For The Love Of Port

I admit that I can't resist a pint of black Liffy water every time I go to Dublin - it would seem insulting to my hosts not to do so

However, I can report that a business associate in Dublin who was the recipient of the Taylor's 1977 & decanter that was the subject of another thread was very pleased to receive it, and even seemed to recognise what it was - the only bad point of the trip was when I was disembarking the plane at Dublin airport yesterday morning and saw one of the ground crew play football with the box containing the T1977 that was clearly marke FRAGILE in bold red letters on all sides - B*****d's ! :x - luckily it was well packed and surrvived the ordeal

Derek

Derek,
They were just making sure the sediment was well integrated.

Alan,
That Liffy water is one of my favorites....you wanna make something of it..uhh...come on...bring it on...

Andy,
I love a glass of the black stuff meself, dont yer know, All I was saying is that theres an urban myth that they use the water from the Liffy. As Guiness is also known as Liffy water, they dont publicise that its not. The water from the Liffy isn't clean enough. I've been told that the water they do use has run through peat bogs and does have an ever so slightly different taste to it. But then again, maybe all the licencees and barmen in Ireland that I've mithered over the years are having a craic and winding me up!
Anyway, how boring am I! Just drink the stuff and be happy. :)
Alan

Alan,

Speaking of myths and legends....when I was in college I had a fraternity brother who swore they put a pint of Ox blood in every batch. I just kept telling him to drink more and shut up

Alex,

I sucessfully reconstructed a Fonseca 1970 cork last night using a wooded cocktail stick and no glue

Can I join "The Cork Reconstructors Club" ?

Derek

PS: Unfortunately, the Harvey's 1985 cork is beyond repair. Not sure if this was down to the state of the cork or the method of extraction - I believe a penknife was used :?

Aha. I always had my doubts about you Derek.

I will never allow a false reconstructor to join my club. Its glue or nothing. Where is the art and skill in sticking a great wooden spike through the centre of a crumbled cork? Where is the need for patience and dexterity? Did Michaelangelo use cocktail sticks when he was making the statue of David? No!. Did Da Vince make his helicopter model out of cocktail sticks? Again I say NO! Did Monet use cocktail sticks to paint the Water Lilies? Never!

Alex


PS - I sure hope this humour translates

Hey, I wondered what happened to my Fonseca cork. I was going to reconstruct that using a soldering iron, liquid wood and a set of miniature G-clamps.

Al-K,

For the record - you handed me the small bag containing your broken corks at the end of the night and said "see what you can do with those" -

Al-D

When I said "Shove a cork in it..."

And here I was proud removing a '63 Taylor VP cork in one piece on Thursday. Such a minor miracle in comparison to many of these other feats.

So what was the trick to getting the cork out in 1 piece? What equipment did you use?

I admit that each and every bottle I open, I approach with every hope that I will get the cork out in one piece, but I never succeed. Even the Warre '91 that I opened recently crumbled on me.

Alex

Alex,

I removed 4 corks last Friday/Saturday and all came out intact. The oldest was a Graham's/Graham/Grahams 1963 - my proudest moment 8)

The others were Fonseca 85 and 2000 and the NN87.

The F00 was interesting as it was extremely tight and was only stained on the bottom surface of the cork with almost no penetration into the wood or up the sides. I know this bottle has been lying down for at least 3 years. I recall someone suggesting this as a theory for new looking corks in old bottles in another thread.

Derek

I'm kind of glad i discovered this thread - perhaps you'd all do me a favour and tell my wife that I'm not crazy. After opening my first VP the other day (Ferreira '97) the bottom of the cork shattered and was lost. I have kept the cork for its sentimental value, but she shot me (yet another) one of those looks that very plainly reads "you are a nut-ball, but for some reason I didn't figure that out before I married you, so now I'm stuck with you!"

I love the idea of the magnum box with the corks in it by the fireplace. Consider that my new project - to open enough special bottles of port that I can fill a box by my own fireplace. 8)

Todd

Todd,

Allow her a one time read through the forum and she will realize you are still sane, and that all the rest of us are the nuts. However, she may just realize that slippery slope you're heading down is going to make you even nuttier. So just bring her to an offline with us, and she will very quickly learn that you are really a total nut like all of us and that it is best to just find something else to do why you enjoy that bottle of Port or spend every free minute of your time on this site

Todd,

My partner, Jo, would be happy to provide written evidence based on first hand experience of Port Offline's that Bridgema, Alan C, KillerB, Roy, Mario, Christopher, Nicos and I are completely nuts.

Jo will also provide proxy evidence from photographs that Andy V. Stewart, Dave, Jay and Eric are just as nuts as the rest of us.

Your wife is not alone - a FTLOP Widows Support Group is surely going to be a reality at some point soon

Derek

Guys,

I'm still not quite there yet....coz your scaring me!!!

On Saturday I saw Derek caressing his bag of Corks! and it was a Stay Fresh Bag!

They're coming to take you away, Ha,Ha!

Alan

Alan,

Just give into it - the hardest part is admitting it to yourself, the rest is easy.....

Derek

PS: Glad you didn't make any spelling mistakes in the last post

I'd make an apropos statement , unfortunately my avatar prohibites further comment .