Skip to main content

Mulled Wine

I am not a christmas'y person. Not at all.
However I am a business savvy person - and I know, that a lot of people like to come into the mood of xmas with some awesome xmas drinks.

In Germany, Austria and Switzerland I can't think of anything [liquid] which expresses more xmas memories like mulled wine. Its warm, spicy, syrup'y smells imbues the air and brings you into the mood of the festive season - if you drink it - well - one brings you into the mood, two are even better, three are taking you off the feet [doesn't mean, that it takes anything away from the mood - maybe only the morning later].

There is no need of using a premix - it is so simple.
Use a wine. Don't use a fancy one. A dry, "working day" wine is more than adequate [however you don't want to use bad hooch - it will even worsen your hangover as if you would drink it normal].
You need an orange. You need spices. And sugar.


  • 2 l dry, inexpensive but adequate red wine
  • 10 cloves
  • 10 allspice berries
  • 10 cardamom seeds [green]
  • 1 large cinnamon stick
  • 1 scraped out vanilla bean
  • 100g caster sugar
  • 1 orange [peel only]
  • optional: 100 ml dark rum [use a good one]



Add the red wine into a pot. Wash and peel the orange, using only the zest [be carefully with the pith- it will make your mulled wine bitter]. Add a couple of allspice berries, a cinnamon stick or cassia bark, 10 or so cloves and cardamom seeds, a vanilla bean [scrape out the vanilla seeds and use them for another application]. Add sugar [to taste] and heat it up. Don't boil - just simmer [I usually put cling film over the pot and not a lid - this keeps everything in the pot and the evaporation is minimal]. Simmer for 20 minutes.
Let it cool down with the spices. Strain when cold. Thats it.

In the bar, we are heating up the mulled wine with an electric water cooker - just don't let it cook. At home, you could put it a couple of seconds into the microwave or if you have a party, you could directly heat it on the stove.

And well - we also add a couple of shots Gosling black seal - it just compliments the flavors and boosts a bit the alcohol [be even more carefully to have a second one].

I can live with these kind of holiday feelings...

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

How to use citric acid - and why you might not want to use it anyway!

To be honest, I shied away of this topic, because I think, people can misinterpret this - big time. I don't want to be part of the problem - I want to be part of the solution!  But when Chris, over at A Bar Above  discussed this subject- I literally could not resist to join into "the discussion". Here is the video: I - however take a bit slower approach than Chris. What is citric acid? Chemical Compound Citric acid is a weak organic acid with the formula C6H8O7. It is a natural preservative/conservative and is also used to add an acidic or sour taste to foods and drinks. Wikipedia Formula: C6H8O7 Molar Mass: 192.124 g/mol Melting Point: 153C Density: 1.66 g/cm3 Boiling point: 175C Soluble in: Water Why is it controversial? In my "mixology world" it is controversial, as citric acid is the stuff, which makes the nightmarish sour mix [ preferably in powder form ] sour. Yeah - citric acid is the main ingredient in one of the most

Agar-Agar Clarification

Not often, I am posting here things, which are clearly not my ideas... However Dave Arnold is clearly a mad scientist [no, he really is!] - and he posted amazing stuff on his website www.cookingissues.com - no - don't click now - just follow the link later. One of the most impressive posts about mixology, besides of demystifying the mechanics of shaking, were clarification techniques. Look, after him, you could use a centrifuge [which would set you back a couple thousand bucks] and a chemical compound, which solidifies sediments. I am not a fan of that. Then there is gelatine clarification; this works quite well [I tried it several times my self] - you gelatinize a liquid [with little gelatine only], freeze it, thaw it [in the fridge] over a colander and a muslin cloth. Thats it. Unfortunately this has several problems: Gelatine is made out of animal bones - hence it is neither vegetarian nor vegan, which you won't usually expect of a beverage. You have to freez

King Robert II Vodka

Who would knew, that I am reviewing a budget vodka here - on the opinionatedalchemist.com. But this isn't a normal review. I skip the marketing perception and use this product to cut directly to the case: Vodka is a "rather" neutral, colorless, "rather" flavorless and odorless distilled beverage from any agricultural source - and depending on the country, it has a minimum of 37.5% and 40% abv. As I said time and time again before: at times it is absolutely nonsense to talk about premium and luxury, when the original product doesn't really "hold this promise". Luxury water can have luxurious marketing, luxurious packaging, can be even rare and slightly more expensive "to produce". However really it is just water. Maybe it has some nuances to normal water - however those nuances (in a blind-test) are pretty small. Vodka is extremely similar - and the chain of evidence (despite a lot of people trying to proof otherwise) makes it re