Favorite Dragon Blood or Skeeter Variation

[Val-the-Brew-Gal]

I was wondering which variation of Dragon Blood or Skeeter Pee you've made that is now a favorite? Or are the originals still your go to?

For me, my favorite Dragon Blood version is a toss up between the original and a Concord grape. Then my husband loves my pink "Moscato" variation which is made with some combination of grapes (8 pounds) and whatever berry or berries I have on hand (4 pounds). And finally, everyone loves my huckleberry but those berries are very hard to come by so I don't make it very often. By the way, I make all of my batches with 12 pounds of fruit.

As for a Skeeter, I only ever make a Mojito version now which starts as a lime Skeeter to which I add mint and rum.

Now tell me yours!

 

[MustyMike]

Started a batch of DB a little less than a week ago. I went with a fruit medley containing: Strawberries, red table grapes, mango slices, pineapple chunks, and freestone peaches. Starting sg @1.095 - this one tastes pretty mild, but the fruit is still there. Sg after ~4 days is 1.018 so it is moving pretty quickly. I’m thinking this one is gonna be a smooth sipper. Can’t wait to try a batch with the fresh fruit I can get my hands on

 

[Val-the-Brew-Gal]

Started a batch of DB a little less than a week ago. I went with a fruit medley containing: Strawberries, red table grapes, mango slices, pineapple chunks, and freestone peaches. Starting sg @1.095 - this one tastes pretty mild, but the fruit is still there. Sg after ~4 days is 1.018 so it is moving pretty quickly. I’m thinking this one is gonna be a smooth sipper. Can’t wait to try a batch with the fresh fruit I can get my hands on

I'll be anxious to hear how it turns out!

 

[KCCam]

Well my favourite is easy because it’s my only... so far. I tried to stay fairly close to the original , but I am a tinkerer at heart, so:
6 gallon batch (23 litre).
32 oz (945ml) Real Lemon juice.
8.8 lbs (2 - 2kg bags) Costco frozen triple berry (Raspberry, Blueberry, BlackBerry).
1.5 lbs Sultana (golden) raisins.
2 lbs (6) overripe then frozen bananas with peels.
I like my beverages “hot” and not too sweet, so I started at 1.110 SG, and backsweetened with 1/2 cup Sugar per gallon.
YUM! It did not last long. I think I probably finished all 30 bottles in a couple months. I’m looking forward to making enough to allow some to age for a while. I have a couple on the go right now using home-grown ingredients that I hope will be even better. This time I’ll take some pictures.

 

[Val-the-Brew-Gal]

Well my favourite is easy because it’s my only... so far. I tried to stay fairly close to the original , but I am a tinkerer at heart, so:
6 gallon batch (23 litre).
32 oz (945ml) Real Lemon juice.
8.8 lbs (2 - 2kg bags) Costco frozen triple berry (Raspberry, Blueberry, BlackBerry).
1.5 lbs Sultana (golden) raisins.
2 lbs (6) overripe then frozen bananas with peels.
I like my beverages “hot” and not too sweet, so I started at 1.110 SG, and backsweetened with 1/2 cup Sugar per gallon.
YUM! It did not last long. I think I probably finished all 30 bottles in a couple months. I’m looking forward to making enough to allow some to age for a while. I have a couple on the go right now using home-grown ingredients that I hope will be even better. This time I’ll take some pictures.

I love when the fruit starts coming on in my yard...I have strawberries, blueberries and raspberries and they'll all go in the freezer for wine. I've got some grapevines planted as well but it will be a couple more years before they are producing. I joke that I will only have plants around that bear fruit that I can use for wine Now if I could find a blackberry plant, my collection would be complete!

I almost always have some sort of wine fermenting...one never wants to run out

Looking forward to seeing some of your pics this time around!

