drinks for the serious drinker

I think either in OZ or europe there began a battle about who could produce the strongest beer - they got up to 40% for beer - wot is the point - we have to enjoy it rather than it blot us out. after two bottles of coopers vintage I definitely have a break - steady on laddie!

Back in the 1980's I was asked to run a night class at the local high school for amateur winemaking. I was very surprised to find that in the class of about 25, 20 of them had already played at it and 5 of them had their own still! (Which was illegal back in those days). They had made wine out of everything from 2nd hand tea leaves to grass clippings!
For the second week, I suggested that all who had made something bring it along and we'll have a 'critique' evening. The school had given us a laboratory room for the classes, so we had lots of sinks and water taps so we could sample, spit and rinse out. The quality of the samples brought ranged from absolutely wonderful to bloody awful, but the main problem seemed to be too high alcohol levels. They just kept putting sugar in until it stopped, which meant we ended up at about 18-21%. The evening devolved into a heavy drinking session under the guise of analytical sampling to the point where when it was time to go home, several missed the double door entrance to the room and hit the sides.
As for yeasts bakers yeast will work but there are different strains of yeast that give slightly different characteristics. For that reason very few winemakers rely on natural yeasts as it is difficult to guarantee the ferment will be clean.

OK I'll spit the bones out of that - ta!

HI CM again - need more advice - from across the Tasman - I have started off brewing three different fruit juices 2lt jars. removed a cup of liquor from each then added half a cup of sugar to each and a half teaspoon of yeast - beer in this case!

was told to leave for a few days then prime with a little more sugar for final ferment and to the fridge - but I am somewhat concerned following your story above that they will not be strong enough - what say you?

If the fruit juices are all fruit juice they are probably about 8-15% sugar plus your sugar addition should give 10-12% alcohol. Bit of a guess without being able to use a hydrometer on it, but it shouldn't matter too much. Alcohol isn't everything it's a balance that's why reds like Shiraz or Cabernet are usually a bit higher in alcohol than most whites. When it's finished fermenting in a 2 ltr bottle you probably need to add a couple of heaped teaspoons  of sugar for the secondary ferment.

cheers buddy!