Not as much discussion of drinking at this year's party!

What are your favorite drinks these days?

I have a passion for all things grape-derived. I'm a big wine guy, and drink a fair amount of brandy, cognac, and grappa as well. Grappa is my favorite.

I'm not so much of a mixed drinks guy but I'll have the occasional sidecar or manhattan. At formal events I'll drink two martinis before the meal. Used to be three, but old age takes its toll.

I drank a lot of scotch in graduate school, but nowadays I don't tend in this direction as much, though of course I won't turn down some good single malt neat. I enjoyed some Wild Turkey 101 quite a bit a few months ago, though, so my tastes may be changing again.

Even good beer is never more than a satisfying experience for me, not transcendental. Not much of a beer guy. I like hard cider if it's not too sweet though.

Vesta Virgin Cranberry Liqueur, Imortale by Dogfish Brewery, and Russian River or Oregonion Pinot Noir.

I like Scotch, perhaps out of stubborness if nothing else. I'd like to learn more about cool new scotches without becoming so Hoary Old Guy Drinking Black Label.

Also, drink beer from Boston's own Magic Hat Brewing Company. It's seriously good - plus, the beer titles are clever! "Heart of Darkness" guiness, "Fat Angel" pale ale...

I find myself liking SoCo&Coke a lot, for no clear reason. I'm still undecided if this is a "girly drink", as they say. (Disclaimer: most of the girls I know are more hard-drinking, in the dark beer and/or tequilla category. So this is a gender-free claim.)

Speaking of mixed drinks - try ABSINTHACOLA! Or rather, Sambuca & Coke. It's swell, and was invented during (as a result of) Lehman's visit to Boston.

Sean wrote: What are your favorite drinks these days?

Andy Kitkowski wrote: This is gonna sound SOOOOooooooooo typical for people who know me ("That Japan Guy"), but I like sake, a lot.

I still like Baijiu, the Chinese national liquor. I don't know why. It is nasty, unpleasant stuff.

I guess I just drink Gamist.

yrs--
--Ben

Lately, I'm steep into Wyder's Pear Cider.

Paul

I'\m a pretty serious wine geek; buy virtually all my wine from France, Italy, Spain but I avoid all the big names other than Burgundy and Champagne. I also like the occasional darkish beer or good single malt. No mixed drinks for me.

Hiya,

Mixed drinks: various creations involving cranberry juice and tequila. And in line with all the spy stuff I'm watching and reading, the odd scotch. And Limon Vodka is awesome in spicy ginger ale.

Wines: Shiraz from Australia, lots of reds from my hometown vicinity (Monterey Peninsula, Salinas county).

Beer: yes.

Best,
Ron

I'm not a big beer nut. Domestic beers are fine with me, contrary to may pals' fondnesses for darker stuff. My favorite it Dos Equis with lime.

Not a big wine nut, either. But, I like a good red wine. The local winery makes one I particularly like.

Otherwise, I'm a Southern Comfort drinker. On the rocks, or with Coke.

And margaritas are good. Like 'em on the rocks, too.

I go for the mixed drinks, myself. My current favorites are vodka tonic with lime or (if I want a sweeter drink) a Nutty Irishman (Baily's and Frangelico).

Vermouth on ice does it for me, Martini Ross if possible.

Sake boilermakers are pretty cool, too, for serious drinking.

The best drinking of all is old single malt scotch with a good friend on a porch or balcony with nothing to do. I don't get enough of that anymore.

Beer. Beer you can chew. Beer hearty enough to be breakfast.

Wine and mixed drinks I do occasionally. Wine more occasionally. Schnapps, bourbon, and/or tequila for camping trips.

-Chris

To meet the cliché: beer. Not that bubble-water you call beer in the States, though. Most Pilsener (Plzner) brews will do, to be found mostly in Germany and the Czech Republic. There are also very fine dark beers and ales. I must admit, though, that I like Molson Canadian.

I won't turn down a good wine, grappa or single malt whisky, either. Especially when I go out for dinner in a good restaurant. If I go party, on the other hand, beer alone will make my stomach rebel before I get as drunk as I want to, so I'll rely on shooters, too. Anything that's sour.

