I drink socially at dinner or at clubs but almost nothing at home. The exception is when I make a good pasta meal. I have a nice glass of red wine with that. I like Pinot Noir mostly and an occasional Merlot. A surprisingly good wine for the price is Apothic Red.
My favorite drinks are like my wine, dry. I love a Mojito as long as it isn’t too sweet. Martinis, Tom Collins, Gin & Tonic, Vodka & Cranberry, Vodka shots, and Margaritas will do.
I like pale ales and various types of craft beer.
No, I didn’t drink more because of COVID. I actually drank a lot less because I wasn’t out at restaurants and clubs.
Yes, I have been drinking a little bit more. A base of some beers as it gets dark to start with, some single malt to finish off the evening. I have been rotating the 40-50 €/750 ml range: Cardhu → Bowmore (12 Yr) → Highland Park (12 Yr) → repeat. Trying to drink enough to tickle my gout without fully waking it up, that is about a bottle per week.
Gotta remember I’ve been on that site for like 20 years now. That’s a long time to build up ratings. Also, one of my sons is a VP for a distribution company. He brings me an assorted 6 pack every week of various beers. It’s a living hell! LOL!!
Whenever I have a beer I don’t like I make sure to try it again at a later date just to make sure before I give it a negative rating.
Taste is subjective and my ratings are mostly for myself. So if I come across a beer I don’t remember if I’ve had yet I can look it up on the site and see if I’ve had it and more importantly if I liked it.
Dales is made in Boulder, Colorado (I was at their brewery in June of 2019). It is available nation wide. It’s pricey at $10-$12 a six pack.
But be warned. Taste is subjective. I love it. A Beer buddy of mine hates it and describes its flavor as cookie dough soaked in motor oil.
As a denizen of Lyons, Colorado, I should point out that the original Oskar Blues brewery is just down the street from where I am now sitting, and their newer, larger brewery is in Longmont. You are correct that they do now have a brewery in Boulder, as well as Austin, Texas and Brevard, North Carolina.
Anecdote: The “Old Chub Pale Ale” was named after my boss’ brother’s dog.
The movie Beerfest takes place in Colorado.
Dales Pale Ale is made in Colorado.
I am convinced that when they made “the greatest beer in the world” in that movie they were making Dales. The one guy even quoted me when he took the first sip!
I have been drinking drinking Manhattans lately on weekend evenings:
2 parts rye whiskey (or you can use other kinds of whiskey if that’s what you have, but I understand rye is what’s traditionally used)
1 part sweet vermouth (I just use cheap stuff from Trader Joe’s)
a few dashes of bitters.
Serve in a martini glass garnished with a maraschino cherry.
With the weather getting warmer I will probably switch to gin and tonics soon.
Wildabeast has a basic recipe, but one caveat: Don’t cheap out on the ingredients, especially the vermouth. I use Dolin Rouge and will now settle for nothing less. Definitely use a good rye - I alternate between Pikesville, Sazerac and Crown Royal Northern Harvest. Bitters to choice. I like Peychaud’s. 3 cherries, cuz that’s the way I roll.
Dude, there’s a lot of what you posted that I had to reread a couple of times, and I’m still not sure what you’re saying. Read over what you wrote before you click ‘submit’, okay? You’re making it a lot of work… Thanks.
So why does she have to drink the same thing as you do? Is she a copycat? You can’t drink rum if she’s drinking something else?
My wife hates rum, I love it. That’s great, because, hey, I can buy any kind of rum I want (on a Plantation Dark Rum kick now). And during a pandemic I can make up cool ‘Tiki Rum Drinks’… yum! But I can’t get my wife to even sniff them.
She loves hard seltzer and gin, I hate that stuff.
Oh, and what I’ve learned over the Great Sequesterment is “Better to be amused than inebriated”. Which means I can spend more on better Scotch* or Bourbon* or Bitters*, and sip a bit while finding a new streaming show. More fun than getting drunk on the cheap stuff.
