March 14, 2004

• Jack and coke, beer, red wine; in order of preference.
• My favorite spirit is a bourbon, and specifically Knob Creek, which is one of the small batch bourbons. I'm also fond of Vodka and Gin Martinis (Belvedere and Bombay Sapphire, respectively). For Scotch Whisky, my favorite are the single-barrels from the Ilay region, the most famous of which is Laphroaig. For non-spirit alcoholic libations, I'll go for most of the beers from the Victory Brewing Company from Pennsylvania. I hope to visit the brewpub on my way to New York in a month or so. If you have any friends from outside of the US, or you are someone from outside the US, who believes that American beer is like making love in a canoe, then I challenge you to try the Victory beers. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised In a pinch, I'll drink some Guinness. I'm very fond of it, but it's much easier to get than the Victory beers, so I'll go for those given the opportunity. Mind you, my tastes run to the pure, so I prefer drinks that are as representative of their type as possible. I don't water down my spirits, my Martinis have the barest hint of vermouth, and my beer is strong. People with palettes that prefer more subtle flavors might prefer other drinks. As an aside, for beer drinkers, I recommend checking out Beer Advocate, an excellent site covering all things beer.
• I mostly drink beer these days, with a preference for porters. But for spirits, I'm still partial to: Vodka - straight, or infused with vanilla, chilli, or cinnamon; cinnamon schnapps; ouzo, preferably as a jellybean; whiskey, but not bourbon (yuk), taken neat. Oh an brown cows (kahlua and milk) are a great comfort drink.
• A related thread: Monkeys favourite beers.
• I keep bourbon (Maker's Mark) around for emergencies (neat). My father despises gin, so I always assumed it was nasty, but I'm rather fond of it (Bombay Sapphire, Tanqueray) with tonic or Martini-wise. Oh, and $5 Yellow Tail chardonnay is a wonderful deal. For reds I need something expensive.
• Boring: Vodka & tonic. Dark beer, preferably Guinness. Oh, that ouzo... don't remind me of that thing... nice, but, being more porne to massive coffee intake instead of alcohol, it caused me a mean hangover in last vacation. Ouch.
• Myself, I'm a straight vodka person. Well, on the rocks. And I'm also an expensive vodka person. Grey Goose, or Ciroc, or, in a pinch (which is often) Ketel One. As for mixed drinks, Russians, White or Black. I hateses the Beer because it's carbonated, which is a lame reason to hate beer, but it's mine. If someone knows where I can get a good non-carbonated beer in the US, I'd love to know.
• A shot of anisette (which includes ouzo, but I prefer the ones sweeter than Metaxa's) with to espresso coffee.
• Jack and Coke. Amaretto Sours. For beers, I'm a Leinenkugal's gal.
• Margarita, wine, beer. My prefernces in order. But not all on the same night.
• Liquor: bourbon whiskey, either Maker's Mark or various single barrels. In Southeast Asia I developed a taste for Mekhong rice whiskey that I haven't been able to indulge for a decade, but I still remember it fondly.... Cocktail: Manhattan, either traditional or "perfect," served up. Sometimes a Margarita if it's strong and not too sweet, with good tequila and fruit juice, always with salt. Beer: whatever's local and fresh. Maritime Pacific if I can get it, Deschutes otherwise. Brown or India-Pale ales, usually, or ESBs. Guinness is good for you. Wine: Chateauneuf-de-Pape, Bordeaux, Amarone, Ripasso di Valpolicella. (I mean these as styles, not necessarily provinces, though I've never seen an Amarone from anywhere other than the Veneto. Certainly California, Washington, and Australia make great stuff.) Oregon Pinot Noir (not French red Burgundy). Gew
• talisker, a verrrry peaty single malt from the isle of skye
• Brandy, and any cocktail that has it, usually. Long Island Iced Tea is a fav, although since the bar I had it first closed down, I haven't found a place that makes it as good. The bartender had a real strong hand with the brandy.
• For those who've never had Mekong, you know how most whiskies get better as they get older? Well, Mekong you drink fresh. I need to go and buy beer now.
