the people's republic of sole

like sangria, glug is a style. glug is northern europe's answer to sangria. its best served in cold weather, it gets you drunk quick, makes the house smell festive, and is the favorite winter drink at the holland household. both for its cinnamin stench and its nice buzz.


there are many ways to do it, all are good. here is how we do it. these are the ingredients i use:

1. cheap red wine
2. apple (or any fruit)
3. cinnamin sticks
4. cloves
5. brandy (or vodka, anything but whiskey really)
6. apple juice

you cut your apple in half, take 2 cinnamin sticks and some clove and boil the parts in a big pot in just enough applejuice so that it doesn't burn.

then once its boiling and aromatic, start pouring in wine and apple juice.

cover it, let it simmer for 15 minutes or so. but do not allow it to boil. if it starts to boil stir and reduce the heat. boiling the alcohol makes it more expensive to get a nice buzz. it doesn't destroy the drink, but you're advised to not BOIL the wine.

thats it really.

serve it to friends and depending on the apple juice/wine ration top it off with a bit of vodka, brandy, or whatever to get the preferred ratio.

this drink works fast. and if you're mixing vodka/brandy with it, you might not realize how strong it is till its too late.

Sounds good. I'm definitely going to be giving this a try.

Glug? What the hell is that? Northern Europe?

That's what I thought.

But then I figured it's our glögi.

Great recommendation. It is a really really popular drink during the Yule season here in Finland.

Most people (like me) don't do it themselves, because you can buy it from the store. There are several brands.

I actually just yesterday opened a bottle of glögi... I'll probably continue drinking it tonight.

And yeah, don't drink it cold! It must be warmed up every time.

whoa now this sounds fantastic.

Is mulled wine not common in america?

In europe this is usually served hot, and around christmas - it is an awesome winter warmer! In the UK it's just called mulled wine and is normally prepared with ingredients like above or from prebought teabag-like sachets.
You can buy it bottled, often labelled as Gluhwein - the German name for basically the same thing. Not heard it called glug but its a winner by any name!

mulled wine isnt so common in america i dont think or at least i havent heard of it until a few years ago. my scottish wife got me to have some a few times but im not a huge fan. one small glass and im done. we made some this last christmas.

When I make mulled wine this Christmas, I'm calling it GLUG, like it.

a year later and i still havent made this!

ive been making spiked cider so this is only a couple fruit pieces away. will do this winter!

Gløgg! It's also good to put nuts and raisins in it!
Here is a pretty standard recipe:

1 L of red wine
4 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1 whole ginger
3 dl sugar or as much as you like

vodka for extra spice.

Mix everything together and heat carefully so it doesn't boil.
Put almonds and raisins in.

Drink and be merry.

Yeah, gonna have some tomorrow.

i've mulled a bunch of wine the past couple of weeks - here's my method:
melt some sugar in a splash of red wine (just a little for now) - then add grated ginger, grated nutmeg, whole cloves, a cinnamon stick or two and heat up for a while to let the flavours infuse. A bit of vanilla is pretty nice too.

This will make a kind of syrup without simmering the wine (and burning off the alcohol) while the flavours build.
After 5-10 minutes, pour in the rest of your wine along with some orange segments - and some orange/ lemon rind and heat up quickly (but not to boiling).
Right at the end mix in a good splash of brandy.



It's amazing... and spices can be adjusted to taste, you can't really go wrong - or if you do it's easy enough to adjust by adding more sugar/ wine/ other spice.
Best drunk with a snowy view.