Drinking Games

Everybody’s got their own version of a drinking game.

About a hundred years ago or so, some people had the idea that banning the sale of alcohol would be fun. Even worse, they convinced the government that it was true. It was the Prohibition drinking game, only fun for the underground bars and smugglers.

I’m sure glad I wasn’t around in those days.

The game lasted 13 years. It probably took that long for the government to realize how much money they lost out on in taxes.

Since then, it has been quite the business making alcoholic beverages.  And I, in particular, appreciate that.

For one of our drinking games, we stopped at a brewery to visit the home of one of hubby’s favourite tipples.

The town of Pottsville is in a deep valley within the Pennsylvania hills. The streets of the town are very steep and many of the buildings are built into the surrounding granite.

Yuengling Beer was first produced in Pennsylvania by a German immigrant in 1829. The company has survived for all those years since, even during Prohibition when they brewed a much smaller amount of beer for “medicinal purposes”. They credit their survival to the creativity of the owner, who repurposed the plant to produce ice cream during those trying times.

We joined a tour group that was escorted down to the original tunnels under the brewery. They kept the beer down there to keep it cool even in the summer heat in the 1800’s when there was no electric refrigeration.

These tunnels were carved out by hand and pick ax, and still show the marks of the hand tools.

Before trying out the product, we were shown the new bottling areas, where the machines do all the work and the human employees supervise. 

I sure wish there had been a machine or conveyor belt to help us lug the 2 cases of 24 bottles that we carried out to our truck afterwards. 

Uphill. 

That part of the game wasn’t so much fun.

But now that hubby was supplied, it was time to satisfy the wife with the wine drinking game.

So after crossing back into Canada, we parked for a time at a winery in Picton. 

The Devil’s Wishbone winery is located about 5 kilometers from the Glenora ferry on the Bay of Quinte. It is a small and intimate operation compared to the bigger vineyards of the Niagara region.

They parked us in a field at the front of the property and overlooking the Riesling and Pinot Noir grape vines. 

This was early spring, and so the grapevines were still in their winter dormancy. It's exciting to see their potential!

Put my hubby anywhere that there’s work to be done, and he does it. The spring weather so far had not been conducive to working in the fields and the work of uncovering the vines and pruning them was far behind where it should be for the month. 

Although April showers continued to dog us, we did take advantage of the few dry days to get out among the rows to help remove last year’s canes.

Removing the canes was not easy. The tenacious grape vines tendrils would twist themselves around everything and had to be cut away from their supports. These tiny tendrils were often as tough to cut as wire, and we were precariously standing on top of their muddy base. 

It was a much easier job bottling last year’s crop inside the winery buildings. Because it is a smaller winery, there is very little automation. The procedures are very similar to those of the local “U-Brew” that we used to use, back when we tried to save money by making our own wines. 

I got to sanitize the bottles on a squirty thing before letting them drip dry on a “bottle tree”.  Hubby handled the corking lever with his usual finesse.

It was all fun and games for us. We don’t have to do this all year long.

But at last I could see an end result: wine in a bottle, almost ready for the games to begin!

The best drinking game at the winery is in the tasting room. It’s where one can enjoy the fruits of our labours and be the winner of the game every time.

I just want to play this game over and over and...

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