What is your poison of choice this year?

Tastes change over time and sometimes the old favorite seems to move out of favor......

This year at the office party I was the only one drinking out of the Jack Daniels (black label of course).

I usually have several "helpers" working on that bottle, but not this year.

Most were into the Crown Royal..... blechhhhh.

Others were pouring some godawful Canadian crap...... double blechhhhhh.

As such, in the 2 hour span I stayed there I only managed to drain a little over half the fifth.

I poured three fingers with my meal and was going to be content with nursing that but another person at our table had other plans and kept topping my glass while I was distracted by conversation. I guess that they thought I didn't have past experience drinking Jack and would become "disabled"...... It just got me mellow.

Sorry to spoil their fun but I have a fair tolerance to sour mash :) which comes in pretty handy since I do like it so well!

What are you drinking this year?

Has your circle of companions shifted their choice?

Listerine

I learned to dislike Canadian whisky the hard way - by drinking it. Having always been a cheap drunk, my preferences reflect this primal urge.

For example, all things being equal, I love a nice smoky single malt or a snort of Jameson's with a little plain water on the side. Because the distillers and retailers of these items consider them to be pearls of great price, I generally direct my powers of discrimination toward discovering which varieties of cheap booze are the least objectionable.

Lately, I have been drinking blended American whisky. If you have ever drunk a bottle of $7 bourbon or scotch whisky, you will understand my choice. However, if I lived in Russia, I would no doubt be inseperable from my bottle of Old Horse Blanket vodka. If I lived in Bulgaria, I would be attached to Scowling Patriach arak. If I lived in Saudi Arabia, I would furtively nip from a brown paper bag containing Smuggler's Piss.

As always, drinking cheaply means getting pissed on whatever prompts the locals to fall in the ditch.

I think I've developed an intolerance to the tannins in red wine, especially American ones, so I drink mostly white wine or rose, usually sauvignon blancs, chenin blancs, albariños, vinos verdhes, Grüner Veltliners, but occasionally Bordeaux blends unless I'm eating, in which case I'll have a glass of red. Similarly, I just don't drink any brown liquors anymore with the exception of tequila (I don't know if that counts) and Calvados and the latter only rarely, and the more common and purely medicinal snort of Fernet Branca. If I'm out on the town it's usually gin and tonics or a martini, though I've been known to drink a vodka and mixer of some kind or another when it's the best option. I'm also occasionally tempted by a nice, dry apple cider and when it's winter, by a Guinness or other stout that's not too sweet.

http://www.spirituosenworld.de/produkte/bourbon/details/woodford_reserve_gr.jpg

That looks like the sort of bottle Donald Trump would refill with Chivas.

I only managed to drain a little over half the fifth.

Hey, Dude, ain't it the pits when the bottle has more capacity than you do. You should have drunk it under the table. That'd've shown it who's the boss.

It wasn't an issue of MY capacity..... there was only a little over half the fifth there to begin with :(

I hadn't intended to drink that much anyway, it just happened. I had plans for the afternoon that didn't involve smacking myself in the face every so often to check if it was still numb.

About your $7 a bottle booze....... is that what we used to call grocery story whisky? On a shelf right next to MD20/20 in the beer aisle?

While I can easily agree with your cheapest route to get there theory, I have been developing a taste for Patron. A local restaurant has a Patron-a-rita and I HIGHLY recommend this drink! Seriously. Of course it does cost about as much as your entire bottle but damn it is tasty.

Michael,

Concerning your intolerance to red wine tannins.....

Does this carry over to cooking with the wine as well?

I simply cannot imagine having sauteed mushrooms that were not cooked with a nice dark red wine.

As for the drinking side of it, I have always tended to prefer the lighter wines..... rose or white but mostly rose.

Well that all started with Boones Farm Tickle Pink and Boones Farm Apple.

I know, those are barely wine at all but I was underage, it was the seventies, she was even younger, and she liked tickle pink.

My tendency to dislike red wines probably started about the same time with a few RETCHINGLY bad experiences with Mad Dog 20/20.

As an added after thought...

I don't believe I have ever had ANY Boones Farm product served in a glass.

Always right out of the bottle, sip and pass, sip and pass, etc.

Next to the MD20/20? Dude, here you are indulging in mere guilt by association - and even that is not entirely merited. Although it is true that Mad Dog may be a rather poor wine, it is a first rate cough syrup for infants. Give them half a pint and they sleep like babies.

Also, with infants a little throwing up after drinking is to be expected.

Also, with infants a little throwing up after drinking is to be expected.

― Aimless

That is true for most adults as well..... correct?

What I mean is, if you are not drinking enough to cause involuntary regurgitation then you are not drinking enough, or cheap enough..... either way works.

Does this carry over to cooking with the wine as well?

It's been ages since I made a coq au vin or boeuf bourguignon so I'm not sure if it's the tannins or something else that I can't handle but i do know it is FAR worse with Californian wines than anywhere else, though frankly I really don't bother with anything but French, Spanish and Italian reds so I'm not sure how badly I'd react to Argentine or Australian wines, for example. It may be that I'm reacting to sulfites or something else in the wine but I don't really have any trouble with whites nor even rosés.

That looks like the sort of bottle Donald Trump would refill with Chivas.

― Aimless, Friday, December 26, 2008 10:43 AM (eight years ago)

I did not intend this as a compliment to Chivas, nor to Mr. Trump.

Guadalajara?

whiskey

i drank too much tonight ugh

Xanax.

Kratom!

Dornfelder.

#ilxfirstmentions

Do put the coffee on, won't you? There's a lamb!

https://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/p/23871/the-irishman-founders-reserve

Wouldn't as a rule recommend a blend but this sits on merit with any pot still at twice the price

nothing out of the ordinary

beer
whisky
bud
sex

are we gonna do the xmas/new years fuck this again or is that looked down upon now?

if so im confident i can be competitive this year

Sapporo black

XP I'd back myself

lets dooo it dmaccc

st0ked!

Rather the wife tbh

Probably need to re-up my scotch supply this weekend

Just mixed a Manhattan.

Alfred, I hear they're served rather chilled this year

still tend to do a mixture of fernet (all year round), pernod/richard/pastis (summer), vin de soif, light uncomplicated wines “for thirst” (about 10%/11%), bitter beer alone, and misery.

brother bought me a v decent talisker for christmas, tho i sort of stopped drinking scotch because it made me catatonically depressed, haggard and wild.

still love a manhattan from time to time and may well make some excursion into bourbon cocktails at some point.

every time I drink gin the next morning I swear to never drink gin again a vow I will eventually forget

gin fever where your bones are throbbing is no fun. i will still drink gin but an overplus of it makes me v v emotional.

Otm re scotch except I only drink scotch obv

Novichok has been working quite well

Once again I'm going to try to get into tea.

Past efforts fairly unsuccessful, but iced tea is bringing new hope.

Tequila sunrise due to summer