Real margaritas, Matt. No sour mix, good Cointreau, lots of good tequilas to pick from, fresh lemons and limes. Chunky salt.

C'mon, visit the downstairs bar ... you know you want to.

Best,
Ron

If you're buying, I'll have whatever. Otherwise, I'll have what she's having.


Especially if it's a margarita.

I should probably add some particulars.

My favorite wines, other than a few thirty year old Barolos I've been able to drink, are the peasant wines in Tuscany, fresh off the farm. I've got relatives there who buy it by the demijohn. The best I ever had was made by the farmer who lives immediately downslope from the people who make Sassakaia, which Reagan and Gorbachev used to drink at their summit meetings. He makes it the same way, and all you can drink costs less than a bottle of the more famous cousin.

I don't know the names of my favorite grappas. The place I like to drink it best is a little cafe in Florence which fills up with petty criminals, prostitutes, and cops at night, not far from the church where Dante first glimpsed Beatrice. That's not the best grappa though. Maybe it was this artisanal one I picked up in a weird little shop in Venice. Names escape me with grappa; once the glass appears it's like putting a mouse in front of a cat, everything else disappears.

In terms of stuff you can buy in stores stateside I don't have a go-to wine right now. Spanish is starting to be a better value than Italian if I don't know what I'm getting. I like Hardy's Whiskers Port. For some reason I had a craving for a funny little beer called Ephemere the other day. With scotch and bourbon it's all the usual suspects.

To present the anti-cliche to the German who came before me: I don't drink alcohol. Not even beer. That's actually really disgusting stuff, in my opinion.

Now, for the first 20 years of my life, I was simply determined to resist peer pressure. When I did that successfully, I got good and wasted 4 times. I mean completely drunk. Once at home with my unbelieving friends, once at a party in a different city, once at the beach of the Baltic Sea, and once at the beach in Lloret De Mar (Frank will know that place, it's a tourism-dump in Spain). Sand environments are just easier when you drunk-tackle people.

I figured out that I didn't really enjoy it enough to put up with the disgusting taste of alcohol, so I quit again.

I drink in kind of a conservative pattern: wine, scotch, and various simple mixed drinks -- nothing with more than three ingredients, as a rule. I go in and out of beer-drinking phases; currently, I'm well out of one. I'm just starting to get more serious about scotch, but it's hard to do on a student's budget.

I hate the fact that you cannot get a good bottle of tequila in Europe, there's not an anejo or reposado to be found anywhere. I have to settle for the best of the silver available, man I love tequila!

I use to be the biggest beer fan, and I mean that literally! I stopped drinking beer, got on the Adkins diet and lost over 70 pounds. I still wanted my malt beverages though, and switched over to single malts, holy shit are they nice!

I also love a nice glass of cognac and an aged rum will do the trick quite nicely.

Oh, and I drink everything straight.

TTFN,

Yokiboy

Reguar drink is vodka-and-mixer.

For special occasions, I make some verrrry nice cocktails - make sure you're sitting down when you drink the Long island Iced Tea, though.

I really don't have the tolerance for spirits that I used to, nor do I have the desire for them. I sometimes get the odd craving for a really nice, old whiskey, but I don't have the finances to indulge that craving.

I do enjoy a good glass or two or three of red wine. And I very much like cider.

When it comes to beer, I'm pretty much a stout man. And if I really indulged that, I would, indeed, be a very stout man.

When I used to hang out with the guys that owned the pizza joint, I was a pretty big beer drinker. We created a haiku one night

Rich, amber, golden,
Gift of malt, barley and hops:
Awed, amazed, we drink.

I'm not such a big beer drinker nowadays - I've fallen more into the California wine thing. One group of friends heads up to Sonoma 2-3 times a year, and my girlfriend and I enjoy heading down to Paso Robles from time to time. Last year I had a spike in my "bottles gone bad" percentage, so my big Christmas present was a (cheapo, but effective and reasonably large) wine cooler. Damn California for not having basements! I guess the earthquake thing is a problem, though . . .

Scotch remains a minor passion, but I can't bear to water it down - and I can't drink more than a small amount straight. My bottle of Laphroaig has lasted more than 5/6 years, now.

