Trivia

In some European countries like Germany, Italy, and Austria, McDonald's serves beer, but bottles are limited to one per burger to avoid getting customers drunk.

The world's most expensive wine, the Penfolds Limited Edition Ampoule (Australia), costs $168,000 a bottle. Only 12 of these bottles exist worldwide. The grapes in the wine are believed to be the oldest Cabernet Sauvignon vines in the world (mid-1880's).

In the middle Ages, European monks produced and sold Brandy, Beer and Wine in order to supplement the donations they received. Many forms of early-day wine production had been attributed to them, and the Champagne Dom Perignon was actually named after one of the monks who introduced organic wine making.

Irish whiskey is the world’s fastest growing spirit, though coming from a low base, according to a report by Davy Stockbrokers. The Dublin stockbroker said the renaissance of Irish whiskey has helped whiskey to outpace growth in the rest of the food and beverage sector.

Davy’s analysts note: “While Irish whiskey is the fastest-growing whiskey category in the world, it is coming off a low base. Scotch is now a 90 million case-a-year industry globally compared to Irish whiskey at around 5 million cases. For comparison, American whiskey is a 30 million-case industry and Canadian whiskey sells 20 million cases annually.”

The Rise of Scotch

In the 19th Century Irish whisky was the dominant player on the world whisky/whiskey stage, Fionnan O’Connor notes that at this time International London merchants were selling three Irish cases to every case of Scotch. Unfortunately three changes shake the industry to its foundations weakening Irish whiskey production and opening the door for the coming Scottish dominance:

1.            The Irish famine of 1845-1852 led to mass starvation, disease and emigration which decimated the countries domestic market

2.            The Irish Temperence Movement saw some 5 million (of a population of approximately 8 million taking “the pledge”

3.            The creation of the continuous still paired with the repeal of the protectionist British corn laws in 1946 allowed Scottish whisky manufacturers to import cheap grains, which unlike barley did not require malting

The word 'whiskey' (or whisky) comes from the Gaelic uisce beatha, meaning water of life. Irish whiskey was one of the earliest distilled drinks in Europe, arising around the 12th century. It is believed that Irish monks brought the technique of distilling perfumes back to Ireland from their travels to the Mediterranean countries around 1000 A.D. The Irish then modified this technique to obtain a drinkable spirit. Whiskey was first recorded in Ireland in 1405. It was later recorded in Scotland in 1494.

Red wine contains higher levels of antioxidants known as resveratrol, which reduces the risk of high blood pressure and most cardiovascular diseases, and the antioxidant helps us resist ageing.

 

Source: http://www.drugs.com/resveratrol.html

There are hundreds of varieties of grapes used to make wines. The more popular varietals are cabernet sauvignon, merlot, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, pinot noir, syrah or shiraz.  Chile has its rare grape called Carmenere that was thought to be extinct when the phylloxera plague happened in 1867 and nearly destroyed all the vineyards of Europe. Later on, this grape variety was found in Chile.

 

Source: Wine & Spirit Education Trust Level 1 Handout
 

Sparkling wines contain bubble of carbon dioxide gas that is trapped inside the bottle. The most famous region that makes the sparkling wines is in the Champagne region of France.

 

Source: Wine & Spirit Education Trust Level 1 Handout
 

After picking the grapes from the vines, the grapes will undergo a fermentation process wherein yeast will be added and will convert the sugar in the grapes into alcohol, thus in principle, people with elevated blood sugar levels can actually enjoy wines as long as they drink in moderation.
 

The color of the wine depends on how long the grape skins are soaked into the juice during fermentation.   It is possible to make white wines from black grapes by removing the skin before fermentation.

 

Source: Wine & Spirit Education Trust Level 1 Handout
 

Cabernet Sauvignon is a widely grown grape around the world. It produces wines with a black currant aroma & flavor, it can range between medium & full-bodied style.  This variety is often blended with other grapes. Many wines made with this kind of grape need to be matured before they are ready to drink.

Source: Wine & Spirit Education Trust Level 1 Handout

 

Merlot has a softer taste than Cabernet Sauvignon. It has a rich plum and berry fruit flavor with refreshing acidity and low to medium tannins.

 

Source: Wine & Spirit Education Trust Level 1 Handout
 

Chardonnay is one of the most widely planted grapes in the world. It produces apple fresh flavors in cooler climates and rich, full-bodied buttery flavors in hot climates.

 

Source: Wine & Spirit Education Trust Level 1 Handout
 

Sauvignon Blanc is a green-skinned grape often described as having a fresh green fruit aroma and flavor; it produces intense, fruity, and light to medium-bodied wines with refreshingly high acidity.

