The Alcohol Thread

What are the high-proof cocktails that completely smuggle the taste of alcohol? Sometimes I want to get sloshed, quickly and efficiently.

Mix the cheapest spirit you can find with the cheapest juice you can find if all you want is to get drunk.

edited 8th Nov '14 11:21:32 AM by Achaemenid

Handle: My personal favourite is the screw driver. 1 part vodka to two parts orange juice served on the rocks. Surprisingly good one is just rum and coke. The cuba libre is white rum and coke with some lime juice.

Simple easy to make mixed drinks. Reasonably tasty and they do a good job of masking the alcohol flavor and make the drink more palatable.

From what I can find broadly citrus juices do a god job of masking the hard liquor taste.

edited 8th Nov '14 11:32:23 AM by TuefelHundenIV

For me, absinthe simply burned my throat raw because I drank it like a shot without knowing that absinthe was a completely different type a drink (I had assumed it was a vodka).

Dohohohoho! That's the kind of things one does on a dare! Why we congratulate each other on these pointless displays of self-harm, I cannot say.

I for one really don't get desperation-drinking. Why is it fun to chug down more and more liquor?

edited 8th Nov '14 11:40:27 AM by TheHandle

Drinking whisky properly will cheer one up nicely.

No, I mean stuff like we used to do at my rugby team. Dring litre after litre of cheap beer. Pissing again and again. Losing sight of space and time, of sense and stance. That kind of undignified self-torture... why is it so fun? Why did I enjoy it so much?

edited 8th Nov '14 12:13:14 PM by TheHandle

Nevermind.

edited 8th Nov '14 12:09:36 PM by FFShinra

Handle: For some it is a false sense of cheer and being so totally blitzed like that makes you forget your troubles and casts a boozy filter over everything. It alters your perception quite a bit. Don't really have a good answer for it.

Personally I prefer to avoid getting seriously drunk and prefer the low level drunk at most.

Sounds lame, but I only ever drink for the taste. Never drink enough to get any more than slightly buzzed.

That is my personal preference as well. If I notice I am getting drunk I stop and try to stick the low level. I have only been totally hammered twice. The first time was my first time drinking. Not a good idea.

Hmm I wonder if there is some science behind which drinks are more likely to give you hang over?

Majoraoftime asked me about the Glenlivet a page ago, and when I was doing my end-of-week shop today I saw a bottle of The Glenlivet 18 y/o at a reduced price. Not one to turn up a bargain, I grabbed it. Hearts beat Rangers today, as well, putting us nine points clear at the top of the Scottish Championship. So why not have a dram?

—

Nicely labelled bottle. One upside to living in Denmark is that the Danish authorities force distillers to declare if the bottle has had its color adjusted with spirit caramel - E150a - which this has. Nothing to worry about, though it is of interest to purists.

The caramel does at least work for them; the whisky has an attractive golden tint.

Glenlivet helpfully put tasting notes on the bottle and the box, but I'm going to avoid reading them until I've had it for myself.

Without water.

• Nose: Toffee, dried fruits, barley sugar, citrus peel, sherry, dates, a hint of treacle and burnt popcorn. Fudge.
• Palate: Chewy in texture. Very strong indeed. Allspice, nutmeg, orange peel, sugar. Marmalade. You know the smell you get off old wood? Kind of like tasting some of that.
• Finish: The finish is spicy, and dry, and fairly long. Curiously muted though. The finish was actually kinda disappointing.

I then added half a teaspoon or so of water and let it sit for a few moments:

• Nose: The water has really opened the nose up - the fruity and sweet notes are still there, but there is also a floral note...heather? Interesting.
• Palate: Fairly similar to before...there's a kind of minty freshness that comes out though. The water has hurt the texture, but that is probably my fault.
• Finish: Finish is fairly similar, but there's a smooth creaminess to it as it slides out of sight now.

I was pleased to discover that this jives fairly nicely with what Glenlivet say on the bottle - suggesting that I'm not just blundering around in the dark here. This should be a nice dram for the next few months.

That was pretty good. Not as good as the Lagavulin I talked about earlier though, and I wouldn't pay full price for it over a younger one. My advice would be: if you want The Glenlivet, buy one of their younger expressions.

edited 22nd Nov '14 9:54:13 AM by Achaemenid

So when you add water to spirits like that do you use, filtered tap, distilled, chilled, room temp etc?