And an old boss was a HUGE Tequilla fan. As much as I enjoyed it, without someone else's supportive (or is that corruptive?) influence, I don't really seek it out myself.

Gordon

Scotch. Good scotch. Peat bog and dead bodies varieties. Oban is what you'll find in my house.

Bourbon. Knob Creek and Makers are fine. Straight up or in a Manhattan. If I have to pick a favorite, it's bourbon. Yes, I am from Kentucky. Coincedence.

Tequila. No, not that crap, gringo. Patron Silver, and take your time with it. Or the stuff in a jug everyone seems to carry in Oaxaca.

Sake. Momokawa Pearl does me right, but I'm not too picky. I'm open to suggestions. I recently tried a pear sake that was mighty tasty.

Guinness. Nothing else is really beer.

A perfect vodka martini is one of life's greatest gifts. Don't let anyone tell you that fooling around with gin is okay. It isn't.

Mr. Harper,

You have what I would call "rock solid" taste in drinks. Wouldn't hurt you to branch out a bit here and there, but you're working on an extremely firm foundation. Carry on.

Thanks, Sean. I should say that I am with you on the grappa. I have tried two unknown varieties and am looking forward to exploring further.

Also, I recently discovered that the world of port is a rich one. There's a frisky little number made to suggest the taste of seawater. Seriously.

May the gods look kindly on our continuing spiritous explorations.

Single malt Scotch is always nice. I'm a Glenlivet guy, but others are okay. Double malts aren't my style, and blended is cheating.

I also like Irish whiskey, Canadian whiskey, sour mash, and bourbon. Jim Beam, Knob Hill, Maker's Mark, Jameson's, Johnny Walker, and Canadian Mist are good. Canadian Club and Jack Daniel's are okay in mixed drinks I guess.

Beer is good. There are so-called beers that aren't good, but they're not really beer. :-) I like Guinness. Guinness draft is the only real Guinness, to be sure. I like it a lot. And real Guinness isn't a stout. I like Guinness Extra Stout in the bottle anyway, but not as much as regular Guinness. I also like Newcastle, Killian's, Bass, Sam Adams, Warsteiner, Stag, Tsing Tao, Red Stripe, Asahi, Dos Equis, and Sapporro. Rolling Rock is okay sometimes, like if I haven't had canned corn recently. I'm willing to drink Budweiser or even Bud Light. It's true that Miller has more flavor than many other mid-price beers. That doesn't mean it's good flavor, just that there's more of it. I'd rather have a thin, crisp beer flavor that doesn't gag me.

I'm a big fan of mixers. Lately I've been drinking banana rum, watermelon schnapps and watermelon juice. It takes like a fruit punch and might make me seem a little girly, but it's damn good. I'm also a big fan of orange twist vodka with orange or tangerine soda. I figure if I keep lime twist vodka and powdered sugar around, I have an emergency vodka Collins if I run out of both sweet and sour and fresh limes, but I haven't tried that yet. A good Gibson is a wonderful thing. Many bars don't keep cocktail onions, though. Good thing you can get a pocket-sized jar at most grocery stores. A Long Island Iced Tea is good if you can get it mixed right. I'm a fan of daquiris and margeuritas. I also like a good praire fire, meaning both good tequila and good hot sauce.

Single-malt, when I can afford it. The darker the better. My favorite distillery, Loch Dhu, apparently went out of business. I now must make due (no pun meant...) with Dalmore cigar malt, which is a close second, but doesn't quite have that burnt-oak cask taste that I love so much.

A friend of mine brews his own "Captain's Black-Hearted Stout" that'll roll you in a gutter if you drink it too quickly...

Oh look, Scotch snobs. Well, that's bound to happen in a drinking discussion.

Wine - more specifically, the Russian River Valley, especially the reds. Wow ... Guerneville, Healdsburg, etc ... that's wine. (Now who's the snob? It would be me)

More about mixed drinks - if you mix cognac with blue curacao, and top with champagne, it turns bright bubbly green and tastes pretty good! "Chicago Cocktail." Kinda scary.

