"vintage" news and stories

When it comes to beer-related gifts, vintage and kitsch are king. Bargain shoppers can rejoice with plenty of original and exciting items to be found at reasonable prices... if you're willing to put in a little elbow grease. But thanks to the fact that we live in modern times (Take that, previous generations!), online shopping provides an easy replacement for trips to every local secondhand store in a five mile area.

Idea #1: Think small. Just glancing around my apartment, I have plenty of simple beer-branded items that give me a smile. When I want to play darts, it's Miller High Life against Miller Genuine Draft. Not my favorite beers, but fun Wisconsin kitsch! Most websites that sell dart flights have beer flights available. When I open a bottle, my Brooklyn Brewery wall-mounted bottle opener is my go-to guy -- another online purchase. And tossed all over the apartment are coasters we picked up from various trips to different pubs and breweries -- a quick web search can save you the trouble of travel and have them sent right to your door. All these things are simple gifts for under $10.

Cooking Bold and Fearless was originally published by the folks at Sunset Magazine back in 1957. My copy dates from 1961 and was one in the stack of books I picked up back in December at a Portland thrift store (which one it was escapes me right at the moment). I bought it because of the cover, all those colors and that grandiose title made me think that it might contain some good stuff (or at the very least, some highly entertaining kitsch).

All the recipes in the book come from the magazine's column "Chefs of the West," in which they regularly published recipes and short articles penned by home cooks and backyard grill masters from up and down the West Coast. (Does anyone know if this column is still included in the magazine? It's been years since I've had my hands on a copy of Sunset, so I have no idea. My guess would be no, though).

The recipes range from the frighteningly retro to the interestingly timeless. The most intriguing thing about this book is that all the contributors seem to be men. I guess Sunset assumed that only those of the male persuasion would be interested in cooking boldly and without fear.

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I spotted this great set of Cheers Shot Glasses over at Luxist. Made by Waterford, each of the glass shot glasses is engraved with a different way of saying "cheers!" In addition to English, the other languages are Gaelic - slainte!, Spanish - salud!, Italian - cin cin!, Japanese - kan-pai! and German - prost! The glasses will serve as a conversation piece and will add a little bet of extra cheer to any and all celebrations. The set is packaged in a circular gift box, so all you need is a bow to turn it into a holiday present or a hostess gift. Best of all, the set is part of one of the Vintage Marquis collection, which is one of the more reasonably priced Waterford lines, and is only $49.

If shot glasses aren't a part of your entertaining plans for the holidays, Waterford is also offering a set of celebration balloon wine glasses ($79) that are engraved with celebrate, cheers, joy, festive, soiree and holiday.

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Two fairly common wine terms are "varietal" and "blend." A varietal wine is one made primarily of one type of grape, like Chardonnay, Zinfandel or Pinot Noir. A blended wine is a combination of different types of wine, designed to enhance certain flavors, rather than a certain grape. Another word that gets thrown around a lot is "vintage," which refers to the year that the grapes were produced. Judging from the location of the winery and the vintage, wine connoisseurs can pinpoint their favorite wines based upon the quality of the harvest that year.

Since 1972, winemakers in the US have been allowed to add up to 5% of one vintage to another vintage wine and still tag it the the year of the latter. Under this standard, a 2004 wine could have up to 5% of 2001 added to it, for example. This standard was increased to 15% a few weeks ago. It was done to "give greater flexibility to domestic winemakers in blending wine to better suit consumer tastes" and the Wine Institute noted that adding older, more mature wines to younger wines would help in "improving taste appeal and quality perception." Countries in the EU, as well as Australia and New Zealand, already have this 15% standard, while countries like Chile and South Africa allow up to 25%.

Some areas in the US, prestigious American Viticultural Areas, will still be using the 95% standard, if they blend with older vintages at all. 

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Vintage cookbooks are fun, if not downright cool. The better ones are books that you'll want to read again and again, regardless of whether you've tried any of the recipes, while the worst will make you laugh at their illustrations. The best ones will give you lots of good advice, inspiration and recipes that still taste great.

The only problem with vintage cookbooks is that it can be hard to get hold of them. My own collection, which is large, was mostly acquired from my parents and grandparents. The rest are made up of books that I found at various used bookstores when browsing through their offerings. Once in a while, I'll get a specific cookbook in mind, but tracking it down can take time. That's where a store like Old Cookbooks.com can come in. They have a wealth of vintage cookbooks, from personal family collections to "ethnic" foods. In fact, theirs is one of the larger collections that I've seen. The price of the books varies by rarity and age (my 1943 Joy of Cooking is listed at $36.50), but it's still a great resource if you're looking to find a few of these older cookbooks easily.

Interestingly, Epicurious also offers a vintage book search. You can e-mail a description of the book you're looking for, and their contact will get back to you with a title, author and date of a book, as well as a price, if they have it on hand. It's a great way to look-up that book your mom always had sitting on the counter if you never knew what it was called!

 

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