Here's How...

All About Wine (and other stuff)

I've recently come into possession of various old books to do with pubs and booze. One of the most entertaining is 'Here's How...' published by the Victoria Wine Company, a once major off-license chain that went through various mergers  before vanishing into history.

In the 1930s the company produced this quite substantial booklet  covering all things to do with wine and spirits. Beer and cider get a couple of pages too. It was reprinted in 1954, which is when my copy dates from, and retailed at 6d (that's 2½p).

It's very much of its time as shown by the casual sexism of the introduction:

In HERE'S HOW is presented a veritable encyclopedia or handbook of the cellar, from which the socially inclined reader may glean what suitable information he requires, or just the cocktail recipe he desires for his own friends' delectation. The Housewife, too, is not forgotten. There's a section to guide here in the fine art of flavouring soups, puddings and meat dishes, by the introduction of a "little something". A discreet "touch" to a dish will often hang invisible diplomas around her fair neck, by her guests' approval...and certainly bring here husband home punctually to dinner six days out of six!

Much is devoted to wine, as you may expect, with a description of the many types available, including:

EMPIRE WINES. These wines, chiefly from Australia and South Africa, now enjoy a great popularity due not only to their excellent and uniform quality but also to the lower prices made possible by preferential rates of duty....Both Dominions also ship good quality rich wines of port character, ruby, tawny and white.

There is guidance on storing and serving wine and also how to select the best vintages (you'll note that in 1941, everything apart from champagne was considered 'valueless'. I wonder what was happening that year....)

Pages of cocktail recipes are followed by some notes on beer, cider and how to throw darts.  It seems clear that Victoria Wine  offered a variety of cask beers in pins and firkins which would be delivered and tapped ('by a burly representative'). Interestingly, the very brief notes on cider do reference a couple of proper cider apples (Foxwhelp and Kingston Black) before listing the varieties stocked from Bulmers, Coates and Gaymers.

Skirting past the pages of recipes (where margarine, lard and dripping feature generously) we come to something that would give the likes of the Portman Group a funny turn - "Here's How - to nip a cold or chill in the bud...".

Perhaps my favourite suggestion for keeping a cold at bay is:

Buy a bottle of whisky and have plenty of hot water handy. Soak your feet in hot mustard and water, light a candle and get into bed. Keep sipping the hot whisky and water, preferably sweetened with honey, until you can see two candles. Continue this treatment until you see three candles, then snuff out the middle one, turn over and go to sleep.

Notes on how to throw a party (with long drink, punch and mulled wine recipes) are followed by a brief discourse on liqueurs ("those potent distillations of myriad colours and pure delight...") there is advice on how to choose and store cigars, with the slightly rueful note:

Since the second World War the importation of Havana cigars has, owing to currency restrictions, been prohibited in this country, and it is only since the beginning of 1952 that the importation of small quantities has been permitted.

The booklet finished with a list of local branches, mainly based in London and the Home Counties, but also  with around 20 branches in Bristol where they traded through  E A Mitchell Ltd. I wonder how many of those stores exist today?  There's a history of the branch at 229 Church Road, Redfield here, while 243 North Street, Bedminster still seems to function as an off-licence if this  is correct.

I must say this sort of window into a vanished world always fascinates me - I imagine there must be may similar books and leaflets around.

Here are a few more pages for you.