The Lemon Fool

We were chatting in the pub last night and somehow found ourselves debating the saying "beer before wine, you'll be fine. Wine before beer will make you queer". We couldn't decide whether or not there is any truth in this. Has anyone tested this?

R6

I have most certainly had beer before wine and been fine and wine before beer and not been queer.

But I've also done both and been terrible after.

I strongly suspect that it is much more to do with quantity than anything else.

Slarti

Rhyd6 wrote:We were chatting in the pub last night and somehow found ourselves debating the saying "beer before wine, you'll be fine. Wine before beer will make you queer". We couldn't decide whether or not there is any truth in this. Has anyone tested this?

R6

I am testing it as we speak...I have a beer advent calendar so have just drunk a very pleasant 6% blonde Belgian beer. I am now sipping a bottle of Argentinian Malbec to go with my lamb shanks.

I wonder if the "Old" is an operative word here?

I've certainly done both orders in my time. These days I might follow beer with wine, but I struggle to envisage an occasion when I'd want to follow wine with beer. Maybe that's the passing of the years? Or maybe the fact that I don't really like wine on its own, but just love it with an appropriate meal.

Hmm, scrub that. Come to think of it, yes I might occasionally let myself get persuaded to drink a glass of plonk at an event like a concert in a church, and then go for a beer afterwards. Maybe it doesn't count if you're not really enjoying the wine and would rather be on tea, beer or fruit juice, or even a sherry or g&t.

possible derail here but... IME such events alluded to by UE generally - and perhaps understandably - don;t set out to make the grog anything but easy for the person arranging it with no great thought. So its unsurprising maybe that this ends up being a supermarket trip where a few bottles of cheap plonk of both colours are grabbed, and a couple of dozen cans of whatever is on offer. So you end up with uninteresting "drink"

Its why I volunteered a few years ago with the organisations I am involved with to organise the bar. I perceive that those that don;t care what they drink will drink whatever is there, so I may as well make a small effort and provide something decent for those to whom it does matter. I'm not talking £100 bottles of Malbec here, but more likely a local vintner's produce, and beer from a local small brewery (rather than a regional/national). We can probably buy cheaper with the "get anything" approach, and make a little more profit ... but you end up with the "I'll drink something but only one 'cos its all so uninspiring". [ soft drinks ditto but on the whole OJ is pretty much OJ from a drinker's perspective having tried s/market cartons to "specialised" small bottles. We sell the same amount.)

didds

Slightly off-thread: I don't know about the headaches but have in the past drunk (Irish-made) Guinness Foreign Extra with Stilton at the end of a meal when wine has been served earlier. It appeared to 'cut through the fat' of Stilton and a few other rich cheeses in a way that wine doesn't. 'Ordinary' Guinness Original is also good for this (is Foreign Extra still made? is it their West Indies Porter renamed?) but draught Guinness is not sharp enough.
For me, most port is far too sweet to be matched with Stilton although some proper tawnys (not the cheapo red and white ports mixed) such as Graham's 20 year old are an interesting match. But I may this Xmas experiment with sherry: perhaps an Oloroso or Palo Cortado.

stewamax wrote:...(is Foreign Extra still made? is it their West Indies Porter renamed?)...

Yes. No.

stewamax wrote:Slightly off-thread: I don't know about the headaches but have in the past drunk (Irish-made) Guinness Foreign Extra with Stilton at the end of a meal when wine has been served earlier. It appeared to 'cut through the fat' of Stilton and a few other rich cheeses in a way that wine doesn't. 'Ordinary' Guinness Original is also good for this (is Foreign Extra still made? is it their West Indies Porter renamed?) but draught Guinness is not sharp enough.
For me, most port is far too sweet to be matched with Stilton although some proper tawnys (not the cheapo red and white ports mixed) such as Graham's 20 year old are an interesting match. But I may this Xmas experiment with sherry: perhaps an Oloroso or Palo Cortado.

