Vodka-- I drink it neat and warm.
Rum-- mixed, except for Sailor Jerry or other spiced rums, which I take neat.
Whisky-- mixed in frou-frou drinks. Can’t stand the taste otherwise.
Cognac-- on ice. Not a fan, though.
Tequila-- straight, none of the salt/citrus/whatever flair. Might be good mixed, but I don’t think I’ve had anything using it.
Gin-- thrown in the nearest drain or garbage pail. Can’t stand the stuff.
Schnapps-- usually straight, but Rumpleminze is great in hot cocoa.
Coffee liqueurs-- straight, even though a friend has likened it to drinking syrup.
Vodka - Almost never drink it. On exceedingly rare occasions, I’ll have a shot of Hangar One mandarin with a couple of ice cubes.
Gin - Use it all the time in cocktails, but never drink it straight.
Tequila - I’m not a big fan of anejo, so I usually stick to silver, used in margaritas.
Rum - Midgrade rum is for mixing; good dark rum is for sipping neat. Try the Zaya, Ron Zacapa 23 year, Pyrat Pistol, or the Mount Gay Barbados Sugar Cane Rum.
Scotch - Don’t drink it any more (bad experience years ago)
Irish whiskey - Typically don’t drink it any more
Bourbon - Drink it on rare occasions, but I’m not a huge fan. Midgrade is for mixing; good stuff is for sipping neat.
Rye - I am a huge fan. Cheap and midgrade is for mixing; good stuff is for sipping neat. Try the Black Maple Hill.
Brandy - Midgrade is for mixing; good stuff is for sipping neat.
Fruit liqueurs - Almost always drink neat.
Herbal liqueurs - Can be either used in cocktails or drunk neat. Amaro Montenegro is accessible for the uninitiated; Chartreuse VEP is delightful but wasted on amateurs. If you want to show up the kids drinking Jagermeister, offer to buy them a glass of Fernet Branca.
Vermouth and related herbal wines - Can be either used in cocktails or drunk neat, depending on the specific brand. If you can get your hands on some Carpano Antica, it’s unbelievable.
Enjoy drinking straight* —
Tequila; Scotch; Rum; Bourbon; Rye; Cognac
Do not enjoy drinking straight —
Gin, mostly; Vodka has to be cold & thick like syrup + be of good quality so on average I’ll put Vodka down here too.
- quality does matter
Here’s an interesting sidenote. Drinking Gin straight is considered very lowbrow. But drinking your Martini as dry as possible- *which is straight gin- *is considered sophisticated. :rolleyes: Of course, it’s straight gin you are paying whaaaaay too much for. 
It’s coriander seed, not cilantro (which generally refers to the leafy green part in the US), and I’m pretty sure people who have an aversion to cilantro don’t have an aversion to coriander seed.
It’s definitely a bit 18th century London!
I don’t really like any hard liquor. I will occasionally sip a port, but that isn’t what I would call a hard liquor. I am more of a beer drinker.
Ah, thanks. Here coriander is used for both.
Yes, I am a pansy. Peppermint schnapps is the only thing I ever drank straight, at a football game, in freezing weather. Well, I do remember getting blitzed on tequilla once or twice in college.
I hardly ever drink hard liquor under any circumstances anymore. A margarita with dinner at a Mexican restaurant is as manly as I get.
Yet, I am straight, I swear.
I understand the confusion, and I had to look it up just to make sure it wasn’t leafy coriander/cilantro that was being used. Coriander seed is a relatively common ingredient in distilling/flavoring spirits/brewing. You’ll find it used quite predominantly in Belgian white beers/witbiers, where coriander seed and dried Curacao orange peels are the primary flavoring agents. I’ve never heard of cilantro (the leaf) being used in alcohol production, but I really wouldn’t be surprised. After all, in Russia I’ve had beer flavored with almonds and basil, so I’m sure someone, somewhere must be using it.
Pretty much the opposite of the OP, here. I drink scotches and whiskeys straight but I don’t care much for tequila straight. I can drink vodka straight and while I don’t find it particularly difficult, it’s just not that rewarding.
The Hendricks people seem to be going down the wilfully eccentric route (despite being owned by William Grants) so who knows? In any case, it’s a lovely drink.
That and coriander seed is a common ingredient in gin (e.g. you’ll find it in Bombay Sapphire, Beefeater, Tanqueray, etc.)
My frustration is that nobody believes me when I order it straight!
Seriously - there are certain single-malt whiskey’s I ONLY drink neat. It’s very, very frustrating to order, very clearly, very firmly a shot of one of these only to have it arrive vastly diluted and with ice. NO! If I wanted a mixed drink I would have ORDERED one!
Gah!
Yes, a pet peeve. What tipped you off?
