IGX

I've been drinking a box wine. Black Box brand Malbec. It's not bad.

I don't claim to be a wine maven, but I lived 5 years in the Napa Valley and you learn about wine because that's what people do there. This wine is pleasant and drinkable.

Also, it's amazingly inexpensive. About 18 -20 bucks for about 4 bottles worth. Open it up and it'll stay OK for a month. Just leave it on your counter. No refrigeration, no re-corking, nothing like that. (You might refrigerate white wines if you prefer cool.)

For me, a single guy, this works well. I cook my dinner and pour some Malbec. Don't have to dink with the bottle, the corkscrew, the oxyginator thing to suck air out of the half a bottle you put away in fridge.

I'm not saying this is stuff of your gourmet dreams, but it is pretty good and it's handy and it's probably available in your grocery/wine store.

What I'm saying is that you can turn your nose up on boxed wine --- I always did --- but give this Black Box stuff a try.

You were right about Red Breast Irish whiskey ( I had the 15 y.o. at Zombie Burger in Des Moines tonight) so I'll look for this as well. So far you are batting 1.000 in cars and booze IMO.

The worst drunk I ever had was on box wine and tequila. I got punished by standing a 12 hour guard in 102 degree weather and 90% humidity. After that the Caporal-chef taught me a lesson for about 3 hours. I have never touched either since.

Did you mix the tequila and the box wine, or chase the shots with the box wine?

Only two times have I been so drunk that I puked until I thought I was going to die and once was with wine in the box.

Chased the shots with the wine, and then when the T ran out just drank wine.

The box stuff can be decent-to-pretty-good and is an extraordinary value. OTOH, if you have a drinking/weight problem, finding new ways to increase the amount of booze you have on hand for less money may be unwise.

Grandpa's Spells wrote:OTOH, if you have a drinking/weight problem, finding new ways to increase the amount of booze you have on hand for less money may be unwise.

Don't worry about that. He's also adopted a new drinking strategy analogous to intermittent fasting. He now restricts all of his drinking to a four-hour period each day.

Grandpa's Spells wrote:The box stuff can be decent-to-pretty-good and is an extraordinary value. OTOH, if you have a drinking/weight problem, finding new ways to increase the amount of booze you have on hand for less money may be unwise.

I find I drink less because you can just pour one or two for dinner. A bottle always ends up at least half gone.

Pinky wrote:

Grandpa's Spells wrote:OTOH, if you have a drinking/weight problem, finding new ways to increase the amount of booze you have on hand for less money may be unwise.

Don't worry about that. He's also adopted a new drinking strategy analogous to intermittent fasting. He now restricts all of his drinking to a four-hour period each day.

True. And I'm diligent about getting it all done first thing in the morning.

seeahill wrote:

Grandpa's Spells wrote:The box stuff can be decent-to-pretty-good and is an extraordinary value. OTOH, if you have a drinking/weight problem, finding new ways to increase the amount of booze you have on hand for less money may be unwise.

I find I drink less because you can just pour one or two for dinner. A bottle always ends up at least half gone.

Two glasses of wine is half a bottle.

A half bottle of wine with dinner is a mark of civility.

What a duck says wrote: Two glasses of wine is half a bottle.

True. So, in my case, I guess most of the bottle is gone. You open it and hour before dinner, let it breathe, have a glass while cooking. Maybe two. Two for dinner. There's one left.

Tried it and it is pretty damn good. Thanks for the recommendation Tim. Gonna try the merlot next. Definitely a cheap way to have something other than grog and whiskey at my place.

Dunn wrote:Tried it and it is pretty damn good. Thanks for the recommendation Tim. Gonna try the merlot next. Definitely a cheap way to have something other than grog and whiskey at my place.

Buy a good quality merlot-- drink it and clean the bottle. Put the boxed merlot in a decanter the next time you have guests over and pull out the bottle when they ask what it is. They won't know the difference.

I think you're ready for the next step Timmah: http://bumwine.com/

seeahill wrote:

Grandpa's Spells wrote:The box stuff can be decent-to-pretty-good and is an extraordinary value. OTOH, if you have a drinking/weight problem, finding new ways to increase the amount of booze you have on hand for less money may be unwise.

I find I drink less because you can just pour one or two for dinner. A bottle always ends up at least half gone.

I could see that. Some people would put away a whole bottle ("I'm done when it's empty"), so giving them four bottles in an opaque container is unwise.

I don't use box wine for drinking, really, but it's absolutely the way to go to keep cooking wine on hand and in good condition at all times.

What a duck says wrote:

seeahill wrote:

Grandpa's Spells wrote:The box stuff can be decent-to-pretty-good and is an extraordinary value. OTOH, if you have a drinking/weight problem, finding new ways to increase the amount of booze you have on hand for less money may be unwise.

I find I drink less because you can just pour one or two for dinner. A bottle always ends up at least half gone.

Two glasses of wine is half a bottle.

They sell these special glasses up in Oregon Willamette Valley for Pinot Noir, big things so the aroma can fertilize or something. The pourer at the sample place said it contain a whole bottle to which we challenged to which she took an empty bottle filled it with water and poured the whole damn thing into the glass. Which led to jokes about, "Offshcifer, I shwear I jush had one glasshh uh wine"

What a duck says wrote:Two glasses of wine is half a bottle.

I prefer a 6 glass/bottle serving size. 1/3 of a bottle I can have all the time with no side effects, 1/2 a bottle affects my sleep and thus my condition the next morning. Of course heavy drinkers may have different results, but I don't wish to be a heavy drinker. I have relatives who are and it's not pretty.

Despite having a real taste for expensive beer and even more expensive distilled spirits, I am resigned to the fact that I am a total savage when it comes to wine. I go for "quaffable" as a primary quality to be prized. Box wine can offer compelling value. When I can get it on sale, Copper Moon has in boxes Shiraz and Cabernet for red, and Pinot, Chard, and Sauv for whites, and are all good for the money.

2 buck chuck, i.e. Charles Saw from trader joes. I find it hilarious that this brand of wine that retails for 2 dollars has won blind wine tasting competitions.

I, like the gorilla, also have a taste for fine beer, but just can't get into the wine thing. Most of wines people rave about taste like burnt oak chips.

I'm also getting some insight into Tim's issue with losing weight.

I hate wine.

I like Bota Box, Banrock Station and Black Box boxed wine.

I like it because if I open a bottle, as the only wine drinker in the house I have to finish it in 2 days, with a box i can have 1 glass and call it. (or not)

I like Merlot, Shiraz, Shirah, Pinot noir and Cabrenet Sov. I hate most white wines. To light and wine should look like blood.

I freak out the wine purist though because I am known to mix cranberry juice, pomgreante juice, orange slices and ice with wine alot. I call it Sweet Blood Cooler.

I really dig bottles of Big House wine, good shit and funny bottles.

http://www.ecovinowines.net/

I bought this "bag" wine from Trader Joe's the other day, basically two bottles in a giant CapriSun package with a spigot.

The nice things are that it is a lot less waste than two bottles and is made from organically grown grapes, the crappy things are that they only make Chardonnay (oops, didn't realize that when I bought it) and that they still add sulfites to it (the entire damn reason I buy organic wine is to avoid the damn sulfites).

Anyway, $10 for two bottles worth if it piques your interest.

Batboy2/75 wrote:Most of wines people rave about taste like burnt oak chips.

Try Spanish reds like Garnacha. They're cheap and they taste more like fruit than oak.