 

Source: Wine & Spirit Education Trust Level 1 Handout
 

Syrah or Shiraz is a dark-skinned grape used to produce powerful, deeply colored red wines that have the ability to age. Wines from made from syrah has a rich and peppery notes with flavors of black fruits. It is called Shiraz in Australia, South African and Canada.

 

Source: Wine & Spirit Education Trust Level 1 Handout

Pinot Noir produces a lighter red color and body than Cabernet Sauvignon but it has a good aging potential. Wines made from this grape can have a taste of summer fruits like raspberries and cherries when young, but as it matures, it will take on vegetal aromas.

Source: Wine & Spirit Trust Level 1 Handout

There are more than 10,000 varieties of wine that exist in the world today!

Source: www.roundbarnwinery.com/wine_faqs.php

You can pour 4 to 5 glasses in a regular 750ml bottle of wine, filling the glass halfway through.

Source: www.roundbarnwinery.com/wine_faqs.php

The science of wine and winemaking is called oenology.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WInemaking

Chile and Argentina are the South American countries that are known for their good-value red wines!

Source: www.rd.com/slideshows/quiz-wine-trivia-that-even-ted-allen-would-appreciate/#slideshow=slide8

It takes about 2.5 lbs. of grapes to make a bottle of wine.

Source: wine.about.com/od/winetrivia/a/winetrivia.htm

The Mesopotamians were known to produce the first wines in 6,000 B.C.

Source: wine.about.com/od/winetrivia/a/winetrivia.htm

V.S.O.P. stands for Very Superior Old Pale. It means that the youngest blend of brandy is stored for at least four years but the wood age is much older.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognac

BOURBON

                1. In 1964, the U.S. Congress recognized bourbon as a "distinctive product of the United States." The American whiskey gets its name from Bourbon County, Kentucky. Ironically, despite Kentucky producing 95 percent of the world's bourbon, none of it is currently made in Bourbon County.

BRANDY

                2. The word brandy is derived from the Dutch word brandewijn, which translates to “burnt wine.” This popular digestif is created by distilling wine.

                3. Some of the earliest thermometers—used in the 1600s—contained brandy instead of mercury. The liquor was eventually replaced with mercury due to the latter material's wider range of liquid-state temperature.

GIN

                4. Even though gin has been produced in the U.S. since colonial times, it wasn't a very popular liquor until the Prohibition era. The ease with which it could be made and the relatively low cost involved in producing it made gin an abundant favorite at illegal bars.

                5. The name gin is derived from various languages' names for the juniper berry—where gin gets much of its flavor. In French, it's genièvre, while in Dutch it's jenever, and in Italian it'sginepro.

                6. Gin became extremely popular in the British colonies due to its use as an additive in concoctions intended to prevent malaria. Colonists in tropical areas would use gin to mask the bitter flavor of quinine, an anti-malarial drug, by dissolving it in carbonated water—forming tonic water—and then adding a splash of gin. This gin-and-tonic drink later made its way back to the rest of the world, and the rest is history.

RUM

                7. Stylists in the 1800s believed that rum held the secret to clean and healthy hair, and often advised their clients to wash and soak their hair in the tropical liquor. (Brandy was considered a slightly less effective alternative.)

                8. July 31 is “Black Tot Day” in the U.K., commemorating the 1970 rule that abolished the British Navy's daily ration of rum for sailors. The ration was referred to as a “daily tot” and dwindled from half a pint twice a day when it was originally introduced in 1655 to 70 milliliters once per day at the time it was abolished.

                9. In order to determine whether their rum had been watered down more than it should be, sailors would occasionally mix gunpowder with their liquor and attempt to light it on fire. If the mix refused to flame up, they knew it had been watered down too much. A desirable proportion of water-to-rum, when mixed with gunpowder, would catch fire—thereby giving sailors “proof” of its alcohol content. This is where the modern term for a liquor's alcohol content originates.

SHERRY

                10. Famous explorers Ferdinand Magellan and Christopher Columbus traveled with a large amount of sherry onboard their ships during their historic journeys. In fact, Magellan reportedly spent more on sherry than he spent on weapons for his 1519 trip around the world.

TEQUILA

                11. True tequila (made from blue agave in specific regions of Mexico) never contains the infamous “worm,” though other types of mezcal (made from different agave plants) areoccasionally sold with the larval form of a moth that lives on agave plants floating in the bottom of the bottle. Even though the presence of these moths was a bad sign—indicating that the crop has been infested—including a “worm” in bottles of mezcal became a popular marketing gimmick in the 1940s and continues today.

                12. No one is quite certain when and how the margarita was first created, but the most popular origin story for the tequila drink dates back to October 1941, when bartender Don Carlos Orozco reportedly mixed up the drink for Margarita Henkel, the daughter of a German ambassador who wandered into Hussong's Cantina in Ensenada, Mexico. Henkel lived near the city, and since she was the first person to sample—approve of—the drink, Orozco named it after her.

