Sherry EMERGENCY!!

Goomba38 said:

Ok, maybe not a true emergency but almost. My stepmother is impossible
to shop for. She wants for nothing, so buying presents is very
difficult. SHe does enjoy her nightly sherry though. I'd like to gift
her with a particularly special brand, but need help picking one out.
The one liquor store I went to didn't have anything but Taylor's and
some generic Fairchild (or something like that) brand. Surely there are
better ones I could seek out? HELP!?
Goomba

If it were me, I would go for Harvey's Bristol Creame 🙂 I do like a
creamed sherry for drinking not cooking and Harvey's has a nice, smooth
flavour. If you want a cooking sherry, I would go for a dry, aged
sherry. I like Regency for a dry for cooking where you only use a wee
bit. Not sure if that helps a lot. Oh and if she likes sherry, she
might just like a port wine.

Goomba38 said:

I'd like to gift
her with a particularly special brand, but need help picking one out.

See
<http://groups.google.com/group/rec.food.cooking/msg/3a8ae5399720ec33>.

Victor

Goomba38 said:

Ok, maybe not a true emergency but almost. My stepmother is impossible
to shop for. She wants for nothing, so buying presents is very
difficult. SHe does enjoy her nightly sherry though. I'd like to gift
her with a particularly special brand, but need help picking one out.
The one liquor store I went to didn't have anything but Taylor's and
some generic Fairchild (or something like that) brand. Surely there are
better ones I could seek out? HELP!?

Go for the one she likes. I don't like sherry myself, but my wife really
enjoys a nice dry sherry. One of her favourites is Dry Sac, and she
sometimes has Shooting Sherry but she cannot tolerate Bristol Cream or any
of the sweet sherries.

On Wed 21 Dec 2005 03:36:19p, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it Goomba38?

Quoted message said:

Ok, maybe not a true emergency but almost. My stepmother is impossible
to shop for. She wants for nothing, so buying presents is very
difficult. SHe does enjoy her nightly sherry though. I'd like to gift
her with a particularly special brand, but need help picking one out.
The one liquor store I went to didn't have anything but Taylor's and
some generic Fairchild (or something like that) brand. Surely there are
better ones I could seek out? HELP!?
Goomba

Dry Sack Sherry would be my choice.

--
Wayne Boatwright *¿*
__________________________________________________________________
And if we enter a room full of manure, may we believe in the pony.

"Goomba38" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Ok, maybe not a true emergency but almost. My stepmother is impossible to shop
for. She wants for nothing, so buying presents is very difficult. SHe does
enjoy her nightly sherry though. I'd like to gift her with a particularly
special brand, but need help picking one out. The one liquor store I went to
didn't have anything but Taylor's and some generic Fairchild (or something
like that) brand. Surely there are better ones I could seek out? HELP!?
Goomba

Dry sack if she has it before dinner
Harvey's Bristol Cream is after dinner.

If you don't want to go that high then Almaden makes a Solera cream sherry.
Korbel also has some very nice wine.

BTW the ones at Trader Joe's are acceptable.\

Dimitri

"Goomba38" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Ok, maybe not a true emergency but almost. My stepmother is impossible to
shop for. She wants for nothing, so buying presents is very difficult. SHe
does enjoy her nightly sherry though. I'd like to gift her with a
particularly special brand, but need help picking one out. The one liquor
store I went to didn't have anything but Taylor's and some generic
Fairchild (or something like that) brand. Surely there are better ones I
could seek out? HELP!?
Goomba

If she likes good sherry it must come from Spain. Lustau is a brand I love.
They make many different kinds ranging from bone dry to sweet - what does
she like?

--
Peter Aitken

In article said:

Dry sack if she has it before dinner
Harvey's Bristol Cream is after dinner.

If you don't want to go that high then Almaden makes a Solera cream sherry.
Korbel also has some very nice wine.

BTW the ones at Trader Joe's are acceptable.

I dropped a mandible at reading this, as I might have written precisely the
same!

For a low-cost product, the Almaden is surprisingly tasty, if not quite up to
Harvey's standards.

Trader Joe's usually doesn't seem to keep the same brands very long; for
several years they had a product - which I thought was branded as "Solera" -
that struck me as better than Harvey's, but I haven't seen it there for a
while. What they're selling now, whose name escapes me (I'm at the office) is
more than decent.

