Sangria and other drinks

[Monk]

I came across this notice online:

"Sangria 46 at 338 West 46th Street will feature a different sangria each day for the twelve days before Christmas starting on December 13 with three-berry rosé."

Thing is, there is only one kind of sangria. Just like there's really just one kind of martini (and it's made with gin and vermouth). And one kind of margarita (lime).

There was a time when if someone would invent a new drink, they'd invent a new name for the drink, instead of trying to pass it off as an old drink "reinvented".

 

[franca]

No, there are many sangria recipes. It's not like a martini.

 

[Boywonder2]

Don Pepes has a Sangria that will knock you on your ass and it tastes like fruit punch. I have gotten shit faced quite a few times drinking their Sangria.

 

[franca]

from http://gospain.about.com/od/fooddrink/qt/sangria.htm

To the Spanish, sangria is a party drink and is there for one reason - to get you drunk very cheaply. There is no magical recipe to make perfect sangria. To make real sangria, you take the cheapest red wine you can get, the cheapest spirits in the supermarket (brandy, whiskey, anything will do) and the cheapest fruit that you have lying about - usually apples and oranges and peaches that are too mushy and old to eat. If it tastes gross (which it usually will) add something to take the taste away - sugar and cinnamon usually works.

 

[billyS]

Whenever I here Sangria the first thing that comes to mind is Beef Steak Charley's which featured all the beer and Sangria you could drink. Every time we went there, whether it was with friends or people at work someone would always throw up the Sangria.

 

[justlooking]

I'm embarrassed to say so, but I think the various Sangrias they have at Rayuela are delicious.

I order them with dinner instead of real wine.

 

[Monk]

I'm sorry guys, but the various "flavored" sangria's I've seen on menus recently are nothing like the sangria I've had when visiting Spain (for example). Sangria is a mixture of fruit with red wine, sugar and often a lemon-lime soda. The only reason that people think there are different kinds of sangria is that bars/lounges/restaurants have marketed all sorts of red wine and fruit concoctions under the "sangria" name.

 

[justlooking]

Considering the meaning of the word "sangria", it shouldn't even be possible to have a white one.

 

[elmo16]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Sangria made from a lot of vodka and a little red wine and fruit juice. Now that would knock you on your ass!

 

[elmo16]

I've seen Michael Moor's latest movie "Sicko", where he goes to London, Paris, even Havana, Cuba where he gets expensive operations for free. Need an operation, but would rather spend the money on a great vacation, well you can have your operation, and your vacation too. I'm surprised travel agencies (and these foreign countries) haven't caught on. I'm sure the AMA would lobby against this. Go to Spain, have a great vacation, drink all the Sangria you want, and get that triple by-pass you need.

 

[UG Staff]

Sangria is Spain's older version of grain alcohol and CoolAid.

 

[franca]

Throw some hard liquor (whatever is marked down) into some cheap wine (again, whatever is marked down), thin it out with fizzy lemonade, add some fruit (whatever is in season and cheap or getting mushy in the fridge) and sugar--that is sangria. How on earth is this a "pure" drink?

 

[franca]

Considering the meaning of the word "sangria", it shouldn't even be possible to have a white one.

Considering how rigid and inflexible Spaniards aren't, it should be possible to make sangria with whatever wine one chooses.

 

[justlooking]

I basically agree with you.

 

[justlooking]

Although people who dealt with the Inquisition might have had some pause with

Considering how rigid and inflexible Spaniards aren't,

 

[letsgetstarted]

Some of the Portuguese restaurants in Newark make great sangria. I think they us some kind of liqueur.

 

[Daddycool]

I'm embarrassed to say so, but I think the various Sangrias they have at Rayuela are delicious.

I order them with dinner instead of real wine.

I would be embarrassed to use the word delicious to describe Sangrias.

LOL

 

[justme]

I'm with franca. Sangria's the equivalent of trashcan punch, not that it can't be delicious. I have no idea what the nouveau sangrias look like, but as long as it's a wine (red) based drink with lots of fresh fruit and a bit of brandy, I can't see how it isn't sangria. Sangria's a punch, not a cocktail.

 

[Monk]

At the risk of sounding elitist, I think part of the problem is that there's so much bad sangria out there that most people haven't tasted an excellent sangria, consequently it's lost a lot of respect as a drink. "It's just a punch," "it can be made with anything," etc. If it's made well — and properly — it's sangria. (And, yes, it can be delicious.)

 

[justme]

I've had excellent Sangria. Calling something a punch is not, in my opinion, denigrating it. I've also had fantastic rum punches. A cocktail uses a distilled liquor as it's base since sangria is based on wine, a fermented liquor, it is not a cocktail. Also, sangria must be prepared ahead of time and can not be mixed on the spot, like a cocktail.

A good sangria starts with a decent wine and uses only the freshest fruits. A good sangria maker knows how to balance the characteristics of a the fruits with those of the wine to produce a beverage that's refreshing, complex, and drinkable. There is tremendous leeway in what fruits he can choose and so the final outcomes can be very different.

To clarify an additional point, I put (red) in parentheses because this is traditional. I've had excellent sangria blancas made with stone fruits and honey.