One traditional habit that slowly seems to be dying out is the after-dinner (as the French call it) digestif – that glass of cognac, whisky or other spirit or liqueur, often enjoyed with coffee, which rounded off the perfect meal.
I suppose one factor that has killed the after-dinner snifter is the breathalyser. Unless guests live within walking distance of mine host’s house, or are happy to use a taxi both ways, it means one or more guests have to ca’ canny on the wine and stick to mineral water and coffee once they feel they are getting even slightly near the 50-mic limit that applies north of Hadrian’s Wall.
I became more aware of this recently when I ploughed through my hooch cupboard and discovered bottles dating back years if not decades that have languished unrequested and unwanted and hence forgotten.
Some were hardly drunk, others needed just two or three drams to be finished. And not all of them were spirits, although most of them were.
A bottle of Noilly Prat and one of sweet vermouth glowered at me reproachfully. An unopened bottle of Brazilian cachaça with a fuzzy label reminded me of a long-departed friend who gave it to me years ago. Two bottles of Sambuca, both part-consumed, had that tell-tale dandruff of dust on their shoulders. A cut-price Irish cream liqueur had its back to me so I had to turn it 180 degrees to remember what it was.
A large bottle of sherry looked as if it had been there since the Millennium. And several half-full bottles of Cognac and Armagnac, kept and treasured for special occasions, showed how too many special occasions in recent times had ended with all the guests saying, just coffee for us, please.
I suppose other factors are at play here, too. People are more weight-conscious and safety-conscious. It is OK to have the odd bevvy too many at home but not elsewhere. Tastes have changed: once popular drinks have slipped in public estimation and fallen off shopping lists.
We still extol good cocktails, but fewer and fewer of us will spend the time mixing an exotically-named drink when you can pop a cork or open a can in seconds.
Despite that dispiriting note, cheers.
