Grow Your Own Magazine

I could probaly brew a wine up to about 15% and taking the average spirit is 40% thats where my figure came from!
I am surprised 99% is possible but would class myself as nothing better than a meths drinker if I had to resort to that!
I think I would rather die or go blind at a ripe old age with a pot of char (or glass of wine!) in my hand as depart this world now whilst supping from a bottle of pocheen!
I don't believe in conspiracy theories, but what I do believe is that in this case, the government are literally saving us from ourselves......

Cor i caused a stir with that one!! I thought it was a bit of a myth that it was illegal i mean you can drink absinthe and that can be hallucinogenic(or is that another myth?)

It just came up in conversation with friends when talking about what to do with our excess veggies,sloe gin been my lot so far but may start on wine next year..

It's not illegal to drink poteen, just to make it! Though I don't know where you'd find a commercial supplier!
Absinthe used to be illegal but not any more, I think they probably reduced the alcohol content in that too.

My Dad came from Latvia,before the war his family made all their own hooch,but drew the line at distilling.They used to fortify their wine with "polish spirit",which I believe was a form of vodka.

Porchine - isn't that a kind of mushroom? ha ha DDL

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Appreciate the little things in life because one day you will realise they are the big things

The former "active" ingredient in this which has now been banned and replaced with I think synthetic flavouring was Wormwood. Like mugwort it can be a hallucinogenic but has some very toxic side effects which is why its use was banned.

Wormwood grows wild quite readily but I wouldn't advise drying it and burning it to see if any of this is true.

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Bright Blessings
Earthbabe
If at first you don't succeed, open a bottle of wine.

What I can't understand is, if Pocheen can be distilled safely like whiskey or brandy, why have no manufacturers jumped on the bandwagon and used it as a brand name?. I'm sure the under 20's of today would love to legally drink what has been banned for centuries in this country?

Or is it already being marketed legally?

Have seen it in a couple of city centre bars but have kept well away after trying some at somebody's house after far too much to drink - think that had been brought back from Prague - as I remember it involved burning brown sugar over it and even after a heavy session it was quite clearly foul. Never been remotely tempted since.

No Snadgar, don't think its being marketed at all as its much too high in alcohol content.

Call us Brits unromantic, but don't our teenagers hope for the same results with a bottle of diamond white or a couple of cans of beer? Doesn't have quite the same ring to it as Pineau.

Hi! NIcos thanks for thr reference in this string. Having served 10 years in a laboratory I am well aware of ethyl and methyl alcohol which are both present in any alchoholic drink. The trouble with distillation is that you cannot be sure how much of each you are distilling across from the mash to the spirit. They distill at different temperatures, thus the problem. Annie trip yes I have a recipe but am not sure how you could contact me, perhaps through the moderators. I would like to suggests that the bottom line is 'what ever you drink, take it easy'. I lived in the west country in the 70's and used to buy farmhouse cider. The chancellor realised how much was being made but not taxed so he introduced a tax on farm cider. The farms stopped making it, except for a brave few. A whole local industry decimated by goverment greed. The same happened with small stills it was the tax man that closed the small prodiucer so that they could contol the larger producer.