  Xphillipjrx Member Username: Xphillipjrx Post Number: 150 Registered: 11-2004 |
I met a guy over the weekend who (along with his dad) was one of the first black drivers hired by Vernors. I asked him if Vernors tastes different to him than it did back in the day. He told me the following things: Vernors gets their barrels from Hiram Walker after the company is finished using them for Canadian Club. The unique flavor is due to many factors including residual alcohol in the barrels and the "flavor" of Detroit water. The syrup is stored in 55 gallon barrels and about half is left after it ages. Vernors is not as carbonated as it once was because glass bottles can handle more carbonation pressure than cans and plastic. The syrup is so concentrated that only about a eye dropper full of syrup is needed for each can or bottle | ||
Jazzstage Member Username: Jazzstage Post Number: 47 Registered: 08-2007 |
Me thinks you have been jived. First off, Let's assume that they didn't wash out the barrels. Barrels are expensive and they would presumingly be used more than once. If that were the case, the barrels wouldn't retain any alcohol flavoring. Since quality control and consistency is important with any product, one would think great care would be taken to assure that any uncontrollable factors would be accounted for. As far as carbonation goes, I do know from home brewing that you don't want to over carbonate glass bottles. Have you ever heard of bottle bombs? Well, luckily I have not experienced them but many have. If you over carbonate glass, the caps will pop off creating gushers and the glass can fracture. Plastic is widely used by brewers because you can easily tell when your beer is carbonated. I have never heard of problems with plastic. An eyedropper of syrup sounds suspect as well. I haven't had Vernors in some while and I remember it being less sweet than a typical soda. Still, many sodas contain 12 teaspoons of sugar. The sugar is already concentrated into corn syrup. How big is the eye dropper? | ||
Smogboy Member Username: Smogboy Post Number: 5705 Registered: 11-2004 |
Did anyone else's parents boil this stuff up as something "medicinal" for them as kids? Did this stuff even work or was it just something warm & semi-sugary sweet to keep us from moaning & groaning? | ||
Pam Member Username: Pam Post Number: 2286 Registered: 11-2005 |
Medicinal properties of ginger: http://www.emaxhealth.com/19/4 130.html | ||
Blueidone Member Username: Blueidone Post Number: 125 Registered: 03-2007 |
I still use Vernors as a stomach remedy to this day...thanks to my mom. Room temperature and stirred to remove carbonation. I have no idea why it works, but it does. I had food poisoning recently and it was the only thing I could drink (in very small sips) that would stay down. | ||
Leoqueen Member Username: Leoqueen Post Number: 1618 Registered: 07-2004 |
Hot Vernors in a mug with a cinnamon stick in the wintertime.......YUM! | ||
Luckycar Member Username: Luckycar Post Number: 37 Registered: 02-2007 |
Vernors poured over a ham with brown sugar and pineapple.Bake for about 4 hrs.You can smell and taste it down the street.Wash it down with a Vernors. | ||
Mallory Member Username: Mallory Post Number: 164 Registered: 05-2006 |
Can't tell you how many times I've been on a cruise and ran into a first-timer suffering from a bit of sea sickness. Ginger ale is always recommended. Only problem is, they always stock Canada Dry on the cruises I've been on. <hurl> Have you ever noticed the huge difference between Vernors and Canada Dry Ginger Ale? Must be something in the Detroit water. CD sucks. | ||
Tarkus Member Username: Tarkus Post Number: 363 Registered: 04-2006 |
Jazz, I know that Jack Daniels only uses their barrels once. After the first use of the barrel, the tannins are leetched out. That's what gives whiskey it's color and lots of flavor. When starting with a full barrel of whiskey it's clear, after sitting in the barrel house for up to 7 years whiskey develops its flavors. 15% is evaporated over the 7 years and known as the "angels share". | ||
Jazzstage Member Username: Jazzstage Post Number: 49 Registered: 08-2007 |
Hmmm, cool trivia. Did you take the tour? I meant that Vernors would probably use the barrels more than once. | ||
Xphillipjrx Member Username: Xphillipjrx Post Number: 151 Registered: 11-2004 |
My guy also said Vernors is used during some stomach surgeries when patients need to burp. Vernors is not used as much as it once was because doctors from other areas aren't familiar with Vernors and they use Canada Dry a'la the cruise ships. | ||
Dave Member Username: Dave Post Number: 150 Registered: 10-2003 |
If you call it Bourbon on the label you can only use new barrels. That's why most Scotch and Brandy makers use Bourbon barrels. I don't know how Vernors is made, but it makes sense to me that they would use bourbon barrels both for the flavor and because its cheaper than buying new ones. The flavors the syrup would extract from the barrels would be from the bourbon, char, and oak, not the alcohol. dave | ||
Smogboy Member Username: Smogboy Post Number: 5707 Registered: 11-2004 |
Like Jazzstage said earlier, Xphillipjrx... I think you're getting the wives' tales thrown your way now by your source. Stomach surgeries & burping now? You'd think there'd be much more effective ways to alleviate gastric gases than having a patient burping them out (farting's the other so Lord knows what foods these doctors are prescribing for that now). | ||
Hornwrecker Member Username: Hornwrecker Post Number: 1876 Registered: 04-2005 |
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Tarkus Member Username: Tarkus Post Number: 364 Registered: 04-2006 |
