20 Year Old Plum Wine: The sampling

[Slimslapper]

I was recently holding a brew day at my parents house with a few of my brewing partners... My father came down with an old apothecary flask full of a maroon liquid that had always been sitting in their house that I grew up in. He proceeded to tell me that it was a home brewed plum wine that a customer had given him as a gift when he first started his job. He wasn't sure how old the plum wine was when he received it, but my father left it unopened on a shelf for 20 years, forgetting about it until our brew day.

Excited as little kids, we grabbed a corkscrew and began to open the old flask. The cork had completely dried out as it was aged upright, leading us to have to filter out the debris of the cork with a coffee filter and funnel before consuming.

So, on to the tasting: DANG this stuff has a kick! I have never really experienced plum wine before so I had no real point of reference, but the wine had the strength of a liquor and finished with a woodsy taste almost like a whiskey. I felt like I should be having a shot glass of the stuff rather then a wineglass.

Anyone with experience on plum wine find this flavor unique or normal? Could 20 years of aging make this stuff really this strong? Maybe the brewer just fortified it...

Anyhow, I will post pictures of the stuff when I get a chance!

 

[Tusch]

That is quite interesting to say the least, the story behind it is really cool though. Now for the flavors I'd say that is all from adjuncts. Maybe it was aged for a time with oak, leading the harsher flavor and that whiskey like hint you got. Aging it won't make it taste stronger, in fact it should mellow any alcohol burn it could have quite a bit, especially over 20 years. I've never made a plum wine, so I may be wrong, but just going on my bit of experience with country wines.

 

[FailureDrill]

I had plum wine while deployed to Bosnia in a small Croatian village. I'm not sure if it was similar to what you had, but it was quite strong. The drunken aftertaste was quite pleasant as I remember.

 

[EoinMag]

I had plum wine while deployed to Bosnia in a small Croatian village. I'm not sure if it was similar to what you had, but it was quite strong. The drunken aftertaste was quite pleasant as I remember.

Was that maybe Julishka?
Serbo-Kroats are crazy into a plum flavoured fortified wine which they tend to home brew.
The nearest approximation to the spelling is that, I think it's right.

 

[homebrewer_99]

Can you say Raki?

 

[FailureDrill]

That sounds right, we weren't actually suppose to drink at the outpost we were at so our interpreter had to bring it in for us. "It'll get you drunk" - Sam Jackson.