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On Saturday we had a barbecue for close familly and I did some tricks, mainly for our grand children. I decided to use my Foo Can which I have had for about a year but haven't got round to trying out. So, being ambitious I decided to turn water in to wine with it. Now, there might be a good way to do this but I decided to use a couple of drops of food colouring.

My problems arose when I found that the can leaked and I was dribbling "red wine" over the table, the patio and my right hand. Fotunately I had decided not to upend the can over my wifes head!

Now what I knew about food colouring before this mishap was negligible, I was not aware of its staining powers and even 3 showers and numerous washes later I appear to have a bloodstain on my right hand.

I can mend the can and the trick went down great with the kids so I will do it again. What can I use to make the wine which will not subsequently indellibly mark if I have an accident? Any suggestions?

Blackcurrent may be a good one to try most these days are non staining. Any squash based drink would probably work, water to orange squash and so on...

Good luck and good luck getting it off your hands!

Alex

I use redcurrant and cranberry juice as a wine substitute. The colour is practically spot-on in dark situations—not so sure about outside.

Many moons ago I was with an amateur dramatics group, and we had some standard non-alcoholic alternatives to many beverages:

White wine = Apple juice + water
Red wine = Cranberry or redcurrant juice
Champagne = Lime cordial + lemonade
Whiskey = Apple juice
Brandy = Apple Juice + spot of Ribena

etc. etc.

All of which were quite drinkable. And theoretically, non-staining!

One of my uncles is an actor and tells me that guiness is the only alcoholic beverage which can't be faked. Which is why he always ensures that its his characters drink of choice! Cold tea is used for beer apparently, so I can see why.

couldn't you make a non alcoholic guiness by mixing ribena and coca cola and adding ice cream on top?

Actually, we DID used to simulate guiness... quite easily.

On a stage, under bright lights etc. a glass of Pepsi or Coke with a quick squib of 'pressurised' cream does the job admirably

Beer, as far as I remember, we used to simulate with:

Lager = appleade
Bitter = Dandelion & burdock + lemonade

(oddly, I was in a play which was set around the bar of a local pub, and was an analysis of 'life from the barman's eyes'. A lot of the drinks we ACTUALLY used WERE alcoholic on the last night... something we weren't expecting, but went down well )

....aw, i was going to suggest a heady mixture of bovril and whipped egg-whites for a fake guiness...

abraxus wrote:....aw, i was going to suggest a heady mixture of bovril and whipped egg-whites for a fake guiness...

Pass a bucket...

Johnny Wizz wrote:Now what I knew about food colouring before this mishap was negligible, I was not aware of its staining powers and even 3 showers and numerous washes later I appear to have a bloodstain on my right hand.

Ha ha! "Out out damn spot"!

I love monkeying around with stuff like this; a friend of mine who likes to think he knows a lot about wine came over to ours at new years. He brought a bottle of red he was waxing lyrical about as usual, so my Dad and I tried to call his bluff and emptied it into a carafe, then filled the bottle with water and red wine vinegar, with a good squirt of red colouring and a spot of blue - the deep, purplish red colour was an incredible match!

We thought he'd be so proud as to take a swig and pretend he liked it, but he took it like a man...

Abraxas, that just reminds me of Spaced... anyone else a fan?
"A pint of the black stuff for me."
"You can't drink a pint of bovril!"

Got to be the first to say it...

This thread should answer your Spaced question

http://www.talkmagic.co.uk/ftopic11165.php

Heh, what a bizarre coincidence! I might come and join the "Spaced" affray...

Many years ago when I was underage (OK, not that many years ago) I was in a play where I needed to get some fake beer. Instead of cold tea or apple juice I was going to get Kaliber (an alcohol free lager made by Guiness).

When I went to buy it I got asked for ID. I was amazed.

When I protested the woman behind the counter pointed out that there was a small trace of alcohol in it, to which my irritated reply was that there is more alcohol in slightly old jam!

There is a moral in that story somewhere I'm sure ...

giznorm wrote:There is a moral in that story somewhere I'm sure ...

If you see any old jars of jam, buy them up cheap?

If you're driving steer clear of the jam?

Tompko wrote:If you're driving steer clear of the jam?

What if you are in a traffic jam?