Monday, August 8, 2011

Honeycutt Hooch

My dad made plum whiskey (Slivovitz - another Czech thing) when my brothers and I were kids. He started it off in large plastic bins which attracted fruit flies by the hundreds. I think by the time the fruit was ready to distill we had generations of fruit flies around the barrels. My grandfather and dad devised an oven top still from a huge clam bake style pot and copper tubing that ran through ice.

Oh man, that stuff put hair on your chest.

Forward 30 or so years

This year on the farm we had a bumper crop of table grapes. Seems that the Japanese Beetles enjoyed the leaves but left the fruit alone.

When life gives you grapes - Make Wine
Mighty fine Wine

It is a simple process that only uses a couple of ingredients.
Roughly
Water - 1gallon
Fruit - 3 - 4 lbs.
Sugar - 3 lbs
Yeast (optional)

I started the wine August 1 and it is "supposed" to ferment 30 days. You then strain it and bottle it. Where it is supposed to sit for another 6 months. Thats it!! Easy huh

Sure easy for you to say. Hopefully I will be able to keep at least 1 bottle for the whole 6 months.

Taste testing equals Quality control