THE ADVENT CALENDAR OF ALCOHOL – 14th December (13%-14%): Green Ginger Wine
THE ADVENT CALENDAR OF ALCOHOL – 14th December (13%-14%): Green Ginger Wine
It’s a wine, made from green ginger and dried grapes (i.e.raisins), and left for 9 months, which sounds pretty disgusting. I’ve never actually tasted it on it’s own, but when you mix it with any blended whisky, no matter how gaggingly awful, you get the most amazing elixir that man ever created. Or at least you think so, after you’ve had a handful of them!
Green ginger will always hold a place in my heart because of its wonderful healing properties. Many’s the cold it’s battled into submission, if only for the night, enabling me to get a good nights rest, but the ultimate in pain relief came when I received a footballing injury up on Primrose Hill. It was 6.30 on a saturday evening, and the last thing I wanted to do was go to an A&E anywhere near Camden, so I hobbled down to the pub, got a hankerchief full of ice from the bar for the swollen ankle, and proceeded to guzzle down countless whisky macs, thus numbing the pain from my injury. It probably numbed it a bit too much, as I didn’t think it was too bad an injury until the wednesday when I still couldn’t walk properly, and didn’t get confirmation that I’d broken it until the friday. Oh well.
To me it’s very much a winter drink, and just thinking about it makes my tastebuds tingle, but apparently Stones are trying to convince everyone to drink it in the summer too, as a long drink with lemonade, or in fruit punch. Apparently it’s very handy in the kitchen too. A quick trawl on google produces lots of recipes once you get beyond the first couple of pages.
All in all it’s a forgotten classic, I need to make sure it quickly joins the bottles in the drinks cabinet at home, and I can’t wait to get to the pub tomorrow night, and savour one.