Who's Drinkin'?????

A buddy picked this up from Wolf's Ridge Brewing for me. Don't expect it to last long in the beer fridge :D

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Sake on ice. Japanese rice wine may be a bit of an acquired taste, but I love just about anything from Japan.
 
I'm well into a bottle of Akashi...
I decided I was sufficiently lubricated to venture onto the Exchange; but, sadly, there doesn't seem to be anything calling for my money. ☹
 
Tequila and IPAs are definitely my favorite. But, my Scottish friend and I just picked this sweetness up yesterday... :)

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Been fighting a Summer Cold the last few days. Seems like it may be getting a little better. I have been staying medicated with my go to medicine Cabo Wabo. Not sure if I am getting better or if I have just reached the point where I can't feel anything. Either way I will take it.
 
1963 Dow Vintage Port. Same age as me.
And an FMV-8 that came in the mail a week or so ago.
Happy birthday to me.

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After more than half a century in the bottle, corks can get pretty crumbly and just fall apart if you try to take them out with a corkscrew. Thus the Port tongs. Just heat 'em up with a blowtorch until they're glowing red, grasp the neck of the bottle with the red-hot tongs for a few seconds, remove the tongs and put a wet cloth on the neck where the tongs were, and wait for the clink of glass cracking. The top of the bottle comes right off, cork and all.

Better angle on the Port tongs:

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Decant and enjoy over the course of the evening. But first reserve half for tomorrow on an old 375ml Sauternes bottle.
 
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JohnTheTexican said:
1963 Dow Vintage Port. Same age as me.
And an FMV-8 that came in the mail a week or so ago.
Happy birthday to me.

Z14k6O7.jpg



After more than half a century in the bottle, corks can get pretty crumbly and just fall apart if you try to take them out with a corkscrew. Thus the Port tongs. Just heat 'em up with a blowtorch until they're glowing red, grasp the neck of the bottle with the red-hot tongs for a few seconds, remove the tongs and put a wet cloth on the neck where the tongs were, and wait for the clink of glass cracking. The top of the bottle comes right off, cork and all.

Better angle on the Port tongs:

znrKAyB.jpg


Decant and enjoy over the course of the evening. But first reserve half for tomorrow on an old 375ml Sauternes bottle.
Click to expand...
Happy birthday to you indeed.
Thank you for the explanation, the tongs and torch looked like you were off to brand something.
 
JohnTheTexican said:
1963 Dow Vintage Port. Same age as me.
And an FMV-8 that came in the mail a week or so ago.
Happy birthday to me.

Z14k6O7.jpg



After more than half a century in the bottle, corks can get pretty crumbly and just fall apart if you try to take them out with a corkscrew. Thus the Port tongs. Just heat 'em up with a blowtorch until they're glowing red, grasp the neck of the bottle with the red-hot tongs for a few seconds, remove the tongs and put a wet cloth on the neck where the tongs were, and wait for the clink of glass cracking. The top of the bottle comes right off, cork and all.

Better angle on the Port tongs:

znrKAyB.jpg


Decant and enjoy over the course of the evening. But first reserve half for tomorrow on an old 375ml Sauternes bottle.
Click to expand...

Happy birthday, JTT!

I bet that is some GOOD stuff! And that FMV8 is a BEAUTY!

I had never heard about port tongs. I wonder if that would work for a regular bottle of wine. My wife and I bought a case-ish of Cab Sauv the year we got married. Now over 20 years ago. The cork on the last one we opened was pretty crumbly. Ended up occasionally getting cork in my teeth as we drank it. I take it you never have an issue with class getting INTO the bottle? Would really rather get cork than glass in my teeth.
 
dogboye said:
I had never heard about port tongs. I wonder if that would work for a regular bottle of wine. My wife and I bought a case-ish of Cab Sauv the year we got married. Now over 20 years ago. The cork on the last one we opened was pretty crumbly. Ended up occasionally getting cork in my teeth as we drank it. I take it you never have an issue with class getting INTO the bottle? Would really rather get cork than glass in my teeth.
Click to expand...


They should work on any kind of wine, so long as you can get good contact with the neck of the bottle. I've never heard of glass getting in the wine being an issue with the tongs. The glass doesn't shatter, it just makes a clean crack all the way around.

The main problem with Port tongs is that they're hard to find at a reasonable price (or at least they were when I was looking for them), and the ones some folks sell are more decorative than functional.

Another expensive option for cleanly removing old corks is the Durand corkscrew from the Rare Wine Company. It works well, but it's not as much fun.

A much less expensive option is to decant the wine and use a funnel lined with a few layers of non-bleached cheesecloth. Or if it's just bits of cork you're worried about, they sell funnels with filter screens for decanting wine. For old Port, I use a funnel with the screen and the cheesecloth to get the most wine with the least sediment. (There's a lot of sediment in old bottles of vintage Port, and you can either decant it very carefully and try to leave all the sediment in the bottle, or use the funnel with cheesecloth and be a lot less careful.)


I wonder how an F-16 would work as a Champagne Saber?
 
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I'm betting it would work quite well.

Thanks for all the info.
Durand corkscrew is neat... but screen or cheesecloth is a lot cheaper!
 
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