Art

~patches~ said:

Goomba38 said:

Ok, maybe not a true emergency but almost. My stepmother is
impossible to shop for. She wants for nothing, so buying presents is
very difficult. SHe does enjoy her nightly sherry though. I'd like
to gift her with a particularly special brand, but need help picking
one out. The one liquor store I went to didn't have anything but
Taylor's and some generic Fairchild (or something like that) brand.
Surely there are better ones I could seek out? HELP!?
Goomba

If it were me, I would go for Harvey's Bristol Creame 🙂 I do like a
creamed sherry for drinking not cooking and Harvey's has a nice,
smooth flavour. If you want a cooking sherry, I would go for a dry,
aged sherry. I like Regency for a dry for cooking where you only use
a wee bit. Not sure if that helps a lot. Oh and if she likes
sherry, she might just like a port wine.

Goomba, if you go for a port, make it tawny port, which is much more smooth
than a regular port. I cook with it but I also enjoy the occasional sip of
it, too 🙂

Jill

Goomba38 said:

Ok, maybe not a true emergency but almost. My stepmother is impossible
to shop for. She wants for nothing, so buying presents is very
difficult. SHe does enjoy her nightly sherry though. I'd like to gift
her with a particularly special brand, but need help picking one out.
The one liquor store I went to didn't have anything but Taylor's and
some generic Fairchild (or something like that) brand. Surely there
are better ones I could seek out? HELP!?
Goomba

Call around to a few other liquor stores (if there are any in a reasonable
distance) and inquire as to what they have. Taylor is mediocre and is fine
for cooking with but I wouldn't call it "particularly special". You do need
to find out if she likes a sweet or dry sherry; if you don't want to ask her
directly is there someone who could find out for you?

Jill

Goomba38 said:

Ok, maybe not a true emergency but almost. My stepmother is impossible
to shop for. She wants for nothing, so buying presents is very
difficult. SHe does enjoy her nightly sherry though. I'd like to gift
her with a particularly special brand, but need help picking one out.

If you live in Seattle, Santa Fe, or the San Francisco bay area
go to a place called Spanish Table. They have dozens labels of
sherry and will help you pick one out.

If you live in any other urban area of the U.S. there are
Spanish food specialty shops that generally also carry Spanish
wines. (Except in states with state-run liquor stores, in
which case you may be hosed on this mission.)

A high-end wine retailer will also do but their staff is less
likely to know much about sherry and their buyers less likely
to have the connections for the real stuff.

I generally prefer a dry sherry, particularly an Amontillado.
The most widely marketed label that is anything other than mediocre
is Lustau, but there are much better ones. Expect to pay $20
or more for a fine sherry. Avoid sherries marketed by the
famous port houses such as Taylor or Sandeman, and of course
don't buy anything called "Sherry" that is not made in Spain.

Good luck --

Steve

Wayne Boatwright said:

Dry Sack Sherry would be my choice.

Thank you. That gives me a name to look for. Somehow I just knew that
Taylors was not going to be special enough?

Dave Smith said:

Go for the one she likes. I don't like sherry myself, but my wife really
enjoys a nice dry sherry. One of her favourites is Dry Sac, and she
sometimes has Shooting Sherry but she cannot tolerate Bristol Cream or any
of the sweet sherries.

You're the second to suggest Dry Sack, so I'll go looking for it. The
military class Vl store (the liquor store) should carry it and other
brands. The civilian liquor store seemed to be limited to just the
Taylors and some other cheaper brand.
Thank you 🙂

On Wed 21 Dec 2005 04:27:17p, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it jmcquown?

Quoted message said:

~patches~ said:

Goomba38 said:

Ok, maybe not a true emergency but almost. My stepmother is
impossible to shop for. She wants for nothing, so buying presents is
very difficult. SHe does enjoy her nightly sherry though. I'd like
to gift her with a particularly special brand, but need help picking
one out. The one liquor store I went to didn't have anything but
Taylor's and some generic Fairchild (or something like that) brand.
Surely there are better ones I could seek out? HELP!?
Goomba

If it were me, I would go for Harvey's Bristol Creame 🙂 I do like a
creamed sherry for drinking not cooking and Harvey's has a nice,
smooth flavour. If you want a cooking sherry, I would go for a dry,
aged sherry. I like Regency for a dry for cooking where you only use
a wee bit. Not sure if that helps a lot. Oh and if she likes sherry,
she might just like a port wine.

