Let's talk about alcoholic drinks.

I don't drink. Not a stance I take with any vigor, I just typically don't do it. I've not tasted an alcohol I would take regularly over even water, and the few experiences I have with nights where friends and/or myself have been drinking have been generally negative ones. I try things from time to time out of curiosity, but that's about it.

Don't get me wrong, I also think drinking in general is real dumb, and always have. Incidentally and unrelatedly, I currently work in a bottleshop (liquor store).

@nicolenomicon: Is that a general rule regarding hormones? Granted, I've not consulted anyone yet, but I haven't read that anywhere.

There is a pretty big color variation in Absinthe some is clear, some is green,red some is almost purple and blackish.

Having Italian roots mean I drink red wine to... everything. When I go out drinking I prefer the good old Captain Morgan and coke, as it gets me way drunk. Since visiting Hawaii I also have a sweet spot for Mai Tai's. They're just so good.

@viking_funeral: Do people in Germany still drink a lot of mate mixed with spirits? The last time i was in Berlin something like 90% of people i saw were drinking either beer or vodka-mate

Beers I like all different kinds. Favorites include stout, English bitter and German wheat beer.

I like red wine, but I'm no connoisseur. I've never spent more than ~$20 on a bottle.

I rarely touch hard liquor, but I do enjoy rye and ginger. The cheaper the rye, the better.

I came from a family where drinking was an issue; but thankfully for the me, I never really got that gene for needing to drink. I like all sorts of beers, but I don't buy myself them. I like wine as long as the whites are not too sweet or the reds too tawny. For a cocktail, I like a Gin & Tonic, but I don't buy my self those ingredients. I like most hard liquors as shots or in drinks, but again I don't buy bottles of anything. The only thing I can't drink any more is Southern Comfort, because of two years on college where So-Co w/ Dr Pepper Chaser was the drink of choice.

For me alchole of any type is just a type of beverage. I can take it or leave it depending on what is going on. If my friend orders beer for lunch, so will I. But I'll order a coke instead if that's what I fee like...meh I don't care. At an fancy dinner if someone says, "Lets order wine" I'm fine with that.

The only issue I have is getting drunk at dinner at a restaurant intentionally. The person who buys mixed drink before the meal, get another before the appetizers are finished and then gets two glasses of wine during them meal can GO FUCK OFF. If I go to a nice restaurant and the meal is leisurely and the table get three bottles of wine and we all get a little tipsy over a four hour meal, fine. But intentionally downing five cocktails is making a meal a chore for everyone else is annoying.

My favorite beer is a Belhaven Wee Heavy, but I don't know a place that carries it here. My other favorite is Sam Adams' Fat Jack, which was sort of a Belgian pumpkin ale? I don't know that they make it anymore. These days my go-to is Sweet Baby Jesus, by DuClaw.

I drink a fair amount of whiskey also, usually with coke but not necessarily. I don't really have a go-to brand, though, except that I think Crown is perfect for mixing.

I will never stop being happy about the fact that I hate the taste of beer, the only drink I can stomach on the rare occasion that I do (once ever 4-5 years) is a Screwdriver.

@chumm: Thanks for the info. Good to know.

jack n coke

vodka n coke

craft beer (pretty rare I drink beer)

I'm a Belgium wheat beer kind of guy, I love Gin and tonics, and anything with bourbon or whisky be it cocktail, or neat/rocks.

I'm in my twenties and haven't yet settled on a drink of choice.

I enjoy drinking a bottle of a pretentious kraft brew from time to time. I don't weight a lot and don't mind paying thrice the amount of a normal bottle of beer in order for me to feel pleasantly relaxed for the remainder of the evening a couple of times a month. I don't think I've actually ever drank a 'regular' beer that I've particularly enjoyed (and had thought for quite some time that I just don't like beer). Recently in Poland there's been a renaissance of kraft beers and it's very rare that a shop that sells alcohol won't have at least half a shelf of some kind of locally-brewed beer (some supermarket chains might not have them). Usually every third shop will have at least a couple of shelves devoted to them. It does depend on where you live though, obviously, but in cities that's usually the case.

During parties I usually go for simple vodka+soda drinks and at some point switch over to vodka shots.

I enjoy a glass of good wine to go with a meal, although that usually means someone else picks it. If I'm abroad I usually go for inexpensive local wines as an evening drink with friends and/or my girlfriend, since I'm less likely to pick an undrinkable cheap wine rather than an undrinkable cheap beer in a country I don't know.

I occasionally drink warm sake if I feel like it.

