Announcing Mixology Monday LXIX: Fortified Wines

Fortified wines began, in large part, as a way to deal with the difficulties of shipping wine long distances in the holds of sailing ships. Without the rigorous sterilization that is possible today, wines would often spoil en route. However, increasing the alcohol concentration to around 20% ABV was enough to keep them from going off. Coincidentally, this also made it possible to age those wines for very long periods, increasing their richness and depth.

These wines held an important place in the ur-cocktails of punch and have continued on in cocktails proper, the personal punches of the past several hundred years. Though less common nowadays, sherry, port, and, to a lesser extent, madeira and marsala, all find their way into various mixed drinks.

For this month's Mixology Monday, I'd like to see what you all can do with these versatile wines. They can play many different roles - from taking the place of vermouths in classic drinks, to providing richness and sweetness in winter tipples, to serving as a base for lighter aperitifs. Whether forgotten classics or new creations, let's see what you can put together.

Here's the plan:

•Write up your thoughts and the recipe, take a picture, and post it on your own blog, Tumblr, or eGullet's Spirits and Cocktails forum. If you don't have any other way of posting, you can also email it to me.

•Make sure to include the MxMo logo, a link to the Mixology Monday page, and the announcement post. If you want to go back and add a link to the round-up post, it'd be much appreciated.

•Let me know about your submission, either by commenting on this post, tweeting to @cocktailchem, or emailing it to me via gmail at cocktailchem. Do all of this before midnight PST on January 21st so I can put the round-up together. Some slop will be allowed, but the sooner the better.

Thanks to Fred Yarm for keeping MxMo going and see you all back here on the 21st.