII.
(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4058/4555752041_37823e8dd0.jpg)
Sure, it doesn't come in the fancy Baccarat bottle that can be sent back for a discounted refill, but...
(of course, I am always grateful to anyone pouring me a snifter. [thumbsup])
Quote from: zooom on April 26, 2010, 11:55:08 AMmstevens - I am going to point out another bottled alchohol product that DOES change as it sits in bottle. Lambic's which are a living ale's with the active yeast and fruit sugars in the bottle after being corked do in fact continue to ferment and change as they age.
Sure - that's true of any bottle-conditioned beer. It's also true of champagne while it's on the lees. Once a fermented product is separated from the yeast, changes slow way down. Since beers have more proteins and lower alcohol they can still mature (and spoil) in the bottle pretty quickly compared to wines, even off the lees. In the case of lambics it's further complicated by the use of wild yeasts and second fermentations. In general, Belgian (-style) beers are aged properly by the brewer and shipped when they're ready to drink. Five or so years after then, it's not at all likely to be as good as when it shipped.
I really think the "older is better" beliefs, especially with regard to Cognac and other spirits, originated in the days when they were commonly purchased by end-users in wooden containers. This was often the wealthy, who would lay down a pipe of Port at the birth of a son, buy a cask of Amontillado ("...for God's sake, Montresor!"), get a cask or two of each Armagnac they particularly liked, and so on. Properly stored, these often did improve with age since they were in wood and these people often did have proper cellaring available.
Marketers have been more than willing to capitalize on beliefs that older is better and to take that as far as they can. I wouldn't be surprised if we see bottle-aged vodka. Maybe it's already out.
I'm willing to bet almost anything that Cognac bottled before Prohibition will be no better now than it was when bottled (although arguments about pre-
Phylloxera grapes might be pertinent) and that bottle of Scotch your Grandad bought when your Dad was born has been completely ready to drink since the day it was bottled. Open them and that nice Champagne in the fridge and enjoy them now, before someone drops the bottle.
Wooden containers also drive the price up by increasing scarcity (hmmm, can one "increase scarcity"?).
Even in a cool, humid wine cave, 60 gallon wine barrels evaporate off about a gallon a year; I don't know about smaller liquor kegs, but given that they've got greater surface area relative to volume, I can't imagine they'd do better than that. Subtract some for drinking, some to spillage/loss/whatever and some for evaporation, and the world's supply of 100 year old cognac is always going to be shrinking more rapidly than demand.
Disclaimer: I grew up with a father who started buying wine when we lived in France and Germany in the early 60's. Some of my earliest memories entail being bored to death at tastings at vineyards we'd never get into these days. My wedding gift from my father was 12 bottles of wine worth (at the time in 1981) nearly $10,000 (although he'd probably paid a couple hundred for all of them). His friends were total fanatics who practically never drank anything that was less than hundreds per bottle. I've tasted pre-(French) Revolution Cognacs and Armagnacs, and Scotches whose origins are lost in the mists of time, 1927 Ports, and so on.
Some of those wines and spirits were quite tasty, indeed. Frankly, I wouldn't buy any of them even if I were an eleventybillionaire. There's far more pleasure for me in finding the $18 wine that's perfect for a given meal or occasion and about which there's no worry about opening another bottle. It's more enjoyable to drink a Scotch that isn't priced by the drop or a Port that won't bankrupt me if the glass gets knocked over. Besides, I've learned that I like to taste the peat in my Scotch, the grape pips in my Cognac, the molasses in my Rum and the agave and mesquite in my Mezcal and Tequila - I don't enjoy the highly-refined and "genteel" products nearly as much. I can take more risks ("I wonder how this PBJ would go with a glass of Port?") with my everyday tipple than with something hifalutin and spendy.
Wines, beers, and spirits are agricultural products that are meant to be enjoyed while being consumed. Collectors enjoy collecting them, but to me they're worth nothing if they're not drunk so a bottle on the shelf or in the cellar isn't actually good for anything.
Don't even get me started on fancy "commemorative" or "collectible" bottles. They make about as much sense to me as commemorative cereal boxes.
After the Loma Prieta earthquake, I heard more than one story of collectible, impossible to replace bottles of wine that were tasted wrung from sponges. Even if I weren't a horrible cheapskate, I suspect I'd still be in the "enjoy it now, they'll make more" camp.
Quote from: rgramjet on April 23, 2010, 11:18:59 AM
Not sure when Ill pop it..........
Well I am flying into town tomorrow...if that isnt a good reason I dont know what is!
Quote from: triangleforge on April 27, 2010, 08:44:20 AM
After the Loma Prieta earthquake, I heard more than one story of collectible, impossible to replace bottles of wine that were tasted wrung from sponges. Even if I weren't a horrible cheapskate, I suspect I'd still be in the "enjoy it now, they'll make more" camp.
Oooh. Ouch.