VODKA

                13. The word “vodka” is derived from the Slavic term voda, which translates to “little water.”

                14. While most vodka is the product of distilled grains, potato vodka is also a popular alternative—especially for anyone with gluten allergies. Because it's derived from potatoes, this type of vodka is entirely gluten-free.

                15. The first country to make vodka its national drink was Poland, which was also the first country to export vodka.

                16. During the reign of Peter the Great, it became customary for foreign dignitaries to drink from the “Cup of the White Eagle”—a chalice containing 1.5 liters of vodka. This prompted many nations' ambassadors to travel in pairs, with one official drinking the vodka and the other attending to the important state issues that needed to be discussed.

                17. Vodka is the world's most popular liquor by a huge margin, with more than 4.44 billion liters consumed last year. In Russia alone, 13.9 liters of vodka are consumed each year per person.

WHISKEY

                18. The name “whiskey” comes from the English pronunciation of the Gaelic term for distilled alcohol, which translates to “water of life” (or “lively water”).

                19. Just after his term as the nation's first president, George Washington built a whiskey distillery on his Mount Vernon plantation. After its completion in 1797, it soon became the largest distillery in the U.S., producing more than 11,000 gallons of the liquor per year. He was encouraged to build the distillery by his farm manager, James Anderson.            

                20. During the Prohibition era, the U.S. government's ban on alcohol sales did not include whiskey prescribed by a doctor and sold in pharmacies. This exemption was one of the chief reasons behind the exponential growth of the Walgreens pharmacy chain, which stocked whiskey and grew from 20 stores at the start of Prohibition to almost 400 stores in 1930.

Source: Mental Floss  ("20 Things you might not know about your favorite liquors", 2013) Retrieved from http://mentalfloss.com/article/51314/20-things-you-might-not-know-about-your-favorite-liquors          

V.S. stands for Very Special. It means that the youngest blend of brandy has been stored in the casks for at least two years.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognac

X.O. stands for Extra-Old. It means that the youngest designated blend of brandy has been stored in the cask for at least six years, but on average, it is set for 20 years.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognac

Robert Parker is the most influential wine critic known today. Max Lalondrelle, fine wine buying director of Berry Bros & Rudd says: "Nobody selles wine like Robert Parker. If he turns around and says 2012 is the worst vintage I've tasted, nobody will buy it, but if he says it's the best, everybody will."

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_M._Parker,_Jr.

Red wines are fermented on their skins, while white wines are pressed, separating the juice from skins before fermentation.

Source: www.wineanorak.com/howwineismade.htm

The Scottish people spell whisky without an 'e' to save time on writing and have more time drinking. Other whiskey producing countries like America, Canada, and Ireland spell it as 'whiskey'.

Source: chuckcowdery.blogpost.com/2009/02/why-spelling-matters.html

France, Italy, and Spain are considered "Old World" wines. Some countries have been making wines for thousands of years. "New World" wines are from the USA, Chile, Argentina, South Africa, etc.

Source: wine.about.com/od/winetastings/a/oldvsnewwine.htm

The first written mention of Scotch Whisky was by a French friar named John Cor Exchequer Rolls of Scotland in 1495.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotch_whisky

The first recorded exports of Russian vodka were to Sweden in 1505.

Source: geniusofdrinking.com/drinking-101/vodka/trivia.html

To remove red wine stains, spray vodka on stains, scrub with a brush, and then blot dry.

Source: geniusofdrinking.com/drinking-101/vodka/trivia.html

Piotr Smirnov founded Smirnoff vodka in Moscow in the 1860's.

Source: www.geniusofdrinking.com/drinking-101/vodka/trivia.html

Just about anything fermentable can be used to make vodka -- potatoes, sugar cane, barley, molasses, even beets. Rye and wheat are the classic grains; most of the best Russian and Swedish vodkas use wheat while Polish vodkas have a preference for rye. Molasses is used for inexpensive, mass-produced brands. American distillers use the full range of base ingredients, depending on price range and preference.

Source: www.geniusofdrinking.com/drinking-101/vodka/trivia.html

In ancient Rome, a piece of toasted bread was dropped into wine to wish one good health -- which is how we obtained our term for a "toast".

Source: www.bartender.com/2fun/trivia.htm

In the 1790's, "happy hour" began at 3:00p.m. and cocktails continued until dinner.

Source: www.mylot.com/post/426669/alcohol-trivia-113-fun-facts

The best temperature to store wine is at 13ºC. If the temperature is too cold, the wine will taste dull. If the temperature is too warm, it will age quickly and affect the peak aging process.