*Just bought some Monkey Shoulder and Woodford Double Oaked and an assortment of little bottles of bitters. Mmmmm…
…
eta: Just saw this… You might want to try that “drinking less, but better stuff” thing.
Seems like you might be a candidate for “Bottled in Bond (BIB)” whiskey’s. These are by US law:
The product of one distillation season, from either January to June or July to December
Aged in a warehouse for at least four years
Bottled at 100 proof (U.S.)
Include the distillery at which it was made and bottled on the label
I have spent far too much time in the quarantine watching whiskey review channels and drinking bourbon and rye. Evan Williams bottled in bond is widely regarded on multiple whiskey youtube channels as the “best” budget bourbon at about $15/750 ml bottle. There are plenty more in the $20-25 price range. BIB is a big step up from the bottom price points, but still pretty good price performance.
For beer, I brew my own. Usually 3-4% session English ales. But then feel the need to top up the evening with a few pours of something stronger.
Perfect timing. And I even have the bitters and cherries.
Just bought a bottle of sweet vermouth and a bottle of Campari to try making the following, but with rye (Woodford Reserve).
and then I’m going to try a Negroni with Tequila
2 Parts Tequila
1 Part Campari
1 Part Sweet Vermouth
We have single malts from Islay as the normal evening dram, and just finished a Bruichladdich. But for summer (yes, it’s freezing here, but it’s sunny) I like trying different cocktails. Restaurants are still closed, and they are mostly rubbish at cocktails, so I have to make my own.
I don’t have the fridge space to keep lots of bottles in the fridge, so I’m making sure I have a line up to use up the sweet vermouth within a month.
Nice. My brother-in-law was showing me his home bar once, and mentioned that he just wasn’t loving vermouth drinks. Well, of course there was a dusty old bottle of Cinzano or something; uncapped and unrefrigerated since sometime back near the dawn of time. I pointed out the error of his ways and think I converted him to Team Vermouth.
2 oz. rye, bourbon if you’re a heathen, BiB is best
1/2 oz. Grand Marnier
1/2 oz. sweet vermouth (Dolin)
1 1/2 oz. fresh squeezed orange juice (I’d specify type, but most folks aren’t as blessed as those of us who live in sunnier climes)(OK, you ought to be able to find blood oranges)
Stir well with ice and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a caramelized orange wheel.
How much trouble am I in if I use Cointreau instead?
I’m planning to buy oranges to make marmalade, so I can buy another for this.
Except I opened a bottle of ruby port last night, so that’s in the fridge now. Seems (according to the internet) I could make a Ruby Manhattan. Something for tomorrow evening. Need to make ice.
In colder weather, I drink Manhattans, but I use Russell’s Rye and Carpano Vermouth. I’ve upped my game by using Luxardo cherries.
Now that temperatures here in Tennessee are creeping upward, I like a Negroni (although I use Aperol instead of Campari - much smoother). I also like 2 oz Herradura Resposado tequila, 1/2 oz Cointreau and 1/2 oz sweetened lime juice, put in a shaker and served up in a martini glass with a wedge of lime. I’ll use equal parts fresh squeezed lime juice and agave nectar for the sweetened lime juice. Very refreshing!
I find Grand Marnier and Cointreau interchangeable. Though I’ve taken to sipping Cointreau over ice in the evening… it’s not just “orange”, there are a lot of complex flavors in there.
I’d forgotten about EW!. A few years ago a girlfriend and I got on a bit of a bourbon drinking habit. We didn’t have much money so over the course of a year we tried a lot of cheaper whiskeys. Now I remember that Evan Williams stood out as tasting better than similarly-price bourbon/whiskey.
I never noticed it was higher proof! That may help explain the perceived value.
I’m on a vodka and various Polar flavored seltzers. Mostly grapefruit and pomegranate. Sometimes I’ll go with Deep Eddy grapefruit vodka. Also sauv blanc. Definitely been drinking more since this whole shit started.
