Educate these rare drinkers.....

[worddoer]

So....my wife and I are very light drinkers. For years, we would only have 1-2 bottles of wine spread over a year. As we get older, we are enjoying adult beverages more.

We have started to venture out, but with our picky tastes, we are not sure what we would enjoy and don't want to waist a lot of money on stuff we hate.

So far, this is what we like..... We like sweet white or red wines. So far, our favorites wines are Byler Lane Winery's Barn Blend and Two EE's Winery's Catawba. We also like Stella Artois hard cider and Mike's hard lemonade.

Our most recent discovery made me realize there could be so much out there that we are missing out on. A family member suggested getting the bottle of Kahlua White Russian and drinking it over ice. We had that for new years night and WOW! It was wonderful and both of us rated it our new favorite drink.

So...INGO'ers...what would you suggest we try out taking the above into account?

 

[patience0830]

So far, as drinkers, you like candy. Educating that palate may take a while. You would not like my choices of dry reds and 100 proof bourbon. But a nice German Riesling may be to your liking.

 

[Hatin Since 87]

White Russians are good. It sounds like you enjoy sweeter flavored drinks. Honestly, in that case, I wouldn’t stray too far from the wine/flavored beer (mikes hard) category... but if you ever go down to Tennessee the old Smokey’s moonshine has a tasting deal. Think it’s $20 and you get to taste around 10 I think. They have some fantastic flavors, apple pie, black cherry, etc. My favorite is just cherry, which is a jar full of cherries with moonshine in it... eat the cherries and it gives you a good buzz. I use the cherries for cherry coke.

Also, when I was younger, hypnotic was our go to. Its sweet and has some kick to it, doesn’t taste like alcohol at all. Now I’m just a crown and coke guy for the most part.

 

[melensdad]

Try some Late Harvest Riesling wine. Rieslings are available from dry to sweet, the late harvests are sweeter. Chateau St Michele makes a couple popular easy to drink Rieslings.

 

[EyeCarry]

Try a German Spatlese or Auslese. The German wine scale is pretty easy to learn. I find the Schmitt Sohne brand to be pretty reliable. No need to spend a lot either although German wines have gone up over the years.
Prosecco is a bubbly you may like. It is sometimes mixed with Aperol or other plain fruit juices.

For mixed drinks, well, let's just say that there are a lot of them. White/Black Russians, Fuzzy Navels, Harvey Wallbangers, Long Island Ice Tea, Stoned Crabs, Hurricanes, and on and on.
Go easy. You may find it as bad as finding the perfect gun: Always searching.

 

[BugI02]

You'll need a shaker. Brandy Alexander. 1/3 Brandy, 1/3 Kahlua and 1/3 heavy cream then well shaken. Chill all the ingredients
Tastes like a chocolate milkshake witha kick

Ice wine is another sweet white but it is pricey

 

[BigRed]

Lagavulin 16 would be fun.

 

[TheGrumpyGuy]

Seasonal; good cold, room temp, or hot with a cinnamon stick

 

[240sx]

How about some Sangria

 

[Twangbanger]

Something not mentioned already, there is a northern Italy dessert wine called Sangue di Giuda (a type, not a brand). It is not well known outside the region, but is just starting to make its presence known in the U.S. If you look it up online, you can find it by mail order and it's rather inexpensive.

If you can justify something a little more upscale for special occasions with just you and your wife, I would recommend Bug's suggestion of Ice Wine. It is another dessert wine, but is made from grapes that have been left to freeze on the vine at the end of the season, and the production process makes a very high sugar content because they leave intact chunks of fruit in it before final bottling. It is hard to describe this wine, but it's one of the best things you ever put in your mouth. It comes in half-bottles that are pricey at around $50, but it's the type of thing you can just put a bit on your tongue and roll it around a long time; it's very thick, and has an explosion of flavors like nothing else. The final product is a deep amber-colored white. (This is purely selfish stuff and you do not put it out for guests!)

For having folks over who just like something fruity to get buzzed with, the ready-made bottles of Peach Margaritas work for that, and if you want to give people a kick (or decrease their card-playing ability), you can dress it up with 100 proof Peach Brandy to taste. (Don't forget your CVS card...)

