Principle is to dispense the best quality drink first, and steadily decrease the quality as the subjective abilities of the drinker decreases.

The gradations might go from a rare wine, through good vintage, to a table wine, a plonk and terminating in a veritable anti-freeze.

The difference between this, and what probably is the practice in some pubs and restaurants is that this is done in the full knowledge of the customer.

It would probably work using a series of interlocking values, when the top most chamber empties, it unlocks the value to the next chamber.
-- fshome, Mar 26 2007

Best wine served first in Biblical times http://www.biblegat...hapter=2&version=31
"Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now."" [imaginality, Mar 27 2007]

What you need is a gradient mixer - provides a continuous gradation from liquid A to liquid B. Much better than a stepwise device.

But no good will come of it.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Mar 26 2007


I like it.

Marketing-wise, it could be themed as a rocket, with "stages" and promises to take you high.
-- xipetotec, Mar 27 2007


Maybe for the uneducated palate. If you are drinking for effect, who cares what it tastes like? [-]
-- nuclear hobo, Mar 27 2007


Titration would be better. Just have a reservoir that is constantly mixed, with an output spigot that you fill your drink with. Then the cheaper wine is contained in a titrator above. Titrating reduces the quality of wine in the reservoir by a controllable amount. Basically, the same as the chromatography suggestion above, but the drinker can tune it according to how little they think taste matters to them right at that moment. Or a host can tweak it based on how much people are adhering to their expectations of rate of alcohol consumption.

You can do that with chromatography too, but in the process, you waste whatever was left of the tasty fractions of wine as you move down.
-- Smurfsahoy, Mar 27 2007


Even the very cheapest red wine becomes drinkable if you mix it with blackcurrant squash. And have no shame.
-- imaginality, Mar 27 2007


Blackcurrant squash? Have you no shame?
-- methinksnot, Mar 27 2007


I was a student at the time. What do you think?
-- imaginality, Mar 27 2007


Wasn't this in the Bible? The wedding at Cannae? The guests there seemed to expect this.
-- baconbrain, Mar 27 2007


//I was a student at the time. What do you think?//
I think you should have been resourceful enough not to have to drink blackcurrant squash with wine. Turpentine or fermented break fluid with milk would have been perfectly acceptable alternatives.
-- methinksnot, Mar 27 2007


I had to stop drinking brake fluid. Not so much because of the hangovers, more because of the car crashes.
-- imaginality, Mar 27 2007


Titrating? Isn't that something done after a few beers rather than wine?
-- Galbinus_Caeli, Mar 27 2007


This may also prevent overindulgence, as the drink becomes so nasty after a while that you'll want no more of it. It'll also slow down your drinking speed.
-- phundug, Mar 27 2007



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