Source: http://www.wineportfolio.com/sectionLearnWineTrivia.html

Tannin comes from the stems, seeds and skin of the grapes. The longer the wine stays in contact with these elements, the more tannic characteristics of the wine will be.

Source: http://www.wineportfolio.com/sectionLearnWineTrivia.html

It’s important to store the wine to the side so that the cork won’t dry out. If the cork dries out, it will shrink and air would penetrate the wine and spoil it.

Source: http://www.wineportfolio.com/sectionLearnWineTrivia.html

Spain has the largest area of land reserved for grape planting with over 2.9 Million acres.

Source: http://www.wineportfolio.com/sectionLearnWineTrivia-7.html

The French paradox is a catchphrase frequently used to refer to the French diet of consuming foods high in saturated fats but the people have reported a few cases of coronary heart disease. This is due to the fact that they consume a lot of red wine every day that have antioxidants.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_paradox

Food and wine produces a synergy of taste when paired together, which it cannot produce when wine is consumed alone.

Source: http://blog.vintagecellars.com/2011/11/fun-wine-trivia/

Most wines made in Europe are named after the location in which the grapes were grown while wines in countries other than Europe are named after the grape variety.

Source: http://blog.vintagecellars.com/2011/11/fun-wine-trivia/

The vintage date on the wine bottles refers to the year when the grapes were harvested while non-vintage wines consist of grapes from multiple harvests.

Source: http://www.wineportfolio.com/sectionLearnWineTrivia-4.html

Germany is least likely to produce cabernet sauvignon because of cool climate and shorter growing season which this type of grapes requires.

Source: http://www.wineportfolio.com/sectionLearnWineTrivia-5.html

A non-vintage wine is a combination of grapes from different harvest years and it is meant to be consumed immediately.

http://www.wineportfolio.com/sectionLearnWineTrivia-5.html

The three primary grapes used to make champagne are Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, and Chardonnay.

Source: http://www.wineportfolio.com/sectionLearnWineTrivia-3.html

The amount of sugar in grapes determines the alcohol content of wine. The higher the sugar content in grapes, the more alcoholic the wine will be.

Source: http://www.wineportfolio.com/sectionLearnWineTrivia-3.html

Fatty foods that are high in protein are best paired with tannic wine like Cabernet Sauvignon.

Source: http://www.wineportfolio.com/sectionLearnWineTrivia-3.html

Red wines are aged in oak barrels to add more tannin and aid in its ability to age.

Source: http://www.wineportfolio.com/sectionLearnWineTrivia-3.html

The fastest way to chill a wine bottle is to put it in a bucket with ice and water so that the temperature can be distributed evenly.

Source: http://www.wineportfolio.com/sectionLearnWineTrivia-3.html

Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the United States loved wine so much, he actually said, “Wine makes daily living easier, less hurried, with fewer tensions and more tolerance."

Source: http://wineintro.com/quotes/benfranklin.html

Grapes need 1,300 hours of sunshine to ripen

Source: http://www.carafe.ca/trivia.php

E & J Gallo is the largest winery in the world.

Source: http://www.carafe.ca/trivia.php

Oak barrels provide the vanilla flavor and aroma in wines.

Source: http://www.carafe.ca/trivia.php

Wines are generally not suitable for vegetarians because of the ‘fining’ process of wines – removing the dead yeast and other floating matter – involves adding milk or egg whites or fish extract.

Source: http://uktv.co.uk/dave/facts/sid/7754

The world’s most expensive wine sold was a 1787 Chateau Lafite which cost $160,000 in 1985.

Source: http://uktv.co.uk/dave/facts/sid/7754

Opening a bottle of sparkling wine may pop at a velocity of 38-40mph so be careful!

Source: http://www.gloriaferrer.com/sparkling-wine-trivia

According to a group of researchers at Sun Yat Sen University in Guangzhou, China, the best remedy for a hangover is Sprite.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/seeking-a-cure-for-the-hangover--scienists-say---sprite--181644088.html

Coconut water can greatly help alleviate hang-over because it has high electrolytes and can rehydrate the body.

Source: http://www.wineportfolio.com/sectionLearn-Fast-Wine-Facts.html

There are five basic steps in tasting wine: color, swirl, smell, taste, and savor. These are also known as the "five S" steps: see, swirl, sniff, sip, savor. During this process, a taster must look for clarity, varietal character, integration, expressiveness, complexity, and connectedness.

 

Source: Wine & Spirit Education Trust Level 1 Handout
 

A "flabby" wine means that the wine is heavy and lacks acid. 

Source: http://www.wineportfolio.com/sectionLearnWineTrivia-4.html

Alcohol and carbon dioxide are the by-products of wine’s fermentation process.

Source: http://www.wineportfolio.com/sectionLearnWineTrivia.html