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[MSE Lawrence]

This is the discussion to link on the back of Martin's blog. Please read the blog first, as this discussion follows it.

Read Martin's "Diluting Champagne is MoneySaving" Blog.

Click reply to discuss below.

[sdooley]

Cheapskate! Don't the crew deserve a drink for all their hard work?

Sure you're saving money, but a few bottles of wine are hardly anything compared to staff, transport, equipment costs. 'Spending a nickel to save a dime' or is that the other way round?

[shadowspy24]

I've seen restaurants where they dilute coke, ketchup, beer etc. The trick is to dilute enough so that the customers don't notice. You can just about getaway with a 1:4 dilution.

[Paul_Herring]

.. so someone arranged a shoot there, but forgot to arrange the budget for the props being used?

I'd hardly call that moneysaving

[meester]

60 glasses is £150 at £15/bottle, which you acknowledge would have bought goodwill from the crew. So rather than spending a fairly nominal £150 on sparkling wine (not champagne, which often costs at least £15/bottle even in a supermarket) which would have pleased your colleagues and pleased the champagne bar, you instead wasted £50 worth of perfectly drinkable wine.

The £150 wouldn't have been wasted, the £50 was.

If something's enjoyed, the money spent on it is not wasted.

[moggylover]

No, no, no, no, no! That is sacriledge not money saving! Shame on you for even thinking of it .

I would rather have had half a glass of something really nice than a full glass of it watered down - although I suppose it was okay to pour over the champagne pyramid if it was not intended for drinking. Major sympathy for the crew though

Thrifty is good - being a tight!!!! is not so good

[Wildgarlic]

That's not money saving, that's just waste. If you weren't going to drink it why pour it, and if you were going to drink it why dilute it? I reckon the crew deserve spoiling from time to time

[Miss Shopsmart]

Surely you could have used a bit more cunning? Champagne cocktails are all the rage and it is a cheap and easy trick to make people believe they are getting more and give them less ££££.

Instead of diluting with water - dilute with Casis or Raspberry Liquor or brandy etc. mixed in with a bit of fruit and juice. A bottle of Casis costs about £8 and will go a very, very long way and fruit juice is only £2 per carton. Decant and pre-mix it to look really posh. Add fruit to the bottom of each glass and then pour in the mix first to about 1/3 or even 1/2 and then top with champagne. The champagne should float on top - making the drink look really pretty. The alcohol content will still be high because of the liquor.

Everybody wins!!!!

What's funny is that bars charge more for this. Glass of champers £6 Champagne cocktail £10-15....

Go figure

[Paul_Herring]

Decant and pre-mix it to look really posh. Add fruit to the bottom of each glass and then pour in the mix first to about 1/3 or even 1/2 and then top with champagne. The champagne should float on top - making the drink look really pretty.

While I'm sure this is very nice when pouring individual glasses, I'm not sure it would work too well with a pyramid of glasses.

[ZCC72]

Surely the bar was paid for use as a film-set, in which case you would be perfectly entitled to have filled the glasses with coloured water! All a bit of a waste, really!