Posted on 05/22/2016 12:09:43 AM PDT by lee martell
One year ago, I helped a friend of mine find a place to rentshare and move into. I knew she would fit right in. We have been coworkers in the past, just platonic friends. She thanked me by giving me a bottle of Chianti; red Italian wine. I thanked her of course, and put the bottle in my storage closet for when I got ready for it. I was ready today, having just finished writing a group of Quarterly Reports for my Manager of a Group Home. I was planning to reward myself for completing the job to everyone's satisfaction.
I rarely use real glasses, if it's just me, but for this moment, I washed out an old glass goblet with fluted sides, perfect for sipping wine. I take the bottle out of the storage closet, bring it to the sink, and I make a discovery. This is one of those bottles with a cork in it. Damn. I no longer have one of those spiral cork removers, it was loaned out, and never returned some time ago. So I was stuck. I had a feeling this might get messy, so I took off one of my nicer Polo Shirts, and changed into an old one that always fits no matter how long it stays in the dryer.
I got my favorite steak knife out, and pushed down cork. No movement. I needed to tap the knife handle with something. I used a heavy rubber spatula, raised the spatula high over my head, and swung down hard on the knife handle, now jammed into the cork. It worked! I got the cork to move. Only it went down the neck of the bottle, getting stuck halfway. I used a siphon to pour the dark red wine into an empty juice bottle that I had been planning to turn into a terrarium. Finally, all the wine was out. Now I had to pull my steak knife free from the cork.
I put the now mostly empty bottle into the sink, filled it with warm soapy water. Soon, the bottle has expanded just enough so that I could wrench it out. I give it one last strong tug, like Thor pulling his hammer out of that stone. The knife comes out, with cork still attached. I get sprayed with a little wine, the kitchen wall gets sprayed too.
Finally, I pour some Chianti into my fine glass goblet. I was...disappointed. I had forgotten just how bitter Chianti could be, even when red. I doubt if I finish the rest of that wine any time soon. I guess you could say, I have 'pedestrian tastes, or low class preferences. When I'm in the mood for wine, something that doesn't happen very often, I much prefer a sweet taste. I don't always come out and tell people that I one of my favorite after dinner sipping wines is Carlos Rossi Sangria, or Riunite Lambrusco. I admit, it's not very worldly or sophisticated. What can I say? I was brought up with Mogen-David Concord Passover Wine being the only alcohol in the house, except for during Christmas, when we needed to add a kick to the Egg Nog. I have also enjoyed German wines here and there, such as Zinfandel and Liebfraumilch. Sometimes you buy something different just to experiment and learn.
Billy Dee used to be everywhere in the media. I can’t think of any first tier black celebrity who has those same qualities today. He combined aspects of Sidney Poitier (Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner) and Richard Roundtree (Shaft!).
Andre Cold Duck was the “champagne” preferred by go-go girls, barflies and b-drinkers in the disco days.
A b-drinker, if ya don’t know, was a girl who had an “arrangement” with the bar’s management. She’d get guys to buy her overpriced drinks, and she’d get a kickback of about a dollar per drink.
A bottle of “champagne” ($2 cold duck) on the other hand, would sell for about $25, and she’d get a $5 or $10 “commission.”
Of course, the clueless dude assumed the girl was getting drunk, and would go home with him and fork his brains out. In fact, the feckless fellow was the one getting so snockered, he never even noticed the girl tipping the drinks into the nearby potted plant.
The cold duck itself tastes like fermented Seven-Up. Mix it half and half with orange juice to make a drink called a mimosa. Pretty tasty, actually.
I like Pinot Noir...I will have to check it out.
As a young wharf rat, I consumed rather a lot of it. It was better than aftershave and didn’t give an instant hangover like Sterno.
In North Florida and, I assume, in southern Georgia there was something called Wild Russian Vanya made from grapefruit in Jacksonville. It was a dime more than the T-Bird but was, uh, tastier.
lol, well you are quite the Connoisseur :)
“a slight hint of aqua velva with small undertones of kerosene...”
crack me up :)
Have you heard...What’s the word....It’s Thunderbird.
Do ya remember ORANGE TOMMY ?
What’s the word? Thunderbird!
How’s it sold? Good and cold.
What’s the jive? Bird’s alive.
What’s the price? Thirty twice.
I do remember the thirty twice, but had to look up the rest of the jingle
I didn’t know it was made by Gallo, that was another crud wine you’d get by the gallon, and I remember that packed a whollop of a hangover, but was good for a party
the name makes it sound so classy :)
I did my jump school in Ft. Benning and it was the first time I was introduced to Georgia moonshine. I couldn’t take it. We had all tough as nails Korean war vets as our jump instructors and they could drink that stuff like it was water.
Was on par with denatured alcohol.
An acquired taste for sure.
A booze I did like that was pretty common down there was Rock and Rye, it had fruit in the bottle. That I could handle, but it was considered wimp whiskey.
Hadn’t heard Rock and Rye mentioned in ages.
Recall it as “mommas medicinal kitchen whiskey” doled out by the spoonful for colds and various other ailments and added to tea or coffee for adults.
Thirty twice? You are a little older than I am, I suspect.
Moonshine is a whole nother thing. Hereabouts in the 50s and into the 60s the Sheff, that is the county’s chief law enforcement officer, controlled the shine. When lekshun time came round he took his posse out and blew up some stills out in the swamps. Those were the stills that had been producing real rotgut, the kind that makes you go blind. Doc had ethics, at least at lekshun time. He didn’t permit poison to be produced for long.
lol @ the Sheff and lekshun time :)
probably about right, I was razzed for drinking it because they would also serve it to the ladies :)
gonna be 69 this summer if my wife lets me live that long...
You were drinking TBird when you were 5 years old? I was 17 when, at least ‘roun here it was a buck for a fifth.
Barbarian. :)
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