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Drink

English Sherry or Malt Wine

A fortified wine made by boiling sugar and water, adding hops, beer, raisins, sugar candy, bitter almonds, and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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 ↓

English Sherry or Malt Wine

Ingredients

Directions

Make the wort

  1. Boil sugar and water together for 2 hours, skimming carefully.

  2. Add hops.

  3. Boil for 20 minutes.

  4. Cool the mixture.

  5. Add strong beer.

  6. Cover the mixture.

  7. Let it work for 48 hours.

  8. Skim and transfer to another container.

Flavour and age

  1. After 2-3 weeks, when the head sinks, add raisins.

  2. Add sugar candy and bitter almonds.

  3. Add a pint of brandy.

  4. Bottle after 1 year.

  5. Alternatively, let it age in wood for 3 years for better strength and flavor.

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

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

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

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

  4. Beer + brandytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together39 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  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
Provides the fermentable base that yeast turns into alcohol, along with sweetness.
Hops
Adds bitterness that balances the sweetness and helps preserve the drink.
Strong beer
Introduces yeast to start fermentation in the mixture.
Raisins
Add fruit sweetness and body as the drink matures.
Brandy
Raises the alcohol content and strengthens the finished drink.

The step that matters

Skim and transfer after fermentation. Fermentation is vigorous at first, and the sinking of the foam signals that activity is slowing. Adding raisins only after this point avoids disturbing the active ferment and keeps the flavour clean.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, hops, beer, almond, brandy):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Peachfits better
  3. Grapefits better
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, hops, beer, almond, brandy. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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