Goomba, if you go for a port, make it tawny port, which is much more
smooth than a regular port. I cook with it but I also enjoy the
occasional sip of it, too 🙂

Another choice might be a good madeira; malmsey for sweet, sercial for dry.
Many people who like sherry also like madeira. I actually prefer madeira
over sherry.

--
Wayne Boatwright *¿*
__________________________________________________________________
And if we enter a room full of manure, may we believe in the pony.

Peter Aitken said:

If she likes good sherry it must come from Spain. Lustau is a brand I love.
They make many different kinds ranging from bone dry to sweet - what does
she like?

I don't know? I should take note sometime when I'm in her home, but
since my father passed away I don't see me traveling down there again
anytime soon? :/ She drinks a small glass nightly before dinner.
I'll keep my eyes open for Lustau. Thanks for the reply 🙂

jmcquown said:

Call around to a few other liquor stores (if there are any in a reasonable
distance) and inquire as to what they have. Taylor is mediocre and is fine
for cooking with but I wouldn't call it "particularly special". You do need
to find out if she likes a sweet or dry sherry; if you don't want to ask her
directly is there someone who could find out for you?

Jill

<cringe> Not at this late date, darn it. I have to find it and deliver
it to her son tomorrow, so am pressed for time. And yeah, I
procrastinated, LOL. I also purchased her the book "Memoirs of a
Geisha" which I'm hoping she'll enjoy while sippin that sherry. It
really is hard to shop for her.

Goomba38 said:

jmcquown said:

Call around to a few other liquor stores (if there are any in a
reasonable distance) and inquire as to what they have. Taylor is
mediocre and is fine for cooking with but I wouldn't call it
"particularly special". You do need to find out if she likes a
sweet or dry sherry; if you don't want to ask her directly is there
someone who could find out for you?

Jill

<cringe> Not at this late date, darn it. I have to find it and deliver
it to her son tomorrow, so am pressed for time. And yeah, I
procrastinated, LOL. I also purchased her the book "Memoirs of a
Geisha" which I'm hoping she'll enjoy while sippin that sherry. It
really is hard to shop for her.

Darn! Too bad you procrastinated... I wound up with TWO copies of 'Memoirs
of a Geisha' (hardback) last year and could have sent one to you for merely
the cost of shipping. Fascinating book.

As for the sherry, for all you know she *likes* Taylor 🙂 It's a gift; I
wouldn't sweat over it too much. Good luck!

Jill

Goomba38 sez:

Quoted message said:

I don't know? I should take note sometime when I'm in her home, but
since my father passed away I don't see me traveling down there again
anytime soon? :/ She drinks a small glass nightly before dinner.
I'll keep my eyes open for Lustau. Thanks for the reply 🙂

Since she takes it as a preprandial drink, I'd definitely go for dry sherry
over a cream, or sweet sherry. Steve Pope mentioned Amontillado, which is
also my favorite; it's medium-dry, rather nut-like in taste, as opposed to
dryer sherries like manzanillas (which I think are also called "fino"
sherries). I've no doubt she'll enjoy it and thank you for your
thoughtfulness.

Spitz
--
"Home, James, and don't spare the horses!"

I've tried a number of Sherrys over the years, and yes, Harvey's Bristol
Cream is not bad, but IMO, it's a bit on the cloyingly sweet side.
Harvey's is outstanding for making Teriyaki Chicken Wings though! (I
think I have a recipe somewhere).

Women might like Harveys for the sweeter taste.

My favorite has always been an Oloroso Sherry (Spanish naturally) It is
dry, but does have a touch of sweetness, and a nice "aged" "oak"
character-flavor to it. If memory serves me correctly, the brand I
always bought was Soler and Cia. Mark

Victor Sack said:

Goomba38 said:

I'd like to gift
her with a particularly special brand, but need help picking one out.

See
<http://groups.google.com/group/rec.food.cooking/msg/3a8ae5399720ec33>.

Victor

Fascinating!! It mentions the Finos and Oloroso being served chilled as
an aperitif. I know she drinks it before dinner, but the bottle sits on
at room temp. I didn't get the impression the other sherries discussed
were served chilled though, right?
This post you shared provides me with so much that I can share with
her and should stimulate some conversation (always a good thing!) I'm
curious if she's ever been to Spain, and what started her on sherry?
I'll have to ask.
Thank you Victor 🙂
Goomba