What's your drink?

Well then, allow me to be the one to introduce you to the gin and ginger ale. It will probably mess your life up. It also fits the focus quite well - you can drink gin and ginger ale any time and no one will say anything. Gin rocks? Someone will probably think you have issues but won't say it outright. But gin and ginger ale appears totally innocuous, until you fall flat on your face. I enjoy it often.

I normally go through drink phases though. For a few months whiskey will be my staple, followed by a few months of gin, and then maybe two weeks of rum will pop up. Then it'll start over. I've NEVER been a tequila guy though. Blech.

 

I'm usually a beer drinker but i have a couple of go-to mixed drinks. There's the ubiquitous Bourbon and Coke obviously but some of the different ones i like are:

My favorite is Wild Turkey and Lemonade, easy to order, easy to make and most every bar will have Turkey available. Great on a hot day... i swear its like Angels pissing on your tongue.

My second favorite is a Moscow Mule. Basically Vodka and Ginger Beer (Fresh Lime is a must and adding some muddled mint is also pretty good) not many bars have Ginger Beer available here though and the addition of Lime/Mint doesn't make for easy ordering in a busy bar. I usually just mix pitchers of these up at home on a hot day.

Was introduced to Capt Morgans Spiced Rum, Coke and fresh lime on the weekend and quite liked it (not usually a big rum drinker... i prefer my bourbons). May add this to my list of go-to mixed drinks.

 

I drink Beer and Vodka. I occasionally have to hesitate and decide between Vodka and Soda, Vodka Lime and Soda, Vodka and Lime on the rocks, Vodka and Ginger ale/ginger beer/a moscow mule without the fruity crap, or if it's really awful Vodka - Vodka and Diet coke.

If I'm drinking somewhere that doesn't have Vodka (the office) or if I'm with a crowd of beer drinkers and trying to fit in for some reason (the office), I mostly drink Boags Premium beers or Corona - not because I'm any kind of beer snob or because I think it's what they drink in mexico/at parties - but because they taste good and everyone has them.

I recently discovered Crabbies Ginger Beer - which unfortunately only appears to be stocked by one place in town, which is fucking inconvenient to get to and is fucking obnoxiously over priced. But if that shit was more readily available - it'd be my new go to drink.

 

I went to Mizzou so when I first started drinking beer, Bud Light was my go to becuase the shit was basically free. All though my bar has started selling Killians for $5.25 a pitcher. So the Irish red has jumped up to my new go to beer.

My go to mixed drink is a Long Beach. It's the same thing as a Long Island, but with cranberry, and pineapple, instead of sour and coke.

If I order a shot it's going to be an Irish Car Bomb. If I am having a shot bought for me I usually just go with Jager.

 

Matso's Brewery do a good Alcoholic Ginger Beer as well, but again its ridiculously overpriced (and probably fairly hard to find over east). Ive seen a couple other brands around recently as well (cant recall names right now) so hopefully we will see a drop in price with some more competition, because they are fucking delicious.

 

Go-to liquor drinks: I've got a couple. Bombay Sapphire gin and tonic (lots of ice, slice of lime), Arnold Palmer + passionfruit vodka (sounds nasty but is delicious), or a simple bourbon on the rocks. I don't really fuck with vodka or tequila - I much prefer gin or dark liquor.

Beer: A good wheat beer (Blue Moon, Paulaner, etc.) when I can get it. Rolling Rock or Coors Light when there's nothing fancy. Keystone, Natty et al. because I'm in college.

Exotic: The best drink I've ever had was Parisian absinthe, done in the classic fashion with flaming sugar and water to dilute. Tasted like licorice gumdrops.

 

I'll be the first/only tequila drinker on here. I drink patron on the rocks with a splash of lime juice if I'm pressed for time while ordering/out for a serious night of drinking. Otherwise, it's a gin and tonic--usually Tanqueray.

 

Mixed drinks: Captain and diet. I like the taste of diet coke better than regular coke with my captain.

Beers: If I'm drinking beer to get shit faced its usually Bud/Bud light bottles. I live in a college town so I don't trust a lot of the places to clean their lines and their draught domestics usually taste like shit.

If I'm just hanging out with some buddies I'll go the micro-brew route. Dead Guy Ale is good shit.

Shots: Goldschlager all the way.

 

I reflexively answered Beam Black and coke, but on second thought, it's probably been almost two years since that was my true default setting. I drank that from age 18 - 24, and still relish the taste to this day, but don't like putting down a litre of coke a night. If a friend is buying rounds at the bar, though, that's usually what they get me.

