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Imitation Malmsey Wine

A fortified wine made by fermenting ale with sugar, raisins, almonds, and brandy, then aged with isinglass and hops.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,781 recipes. Both carry 2-nonanone, which smells fruity, floral. The science ↓

Imitation Malmsey Wine

Ingredients

Directions

Make the first batch

  1. Mix 1 gallon of cold spring water with 3 gallons of fermenting ale and 27 lb of sugar until dissolved.

  2. Transfer to a cask, set in a warm place for about 7 weeks to ferment.

  3. In a bottle, combine 2 lb of chopped raisins and 1 lb of chopped almonds, then add 1 pint of brandy.

  4. Once fermentation ceases, add the brandy and raisins to the cask, seal tightly, and let it sit for 6-7 months.

  5. Pour off the clear liquid into another cask, add 1 oz of dissolved gelatine, and let it sit for another month before bottling.

Make the second batch

  1. For the second method, boil 15 gallons of sweet-wort with 22½ lb of loaf sugar for 30 minutes.

  2. Before cooling, pour into a cask with 1 lb of chopped raisins, 1 oz of dissolved isinglass, and 1 breakfast cup of yeast, along with 1½ oz of hops.

  3. Stir well for 14-18 days, then lightly seal until fermentation stops.

  4. Add 1 gallon of brandy, let it sit for 12 months, then rack off and bottle.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Raisin + almondtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  2. Brandy + worttop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenethyl acetate (rose, honey).

  3. Raisin + brandytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Almond + brandytop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,969 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Sugar
Feeds the yeast during fermentation and leaves residual sweetness in the finished wine.
Brandy
Raises the alcohol content and adds warmth and body to the finished wine.
Raisins
Add fruit sweetness, body and flavour as they soak in the brandy.
Bitter almonds
Contribute a nutty, almond-like aroma and flavour to the wine.
Isinglass
Clarifies the wine by helping suspended particles settle out.
Hops
Add bitterness and aroma that balance the sweetness of the wort.

The step that matters

Sealing the cask while fermentation runs. Fermentation must finish before the cask is sealed tightly, since trapped carbon dioxide and renewed activity can build pressure and spoil the wine. Sealing too early can stall or sour fermentation.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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