• -For the college crowd, UV (specifically, Blue) seems favored, as of late. And, perhaps, for good reason: it's ~30 proof, inexpensive, and tastes like a melted blueberry snowcone. (Not that there's anything wrong with that...) -'Redbull & Vodka' will keep you from hitting the wall, if you plan on partying all night. -A lot of my friends (both guys & girls) love the 'Jaegerbomb' (and its derivatives). It's adequate, but nothing extraordinary, IMHO. -I used to drink a lot of Long Islands, but it was always hit or miss. Unfortunately, I've had too many Long Islands that tasted like bong water, so I stopped getting them. (What do you expect for $2, anyway?) -If you enjoy a decent vodka, like Grey Goose, then you wouldn't mind shelling out for quality gin. As I'm sure you already know, your digestive tract will appreciate your spending the extra wampum, the morning after. Ergo, 'Sapphire & tonic' is a nice place to start. -White, Blind, Black, and Smooth Black Russians are always tasty. -Leinie's is top-notch; one of the best. Do they sell it outside of Wisconsin, though, snow?
• Ever since the everlasting gobstopper (pic upper left, NSFU (not safe for urethras)) I stay away from brown liquors. I have a theory though: Different liquors taste better according to season. In the fall and winter brandy and whisky and red wine (more developed, wooden, decayed flavors) seem more palatable. In the spring and summer, vodka, gin, and white wines (fresher, florid, effervescent, and citrus flavors) seem more palatable. The exceptions are (because they are a combination of the two), mmmm beer, and mmmm bloody mary. On the yuck side: Saki (Sake?). and scotch (too concentrated for me (I want to like it, but I don't).
• Martoonies: Put the vermouth in the glass--doesn't matter how much, because you swish to coat, then dump and shake. Use the best Gin or Vodka you can afford. Minimum THREE green olives. I've yet to try one with Rum, as I seldom drink that much hard likker. One of these days I'm going to get brave and try out these recipes Anyone been there, done that? What's good? Rum and .... I do likes those Cuba Libres! A Cuba Libre is not a Rum and Coke. Read the blurb, try the recipe. Bailey's and coffee in the winter. Yum. Or you can be more creative. Unfortunately, I'm a beer slob. About the fanciest I get is White Bird Wheat from Idaho's own Table Rock Brewery. (scroll down) The husband claims it's pretty thin stuff. Just gimme a Carona or Rolling Rock for a fancy party, or Colorado Kool-ade Lite with the twist. Gotta add the four slices of lemon, please, to kill the horsepiss taste of Coors. Alcohol I can take or leave. But it's hell to be a 50 year old carboholic addicted to pasta, bread, and cookies.
• Oh yea, if I drink a wine, either gimme retsina (prefered)or White Granache. Go figger.
• vapidave, I agree: my drinking pattern definitely changes seasonally. In the late autumn and winter, I favor heavy winter beers such as the Deschutes Jubelale and Mari Pac's Jolly Roger. In the summer, I pursue lighter but brutally hopped IPAs that have no savor for me in colder months. BlueHorse, a strong retsina is great stuff, but for me it demands Greek cuisine, which I don't cook. I'm lucky in my Seattle days to have a Greek taverna down the hill from me that can cater to my taste for Pine-Sol. snow: Leinie? I remember Point as being pretty tasty on my pass through there some time ago. Wolof, I can't imagine drinking Maekhong neat.... dng, I'm sorry that I missed the long-ago beer thread. Would have been a great opportunity to vent on the homogenization of industrial commercial lagers and the U.S. abomination that is Samuel Adams. Instead I'll offer this index from Oligopoly Watch.
• What do you mean you missed the beer thread? It's still open!
• Red wine for preference, always red wine; I am a relaxed drinker by nature, and the naughty ribena fits my mood like a drunken glove. I would aspire to be able to afford to be a discriminating and cultured wine drinker; currently, it'll be a a bottle of the house red, thankyou very much. (Having said that, as a general preference, Italian beats French, while I remain constantly impressed by the high quality of Latin American, and specifically Chilean, reds. Increasingly, I'd now go for a South American over anything else; that or a Hungarian Kekfrankos, for reasons of a personal injoke.) Beer: I cannot abide real ales. Anything that makes me suspect there's been badgers swimming in it, I worry about. I'll stick with lager, which I'll admit disappoints me. A bottle of Tiger would be wonderful. Spirits: Vodka is gloriously pure. Rum is gloriously impure. On a long, silly night, I shall alternate between these two. But why is the rum gone? I have some friends who are bad influences; sambuca then happens. A lot. I second every bit of praise for Baileys and coffee. Heaven in a cup.