 

[hounddawg]

Well my favourite is easy because it’s my only... so far. I tried to stay fairly close to the original , but I am a tinkerer at heart, so:
6 gallon batch (23 litre).
32 oz (945ml) Real Lemon juice.
8.8 lbs (2 - 2kg bags) Costco frozen triple berry (Raspberry, Blueberry, BlackBerry).
1.5 lbs Sultana (golden) raisins.
2 lbs (6) overripe then frozen bananas with peels.
I like my beverages “hot” and not too sweet, so I started at 1.110 SG, and backsweetened with 1/2 cup Sugar per gallon.
YUM! It did not last long. I think I probably finished all 30 bottles in a couple months. I’m looking forward to making enough to allow some to age for a while. I have a couple on the go right now using home-grown ingredients that I hope will be even better. This time I’ll take some pictures.

math on that seems funny, 30 bottles=30 days lol
Dawg

 

[hounddawg]

I love when the fruit starts coming on in my yard...I have strawberries, blueberries and raspberries and they'll all go in the freezer for wine. I've got some grapevines planted as well but it will be a couple more years before they are producing. I joke that I will only have plants around that bear fruit that I can use for wine Now if I could find a blackberry plant, my collection would be complete!

I almost always have some sort of wine fermenting...one never wants to run out

Looking forward to seeing some of your pics this time around!

i have a couple thornless blackberries, not that good for eating or wines,, most all thornless come from upper NW Arkansas from fayetteville college , look for wild ones some have tiny beads some bigger beads, the small are tart the bigger beads are juicy and most years sweet, i like to mix the wild ones both tart and juicy sweet now that is so good to me anyway,,,
Dawg

 

[KCCam]

math on that seems funny, 30 bottles=30 days lol
Dawg

Actually more like 14 but didn’t want to admit it... hahaha

 

[Val-the-Brew-Gal]

i have a couple thornless blackberries, not that good for eating or wines,, most all thornless come from upper NW Arkansas from fayetteville college , look for wild ones some have tiny beads some bigger beads, the small are tart the bigger beads are juicy and most years sweet, i like to mix the wild ones both tart and juicy sweet now that is so good to me anyway,,,
Dawg

On the west side of Washington State they grow wild everywhere! I need to make a trip over there when they're ready this year

 

[hounddawg]

ours are already turning, last week i ate close to a pound and did not leave the house for better than 2 days. i'm way old enough to know better as a matter of fact i did know better,
Dawg

 

[dangerdave]

Would it be anticlimax to say I love the original the best? I give mine a nice dose of oak these days. Love me some oak!

 

[KCCam]

Would it be anticlimax to say I love the original the best? I give mine a nice dose of oak these days. Love me some oak!

‘Course not. It’s hard to improve on perfection!

 

[Val-the-Brew-Gal]

Would it be anticlimax to say I love the original the best? I give mine a nice dose of oak these days. Love me some oak!

Not at all... it's still at the top of my list! The combination of berries results in a wine that's so flavorful that it's hard to beat. I'm not a fan of oak myself (I think that's why I don't like whiskey ) and I no longer add the raisins or bananas (mainly because I never have them around when I'm ready to start a batch) but I don't have a discerning enough palette to be able to tell the difference.

 

[KCCam]

The combination of berries results in a wine that's so flavorful that it's hard to beat.

I have to say it’s the colour that originally got my attention! I can’t remember what I was Googling at the time, but it was before I knew about WMT, and I saw the picture of Dragon Blood in 2 clear bottles from the first page of Dave’s recipe. I thought to myself “Now, I gotta have me some of that!” It is beautiful!

 

[Val-the-Brew-Gal]

I have to say it’s the colour that originally got my attention! I can’t remember what I was Googling at the time, but it was before I knew about WMT, and I saw the picture of Dragon Blood in 2 clear bottles from the first page of Dave’s recipe. I thought to myself “Now, I gotta have me some of that!” It is beautiful!

The color is gorgeous! I swear every time I pour a glass I comment on how beautiful it is.

 

[hounddawg]

Started a batch of DB a little less than a week ago. I went with a fruit medley containing: Strawberries, red table grapes, mango slices, pineapple chunks, and freestone peaches. Starting sg @1.095 - this one tastes pretty mild, but the fruit is still there. Sg after ~4 days is 1.018 so it is moving pretty quickly. I’m thinking this one is gonna be a smooth sipper. Can’t wait to try a batch with the fresh fruit I can get my hands on

how in hecks bells do yawl do it in 4 days, jeeze, mine took a cuple monthes and now is in bulk aging,
Dawg

 

[Val-the-Brew-Gal]

how in hecks bells do yawl do it in 4 days, jeeze, mine took a cuple monthes and now is in bulk aging,
Dawg

I've made some Dragon Bloods, from start of ferment to in the bottle, in around 3 weeks. I don't bulk age them though (hell, I don't age them at all ) so I can pour my first glass in under a month.