Strangest place you have seen port served?

[Andy Velebil]

Another thread got me thinking about the strangest places I have seen port being served. So I thought this would be a fun thread to hear from all of you. Here is mine.

DISNEYLAND's CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE (the original one in Anaheim, California)

Thats right folks, the California Adventure side of Disneyland (refered to as "DCA") serves alcohol. Quite strange since the original Disneyland it is attached too does not.

DCA has a small "wine garden" area that serves, mostly cheap wine. however, they also serve port. I was there a few weeks ago and they had a 1999 Sandemans LBV and a Sandemans 10 year tawny. I got both and I can say both were very good. Sorry, no notes after all I was at an amusement park.

Oh yeah, they are very big pours, like filling a medium size port glass to the rim. I later measured the port cup they use and it is 6oz :!: 8)

[David G.]

I had a 10 year tawny filled to the top of a large Bordeaux glass poured by the substitute bartender at a hotel in Ft. Collins, Colorado. The second glass was just as (over)filled.

I also had a Fonseca bin 27 that traveled in an igloo 700 miles to a backcountry trip in the desert.

[Roy Hersh]

A chilled glass of some 20 year old Tawny brought into our Sauna a couple of winters ago. I don't know if that counts but ...

[Frederick Blais]

I have very vague souvenirs of a bottle of Niepoort LBV 96 that I was drinking around the fire with marshmallows in a teen camping mood. Probably the only time I've drank a bottle of port in a plastic glass.

[Derek T.]

I was given a pewter hip flask full of port as a gift on my wedding day. The flask spent the day in my Sporran (the thing that looks like a furry animal hanging down the front of a Scotsman's kilt) and was empty by the end of the evening 8)

Derek

[Andy Velebil]

I was given a pewter hip flask full of port as a gift on my wedding day

A great drink on a special day.

I have very vague souvenirs of a bottle of Niepoort LBV 96 that I was drinking around the fire with marshmallows in a teen camping mood. Probably the only time I've drank a bottle of port in a plastic glass.

I wish the teen camp I went to served port

A chilled glass of some 20 year old Tawny brought into our Sauna a couple of winters ago. I don't know if that counts but ...

Hell yeah that counts 8)

I had a 10 year tawny filled to the top of a large Bordeaux glass

WOW

Great stories, KEEP THEM COMING

[Otto Nieminen]

After an arduous trek in the desert near Ghadames, Libya (= totally dry country, all alc is illegal), I was offered a glass of Ferreira LBV (vintage forgotten by now) by a Swedish diplomat. As nights get really cold in the desert, a dessert of such warmth was very, very welcome. I never did find out how he managed to get it into the country.

[Frederick Blais]

Otto, I have a uncle who is diplomate for the UN, they have special permission to get into countries what they want. They have a very nice catalog with special products that a company from Denmark( I believe ) offers them.

[Andrew N.]

how is this for a strange place serving port,I was visiting my father in laws relatives in siberia,when our plane developed some sort of fault.we had to land at a oil companys runway in the wilds of siberia no idea of the location.As the fault could not be fixed until spares were flown in we spent two days on this refinery.to than the owners for their hospitality I opened my bottle of sandeman 1950 port which I was taking as a present.It was duly served from within a plastic water jug into coffee mugs the end seemed fitting as we were all gathered round the only alcohol on the site.Alcohol was not allowed due to previous accidents sure there is a moral to the story !!!!!!!.

[Andy Velebil]

I must say, that is the most distant place to have port that I have heard of so far. Thanks for sharing. Oh, and I bet those workers loved seeing a bottle of alcohol (and a darn nice one at that) :!:

[Moses Botbol]

I was served homemade "port" in Goa, India. Goa is a Portuguese colonized area in India, so having port is understandable at restaurants. The port was bright red, almost like what one would see in a cheap Aussie Whiskers Tawny. The taste was similar to a slow gin fizz. Just horrible…

[Al B.]

Now if we are widening the discussion to also include the "most wierd port ever served" then I do have a contribution I can offer.

Some friends of mine are accountants and specialise in Business Recovery work. They were employed to work in Tanzania to run the ailing Tanzanian state owned Match and Sisal Company Ltd. My friends are both lovers of wine and took their opportunity in Tanzania to explore the local wine culture and found a reasonably vibrant industry - small scale, but with grapes being cultivated in cool areas at high altitudes.

