Real Self Sufficiency - Living Better for Less
Making Your Own Wine, Beer & Cider
It can't have escaped your notice that every year the government happily increases the tax rate on alcohol. For those of us who enjoy a glass of wine with a meal or the odd beer, it's bad news. Of course they cite health reasons and reducing binge drinking, so they punish us responsible drinkers along with the minority.
With tax running at £1.46 on a bottle of still wine (£1.87 on sparkling) in 2008, there's quite a saving to be made. And those figures are excluding the VAT. So on a fairly cheap bottle of wine at £3.00 you pay £1.85 in tax, that's nearly two thirds of the price you pay!
If we want to enjoy a little luxury but we don't want to pay through the nose, then we can make our own and watch the taxman weep. It's not rocket science. People have been making wine and beer for thousands of years using the most basic equipment and today we have far superior tools to do the job, which makes life a lot easier.
Making Your Own Wine
Making your own wine not only saves you money, it's a fascinating hobby anyway. You do need to be patient, a wine can take a couple of years for the true flavour to develop and mellow, so the sooner you start the better!
We've a basic guide to home wine making along with recipes for country wines. Never mind Beaujolais Nouveau - Blackberry wine is far better and the ingredients can be found for free! We've got some 12 recipes on the site now and are adding more.
Making Your Own Beer
Back in 1974 you could buy a pint of beer in the pub for 19p - now it would cost you about £1.60 or even more unless you make your own. The cost of making your own nowadays? About 19p
It's not that difficult to make your own beer, the easiest way is to start from a kit and then progress to making your beer from raw ingredients once you've gained confidence and have the beer making skills under your belt.
Check out starter kits that have all the equipment as well as concentrate you need to get going.
Making Your Own Cider & Perry
If you happen have a tree or to find a source of apples then cider is a great way to use up a glut. They don't even need to be in perfect condition, bruised and slightly damaged apples are fine for cider making
Cider or Perry is really easy to make and you can often find the basic ingredients (apples or pears) for free - real low cost drinking!
Drink Well but Pay Less!
Now Available
By John & Val Harrison
More Info about:
Easy Jams, Chutneys & Preserves
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