MdV: Merchant du Vin beer e-newsletter –
Tuesday, November 14, 2006: A Toast to
Toasting
Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock is available year-round
in bottles, but a limited number of kegs come to the
http://www.merchantduvin.com/ay_ce_drft_0607.pdf
Seventeen years ago, most Americans had never heard
of a Winter Warmer. This year, the seventeenth
vintage of rich, deep Samuel Smith’s Winter Welcome Ale is now at a great beer
spot near you. More:
http://www.merchantduvin.com/ss_ww_0607.pdf
Samuel Smith’s Winter Welcome is in the news; Orval’s
brewery manager visited the
http://www.merchantduvin.com/pages/1_about/news.html
Beer Chat from the
As the holiday season and New Year’s Day approaches,
we raise our glasses to a widespread, warm, and cheerful human tradition: the
toast. From a formal toast that may be
the sentimental high point of a wedding to a simple “cheers!” with a friend
over a beer, this illogical activity adds pleasure to drinking and indeed to
living.
History: the action of sloshing glasses together,
thereby mixing their contents, may have started as a response to a Greek
tradition: poisoning your enemy’s drink.
(We’ve heard that handshaking originated not only to demonstrate “empty
hands” but to also shake loose any daggers or other small weapons stashed up-sleeve.) The term “toast,” probably came from the 17th
century European practice of actually adding a piece of toasted bread to a
glass of wine, which can absorb some unpleasant volatile flavors and improve
the flavor. (Charcoal is frequently used as a filter medium, right?)
So, as a courteous host I slosh a little liquid back
and forth between our glasses – showing that I didn’t poison you. Then, I offer a piece of toast as a sort of
“purifying garnish” to your wine. (Of
course, my excellent wine wouldn’t need it, but – ever the good host – I’d
offer.) As the decades and centuries
rolled by, this ritual became stylized and, in fact, who knows what parts of
the traditions were lost?
But over the years and centuries, this little ritual
has come to mean a few things:
We wanted to point out a few loose suggestions &
guidelines about toasting, too:
-Seek brevity and originality.
-If you must give a meaningful toast – say at a
wedding – do choose a topic ahead of time, even if you don’t memorize the
toast. Otherwise, under pressure, you
may default to a crude “there was this one time . . . “ story, which is less
likely to be meaningful.
-Wait for the person making the toast to finish
speaking and let her or him take the first sip.
It’s considered bad taste to drink while the toast is going on.
-The person toward whom the toast is directed should
stay seated during the toast. If that
person decides to return the toast, rise after the first toast is finished.
-Beer, wine, spirits, fruit juice, and soft drinks
are appropriate toasting beverages in most circumstances. Some folks believe that coffee or tea are
inappropriate for toasting; others feel that toasting with water can bring bad
luck.
-We suggest that you don’t need to clink your glass
with every single person in the group.
If they are across the table, just raise your glass while you make eye
contact.
Our next e-newsletter will be in January, 2007. Meanwhile, a haiku toast for you and yours:
Winter months ahead
Friends near; warm, happy, healthy
Glass of beer in hand
Merchant
http://www.merchantduvin.com