Never heard of a “buttery” scotch before. I’ll ask for a bottle next Christmas!
What better to toast with than a buttery scotch?
I’d like to try Buckfast Tonic Wine. The combination of alcohol and caffeine would be an interesting buzz, I think (by the time I found about the existence of caffeinated Four Loko, which I reckon was the American equivalent more or less, it had already been made illegal in the USA, dammit!).
I think I’d like a proper absinthe cocktail one day, too. I understand that absinthe’s reputataion as a crazy-making drink is due to its high alcohol content rather than some mysterious drug effect from the wormwood in it, but I like bitter licorice-ish drinks on occasion and the ritual with the sugar cube and the special spoon and ice water sounds like it would be fun. Plus it has all those old-school vibes of decadence and bohemianism dating from when it was most popular. I love the fancy of drinking the same historic beverage Baudelaire and Verlaine did.
Something else I’d like to try but probably won’t get to, is Laudanum, the notorious opium-based draught so beloved of 19th-century poets. Along similar lines, Vin Mariani is something I’d love to sample if the chance ever arose, which it almost certainly won’t.
The original Four Loko was some crazy stuff. I used to buy two big cans and take them out in my kayak. The alcohol/caffeine combo really hit me hard for some reason.
That was a fun summer. Drinking Four Loko and hitting my pipe, all while paddling around on a lake with Amish fishermen. It was almost surreal.
You left out Hemingway.
I’d like my last drink to be a Brompton’s cocktail.
Cheers!
In a novel I read when I was a teenager, I came across a family tailgating before a football game, keeping themselves warm with “bullshots” - vodka mixed with hot beef bouillon. It sounded disgusting to me then, but now, mixed with, say, a tinge of bourbon, that sounds like a cozy drink for a frosty morning.
I’ve had them a number of times. I prefer them WITHOUT the vodka (makes that lovely spicy tomato juice taste watered-down). I’ve been known to ask for bloody mary mix when flying, instead of a soda.
I can’t say offhand that there are any beverages or cocktails that I want to try, that I haven’t already done; I tend to like sweet drinks, and I’ve tried most of the basics (daiquiris, rum-based punches and the like).
Tough question because if it sounds interesting to me, I’ve probably tried it. I drink Negronis in summer. I loathe mint in drinks, so Juleps are verboten. I’ve had and liked Moxie. I’ve at least sampled most of the high-end Scotch and Bourbon people have mentioned. Filthy makes the best pre-made Bloody Mary mix - just add vodka. I hate sparkling wines, so even though I’ve had $100+/bottle champagne, they aren’t something I seek out. Talisker is lovely. Mostly I drink margaritas, Old Fashioneds and bourbon rocks. In the Winter the OFs are replaced by Manhattans.
Here the Train of Thought (HO gauge) skips the tracks and plunges into the ravine. Time for an Old Fashioned! Rare Breed, of course.
Bloody Marys vary so much from one place to the next. You can certainly order them mild (or spicy). Most places use a pre-made mix but some make them by hand and, if by hand, you can get it most any way you want. The mixes are usually not spicy either leaving it to you to add the Tabasco / horseradish.
I love them but I can only tolerate two (the tomato juice is a bit much to have any more).
To the OP I have always wanted to try a Sloe Gin Fizz or a Sidecar. No reason they can’t be made today, I just never remember to ask (and also, when I drink it is 99% wine or beer and almost never a mixed drink).
ETA: A Dark and Stormy.
True story: When the high school I teach at moved to a new campus back in the 70s, they let the first senior class pick the name of the mascot. Thus, in honor of the Indigenous People who once lived in this valley*, we became the Thunderbirds.
*- Actual vote went 1st - Thunderbirds, 2nd - Ripples, 3rd - Night Trains. I’m one of the few people left on campus who knows The Real Story®.
Single best place for a Bloody is Wynn Las Vegas. Their bog standard pour is perfect - just spicy enough. But pour one out for the dear departed Morels at Venetian. They had a Bloody cart that would make you the perfect Bloody, per your instructions.
The only time I’ll drink vodka is if it’s so cold it’s syrupy, and I can knock a belt back with almost no taste. Otherwise, it’s like drinking rubbing alcohol. Yeccch!
That said, I once got plastered on an excursion to Irkutsk drinking vodka and cranberry juice (which was actually quite nice) in combination with Russian shampanskoye, and had to get up at four in the morning to get ready to go to the airport. The flight back to Moscow was hours of sheer misery, especially since the female classmate in front of me hadn’t bathed or changed her clothes during the night.
On our next excursion (to Yalta), I wound up sitting opposite the only male leader of the group at the hotel’s nightclub. He insisted on filling my glass with warm vodka repeatedly during the floor show and never noticed that I was dumping each one into a pile of cloth napkins while he was watching the dancing girls.
So a simplified Cosmopolitan. Wasn’t “kosmopolitan” a slam in the USSR days?
It was indeed, but I’ve no idea if they ever applied it to a drink. They showed Sex and the City on TV a few years back, so maybe they have now.
It’s called a Cape Codder, but that name is rarely used anymore. Or the Sea Breeze is + grapefruit juice and the Bay Breeze + pineapple
That Night Train is a mean wine.
I bought a bottle once while still in college out of curiosity. The guy behind the counter said “you really want to buy this? You sure? This is what winos drink. I don’t think you’re going to like it”. I told him I had made up my mind on it.
Now, as a college student, I was used to drinking some cheap-ass brands of alcohol, but the Night Train was truly awful. It was like turpentine with a little grape juice added. I threw it out after a single taste.
Another New Englander here. Tasted like battery acid. The stuff is vile.