Jazz, yes have taken the tour at JD a few times. became a squire there with my own bit of property in the hollow. Friendliest people in Lynchburg, Tennessee. | ||
Jrvass Member Username: Jrvass Post Number: 174 Registered: 01-2007 |
Tarkus is correct. The story of JD has been on the History Channel. I went to school with Jan Vernor who was a granddaughter or great-grandaughter of James Vernor. I haven't seen her in probably 30 years because I haven't gone to any HS reunions. James | ||
D2dyeah Member Username: D2dyeah Post Number: 67 Registered: 09-2005 |
Smogboy/ Hot Vernors was the cureall at out house in the winter. I used to think my mother invented that, until I saw a sign at the Cunninghams drug store in our neighborhood with the same cure. | ||
Jyogi Member Username: Jyogi Post Number: 29 Registered: 05-2007 |
Tarkus... NICE! Its HARD to become a Squire, I have been trying to get nominated for some time. When I had someone who was going to do it, I was too young (I was in Lynchburg with my parents when I was 18 and yes the people there are GREAT!) | ||
Gingellgirl Member Username: Gingellgirl Post Number: 35 Registered: 04-2007 |
Buy the book . . . see the Gnomemobile. University of Michigan press.  | ||
Fury13 Member Username: Fury13 Post Number: 2005 Registered: 10-2003 |
I swear that Vernors in the old days (before the company was bought out) had more carbonation and a stronger flavor. When you'd open a bottle of Vernors, the fizz would go right up your nose and make you sneeze (but the taste was well worth it). It doesn't have that effect anymore. | ||
Mtm Member Username: Mtm Post Number: 237 Registered: 06-2006 |
Vernor's and milk! Not just a great stomach soother but also tasty like a Boston Cooler. YEARS back, at the factory tours, they even used to sell small pre-mixed bottles, some with chocolate milk which I didn't like as much. | ||
Motorcitydave Member Username: Motorcitydave Post Number: 69 Registered: 11-2004 |
Try adding a shot (or more...lol) of Captain Morgan to milk with and Vernors... I won a bet with a friend with this one when I made the statement that "Captain goes good with 'anything', even milk".  As it is now, Captain and Vernors is my drink of choice the past few years. (Message edited by motorcitydave on August 15, 2007) | ||
Mtm Member Username: Mtm Post Number: 241 Registered: 06-2006 |
Old wives' tale or was there a specific order in which you had to mix the Vernor's and milk? I thought it you did it wrong (milk into Vernor's vs. Vernor's into milk) that they wouldn't mix properly. | ||
Margaret Member Username: Margaret Post Number: 59 Registered: 06-2007 |
as a kid I got really bad migraines that made me extremely sick to my stomach...long story, anyhow after a bout my Mom would be there with a Vernors. nothing like it. one of the worst things about living out here in the Rocky Mountain West is that I cannot find Vernors! damn...I also remember the best ice cream float in the world: Vernors with a scoop of vanilla ice cream in it. | ||
Bigjeff Member Username: Bigjeff Post Number: 107 Registered: 08-2006 |
For the adults in here. Try a mixed drink I like to call "Verboun" Mix in a tall glass a 12 ounce can of Vernors Ginger Ale, two shots of Jim Beam Black Kentucky Bourbon. Fill glass with ice, and stir. Nothing gets better than that on a hot day. DO NOT try and mix it with that sh-t those folks to the east of us call Canada Dry. It will make a grown man weep! | ||
Mtm Member Username: Mtm Post Number: 243 Registered: 06-2006 |
Margaret, You can order Vernor's online at: http://www.beveragesdirect.com /products/vernors/?aid=8&gclid =CIqA97eH-I0CFSgRGgodJVxeLw though its NOT cheap. $14 for a 12-pack. The site also has some interesting historical information on the company though there's no mention of the wooden barrels having come from bourbon. | ||
Flyingj Member Username: Flyingj Post Number: 22 Registered: 08-2006 |
Margaret, I've no idea where you are but it's on the shelves all over Southern Calif-they keep it with specialty sodas like Jones or the mixers-2 liters, cans & glass bottles I was able to drop some off with Max Hodge last month-a tv producer/Birmingham High grad who broke in to Hollywood via his U of M buddy, Tom Harmon. The stories that guy has about the D from back in the day are great, all he wanted lately was to have a Vernor's I still haven't spoke to him how he liked 'em(I haven't run into anybody who can find Stroh's out here-but people were of the opinion the quality had dropped off a good deal before it disappeared) bourbon & ginger ale was referenced a few times in Hemingway's short stories... | ||
Defendbrooklyn Member Username: Defendbrooklyn Post Number: 405 Registered: 11-2005 |
Ginger cured me from sea sickness...I eat ginger candy while fishing and it works every time. I have tried anti-nausea meds with no success. GINGER ROCKS! | ||
Karenk Member Username: Karenk Post Number: 50 Registered: 07-2006 |
Chocolate milk and Vernor's since 1954 that I can remember. Great for when you're still drunk or hung over. Nothing better. Tarkus - I was one of the first women Squires of JD's back in 1972. My Dad was a Squire years after that, when I nominated him. | ||
Dave Member Username: Dave Post Number: 153 Registered: 10-2003 |
Found this recipe for Duckling a la Vernor's http://www.cdkitchen.com/recip es/recs/260/Sodapop_Duck_Duckl ing_L_Vernors51133.shtml dave | ||
Thedeadofnight Member Username: Thedeadofnight Post Number: 22 Registered: 11-2004 |
Please refer to the Wikipedia article on Vernors: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V ernors I'm sure the noticable difference in the taste is due to the change in sweetner (See "Stevia Controversy"). |
