Fruitfly Catching: Round 2, Cooper family shootout
Oct/107
Given that I travel a lot for work, and then also a lot for fun, the fruit fly invasion we all see periodically can some times breed (while I’m gone for weeks on end) into something of a swarm. I’ve long known that sweeter liqueurs (brandies and cognacs are often recommended; simple syrup would probably work just as well, really) attract (and then murder) fruit flies well if left out in a wine goblet, but variety’s the spice of life, so I’m working my way through some likely candidates to determine which booze, well, attracts the most flies.
This first second (I forgot that I already tried Canton v. Cognac v. Armagnac) round compares three of the four Cooper family spirits (I didn’t have any Yvette at the time). The glasses were left out, equidistantly from my sink (the eye of the swarm), for several weeks: long enough that all that remained of the spirit was congealed syrup.
First, we have Daddy Cooper’s Chambord:
Chambord's fly catching ability
Second, we have li’l Bobby Cooper’s St-Germain:
St-Germain's fly catching ability
And, finally, li’l Johnny Cooper’s Domaine de Canton:
Domaine de Canton's fly catching ability
I think we have a clear winner for this round.
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11:46 am on October 22nd, 2010
Chambord looks promising for its ability to bring in the big game (those proper flies).
But damnit does Canton kick ass!
Now that I know this, maybe I’ll finally be able to get through that bottle of Canton that just wasn’t doing it for me as a potable product.
11:51 am on October 22nd, 2010
Yeah, that was actually the end of a bottle of Canton. Now I’m torn about whether to buy a replacement. I wasn’t going to, for the normal reason: it’s nothing you can’t replicate with fresh ginger syrup, vodka, and, as we see here, a metric fuckton of sugar. But now…
1:05 pm on October 22nd, 2010
Okay, after out-of-band conversation with Rodolphe, Mark, and Flurie, I believe the next test, in the interest of isolating the effective components, will remove Canton from the mix (it’s just too good! Plus, I’m out of it) and compare:
1-1 Simple syrup.
1-1 Simple syrup 50/50 against 80 proof spirit
Then the same with a dollop of unscented dish soap (to break surface tension, in theory making it harder for flies to flit in and then escape).
Further testing might include:
1-1 Simple syrup 50/50 against overproof spirit
5:08 pm on October 22nd, 2010
Continuing on the surface tension theme, have you seen submerged flies in these glasses of spirits?
My recollection is that the soapy water helped the carcasses sink leaving more surface area for more flies to land (and maybe decreasing the unappealing “fly graveyard” aspect of the glass t0 future fly victims).
4:50 pm on October 23rd, 2010
Honestly, I was basically gone for the several weeks during which these collected, and what spirit was left in the glasses when I took these pictures had the viscosity of molasses at 0 degC, but I’m pretty sure none of the flies sunk, so I do plan to test your theory.
I agree with the point of increasing surface area, but I’m mostly dubious of your insights into fly psychology.
9:38 am on October 25th, 2010
At least they died doing what they loved
11:40 pm on October 26th, 2010
Curses, I haven’t installed a “like on Facebook” add-on to Wordpress, else I’d've said so on Gerrit’s comment.