Home brew Outside UK

[JillStephens7]

Hmmmm. I feel a survey on Ishers ages coming up ...

Mike

I'll be surveyed cause I'm baffled. When do you stop being part of the seventies generation and start being part of the Thatcher generation? I was born in 77 and thought she came in as PM in 79?

I also consider myself as young though doubt I am part of the young generation as meant here

[contadino]

I was a Thatcher-era child. However, she's been gone a long, long time now, and I really hope she has no lasting effect on my way of life/values. Personally, I don't think anyone since has been any different - they all encourage grab-what-you-can and screw-everyone-else societies. There's no point blaming anyone else for your own actions.

I make wine/beer/etc.. because I'm self-sufficient. Why am I self-sufficient? Because it's great fun. 'Nuff said really.

ETA: BTW, I know someone who (maybe) lurks on here, who's just knocked up what may be her 1st batch of homebrew fruit wine. She's in Canada - in an area where no grapes grow. So yes, maybe fruit wines are just for those who can't get decent grapes.

[Millymollymandy]

Well I was just too young by one month to vote for her when she became PM so I have no idea what age exactly is a Thatcher era person.

But judging by what has been said on this forum people are saying that only the young and the oldies do gardening/home brew/whatever and those of us in the middle (Thatcher era I guess) just go and buy everything in shops. Wrong!

[MKG]

You see, you come up with a decent generalisation, and look what happens.

I'm sticking to my guns, though. MMM, I wouldn't put you in the Thatcher generation at all. I suppose it isn't a matter of when you were born, but rather when you went through those opinion-forming years. What I'd consider the beginners of the Thatcher generation were born around 1969/70, so went through their teenage years in Thatcher's Britain. They'd be around 40 now.

Obviously not everyone can be tarred with the same brush. But I'll swear, for instance, that of people born in the 50s, the great majority became supremely environmentally conscious. You can't escape the world in which you grew up - it's bound to colour your opinions. So I would bet that the majority of today's 40 year olds have taken on board some of the selfishness and consumerism which were pushed so hard throughout the 80s.

So yes, it's a generalisation and like all generalisations, it doesn't always ring true. But I didn't invent the phrase "Thatcher generation", and it's generally taken to mean those people carrying the attitudes I've described.

Mike

[contadino]

Ha! Mike, I was born in 1969!

[MKG]

... obviously the exception which proves the rule

Mike

[Millymollymandy]

And I'm way too old, as usual.

Though I did go through some of my teenage years in Thatcher's Britain! Frankly I wasn't aware of consumerism until about the 2000s - perhaps cos the people I knew just didn't have any spare cash and I wasn't aware that it was so easy to get credit cards or mortgages etc back then. But then it's only 2nd hand knowledge/what I read in the papers/see on TV/hear people talking about on forums as I wasn't living there but it seems to me from 6 years of being on forums that Britain went to the dogs under dear Mr Blair, which is why so many of them live in other countries now.

[Annpan]

I saw a Andrew Marr documentary (the history of modern Britain) He said (and I am paraphrasing here)

"Of all adults in the UK, none of us are Wilson's or Callaghan's children, and none of us are Major's children. We are all of us Thatcher's children"

I think he is right.... for the under 65ish anyway.... I certainly am.

--

Back on topic - My father brewed country wines from his 20s till he died at 39. All my siblings (there are 6 of us) and I started brewing in our 20s, the rest of them stopped by the age of 30... I am not quite there yet but have no intention of stopping. For me it is partly about the wonder of creating booze, and partly about carrying on a family hobby (something my Dad would be happy to see, no doubt)

I gave a bottle of my rhubarb wine to my 19YO nephew and he seemed interested in trying brewing himself.... and so I might be passing it down another generation.

[theabsinthefairy]

Maybe being a Thatcher generation child is driving us all to drink, and the effects of the Blair government are that none of us can afford it so have to brew our own now?

[number6]

Since finding this site I am tempted to get my wine making gear out of the loft, its been a while since I made some Elderberry it was quite good if I remember correctly

Go for it pelmetman we went crazy last year and ended up brewing something like 18 gallons of elderberry on top of various other fruit wines.The Elderberry was definitely king though,and I've still got some left that I'm saving to take on holiday as a glass of wine at the right price is always welcome.

[contadina]

We were viewed with real amusement when we experimented with pea and bean pods to make wine. The comments went along the lines of..."why would you do that when you have grapes". And they had a point they were pretty dis gusting. So if you don't have the climate for grapes, stick to fruit, unless you enjoy wine that makes your eyes water.

As an aside, there's an Italian community in Chertsey who drive a lorry-full of grapes back from the mother country every year to make wine with.

Also, I grew up in Thatcher's Britain, and like most of my contemporaries, it made me shun rather than embrace consumerism.

[number6]

Here in Italy pretty much every family makes their own wine. Maybe not enough for the whole year, but a few hundred litres at the very least. It's a family operation, with the oldest male in charge. We head off each year to the vinyard with a couple of other families and spend the morning picking grapes, then go home and process them. As it gets bottled up around about May time, we swap bottles between ourselves.

Beermaking is on the rise here, and I have friends in their 20's who now regularly make up a batch. There's now a good internet site that does mail order kits from the UK and Germany, which are really popular with the young 'uns.

Some people operate stills, mainly producing fig grappa - distilled fig wine. The less I say about that the better, as it's frowned upon by the police because it's meant to be illegal.

...and of course, everyone makes Limoncello and other types of digestivo. That's made using Alcool Puro (between 92 and 97%) which you can buy in shops and in the market.

Have tried lemoncello while in Italy,very nice indeed. Having not long read your post I did a search to buy alcool puro in UK with no luck.I did however find a recipe, for any of you interested, which uses vodka instead.May have to give this a try.

[Andy Hamilton]

Have tried lemoncello while in Italy,very nice indeed. Having not long read your post I did a search to buy alcool puro in UK with no luck.I did however find a recipe, for any of you interested, which uses vodka instead.May have to give this a try.

yes please.

[contadino]

I get the feeling that Limoncello is one of those drinks like pastice or ouzo, that taste great in the right setting, but are a bit of a disappointment 'back home'.

That said, my niece made up a batch on returning from a trip over here and took it to a mate's party. The party rocked (several grim 'falling down'-type injuries), and everyone seems to think the Limoncello was the catalyst, so maybe I'm wrong.

[theabsinthefairy]

I love Limoncello ( I make my own - have not seen it for sale in France) - straight out of the freezer into little shot glasses - definitely a falling down and giggling a lot type of drink!