I, the Great and Powerful Thingorjus, will be travelling to Berlin in a few weeks. I want to go to a Christmas market and try gluwein. What does it taste like? How much can one drink until one is falling-down drunk like cousin Muffy?

WARNING: I can drink A LOT. Gin is like mother's milk to me.

Thinny

First, it is Glühwein.

Glühwein is a mild drink, just red wine, a little juice and spices (cinnamon, cloves...).

It tastes like Christmas.

If you want a stronger Glühwein, order one "mit Schuss" - then they will add a shot of something, like rum or brandy. Some Glühwein stalls have a list with add-ons.

Enjoy!

Ah Liza Doolittle, I mean Thin, I can't wait to hear about your adventures in Berlin. I AM A CAMERA comes to mind for some reason.

An early Bon Voyage.
If you can drink ALOT of our Christmas mulled wine, you can drink lot of Gluwein.
You'll turn back to gin after a few, I suspect.

Thanks so much.

I am like Eliza Doolittle, aren't I?
I have gone from Cockney flowergirl (more like cigarette girl) to Queen of Fodorville.

Give me my robe,
put on my crown,
I have immortal longings in me. (Shakespeare)

thinny

Hey TG,

"With these words, Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, joins her Roman lover, Mark Antony, in death".

We need you to come back and give us a trip report.

>How much can one drink...

Try!

Schlank und traumhaft,

Prost!

Keep a bottle of Jagermeister in your coat pocket and if you feel the gluhwein isn't doing the business, take a few nips of the JM. But remember: Meissen store, THEN Jagermeister, not the other way around!

The thing I remember most about gluwein is how sweet it was. After I drank a glass of gluwein I had a glass of champagne. The champagne tasted like beer I couldn't even drink it! (and I LOVE champagne!)

Oops, sorry, ignore my previous post. I mixed up gluwein & glugg.

Again: It's named "Glühwein" or, for those who can't type the two dots on the u, "Gluehwein".

Thin, let's not forget Eliza Doolittle's line "gin was like mother's milk", to which you've alluded in your initial post on this thread.

Be careful while over there, sweetie darling. A pal of mine lived in Munich and said the cheap stuff sold in the streets near these markets sometimes has additives that induced the worst hangover she ever had.

All the best,
BC

But, but, but it's not served in Baccarat or anything comparable, is it?

O Great and Mighty Thingorjus,

after I have read "Morning Becomes Electra" I have some recommendations for places that Muffy might like:

- Harry's Bar in the Grand Hotel Esplanade might be a place for her, and also around the corner, the Bar am Lützowplatz.

- For a hearty Currywurst which might be washed down with Veuve Cliquot: Curry 195 (Kurfürstendamm 195).

- Stroll along Oranienburger Straße (well after 10 p.m.) and visit the Tacheles at the western end of that street.

Zum Wohl and prosit!

Don't get drunk on Gluewein, Thin. It'll make you sick sick sick from the sweetness. It tastes like what is is - cheap wine heated up with cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. BAD hangover material. One glass, maybe two, is all you'll want. Fortify yourself with a flask or two of gin and just use the Gluewein as a filler.

Trust me, dahlink....

Remember Boone's Farm? Place a bottle in an open saucepan, heat to reduce by about half, adding a stick of cinnamon and some allspice for the last 15 minutes and you will have an approximation. Kinda makes one want to rush to Bailey, Banks & Biddle for a new, larger personal flask, doesn't it?

>>>Place a bottle in an open saucepan, heat to reduce by about half,<<<

Are you crazy???

Alcohol evaporates at 60 degrees Celsius. You have to handle a bottle of wine as delicately as a thin gorgeous.

Never heat your wine over 50C. And if - a "Schuss" will help. To be exact: A "Schuss" ever helps. To be certain, better take two "Schüsse". Or three.

In the meantime, give Muffy a glass of champagne.

And a Currywurst in between. It helps to get along with the champagne.

drink 'em under the table Thinny... we know you will do us proud.

Thank you, but if Gluewine is sweet, I will not like it. I think I will stick to a nice Cos d'Estornel 1990.

Muffy is not going to Berlin with me. She is going to Cortina with her family over the Christmas holiday to ski. They invited me, but Muffy, her mother, and her brother, Minty, would drive me mad. It would be like 666.

We are not amused by the name reference to that horrid jewellery store, Seamus.

The Great and Powerful Thingorjus