 

[Cameramonkey]

Try a German Spatlese or Auslese. The German wine scale is pretty easy to learn. I find the Schmitt Sohne brand to be pretty reliable. No need to spend a lot either although German wines have gone up over the years.
Prosecco is a bubbly you may like. It is sometimes mixed with Aperol or other plain fruit juices.

For mixed drinks, well, let's just say that there are a lot of them. White/Black Russians, Fuzzy Navels, Harvey Wallbangers, Long Island Ice Tea, Stoned Crabs, Hurricanes, and on and on.
Go easy. You may find it as bad as finding the perfect gun: Always searching.

Great advice. A Gewürztraminer is also good. But as I recall not quite as sweet.

A road trip to Bloomington is also suggested for a tasting. Oliver Winery tends to lean on the sweet side. But my favorite dry wine from them is the Dry Cherry wine. But the recommended serving is to put a semi sweet chocolate chip under your tongue while drinking it. In your case I would recommend milk chocolate. Its VERY yummy. Its like eating a cherry cordial.

Also check out Carolan's Irish Cream. Its just as good as Bailey's but half the cost. Mix it with milk (or my wife's favorite, egg nogg) and it is quite tasty.

 

[boogieman]

Also check out Carolan's Irish Cream. Its just as good as Bailey's but half the cost. Mix it with milk (or my wife's favorite, egg nogg) and it is quite tasty.

Its also good in coffee.

 

[CindyE]

I'm not a fan of sweet wine, but I used to be. My family likes sweet wine, and I'm usually assigned to bring wine to family gatherings. They like most of the Oliver wines, the Soft Red with Lime has been a favorite, and I don't even mind a little bit of it.

 

[EyeCarry]

You'll need a shaker. Brandy Alexander. ....
Tastes like a chocolate milkshake witha kick

I'll 2nd the B.A. haven't had one in decades. It used to be a favorite of mine as a late night dessert made with ice cream actually.

 

[IndyDave1776]

Thread title:

Educate these rare drinkers.....​

I think I see the issue. Perhaps they need to cook their alcohol longer, maybe to medium well.

 

[larcat]

1) If you can swing it, maybe go to Traverse City for a weekend some time -- the region around it is pretty famous for doing Reisling very well, much of which falls on the sweeter side.

2) Since you like White Russians, mix your own! That's a great entre into doing cocktails at home and a white russian is one of the easiest to mix well. Tumblers with ice, pour 2 oz of vodka in, Kahlua to taste (the traditional amount is 1 oz and a splash, but that's too sweet for me personally) and a heavy splash of heavy cream or half and half. I like to serve them without mixing because the cream looks really cool, but you can lightly stir them before serving -- don't stir too much though, you don't want the ice to start melting.

 

[deo62]

just as well jump right on in with the fireball crowd-(just kidding, nasty stuff)

 

[phylodog]

Southern Comfort & Coke is a pretty sweet mix. Downed a lot of that in S Korea back in the day.

 

[MRockwell]

Some sweet wines you may venture as a first try would be mead(honey wine), moscato, or a sweet elderberry wine.

When I started making wine years ago, I liked sweet wines so I made wines from concord grapes, and when buying wine kits I went for concord, niagra, or catawba wines. I also used to make wine from peaches, pears, and strawberries. Strawberry wine(not Boone's) is a nice summer drinking wine. Oliver is a good place for sweet wines, as well as French Lick winery.

Sweet elderberry wines might not be as easy to find, the best I've had is from Prairie Berry Winery in Hill City, SD. They also have a dry elderberry that is great. I like elderberry wines because they are more complex.

Most hard ciders available around here are sweet(I think that was mentioned above), except for Crispin, and Strongbow Original. Strongbow Original is dry like a Brut Champagne, and has crisp apple flavors.

Haven't had it for a while but Hard Root Beer is pretty good, as well as Henry's Hard Orange. These are pretty much hard sodas. Not Your Father's Hard Rootbeer has a very strong licorice flavor; I haven't seen it for a while, but Coney Island Hard Rootbeer tasted to me the most like real rootbeer.

I can't help much with mixed drinks, rum and CF diet coke is the only mixed drink I go for.

 

[jbombelli]

1792 Full Proof.