1936 Shaking in the 60's by Eddie Clarke

natural gases to gradually escape, then the attacking air would, within a short space oftime, turn it into a flat,sour and undrinkable liquid. A few final notes on the Honeycombs. Another point in their favour is that each bottle is snug and steady, and therefore can soon settle down after whatshaking up it may have received in transit from the Wine Merchant. Also, by remembering our teachings that hot air rises, we place our red wines in the top sections ofthe bin,and the white wines and Champagnes are bedded down in the lower berths nearer the floor, where the air should be cooler. Lastly, see that it is firmly secured. There must be no wobbling, otherwise the elephant-like treads ofour heavier footed friends and members of the household will, from quite some distance away,send vibrations running through all our wines,causing a disturbance ofany deposit that our best Ports and Clarets may be throwing. Now a word about those shelves mentioned earlier. These are for our stock of Spirits and Liqueurs, etc., as, strangely enough,our storing ofthese bottles is directly the opposite ofthat ofthe wines. With spirits we do adopt the regimental "attention" stance, and the bottles are stored upright on the shelf. In this way it allows the slight vapour given offfrom the spirit enough moisture to keep the cork in perfect condition. Should the bottles be stored lying in the recumbent position, as are the wines, the spirit would doubtless attack and impregnate the cork, thereby causing, amongst other things, a costly leakage. Thus then is our wine locker complete, and our stocks satisfactorily stored. So now,like the proverbial miser, we can hoard our choicest wines and gloat gleefully when our friends enjoy the cheap and inferior ones.

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