Sauternes and Stilton is the classic choice.

John

Sauternes and Stilton is the classic choice.

An interesting combination; I have tried both Sauternes and Barsac with Stilton* but they don't have enough 'edge'. A Gewurtz or a Pinot Gris works better for me.

* I live in Stilton country!

redsturgeon wrote:Sauternes and Stilton is the classic choice.
John

Are sauternes so sweet you can keep them for months (like fortified wines) even after opening?

Am I old-fashioned in actually liking port and stilton?

UncleEbenezer wrote:

redsturgeon wrote:Sauternes and Stilton is the classic choice.
John

Are sauternes so sweet you can keep them for months (like fortified wines) even after opening?

Am I old-fashioned in actually liking port and stilton?

Not sure how long a Sauternes will last...never had the will power!

I too like port and stilton.

John

@Stewamax - both ASDA and Sainsburys have FES, and a very fine drink it is too. If someone like Cloudwater made it the crafterati would be wetting themselves over it. Tesco is the best place for the outer limits of the Diageo portfolio though - for quite some time they had Guinness Antwerpen which was a rebadge of the Special Extra Stout destined for Belgium, but it looks like that passed its sell-by date without being replaced. Their online store at least has the legendary Nigerian-brewed FES, and both they and ASDA have Dragon, which is a Jamaican stout inspired by FES - it's amazing what you can find if you poke around.

Yes, West Indies porter is different.

@redsturgeon Think you'll find that it's Rochefort and sauternes is the classic combo, drinking it with Stilton is inspired by Rochefort, and for me the latter is a better combination.

The sweetness in Sauternes helps keep it, but not forever - personally I wouldn't give it more than a couple of days in the fridge but I very seldom see it beyond opening night....

Oh and whilst we're on the subject of stickies at Christmas - don't waste good Sauternes or Germans with Christmas pud. Muscat is the thing. Personally I find the Aussie ones just a bit too heavy to have with any kind of food, aged Muscat de Beaumes de Venise is perfect, I might try an Italian one for something a bit lighter this year.

Alternatively, a barleywine or stock ale will give you lots of raisiny goodness at slightly lower ABV.

Hallucigenia wrote:Oh and whilst we're on the subject of stickies at Christmas - don't waste good Sauternes or Germans with Christmas pud. Muscat is the thing. Personally I find the Aussie ones just a bit too heavy to have with any kind of food, aged Muscat de Beaumes de Venise is perfect, I might try an Italian one for something a bit lighter this year.

Alternatively, a barleywine or stock ale will give you lots of raisiny goodness at slightly lower ABV.

I have a bottle of Vin Santo ready for after Xmas dinner.

John

Hallucigenia wrote:The sweetness in Sauternes helps keep it, but not forever - personally I wouldn't give it more than a couple of days in the fridge but I very seldom see it beyond opening night....

That's what I'd expect. It answers my underlying question: only ever open a sauternes when there's sufficient company to drink it.

Last bottle of dessert wine I had languished quite a while waiting for an occasion to open it.

Guinness West Indies porter is a good deal, £1.50 de facto a bottle from the big supermarkets. It's soft and strong. I first found about it in a dodgy bar in Abergavenny.

Bang for your buck but unfortunately it is a bit sour and thus gives me heartburn. I now live in an area where there is no curry or kebab...there is chips with gravy...and no heatburn!

When I was last in Albury-Wodonga (in Oz) I paid a visit to Stanton and Killeen's winery in Rutherglen.
Even their their best Muscats were available for sampling, and their Rare Muscat is to die for.
When I mentioned that I had drunk some of their (lesser) Muscats in England (and that were called stickies here too) they became ultra solicitous and from that point proceedings got shumwot haaazy. I was glad I wan't the driver.
Although they appeared to concentrate on Muscats and port-style fortifieds, they also have a line based on Muscadelle that, from a (clouded...) memory, was like an Moscatel-based sherry.