I have never been a fan of whisky and every time someone says they like to drink it straight I don't quite believe them.

I don't really drink much, maybe up to 8 times a month. Whenever I do it's rarely more than a bottle of beer's worth of alcohol. As a Pole I can also say that social drinking has always been a big thing here, but it seems that more and more young people are comfortable choosing to walk away from excessive alcohol consumption as a way of proving oneself. I guess it has something to do with more soberly examining what life has in store for people who actually do drink their lives away (Slavic countries have plenty of examples of them).

I don't drink it often, but a Cuba Libre tastes quite good.

I used to drink mostly beer, but after a while i just realized that i didn't really enjoy the taste all that much. It's just for the buzz. So i stopped drinking it unless i aim for that buzz.

Vodka is okay, Whisky tastes like cold snot and makes me feel like i'm having a cold.

This is my go to. Just neat in a glass.

I highly recommend buying a bottle and leaving it open for 15 minutes as soon as you get home. Then just put the cap back on until you are ready for it.

Beer and beer alone for me. I had my fill of liquor in my early 20's and can't drink the stuff anymore. As for beer, I try a lot of different stuff but I prefer IPA's, stouts or scotch ales. If I'm drinkin' on the cheap it's either Mickey's or Lonestar, being the Texas hipster that I am.

I also only drink on the weekends anymore and it's usually 3 or 4 beers at the max, and that's when I'm hanging out with friends or something.

I'm a huge Manhattan fan (gotta be with rye) and I also really enjoy a good dry gin (Gin and Tonic, Negroni, or Gin Mule). I've moved away from beer and drink mostly cocktails when I drink. I love learning about and trying new drinks.

@neoathanasius: If you like Manhattans and negronis, you should try a Boulevardier. It's basically a negroni with rye/bourbon instead of gin, and is ridiculously tasty (probably my favorite cocktail).

@mrroach: Thanks for the suggestion! I've got the stuff to make one of those later. I'm excited to try it!

@tycobb: Hah, I literally just bought it for the first time 2 days ago, very impressed for a mid shelf bourbon. I usually drink Maker's Mark or Wild Turkey. Question: Do you prefer to add drops of water to knob creek?

Any sort of IPA makes me a happy camper, but I like essentially every and all beer. In an effort to drop some lb's I've been drinking more vodka soda. Specifically Tito's and soda...delicious.

I've also tried to get more knowledgeable with wine as I've recently entered my 30's and that seems to be more of a socially acceptable move on the dating scene.

Natty Light

I drink whiskey, either neat or in Old Fashioned form.

Also, I don't actually drink.

@cagliostro88: Club-mate? Yeah, it's still around.

Nah, I don't add water. I found, at least for me, adding water screws with the after taste of some whiskey so I just go straight. I will from time to time add whiskey stones to cool it down, but that's just a random decision at times.

@tycobb: Supposedly diluting it allows you to fully enjoy all the subtle flavors you wouldn't normally pickup as the alcohol masks them. I've tried 1 drop, 2 drops, and even been a bit more generous and couldn't tell the difference besides it being slightly easier going down. Maybe my palate isn't sophisticated enough lol. Regardless I totally back your recommendation, it's fantastic for the price

From what I have had, Teeling whiskey is the finest drink currently being produced. I wouldn't ruin it with ice or with mixer.

Guinness and whiskey have been my mainstays, although I would be reluctant to get a Guinness abroad.

@tycobb: I too like Knob Creek a lot. Good whiskey. I enjoy drinking it straight; no need to mix it with anything.

Also thanks for the absinthe info @meierthered. I wonder what explains the wide variety in color? Different distillation techniques? Artificial coloring? Something else? I might investigate further.

Crown Royal. Ice.

I often drink whiskey, usually neat. Big fan of scotch, but I also enjoy a nice rye.

In terms of beer my favorite is a strong red ale. Rickards is a go to in most bars, but my favorite is one called Maudite (damned). Not the easiest thing to find, but I highly recommend it. Maybe take it slow though, it is strong.

@tds418 said:

Some absinthes are artificially colored, and anything that looks anything like mouthwash is not just artificial but probably a trainwreck. Spirits that are steeped with green herbs and not filtered to remove the color have a hard time staying green unless they have a very high alcohol content. The chlorophyll that makes them green breaks down into a yellowish color at most normal boozy proofs, this is part of the reason why absinthe is so high proof. That said, the key flavoring is star anise, which will just impart a slight brownish yellow color, if any at all. Wormwood is green, and other green herbs will be used, but a non-green absinthe isn't necessarily a bad thing (and is preferable to a neon green one).