• Beer: I cannot abide real ales. Anything that makes me suspect there's been badgers swimming in it, I worry about. You London ponce...
• Seasonal! Spring is the time for martinis (I make mine 6-1, two olive, Grey Goose when I want to taste it, industrial stength Smirnoff when I want to grit my teeth); summer, the time for gimlets (fresh lime juice is best, ditch the rocks); fall, Maker's Mark on the rocks with maybe a splash of water atop; winter, Rumpleminz schnapps from the freezer. All these, obviously, backed liberally by Beck's and St. Pauli Girl (yes, dammit, I know it's already skunked the day in walks into the country in those green bottles, but I think it adds *character*) and my own brew (been a homebrewer for four years now, there's nothing quite as good as the beer you've seen to yourself from grain to glass), and liberal mealtime helpings of cheap, Italian red wine (the Italians have forgotten more about wine than the French will ever know). My house table wine is a Bolla Bardolino, which at a whopping $9 a bottle is case-buyable without being bank-breaking. Goes with any food, dry without being arid, currant and tobacco notes.
• Meths is the only real hooch.
• You London ponce... ...says Essex boy.
• I'm going to run you over in my souped up Capri, for that. Beware the blacked out windows and the ultra violet lights of doom...
• Oh, and I apologise to everyone for the derail. Sorry.
• Gentlemen, please! Can't you both see that you're in love with each other??
• Well its true that we love one another. I love flashboy like a little brother...
• Arrghh! *Runs away to hide in an 'art bar' located in a converted meat freezer on Old Street, where an installation by noted underground 'film-guerilla' Chaz Thrum will be soundtracked by 'beat-wranglers' Mission of Jizz, while the stylishly assymetrical clientele sip authentic Macedonian bottled beers and cocktails made from paint.* See? Derail cunningly brought back to the topic of drinks. Woo hoo! On preview: Fes - yes, yes, yes. But I can't stop hurting him, and it's tearing me apart inside.
• Well dng I love you too but there's Just so much that I don't know about you...
• I could really go for a naked moron right now.
• Wedge: Leinenkugels is sold in a whole lot of places! Go here to select a state to see where. And that's my spam post of the day. We had a tour of the brewery last year and got two free glasses of beer afterwards, which was fun. And tasty.
• Gin and Tonics, Vodka Collins, and the delightful mojito If it's before noon, mimosas inform the world that yours is a genteel drunk; one that is a universe away from swilling abominable Southern Comfort from a jam jar whilst slumped in the couch that's on the front porch. The mimosa says one drinks to be social, not to stop the shakes in one's extremities. Never got too much into the single malt scotches, although a friend has Laphroaig running through his veins ("Whiskey School"?)
• Fes, my tiny mind boggles at a homebrewer drinking skunked Euro-pils. Do those green glass bottles fuel memories of undergraduate debauchery? "Becks for a buck" nights? Full-tilt summer cocktails: Bombay gimlets, or Midori melonballs with grapefruit juice (the usual orange or pineapple juice make it much too sweet for my taste).
• Least pleasant cocktail I've ever consumed: half a bottle of Becks, three shots of JD, a load of cream and some nutmeg (ground up in a handkerchief, with a shoe). It was late, we were drunk, the shops were closed, that was all we had. Even then, it still didn't really seem like a good idea at the time.
• "and some nutmeg (ground up in a handkerchief, with a shoe)." Oh, man. I think we can skip the rest of the questionaire form and get your right over to admissions, flashboy. There were times I've driven across state lines in the middle of the night for booze, but your horrible concoction speaks of a certain, shall we say, desperation. At least say you were in high school and had snuck the beck's and jd away from an uncle or something to get this crazy. I will submit this to webtender as the flashboy, btw.
• Fes, my tiny mind boggles at a homebrewer drinking skunked Euro-pils. Do those green glass bottles fuel memories of undergraduate debauchery? "Becks for a buck" nights? A man should never forget his roots :) as for undergraduate debauchery? Beck's was for richies spending momma's dime! We working class zeroes drank Sterling ($4.95 a case for bar bottles, and that included the $2 deposit), Drummond Brothers (Motto: "Have a Drummy with a Dummy!"), Stroh's (the 16-oz "Stroh Pounder"!) and (shudder) Rheinlander Bock. Drink it cold, drink it fast, and don't ask where it came from.