If I'm buying, though, it changes a lot. If its just my crew at the bar, Maker's on the rocks until I'm drunk enough to switch to Beam and dry. If I have to stay sober enough to watch my mouth, vodka lime and soda. If I'm at a bar with decent live music, usually The Macallan aged in sherry casks - excellent and affordable. Failing Macallan, usually one of less peated Whiskys - Glenmorangie, or similar.

If I'm hungover, Bison wheatgrass vodka with apple juice. No alcohol taste to it at all.

And if I'm celebrating, Ron Zacata dark rum. My god this stuff is good. If you ever come across it, buy it immediately - you won't be disappointed. Almost as exquisite are Matusalem Gran Reserva, and Angostura 1824. I guarantee, with all the certainties inherent in accepting promises from an internet stranger, that you will absolutely not regret trying, purchasing, or living on any of these fine rums. They're what God would drink, if God was chilling in Jamaica rolling joints on beautiful brown backsides instead of being all wrathful and shit.

Oh, and our go to drink at home is the Japanese Slipper. Sounds girly, but try this next time you have company round. While me and my housemates drink excessively, a lot of our friends don't like raw alcohol. So, we toss 1 part Cointreau, 1 part Midori, and 1.5 parts lemon juice into a shaker with plenty of ice. Pour this into pint glasses and watch people scull these like water. Particularly good in the pool. Follow up with some Sangria (cut up a fruit salad, pour a bottle of rum into it. Let sit for a few hours. This is a crucial step, it sweetens the rum significantly. Take a jug, pour some sugar into the bottom, add in a bottle of cheap red - definitely Tempranillo if you can find it, although it's not that common here in Aus yet. Add one or two cups of the fruit/rum mixture, depending on how floored you want people to be.)

 

Caesars and Whiskey Sours are my go to's followed closely by vodka and whatever is handy.

 

Just got my Maker's Mark Ambassador materials in the mail, so I'll give their opinion on mixing Maker's and Coke:

(Emphasis original)

On the other hand, they also say not to fill the office water cooler with Maker's, so what the fuck do they know?

 

My go-to drink has changed in the past 5 years or so. First, it was a rum and coke. New Years 2005, however, rum and I had a huge fight and we've never made up. Next, I was a stereotypical college girl and went for the vodka cranberry. No matter how terrible the vodka, the cranberry juice is enough to cover it up. Hangovers from fruity drinks are awful, though, and so one random night I decided that I wanted to try something cleaner: enter vodka tonic with lime. Been my go-to drink for over a year now and I don't see that changing. I'm embarrassed to say that I often can't tell the difference between really nice vodka and just decent vodka, so I just usually get whatever's cheapest.

On a side note, I've recently discovered infused liquors. I had thought that they were the same as flavored vodka/rum/etc. and so never felt like paying the extra price. I was completely wrong. There's a bar near where I live that usually has some infused vodka or rum on special, which is delicious enough that rum and I are slowly resuming our relationship. Bonus is that you can do it at home. The hardest part is getting a glass container with a spigot at the bottom. Just fill the container with whatever you want to infuse the drink with (e.g. lemon grass, pineapple, ginger, basil etc.), pour the liquor in and wait. It's so tasty and usually doesn't need any mixers.

 

Free.

 

I ... think we'll be alright:
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-china-man-purse-20110207,0,5536207,full.story" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-c ... full.story</a>

 

Chinese beer is total and utter shit, think Bud with even less body, taste and aroma. Yes it's possible. Chinese wine, now that shit is evil, I don't think anyone tries that rubbish before it gets bottled and placed on the shelf, it wouldn't even be rendered down to vinegar in any civilised nation.

 

I've got six cases of beer in my basement, but aside from that, I like bourbon or almost any other American whiskey on ice or scotch with a splash of cold water. Because I'm cheap (those six cases were on sale), I have no problem with getting a rail whiskey on ice but I still enjoy buying a nicer bottle if there is celebrating to do. It's hard for me to pin down specific types that I prefer, mainly because I am almost always trying new ones I haven't yet encountered. However, I've got Knob Creek and Talisker in the booze cabinet right now.

 

False. Tsingtao is a perfectly fine beer. It's all made by Germans anyways.

 

Ok let me rephrase, of the seven or eight Chinese beers I've tried they have all been more insipid than your average megaswill enjoyed by those who don't know any better.

However out of a nation of over a billion I grant you that there may be some people making beer I haven’t tried. And these brews may be more pleasing than a mermaid pissing on your tonsils.

I doubt it though.

 

Pretty sure Tsingtao is the most common Chinese beer. It's certainly the most commonly exported to the US, though maybe they drink something else there.

Edit: Founded by Germans in 1903, Tsingtao has a 15% market share in China, and 50% of their exports.