Old Western Wine?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

nukinfuts29

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 18, 2011
Messages
1,593
Reaction score
32
Location
Pike County
Anyone have a recipe suggestion? My father in law is huge into old westerns and cowboy stuff, like Tombstone and all that. Want to brew him up a wine from that era, but he only likes sweet wines.
 
I've never heard of a cowboy drinking wine. John Wayne and Clint Eastwood might agree.
 
I've never heard of a cowboy drinking wine. John Wayne and Clint Eastwood might agree.

Earp and Holiday can both been seen having wine in Tombstone, just not much. Besides wine is what he is into so the time period is whats important.
 
I'm guessing Sangiovese would be one of the varieties Cowboys would have used... buy a couple of lugs, press them, and put them into a carboy with an air-lock...

I guess they would just let the natural yeasts on the skins inoculate the must. It’s a crap shoot doing it that way though... If I'm spending money on Juice or Lugs, I will always inoculate my must with a known good strain rather than leaving it up to nature... and if its juice you can never be sure what process it’s been thru before it got into the bucket...
 
I would guess that back then, wine would be expensive since it mostly was imported.
From what I have read most beer and spirits was made on site or nearby. If it was shipped in they cut it with water to make it go further.

The old west, say Tombstone, AZ, probably did not have climate to raise grapes for wine.

I would say improvise with a mesquite honey mead or maybe an edible cactus wine.

Just thinking out loud too.
 
I'd like to make a traditional cactus wine with the peyote LOL

Thanks for the ideas guys keep em coming!
 
I don't have any historical data, but I'd guess that "cowboy wine" would most likely be a fruit wine made from whatever fruit would reasonably grow in the region it was served. Country fruit wines have been made from all sorts of fruit. I've even seen recipes for dandelion wine.
 
I don't have any historical data, but I'd guess that "cowboy wine" would most likely be a fruit wine made from whatever fruit would reasonably grow in the region it was served. Country fruit wines have been made from all sorts of fruit. I've even seen recipes for dandelion wine.

I was thinking this too, what about mesquite wine?
 
I don't have any historical data, but I'd guess that "cowboy wine" would most likely be a fruit wine made from whatever fruit would reasonably grow in the region it was served. Country fruit wines have been made from all sorts of fruit. I've even seen recipes for dandelion wine.

You would be correct. It would be the fermentation methods that would fit the period. I will have to use modern ingrediants closely matched to back then (if not the same) but the instructions/methods will or should create an end result that is period appropriate.
 
I believe cider was very popular in the US around that time (depending on your cowboy period). Ciders popularity started to fall in the early 1900s.

Kevin
 
This is kinda making me want to do this for a few old timers I know. Please let me know if you find a good recipe to us.
 
Back
Top