The responsible drinkers thread

For an introduction to alcohol, I would rather suggest half a glass to a glass of some sweet wine — perhaps a good dessert wine, after a good dinner, together with some dessert (duh) or perhaps a little bit of cheese.

Personally, I'd go with some Moscato d'Asti — it tastes good (well, it depends, as always; but it can taste quite good, although dry wines are more my thing insofar as wine is concerned), it is reasonably affordable, and its relatively low alcohol content together with the "buffer" provided by the dinner would permit you to experience the drink without being hit too hard (or at all, depending on your metabolism) by the alcohol.

edited 29th Sep '14 12:55:22 AM by Carciofus

Ah, Moscato is a really good wine.

Personally, I prefer something like Montepulciano D'Abruzzo or Refosco (my dad bottles some truly excellent Refosco back home...); but that'd be like getting people started on beer with a Belgian Quadruppel or something like that — a sweet dessert wine is a better choice for someone who's not used to the taste of alcohol, and Moscato might be a good choice for that, I think.

Madrugada — oh gosh I don't know, I guess I'm not very good at this. I was given Mike's Hard, and that had an obvious alcoholic to taste that I did not like. I will probably have to do more research before I start asking questions.

There's nothing wrong with the complexities of a triple or quad. Some people can hit the ground running with the surprisingly complex, when the cheap and cheerful leave them less than pleased. :|

Mike's Hard Lemonade? Most folks would call that an alco-pop, since it's a flavored malt liquor. But it is one of the harsher ones, and the lemon flavor does let a fair amount of the alcohol taste through.

Let me think on what to recommend...

It also didn't help that it's seltzery, of which I tend to dislike in general. ^_^; Although the fact that it has a harsher taste makes me relieved, because my housemate was angered by the fact that I said I could taste the alcohol in it. Good to know I'm not an abnormality.

The other drink I had was called an apple pie, which meant it probably had vodka or whiskey in it or something like that. That one was good, but it was also rather...juiced down I guess. It was actually pretty good, although my body could still tell it was alcohol, somehow.

I also tried tequila baked into a cake thing, and jello shots with rum in it.

Also I think I had dry wine before, because it had I taste I defined as gray, which doesn't help much.

edited 29th Sep '14 7:36:13 AM by MrAHR

I've been meaning to get out to a bar so I could sample seasonal beers (I really want to try Sam Adams Oktoberfest), and I thought that would be tonight. Turns out that the nearest watering hole is a ghost Town by ten til midnight on Mondays.

So I'm working out at the 24 hour gym instead.

I find that awesome for some weird reason. At any rate going to the gym is probably better for you than drinking.

I'd like to post a small update and say that Sierra Nevada Flipside was pretty good, but not something I'd buy all the time. I'm glad I got it while it was in season though, and I'd recommend it to anyone else in the U.S. Also this has probably already been asked already, but are there any other fans of craft beer here?

(Maybe this thread should have "The Pub" or "The Liquor Cabinet" in its title, to go with the theme.)

So I meant to go to the bar tonight at 8:30, but the sign was again off. I think they might just be closed. I was planning on going to the grocery store anyway, so I just bought a Sam Adams seasonal sampler case to be done with it.

This Harvest Pumpkin Ale would definitely be better ice cold than room temperature (because I'm impatient). It's got a nice full-bodied flavor, but I think the pumpkin is detracting from it. Fortunately, there are only two bottles of it in the case.

I tried a bottle of pumpkin stout the other day. Honestly, my feeling is that pumpkin is wasted on a stout; I could barely tell it was there.

Oddly, the "Harvest Saison" tasted more like pumpkin spice stuff than the pumpkin ale. Though that's probably more because it has a similar blend of spices. Sometimes "pumpkin spice" things are very aggressively spiced.

Anyway, if I'd liked the pumpkin ale I would have been tempted to go back for the Woodchuck Pumpkin Cider, but no.

Well, I left the Oktoberfest itself in the freezer too long. Not only was half of it slush, but it erupted out of the bottle and I had to run back to the kitchen and grab a pint glass.

edited 1st Oct '14 8:34:16 PM by TParadox

Bought a cup of mead at the Ren faire today. (Probably the worst place to buy it, as it was five dollars for a four or five ounce cup) I'd been meaning to give it another try, since it was the second or third hard beverage I'd ever tried and I was highly disappointed, but not yet used to the taste of alcohol.

S'good. Real good. At least as sweet as anything else, and still. I prefer still to bubbly but all of my favorite hard drinks so far have been bubbly, except for the cream sherry, but that's a bit drier than this.

Just got a package from my parents — I had asked them to send me some winter clothing I had left with them, but they saw fit to also include some mortadella and a bottle of Nocino, my favourite liqueur. I'm not going to complain .

Delicious as always. Pity it's so strong, really — I'd love to drink more of it, but at 40% ABV that would not be wise, especially since tomorrow I'm going to take a test (I'm taking an introductory biochemistry course for curiosity's sake: the final grade is of no consequence whatsoever to me, but it would be embarrassing if I failed the first test because of overdrinking ).

I tried some Amarula today. It was nice enough. I've never been a big liqeur fan, but I might buy a bottle. It can always go in cocktails.

edited 9th Oct '14 4:41:27 PM by Achaemenid

Meh. It's OK. <_<

I prefer KWV brandies. (But, frankly: wine is where it's at for Southern African booze.)

edited 9th Oct '14 4:40:37 PM by Euodiachloris

I'll need to burn through this thread from the beginning at some point, but for now:

- I love me some Johnnie Walker scotch.
- Guinness > Hoegaarden > Dos Equis > just about any other beer. I say this knowing that there's other beers I've tried and liked but those are the ones that come to mind right now.
- The Kraken is a hellaciously strong rum and is not recommended for straight drinking...makes a really good mixer, though.

edited 10th Oct '14 12:40:38 PM by Willbyr

Guinness is kind of hit-or-miss to me.

I had it in a few pubs in which I really liked it; but in others it was meh to me, and I don't particularly like the bottled version — I mean, it's not awful, but I've had better. I think it's mostly in the head (not mine, that of the Guinness): sometimes it's wonderfully thick and creamy and foamy, but other times, well, it's not.

edited 10th Oct '14 2:28:44 PM by Carciofus

I've always thought Guiness an extremely overrated beer. I agree with Carc that it's very hit and miss, and the head tends to have an unpleasant acrid quality, whilst the beer itself is heavy and cloying.

edited 10th Oct '14 4:33:34 PM by Achaemenid

Not sure why one can't get Sheridan's in the United States, but my sister's boyfriend is Serbian, and was just home for a few months, so my parents have a bottle now.

Guinness was the first or second beer I actually liked.

@H.O.: Sheridan's featured rather prominently in my youth; people I drank with back then loved that shit. I don't know why it isn't available anymore, especially because I remember when it stopped being available (hazy recollection; over a decade ago) and the people who loved it were sad.

So it is still around today?

Guinness is one of the first 'real' beers I've had. It's been a while since I've had it, but I remember liking it pretty well. Nobody probably cares, but I'm having this right now. Local beers are the best.

Guinness is pretty good, although it's much better on tap compared to from a bottle. This applies to most beers in my opinion, but the difference is especially pronounced with Guinness.

The caveat to that, of course, is "from a good pub that has looked after and invested in its pipes and cellar for years".

Why, yes: I'm not a great one for chilled, smooth-flow systems. Can you tell? I maintain that one of the problems with being served Guinness in a lot of places is that they have a tendency to over-chill it, so when it does start reaching room temperature, its volatile balance is out of whack.

edited 11th Oct '14 6:17:47 AM by Euodiachloris