Doesn't really matter so long as it is not chilled or carbonated. Chilling the whisky will mask the flavor.

Personally, I add tap water at room temperature. If your tap water is chlorinated or particularly mineraly you might need to be careful, but generally tap water at room temp is what you want for whisky. Bottled spring water or distilled water are a bit of a hassle, but nevertheless OK. For other spirits I have no idea.

My next project is to get hold of some higher-end American whiskies and bourbons, as well as some blends.

edited 23rd Nov '14 9:51:49 AM by Achaemenid

Interesting. We have chlorinated water with noticeably high mineral content. But other then that our water is apparently very clean.

My advice: try a couple of test glasses of something you don't mind losing. If you can taste the water over the whisky, then use bottled stuff.

—

Here's a new game: What do people think are overrated and underrated alcoholic drinks? Can be brands, types of drink, cocktails - anything! I'll start.

Overrated:

• Any whisky highly rated by Jim Murray, Proof66, or one of the various international spirit competitions. Not necessarily bad, but it tends to ruin them by driving demand and price through the roof.
• Macallan Single Malt scotch. Being hot shit in the 1970s and being in Skyfall does not a good whisky make.
• Guinness. Stout for people who don't like stout/wannabe Irish. Also not really Irish, but British beer that happens brewed in Dublin.
• Sparkling wine generally. Never liked it.

Underrated:

• Bunnahabhain. The Islay distillery everyone forgets, and arguably the strongest of the lot.
• Mezcal and cachaca - in the UK, obviously, they're loved in their local lands.
• Jack Daniels Old No. 7. Self-styled "connoisseurs" love to piss on JD, but it's not a bad whisky, merely unchallenging and very sweet. It is what it is, and there's nothing wrong with that.
• Vodka on its own. Why waste it in cocktails?

edited 5th Dec '14 4:33:30 PM by Achaemenid

While Guinness is OK, anyone who likes it really should expand their experience of stouts. It's a healthy style with lots of good brews.

As someone who likes Guinness: I'll find the time (and money) to taste other stouts, but, in the meantime, I'll remain a simple plebeian (right, Ach?).

Underrated: Port wine. This type of Portuguese wine is awesome, yet some people still insist on saying it's a cheap wine.

edited 6th Dec '14 6:45:27 AM by Quag15

Port is lovely. I'm rather partial to the tawny ones, myself.

I also love this time of year: you can pick up real variety this close to Christmas in the UK. The link between Stilton and port is a strong (and justified) one. But, as with any wine, you've got to match your port to the age of the Stilton you've got. Get it wrong, and you can destroy the fruitiness of the port with the salt of the cheese all too easily. Or, you can overwhelm a young Stilton with the depth of the port.

edited 6th Dec '14 11:14:55 AM by Euodiachloris

Me too, particularly the Colheita subtype of tawny^note the subtype that comes from a single vintage.

True, it's difficult to make a correct match. Sadly, I don't know the exact proportions and matches that can be made.

Port...isn't that one of those drinks that exists to furnish whisky with decent casks to mature in?

Never been a big guy for wines and such like, but still like one from time to time.

edited 6th Dec '14 2:30:25 PM by Achaemenid

I don't have a witty response to that...for now.

What kind of wine do you like?

Red and white.

Don't know the first thing about it. Why should I? That's what waiters are for.

Besides, nine times out of ten when I eat out I go to a curry house, and the best drink to drink with curry is lager.

edited 6th Dec '14 3:11:50 PM by Achaemenid

I actually like my ports, sherries (I usually prefer dry to sweet) and maderias. I've got this recipe for mushroom pâté that needs either sherry or maderia to work well that is to die for. You can substitute mirin or any other rice-wine or cider vinegar, but... it's just horrible in comparison.

Also, it's totally kickass if you have a small glass of what you put in with it as a starter.

edited 6th Dec '14 3:14:26 PM by Euodiachloris

Madeiras, not 'maderias'(). But, yeah, nice choice (personally, I'm not fond of sherry, but mostly it's because of Spain).

I usually drink a small glass of Port wine or Madeira wine (but mostly Port, since I'm from the North and I have all the Port varieties here) after the main course and/or during dessert, for a smoother digestion and as a way to chill out a bit.