There are parties galore around this time of year and of course the odd alcoholic beverage may be consumed to help get people in the Christmas spirit, so to say, writes Amanda Devlin.
But what most people can’t offer their fellow work colleagues is a tipple of their own homemade brew of wine to toast to the festive season.
So, for research into a Christmassy feature, I was given a special preview to a wine-making class at a Leighton Buzzard shop, ahead of plans to offer classes to the public in the new year.
Making The Best, of Bridge Street, Leighton Buzzard, opened its doors in 2010 and produces a range of finished painted furniture, other interior items for the homes and kits to inspire people to make something for themselves.
Self-confessed hobby enthusiast and employee of Making The Best, Tom Brown, 24, of Billington Road, took the time to go through each stage with me, to help me understand the process of making wine at home.
He even shared a ‘Blue Peter’ moment when he revealed a batch he had made earlier, so I could go from the first steps of sterilising the bottles, to trying out corking the finished product.
Tom, who will hosting the wine making classes in 2013, said: “I just think it’s good to have hobbies because it’s good to have something other than what you’re working as.
“You can get away from everything else and concentrate on that so you don’t have all your other stuff going on and throw yourself into it.
“I did a few wine kits to begin with and just found that it was quite nice and it came out good. I like to do more and more different things, whenever I have a hobby I tend to try out as many different things as possible.
“I have been doing it for a couple of years since the shop opened. I like reading up on things and I tend to do it across all sorts of subjects. I’ve done gardening, fishing, fish tanks, which is what I’m trained in. I just love learning tons of information, because that’s what I’m good at.
No stranger to trying out new things, Tom didn’t assume I knew any of the steps and talked me through the interesting process of wine making that can be tried by anyone who wants to enjoy their own experiments.
“I had seen my dad make beers in the past before I worked here, and then since we opened up I’ve taken on doing a few myself.
“I like having new things to play with, especially if it is things I don’t have to go and buy too much of. It is quite fun to do!
“You need a little bit of money on start up, but it is less than most hobbies I have ever had. Once you have bought the initial equipment there is not a lot you have to buy. You can pay as little or as much as you want for a 30 bottle kit, it’s like buying wine in the shop.”
Tom, who would need 1-8 bottles if he were to start bottling up all the drinks he has on the go at the moment, is looking at trying out cheese making in the next coming months and loves growing vegetables so he can always try something new.
“It’s a bit worrying because I haven’t got 108 bottles, but I’m ageing in bigger amounts now. The longer you are doing it, the more you can start to put them away and not just drink them, so you start building up a stock and get to an time where you can age them for a year.”
Before giving this a go, I didn’t believe I had the patience to make the wine from start to finish, but now I understand the satisfaction of doing so will make me determined enough to hold off - to show off to my friends and family and clink our glasses to cheers to my success.