Glogg is just alright with me
From: Constance Mansour
Date: Sun, 22 Jan 2006 09:55:42 -0700
Subject: glogg with gin?Hi I found your nice Glogg recipe!
I don't have any brandy or whiskey. But have gin in the house, however you say that would be bad to use. Pls explain. I am a lightweight, so won't be drinking much. It's for a party.Thanks,
Connie
First of all, I'm really sorry I missed this message, as I'm always happy to see someone trying to spread the Werd of Glogg. Secondly...
- There are few drinks better for parties in cooler weather. You've still got a few more months, so party on Constance.
- Lightweights can be a lot of fun -- I treasure the value of a cheap date -- so long as they aren't causing others to not be able to drink because they're having to take care of them. Watch the glogg.
- You generally want brandy for that stage for it's flavor, especially once it's been lit on fire and caramelized with the sugar. Every alcohol has its own specific qualities, and vodka strives to actually eliminate all the flavor -- the higher the quality, the purer. You might be able to get the "kick" with vodka, but you'd be missing the flavor of the brandy which sort of makes the drink.
- Gin itself has a high alcoholic content, so I'm guessing you could light 'er up just fine, unfortunately it really would affect the taste. It generally is made with juniper berries and a few other flavors instead of the richness you get from a brandy or whiskey.
Something to remember is that there such a thing as mulled wine, which is quite tasty and basically just involves a few varieties of red wine that suit your palate combined with slices of fruit (orange, raisins, perhaps cherries, etc.), sugar or honey, and simmered in a similar fashion.
It's very good, but it's not glogg.
From: Constance Mansour
Date: Sun, 22 Jan 2006 09:59:22 -0700
Subject: oops, I meant Vermouth.Apologies, I meant I have VERMOUTH in the house. Not gin.
Thanks,
Connie
Right, now you're just screwing with me. I cannot in good conscience give you a pass on using vermouth as a substitute for brandy, as I dunno what the hell you'd really have at that point, but it wouldn't be glogg.
Vermouth is basically a kicked-up wine with herbs added to impart aroma and flavor -- which is slightly medicine-ish. It goes way back, and I'm told the herbs were originally infused to mask the taste of horribly-cheap wine of the age, but as weird-tasting things in Europe often go, people developed an appreciation. There are a few different varieties, but it's generally mixed in with other higher-proof alcohols to create cocktails, as in a splash of white vermouth for a martini.
For the amount of vermouth you'd need to replace brandy, you'd end up with something with a very... distinct... taste, which wouldn't really have that softened glow you get from the brandy. I honestly don't know if vermouth would even have a high enough proof to be lit on fire for caramelization. However, while it might not be glogg, it might be good?
Just don't call it glogg. You'll better understand my resoluteness once you've made or experienced it in its true form. While glogg doesn't consider all other drinks to be lesser, there's beauty in purity, and we already have enough areas of life where whatever's convenient is thrown into a pot and served to you as the real deal.
Posted by drunkenbatmanJanuary 31, 2006, at 02:09 AM
Comments (9)
Posted by: Brandon Nale at January 31, 2006 02:27 AM
While glogg doesn't consider all other drinks to be lesser, there's beauty in purity, and we already have enough areas of life where whatever is convenient is thrown into a pot and served to you as the real deal.
Did you just use an alcoholic recipe and The Doobie Brothers as an allegory? I think you did. :-) Bravo. If there's a flaw, I can't tell if you are talking about religion or technology there.
Posted by: Abhi Beckert at January 31, 2006 05:07 AM
Clearly he's talking about the religion of technology: getting pissed!
Posted by: Jesper at January 31, 2006 05:28 AM
It's still spelled Glögg. ö. &-ouml-;. U+00F6 LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH DIAERESIS.
Posted by: Jesper at January 31, 2006 05:32 AM
Not that I'm adamant or anything. :)
Posted by: Carson at January 31, 2006 08:06 AM
The very concept of drinking Vermouth of any variety in any significant quantity causes me to make a face I wish everyone could see.
Ew.
Posted by: ledge at January 31, 2006 12:07 PM
Vermouth is traditionally flavored with Wormwood (/Artemesia sp./), hence the name, as the German word "Wermuth" means both "wormwood" and "vermouth."
Vermouth typically isn't flavored with wormwood today, as far as I know, as /Artemesia absinthium/ was the species most commonly used and, as you may be able to tell from the name, is the same stuff they put in Absinthe, which has since been made illegal in most countries.
The popular explanation is that the thujone contained in the wormwood extract (which is both what makes Absinthe/Vermouth so bitter and foul tasting, and also what gives them its "kick") is a mild hallucinogen and can cause some form of delusional state, but from what I'm aware, no real research has been done in that area since the late 1800's/early 1900's when it was originally made illegal.
Pernod is/was one of the more popular brands of Absinthe and similar liquors. You can likely find some repros of some famous paintings done by Tolouse Latrec from the heydey of the Absinthe craze with the "Pernod" logo in your local home decoration store. And you can still probably find Pernod "Chartreuse" in your local liquor store, which is basically Absinthe without the thujone, if you are curious what the fuss is about.
Wormwood got its common name from the simple fact that thujone is highly unpalatable to many intestinal parasites. So if you had some "bottom problems" in the middle ages from parasites, the local witch would give you some wormwood tea, and out would come all the ickies.
The more you know...
Posted by: Peter da Silva at January 31, 2006 12:41 PM
Absinthe's bad reputation is greatly overrated. It's wobderful stuff and it haznd hurd me angy. Yblr jbst jeibus...
Posted by: Glöggmeister at January 31, 2006 02:52 PM
In a deep pan, put 75 grams of raisins, 75 grams of peeled and chopped almonds, 2 pieces/sticks of cinnamon, 7 cardamom pods, 5 cloves and (these are optional): figs, ginger and peels of Seville orange.
Pour in 0.5 to 1 litre of vodka and red wine to taste - not too much at this stage though.
Put metal gratings on top of the pan and on top of this, place a "reasonable" amount, oh say a couple of kilos, of sugar lumps.
Put the heat on so that the glögg starts to warm up.
Set fire to the glögg (be careful!) and, using a soup ladle, pour the burning liquid over the pile of sugar lumps. Keep doing this until the sugar has melted into the pan. You may want to taste the glögg regularly to make sure it doesn't get too sweet.
Finally back to basics sir. Excellent.
I've had vermouth with any form of juices, and a 40 oz old english chaser and it went down. It's not my favorite to say the least, but it went down.