After Dinner or Whenever

The great wines used for entertaining because of their sweetness are the Sherries, the Ports, Muscatel, and Madeira. Cream Sherries are favored by many guests who come to talk, play bridge, have a meeting. Port can be rich, red, dark, and deep, but not always. Ports have a robust body from pedigreed grapes and are perfect with cheese and nuts. English literature is filled with references to Port as the after dinner wine. Remember how the men lingered over their Port and cigars and the ladies retired to another room? Madeira is the anytime wine for entertaining. It has a nutty flavor. A first sip of this enticingly tawny nectar will show you why Madeiras are so popular. Muscatel is a brilliant golden amber dessert wine with a delicate, spicy aroma of the Muscat grape.
The story of the way Brandy started helps explain many of the good things about it. In the region of Charente in France in 1466 the vintners had more wine than they could sell, or easily store. A travelling Dutch apothecary suggested they could reduce the storage problem 80% by boiling the wine. The vintners accepted his brilliant suggestion, distilled their wine in small pot stills and put it to age in oak casks. As it ripened, it developed appealing smoothness and extraordinary flavor--they had captured the soul of the wine in something new, Brandy. Brandy remains the only drink made from something good to drink. Brandy must possess Bouquet, Body, Dryness, Lightness, Smoothness, and Flavor to be perfect.
Daddy loved Benedictine Brandy or was it called B&B? I had a taste of it many years ago and didn't like it but maybe I would like it today. Dave's father liked Brandy in his mixed drinks. Some brandy mixed drinks are: Brandy Old Fashioned, Brandy Gimlet, Brandy Sour, Brandy Stinger, Brandy Manhattan, Brandy Breeze and Brandy Eggnog.
"Claret is the liquor for boys; Port for men; but he who aspires to be a hero must drink Brandy." Samuel Johnson
"We cannot say this of any other wine, Port is deep-sea deep." George Meredith
"If I had a thousand sons, the first principle I would teach them would be to addict themselves to Sherry." Shakespeare: Henry IV, Act II