Best,
Ron

Ron Edwards wrote: Wine - more specifically, the Russian River Valley, especially the reds. Wow ... Guerneville, Healdsburg, etc ... that's wine. (Now who's the snob? It would be me)

*hands up* another Scotch snob here. I like good wines too - preferably red.

Mostly at the moment I drink whatever homebrew I've made most recently. Which is currently some strong Cider I call Mr. Jack's Doddering Yokel.

Real Ale of a variety of kinds. Hobgoblin is probably my favorite, as is anything from Wychwood (plus they all have cool names). Green King IPA if I fancy something lighter. We have a great pub in Brum that does Real Ale and Thai Food, what a marvellous combo.

Mead (Lurgashall), or the Chocolate Mead they hand round at LARPs is a great winter warmer.

Any cocktail with Grenadine in.

-Matt

I'm pretty eclectic in my choices these days:

Wine - preferably a Russian River Valley or Willamette Valley Pinot Noir.
Though since Mario Batali's Otto Enoteca became like a second home, I've been drinking some amazing Italian appelations.

Becherovka - Was introduced to this czech liquor by a friend who spent some time as the press secretary for the mayor of Prague. Can't get enough of it. There are even czech beer gardens in NYC that serve it!

Whiskey - bourbon (usually maker's, but Woodford Reserve is my favorite when I can find it) and single malt scotch (Cadenhead's No. 3 Bond if I can find it).

Gin - Sapphire (Tanqueray is acceptable) with tonic and a twist of lime.

Vodka - Grey Goose -- either with tonic and lime or in a dirty martini.

Beer - I'm all over the place in this category. I'm particularly fond of czech and belgian beers, but never turn my nose up to a Guiness either. That said, I probably drink more Yuengling than any other type of beer.

My favorite: Homebrew Mead (Buckwheat is my preference) & Cyser*
Mixed drink: Gin & Grapefruit or anything Cici the mixologist suggests.
From the grape: Port. 20 year old Tawny if I can afford it, reasonably priced Australians otherwise.
Beer: Gueuze. Fruit Lambics are nice too but is nothing compares to Gueuze.

* Cyser is made with Apple Cider and Honey. No dangerous water is used in the making of this product. A ratio of 4 gallons of Cider to 1 gallon of Honey works great. Use Pasteurized Cider so you don’t have to worry about pectin.

At this very moment I'm enjoying a Fat Squirrel Nut Brown Ale.

I was a little worried that when I left the Northwest behind, I left all the good beer as well, but I'm happy to have been wrong about that.

Also, Europeans take note: your mass-produced beer tastes better than our mass-produced beer, but I don't know that there's a cause for pride there.

Be sure to check out the pic of the brewmaster in that link above. Is Wisconsin the only place in the world where people still have moustaches?

If you discount gay bars and Magnum PI conventions, yes, Matt, it is.

Ron Edwards wrote:
Wine - more specifically, the Russian River Valley, especially the reds. Wow ... Guerneville, Healdsburg, etc ... that's wine. (Now who's the snob? It would be me)

I'm not a snob for Scotch, but I am snobbish about which brands of Scotch I like. In addition to the Glenlivet, Glenmorangie, Aberlour, or Glenfiddich 18 are good single malts. Regular Glenfiddich is 8-12 year married together. It's not bad, but the 18 is superior to it. I haven't tried the Glenmorangie 18 yet, but it's supposed to be excellent. Maybe that'll have to be my next Scotch purchase.

Blended Scotch is generally part malted barley whiskey and part unmalted grain whiskey. While your Chivas might be good, it's not all Scotch. If I want to mix Scotch and grain whiskey, I'll mix my Glenlivet with some Bourbon or sour mash myself. For one, the Scotch used in blendeds is often what failed the taste test to be bottled under its distiller's name as a single malt. This can be hidden by a master blender, but I'd prefer to stick to my singles. It's the same snobbery at work here as with small-batch bourbons.

Andy Kitkowski wrote:

Sean wrote: What are your favorite drinks these days?

In college, my group of homies used to make something (secret recipe) that was the equivalent of about 40 gallons of Long Island Ice Tea, but with Kool-aid instead of Ice Tea. It was THE DRINK of my campus.