This phenomenon is really well pronounced in Green Chartreuse, a classic French liqueur for which the color was named. Although it is sweet and insanely herbacious, it has to be made at 110 proof in order to preserve the green color. It can be compared to its 80 proof sister, Yellow Chartreuse, which despite using a lot of the same botanicals cannot maintain the green color. Green chartreuse is one of the most bonkers drinking experiences you can have, swirling just a bit of it around your mouth produces a dozen different sensations as it develops over time, and it's used in some great classic cocktails (my fav is The Last Word) as well as several tiki drinks.

I drink every day. Usually a few beers after work (local ales or Euro lagers/pils, I'll rotate) and then some kind of scotch or whiskey near the end of the evening shortly before bed.

On that front it's usually the cheaper blendeds (Teachers or Ballantine's) but if I was made of money, there would probably be a couple nice single malts in there. I share and personally consume way too much to regularly afford $50+ CAD bottles of the good stuff

Would like to get more into mixing my own drinks to get some variety going, but I'm as bad at that as I am at cooking - anything I've tried to prepare is spectacularly underwhelming and a waste of ingredients

@tgjessie: Hormones can put stress on your liver, so aggravating that by drinking isn't a great idea. It can also reduce the effectiveness of anti-androgens, or at least the one I'm on (cyproterone acetate). I'll probably end up having a drink or two a few times a year when I get together with friends, but otherwise I'm going to stay clear.

Interestingly, I recently learned that grapefruit juice also can have weird interactions with them too.

I like whisky. I really adore Laphroaig (I have no fear in saying that when looking for a whisky to drink, Laphroaig was the one I got because a fictional character in books I like, John Rebus, drank it), but whether it's Dalwhinnie, The Balvenie, Glen Grant, Jura, Talisker, Glenfiddich, I've yet to come across a single malt that I didn't find tasty and enjoyable. For whatever reason, I don't really enjoy bourbon in the same way and will usually only have that with Coke.

But if I'm out, I'll probably be drinking cider, and most likely it'll be Strongbow or whatever else is on tap rather than anything fancy, though I do enjoy the Swedish stuff like Kopparberg & Rekorderlig. There's a type of Kopparberg, Summer Fruits or something like that, which is essentially just alcoholic Ribena. It's nice. Plus their pear is very much delish.

I'll also have vodka, but I'm very much the opposite with it that I am with whisky. Vodka gets drunk when you just want to get hammered. I tried one of the more expensive brands, Grey Goose or whatever, it was still just vodka, you bung the bottle in the freezer for a while, take it out when you want a drink and then add lots of your mixer of choice. I tend towards Irn Bru. Irn Bru goes well with vodka. I probably drink Glen's if I'm drinking it at a house party or whatnot, coz Glen's is cheap & nasty. It's basically just supermarket brand but available at your local cornershop.

All that said though, I don't drink as often as I used to. Maybe it averages out to once every couple of months.

There must be something about grapefruits. They also have bad interactions with SSRI meds for depression & anxiety. Which sucks. I like grapefruits.

No problem.

And there you have it. I have seen a lot bottles with different types of favoring. Saw one that had cannabis in it, which i can only imagine being insanely nasty.

Thanks for the in-depth info @chumm. I had a feeling that the 'neon-green' absinthe, as you put it, was artificially colored to make it seem more 'authentic.'

Around winter time when you can get cranberry sprite zero, mix that shit with some spiced rum and you are set.

Long Island Iced Tea is the go-to at the bar. Just have to take the straw and flair out of it and you have a great cocktail. So tasty.

Been getting into Peach Mead lately too. Tastes like a fuzzy peach candy. Kinda.

I have some odd tastes when it comes to alcohol, I tend to enjoy the lighter colored spirits that can be used repeatedly to create various mixed drinks. One drink that I typically often get at a bar is a a Trash Can, mostly because it's unique looking, taste is pretty decent, you can get amped from the can of redbull / monster floating in it, and it can get you where you want to go quickly.

Granted, malt liquor does the exact same thing, and is significantly cheaper although the taste and appearance are significantly lacking. However! Before you go writing off malt liquor or other liquors found within the confines of a 40 oz bottle, know that consumption of fast food with malt liquor truly provides a unique experience that seems to both elevate the taste of the malt liquor as well as the garbage food your consuming, the saying is true that two negatives will equal themselves out to make a positive.