Being small and female only seems to aggravate this tendency, although some of my big, burly, male friends say they have similar problems.
Aarghh no I wasn’t doubting you! It was just a terminological mixup. Anyway - buy Hendricks*! Girvan is a nice wee town that could use the work. Buy Hendricks and re-assess your relationship with gin!
Mmmmm Hendricks!
- Note to mods: I have fuck-all connection with the drinks trade save that of humble consumer.
Some malts are better with a wee splash of water, especially if they are cask strength or otherwise peaty. Otherwise just drink what you like with what you like. I’m sure I’ve posted before about this, but what old guys in pubs in Scotland tend to drink is Bells, Black Bottle or similar with lemonade, Irn-bru or cola with a half pint of heavy. That would be the authentic drink.
What do I drink straight? What have you got?
I’m a whisky man mainly, and that covers Whisky, Whiskey, Scotch, Bourbon, and Moonshine (corn likker tastes suprisingly good). I do **not ** drink whisky cordials, which are Southern Comfort (peach schnapps and whisky) Wild Turkey Liquor (Wild Turkey, honey and something else), Yukon Jack (whisky and juice of a dead monkey) or Drambuie (whisky and god knows what else, tastes like more whisky and maybe some dirt). I can shoot it, sip it, or swig it like a pirate right out of the bottle. I love whiskys.
I also drink gin straight, which I seem to be one of the only people on earth who orders a Bombay Sapphire on the rocks, no twist, no mixer, no nothing. I could see not being able to enjoy Beefeater straight, but the high class gins of today are lovely things to drink and pair really well with spinich and hot bacon salads or a pesto based bruchetta. Seriously.
I drink vodka straight, I even have a set that’s a glass bowl that you fill with ice and it holds 5 long shot glasses so that your shots are always freezer cold. I have a Polish girlfriend and because of that I will only drink vodka made from potatos (makes sense to the Irish in me) because it has a cleaner finish than grain or other veggie made vodkas.
I drink tequila straight, because that’s how it’s supposed to be done. I do like a margarita or a sunrise from time to time, but again, I don’t drink cheap stuff so there’s a craftsmanship in those bottles that is a shame to destroy with $.05 worth of flavored water or fruit juice.
Anything else that comes by, I’ll try it straight first. Mixology isn’t the science of dumping a bunch of shit in a glass, it’s just like cooking. You need to know your base flavors and build from there to make things that taste good or challenge the palate. I love inventing new drinks and I always have to start with a nice sip or three of whatever the new bottle is before commiting it to a mix. Who knows, you might just find yourself a new drink that way.
My thoughts on booze have changed a lot in the past few years. I don’t know how much is living in the south, how much is who I spent time with, and how much is just trying new things.
Vodka: The ultimate choice of the serious alcoholic. Mixes with anything, so it ‘doesn’t show’. Also, ‘less hangover’. Easy to chug. Of course, the nicer the better, but Smirnoff at a minimum.
I’ve been told that at an AA meeting, if you say “hot vodka” a bunch of hands are gonna go up. (Summer, hiding bottles, drink it when you can …)
I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to drink vodka again.
Gin: I’m totally a Bombay Sapphire girl. But after one particular night out with the girls, I didn’t want to drink for months. I never buy Gin at the Costco Booze Warehouse anymore. And I left what was left of that one bottle behind. (Geez those girls can put it away)
Margaritas/Mimosas: Start at noon for brunch with ‘the gang’ on Sunday (every Sunday) at one of two favorite spots, come out of a boozy haze some time Sunday evening. Somewhere - usually home. Thankfully nothing was far.
This is three different social circles.
Bourbon: Ah, finally. M/M boozy friends are very into Markers Mark. Not bad. But I myself prefer the small batch bourbons, particularly Knob Creek. I like my Knob all kinds of ways - rocks, coke or the traditional southern way, in ginger ale. A strong ginger ale is best, there are some regional ginger ales.
The very best thing, besides how great it tastes, is that I absolutely positively cannot drink more than 2 bourbon drinks in an evening. 
Makers Mark straight.
Skyy Vodka Citrus (Mmmm…) straight.
That’s because light rum is not for drinking straight, it’s exclusively for mixing. I mean, nobody’s going to stop you from drinking it straight if you really want to, but it’s just naturally inferior that way. OTOH, it’s a fine mixer; I drink quite a bit of it mixed with anything from triple sec and brandy to hibiscus to cola (the latter with lime, of course).
According to the bottle, Yukon Jack is a “Canadian liqueur”. Which seems to be Canuckistanese for “too shitty to compete with real whiskey”.
Quick question on coffee liqueurs: How much caffeine do they have? Anyone know?
What-who?