I have had very few alcoholic drinks in my life (47 year old male), and there aren’t that many opportunities to randomly try new drinks without paying $7 a drink. I do know I like the following drinks:
Vodka Collins
Whiskey Sour
Apricot Sour
…so obviously I go for sweetened fruity drinks. But I hear people order other drinks and I have no idea what else I’d like. My wife orders margaritas, but I find them to be meh. I have tried vermouth and I’d rather drink paint than that nasty stuff (although maybe it’s OK in small concentrations).
Try a gimlet. It’s gin and sweetened lime juice. I don’t particularly like gin so I get a vodka gimlet. If its a place that sugars the rim I’d ask for that to be left off because that is waaaay too sweet. It should be a little sweet but tart. They are easy to make at home so you can experiment and know when you order to say if you want it kinda sweet or light in the lime syrup. Just buy a bottle of halfway decent vodka and a couple little bottles of Rose’s lime juice and get to mixing! It’s not a gimlet , but if you like that you can mix a vodka tonic with some rose’s if you want the sweetness.
Based on your description of your tastes, I’d recommend that you try a Bay Breeze. I’m not usually a fan of fruity drinks, but I’ll confess to liking that one.
A pint of Guinness. It will be a crying shame if you reach 48 without swallowing a creamy bitter refreshing pint of black. You could always stick a cocktail umbrella in it to daintify it.
Sweet, fruity drinks? Mai Tai; Alabama Slammer; Fuzzy Navel; Jolly Rancher; Screwdriver; Blue Hawaiian; just look around the bar, find a woman with a brightly-colored drink, and order “whatever she’s having.”
If you’d like to branch out into the non-sweet-and-fruity territory, a vodka tonic is very non-offensive; it’s just, well, vodka and tonic.
The common denominator in the 3 drinks you mentioned is the sweet/sour combo - fruity but not super sweet. Apart from the other suggestions here (especially the Mojito) you might want to try a Salty Dog (grapefruit juice).
If you are going to drink sweet, fruity drinks, I would suggest not drinking at all. Nothing worse than seeing a man order something 21 year sorority girls drink.
I totally understand what you’re saying but as a 40-something woman I appreciate a man who drinks what he likes, even when it’s a Midori Sour (the favorite drink of one of my cousins who is a manly-as-all-get-out mechanic).
As for drinks to try, the common denominator (other than sweet) in the OP’s list of drinks he knows he likes is citrus. Therefore I second the suggestions of Mojito (esp if he can find a bartender who makes them on the sweet side) and Salty Dog, or a Greyhound. My husband’s aunts drink something they call a “Gin Sweetie” which is Gin mixed with Sweetie grapefruit juice (a hybrid of pomelo and grapefruit, IIRC). I doubt you’ll be able to get that in a bar though.
A double shot of cheap well vodka straight up.
Several of them, quickly.
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What?
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Oh, OK. Salty Dog is a good compromise and you don’t look ‘girlie’ drinking it.
(Not there is anything wrong with looking ‘girlie’)
Dark & stormy. Dark rum and ginger beer. (Not ginger ale!) Vodka and grapefruit juice, forget what it’s called. I don’t drink vodka though, because I don’t trust a spirit that has no taste. ;))
Hear, hear! And once you learn to like Guinness, you can move on to more advanced stouts. Duckrabbit Milk Stout, Moo Thunder, Founder’s Breakfast Stout - seriously, a good stout is liquid happiness.
but as a 40-something woman I appreciate a man who drinks what he likes, even when it’s a Midori Sour (the favorite drink of one of my cousins who is a manly-as-all-get-out mechanic).