They also came across the state owned Tanzanian Wine and Port Company.

Knowing of my interest in port, they brought a half bottle of port back with them on one of their visits home. An interesting bottle, clear glass and sealed with a Crown Cork. The bottle was embossed with the logo "Carlsberg" and had a colourful label printed on coarse paper glued (upside down) to the front of the bottle. The label read "Tanzanian Port, Produce of Tanzania, 15% alcohol, 21g of residual sugar". The port inside was a deep red with a distinct brown hue.

Eventually, I plucked up the courage to open the bottle. Not really knowing what to do, I decided I would decant the port as I would decant any other port. The rust on the inside of the crown cork was only mild so the seal should have been reasonably intact. Decanting the wine out of the half bottle released very little smell but at least decanting was made very easy by the clear glass used and I was able to easily leave in the bottle the dead moth, shrivelled leaves and the undissolved sugar (presumably that's what the 21g of residual sugar referred to).

The wine was cloudy, dark reddish brown. It had virtually no smell. A cautious sip revealed that it was thick into the mouth bringing tastes of sugar, volatile chemicals, bleach and toilet cleaner. This is one of the few wines I have spat out through revulsion...it was truly disgusting. On my modified Parker Points scale, this wine would have ranked alongside stagnant pond water and scored 75 or less.

But I still have the bottle on my shelf of "trophy" wines.

Alex

[Andy Velebil]

Alex,

You are, indeed, a much braver man than I :help:

[John Conwell]

I just got back from a 3 week vacation in Japan, and got to try a Taylor 20 tawny, and a LBV (dont remember the year or producer...it was after MANY glasses of saki). I never thought I'd see any kind of port over in Japan.

[Mike C]

These are all really interesting experiences, and a very nice idea for a thread too! If I may resurrect it...

Like jconwell just above, the most unusual place and time for port for me was in Japan, but on a business trip. I was sent from the NYC offices of the brokerage I worked for, Jardine Fleming, to the Tokyo office to meet with some of our equities analysts there. I had previously lived in Japan for a year during college, and toured the country by motorcycle. This experience could not have been more different--it was an exposure to the expat lifestyle and an immersion into an exclusive slice of the financial world.

There was a lot of drinking.

There had been a lot of drinking my first time through, of course, too; but of an entirely different caliber and in much rougher settings. This time, for example, I was treated to a Tokyo restaurant called Ninniku-ya. The name means something like "House of Garlic" and every single dish, even dessert, had garlic as at least a minor ingredient if not the central one.

Our Petrochemicals analyst took me to an Indian restaurant one night. Nick was a very large guy, late 20s maybe, built as I remember sort of like a refrigerator and without any fat that I could see. Over drinks I learned he had been on Britain's Olympic judo team but broke a hand a month before competition. After a head-wrecking bar crawl the prior night I figured Indian would be safe. Since in general the Japanese have mild palates I didn't expect to be savaged by anything unexpected.

But the food was incredibly hot. Loads of beer and rice were the only means at hand to help endure. I didn't know then that the only way to assuage capsaicin's burn is with fats like milk or butter and in short order I was loaded.

We retired to one of the hotel clubs of the sort you might have seen in "Lost in Translation": deep leather chairs and lanternlight with plenty of oak and brass accents, warm wooden darkness overlooking Tokyo's neon-studded nightscapes, and demure, impeccable waiters (always male) materializing at the suggestion of want. There we had some absolutely lovely port and cheeses. I have no recollection at all what kind it was (this was 15 years ago) but after that Indian food and all the beer, it was just perfect.

The port capped a memorable night on a memorable trip.

[Andy Velebil]

Mike,

Thanks for resurecting this old post.

Since there are a lot of newbies on the forum, I encourage them to chime in with their stories. We all would love to hear them...so come on all, share those stories.

[Gary Banker]

Mike,

With respect to your experience with spicy food, the best drink that I have found is German reisling. My favorite is J. J. Prum auslese. I get a lot of practice; my wife is Korean, and I ate and drank with the ROK Army during three tours in Korea.

My most interesting/unusual place to drink port was in an old farmhouse in central Massachusets where I had 1970 NN while discussing the Teutonic knights and central Europe. We managed to have some 1863 Barbeito bual as well, because it was 4 July and we were observing the surrender of Vicksburg.

Gary