• In the meantime? I'll have a Flashboy with an Ipecac spritzer back, please. Don't skimp on the nutmeg!
• Look, in Prague beer is much cheaper than water. So that's what I drink. Beer. I also bathe in it.
• in Prague beer is much cheaper than water And mmm, mmm good too! *gets lost in reverie of long lunches at U Pinkasu, a block from Wenceslaus Square but well hidden so tourists hardly ever found it, guzzling Staropramen by the bucketful*
• toured the jack daniel's distillery on my honeymoon. the smile on my wife's face when she got s whiff of the fumes coming out of the barrelhouse.... *sniff* as for the rest, i've realized that my favorite beverages change along with income. no way i would drink the same beer now that i consumed as an undergrad... when you're flat broke the 25 cent drafts sound like a good idea, now i'm quite a bit more picky. bell's makes some good beer around my way, same goes for rogue in the northwest. guess for local varieties you just need to pick and choose from a well-stocked local store and see what you can discover. as for the hard stuff, lately i've been happy with a bloody mary, made with absolut peppar. adds a nice kick, but it also needs to have tabasco in it somewhere. mostly i think that it's a good drink due to the decorations... that olive or pickeled okra tastes pretty damn good after being pickled in tomato vodka for a while.
• Seasonal drinker, mood drinker. Gin drinks on those long, hot summer days, nothing too sweet. Love single malts especially fond of 'Oban'. Wines, something very dry, red or white. Tend toward lagers in the beer arena. Would love to do one of those tours of the single-malt distilleries, go and visit as many as possible! My dream vacation. Cheers to Australia's fantastic selection of wines. And I will never say "No" to a Bailey's and coffee.
• Ditto on that Bloody Mary with Absolut Peppar and a dash of Tabasco. Good one for the mornings.
• Am I the only one who finds gin absolutely repulsive?
• No. Gin is absolutely repulsive.
• But it is cheap.
• No! Gin is good! Gooooooooooooooood!
• My drinks change with the season too. In fact, they change with the weather, since there are certain drinks I won't touch unless it's sunny out (gin & tonic). For beer, I'm quite fond of Big Rock. I like Grasshopper in warm weather (with a little lemon) and Traditional Ale when it's cold. I make my own wine, but if I'm having guests or going out I'll usually pick up something from Pelee Island My favorite brands of liquor include Tanquery gin, Stolichnaya vodka, Wiser's Deluxe Rye, Hornitos Tequila, and Maker's Mark bourbon. I find single malt scotch a bit pricey so I rarely buy it but when I do it's usually Dalwhinnie. Basically I'll drink anything unless it's blue. I can't stands the blue drinks. snow and flashboy gin is one of those acquiered tastes, I used to find it repulsive too but now I love it. I suggest a gin and tonic, or a tom collins on a warm day sitting outside while looking out over the water. Heaven.
• I adore vanilla cokes. Vanilla vodka, coke, ice - mmmm. Main problem with having them at a bar is that I always forget to order them tall since I go through them so fast. My other favorite is a margarita with Midori (no salt). Gives it a sort of nuclear green glow, but a very sweet, smooth taste. I first had one at a swim-up pool bar at a resort in Cancun, Mexico where the bartender dared to make a suggestion after an afternoon of serving us Coronas. I'm still trying to recapture the beauty of that day - bright blue sky, light ocean breeze, waves lapping at the shore ... ahhh.
• Hmm. I love gin but cannot stand the taste of wines. Correlations?
• Gin is delicious, if you get the right gin (Bombay Sapphire or Prenzel's Waterloo Gin, for example. boo, I dislike most white wines, but love most reds. Half a correlation?
• Homemade Raspberry Cordial: Soak fresh, rinsed raspberries in vodka or alcool for at least three months in a sealed jar. It's okay for them to be in sunlight - it helps break the raspberry flavour down into the vodka. The vodka should turn a beautiful red colour. You can leave the raspberry vodka unsweetened - they are now selling it in Ontario that way. But to make the cordial, you then add granular sugar until it is quite sweet - it should be the quality of a gentle, sweet liqueur. I don't have the exact ratios on me, but if anyone is interested, email and I will find them out. It's rose-coloured heaven in a (very small) glass.
• PS - Definately not for little girls. /obligatory L.M. reference.
• Scotch rocks, or a Tanqueray martini at Musso and Franks. Both drinks could in theory be consumed by little girls, but I don't recommend it.