SEVEN BOOZY HACKS A few LIFE-CHANGING wine and cocktail TRICKS to try
bottle of wine with ice, water and salt. Buy adding a big pinch of salt reduces the freezing point of water, which means that bottle of wine will be cool in under 6 minutes or so. Neat, huh?
2. MAKE ICE CUBES OUT OF TONIC WATER: Freeze tonic water in place of
plain water in your regular ice cube trays. Take note that this isn’t a substitute for tonic water as freezing will remove the fizz. Oh, and this works best in cocktails that use tonic water as an ingredient (like, say, a Gin & Tonic for example).
WINE STAINS 101
Use Milk: If the stain is still wet, pour milk onto it and let it soak. The stain should be gone after an hour or so. Use Salt: Right after the wine has been spilt, cover it with table salt and let it adsorb the stain. Then brush the salt off of the fabric. Use Shaving Cream: If your stain is dry, cover it with shaving cream and then wash it in the washing machine with hot water.
3. RE-CORK YOUR OPEN BOTTLE WITH PLASTIC WRAP: So you didn’t finish your
bottle, there’s always tomorrow, right? You may find it tricky to (depending on how many glasses you’ve had) to squeeze the cork back into the top of the bottle. A quick hack is to wrap the cork in plastic wrap first to help it glide back in with ease.
4. USE LEFTOVER BUBBLY TO MAKE CHAMPAGNE EGGS: If you have some
stale white wine like Prosecco or some sparkling wine that you just can’t bear to part with, add it to your morning’s eggs—one tablespoon for every two eggs. The result will be a fluffy, decadent twist on a breakfast staple. 5. INFUSE WINE WITH FRUIT FLAVOUR:
While wine snobs may turn their nose up at this one, add a little oomph to your white wines and bubbly by dropping a couple of frozen blackberries, blueberries, or raspberries to add colour and sweetness to your already tasty glass. Unlike ice, this hack won’t dilute the good stuff, all the while still keeping the contents of your glass cool. 6. USE BOILING WATER FOR SLICK LOOKING ICE BLOCKS: Channel your inner
mixologist and swap tap water for boiled water the next time you need to fill your ice trays. Water that’s been boiled creates beautifully clear ice blocks, rather than cloudy and opaque ones. It’s the little things, right?
7. WRAP A BOTTLE OF WINE IN WET PAPER TOWEL: Need to cool your wine down
in a cinch? Simply dunk a few paper towels in water and wrap them around the bottle and place it in the freezer for 10 - 15 minutes. The wet paper towel helps to significantly decrease the wine’s temperature.
SOUTH AFRICAN CONNOISSEUR
Wine Hacks.indd 7
Illustration by: Chloé Damstra
1. COOL WINE QUICKLY WITH SALT AND ICE: In an ice bucket, place your warm
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