As for beer, there is only one kind of beer that reigns supreme in my eyes and that's German beer. Ever since my little community gained an authentic German Restaurant which carries a great deal of German beer (both on tap and bottled), I find it difficult to order any other kind of beer at other restaurants and I usually don't. If you ever want to try some delicious stuff get your hands on some Köstritzer, most liquor stores in my area carry the stuff and bottled it's pretty good but draft it's incredible.

Old-Fashioned for me, usually with Canadian Club, Knob Creek or Makers if I'm feeling fancy. Gin & Tonic for something a bit more refreshing. Single malt Scotch when I don't want to bother with mixing anything.

I'm not a big fan of beer, but I do love watching my craft beer snob friends get so angry watching me enjoy a Michelob Ultra.

I mostly just drink beer and whiskey, sometimes wine. If I buy beer I either buy Heineken or a Swedish beer called Oppigårds. For whiskey it's either John Lee or Jim Bean.

I do not enjoy cocktails and mixing alcohol with any sodas or other stuff.

The absinthe/wormwood ban was lifted a few years back, the stuff we get in the US is as "real" as anywhere else.

That out of the way: DIRTY martini's my go-to at home, Old Overholt and something light (a hefe, usually) when I'm in a bar, an IPA (or double) with a meal and, if I'm feeling frisky, a White Russian. Haven't had that last one in aWHILE.

I simply can't stand the taste of alcohol. Whether it's beer, wine, mixed drinks, etc. It all tastes bad to me. I also don't care for the social aspects around it. If I have a rough day at work, I'm not going to go home and wish for a beer. I never wanted to go to a bar or a party and get drunk. And I'm obviously not interested in the more extreme end of things, like getting blackout drunk or intentionally getting wasted. So I'm basically out of both camps.

The most positive drinking experiences I've had have actually been from more of the hard stuff, like taking a shot of vodka or whiskey. To this day I have never been drunk, so when I'm talking about taking a shot, I literally mean "a" shot of something. The closest I've come was getting a little tipsy from the shot of vodka, which the hardest (Is that even the right term?) thing I have ever drank.

So yeah, not interested in savoring the taste of any alcoholic beverage. They all taste bad for me, and I've tried a dozen or so different things. If I wanted to socialize over drinking a couple of beers, that seems like too much work and, again, beers taste bad, so that's like me taking 10 to 20 sips of a something I don't like to feel something I'm not really interested in anyways.

If I had to drink, it would be just taking shots, which still aren't that great, but get you closer to the thing you're looking for faster....Which sounds like a really bad idea! "I don't really drink, so give me a couple shots of vodka"?! Surely this is a mistake!

LOVE these threads about drinking on GiantBomb. It's the cue for all the non-drinkers to come and yell about how they don't drink. "DONT FORGET ABOUT PEOPLE WHO DONT DRINK! LOOK HOW BADDDDD THIS TASTES!! BEER IS BAD!!" every time without fail.

Personally, I'm all about red wine lately. Was big on beer but I'm slowly coming around to a glass or two on the weekends.

@cramsy: Wow, you seem a bit hyperbolic there. It's just some people sharing that they don't like it, they don't seem to be judging anyone else. Just look at the guy above you. I really don't see what the problem is. If you're only allowed to respond to a thread if you agree with the OP then things would be a bit distorted don't you think?

Beer. I'll take it almost any style, but I'm partial to Belgians, some sours, and stouts. Not a huge hop head, but the industry has trended away from palate wreckers in the last little bit here. Funky beers are fun too, wild fermentation that doesn't impart that sour character can be really great, or totally crazy and sometimes off putting. I like taking a dive and trying new beers whenever I can, so I've tried a lot of funky stuff and one offs (not that I'm an expert by any means -- there's so much out there to try).

I've brewed my own beer a few times, and enjoy that as well, though I've always missed my mark in that regard. Hopefully someday I'll make a beer I'm proud of, but not as of yet.

Whiskey is the hard liquor I'm partial too. Not a huge amount of knowledge or experience in that area. With all the beer out there to drink, it's hard to branch out into other type of alcohol.

It's Beer! Hooray Beer!

Personally I am more of a beer guy. I will occasionally drink Jamo sprites or a vodka redbull but when I go to bars it is usually beer for me. I am more of a fan of lagers and wheat ales but i'm always down to crush a case of bud light and play some smash one night with my friends.

Bourbon. Drink of champions.

Elmer T. Lee, Old Forester 1920, Four Roses Single Barrel, E.H. Taylor Single Barrel, Smooth Amber Old Scout, Breckenridge, Eagle Rare.