squid's bar

[squ1d]

The Sand Bar has been dead for about a year.

So in an effort to do something other than be annoyed by media and politics, and because I like booze, I am going to talk about the things I like to drink at home.

Against the pervasiveness of microbrews, hop onslaughts, grapefruits and sour, an icy cold crisp and clean lager is a refreshing change. Especially since it's summer here. I'm really liking Sapporo for this purpose.

On the other hand, when I feel like something more robust, I usually pick up either Sierra Nevada Pale Ale or Feral Hop Hog. Feral have just been sold to a gigantic conglomerate (CCA)

I love an Aperol Spritzeseses, and I always make them on Christmas day (since its usually 100F+) - 3:2:1 Prosecco, Aperol, Soda. Orange slice to garnish. Refreshment reified.

Single malt whisky is my favourite tipple at night time, but another thing I picked up in Japan is drinking highly dilute Whiskey Sodas. They call them "Haiboru" because that's their phonetic version of Highball.

I'd talk about wine but I don't have time to write a 5000 word essay.

END TRANSMISSION

[SciFiFisher]

Over the last year or two I have engaged in making Long Island Ice Tea at home. That is one of those drinks that definitely requires using better alcohol for the best outcomes. If done right it really does taste very much like iced tea with a touch of lemon or citrus flavoring. They can be quite tasty.

[geonuc]

I'll counter your vicious attack on microbrews and hops by reporting that I have landed in microbrew and hop heaven: Bend, Oregon. I have yet to go to a brewpub and not be impressed with at least a few of each's offerings. Because Bend, Oregon is also a wintry wasteland at the moment, I normally quaff a porter or two. They do good porters here.

But this is about domestic imbibery. Because of all the great brewpubs - and reasonably liberal blue laws - all my favorite grocery stores and markets sell tons of local, not-so-local and really-not-local-at-all beers. So, I've been bringing home lots of new beers to drink. I tend to stay away from those brewed here in town because, well, brewpubs. But there's lots of activity from non-Bend breweries that I can try. Plus, we have several great growler stores here, so I like to fill my two 32oz bottles with whatever strikes my fancy, or what i think will strike my wife's fancy.

Oregon also boasts a decent wine industry. My wife is the wine drinker, though. What I didn't expect was the presence of distilleries. I'm not a big whiskey/whisky drinker but have been known to throw down a shot. I went to a whiskey bar last week (a Yelp event, actually), but the sponsored drink was a cider that tasted like a light juice.

My favorite tipple at night has historically been a fine port, such as the bottle of Dow's 1994 vintage I had a few years back, or something a bit less pretentious. I don't have any at the moment, however.

All the above might seem like I'm seriously endangering my liver, but not really. I like to have a couple of beers every day, but occasionally don't. And I rarely drink more than two, as in maybe two or three times a year. Four is right out. At home, I routinely waste beer by not finishing the second can/bottle.

[SciFiFisher]

All the above might seem like I'm seriously endangering my liver, but not really. I like to have a couple of beers every day, but occasionally don't. And I rarely drink more than two, as in maybe two or three times a year. Four is right out. At home, I routinely waste beer by not finishing the second can/bottle.

You suck at debauchery.

[geonuc]

All the above might seem like I'm seriously endangering my liver, but not really. I like to have a couple of beers every day, but occasionally don't. And I rarely drink more than two, as in maybe two or three times a year. Four is right out. At home, I routinely waste beer by not finishing the second can/bottle.

You suck at debauchery.

And I was trained by the best: the US Navy.

[squ1d]

I love a good long island iced tea. The ones in bars here are crappy though because of 60ml liquor cocktail laws.

I don't drink every day either so I'm sure my liver is fine.



Seriously though I had a LFT recently

[SciFiFisher]

I love a good long island iced tea. The ones in bars here are crappy though because of 60ml liquor cocktail laws.

I can imagine. A good LIIT requires several ounces of premium alcohol and liquor. I suppose if one were precise you could reduce the proportions down and get the taste right. This is the recipe I base the ones I make at home on. I suspect that most bars do not use all of the distilled spirits listed in this recipe. I tend to be a little generous on the amounts but I try to keep the proportions consistent with the recipe. That seems to be critical to getting the flavor right.

[Thumper]

Good Thread!
I have not posted in this forum because for the last year and a half I've been on a program to slow the destruction of my liver. I've had to recalibrate my drinking frequencies and quantities. Right now I feel comfortable getting back to what makes drinking fun: Occasionally trying new things, enjoying on or two of my favorites, and having fun with friends. Much more enjoyable than constantly trying to figure out when, and how much I can possibly drink no matter what, and always worrying about a designated driver. Anyway...

Long Island Ice Teas. Love them. There was a place we used to go to for happy hour because we were young and poor and in addition to fantastic LIIT's they had free or discounted food. They served the teas in big carafes. I was challenged by a buddy to reverse engineer them and make them at home. After some experimentation, I came up with a good recipe. It is very similar to Fisher's though I didn't use tequila. I pretty much stopped making them because they had 4-5 shots of high test per drink, people got F'ed up too fast, and the parties ended early. Still a great drink, one of our local watering holes makes one that Mrs. T enjoys.

I love local brews, especially while sitting in the local brewpubs. Much like Pinot Noirs, I enjoyed IPA's before they became virally popular. I no longer search out every new hopnoxious incarnation, I have several favorites that I stick to, and really savor. I do enjoy porters and stouts, and brown ales, but I'm an IPA guy and not ashamed.

I like wine, but hardly ever drink them. I like tequila and whiskey but seldom drink them. Got a couple of Scotch buddies and we do some single malt flights a couple times a year. I make a good on the rocks Margarita in the summer but it takes me forever (not the swiftest bartender). So nothing beats the swift, convenient refreshment of a pint of IPA. Just not too many.

[Sigma_Orionis]

I love a good long island iced tea. The ones in bars here are crappy though because of 60ml liquor cocktail laws.

I can imagine. A good LIIT requires several ounces of premium alcohol and liquor. I suppose if one were precise you could reduce the proportions down and get the taste right. This is the recipe I base the ones I make at home on. I suspect that most bars do not use all of the distilled spirits listed in this recipe. I tend to be a little generous on the amounts but I try to keep the proportions consistent with the recipe. That seems to be critical to getting the flavor right.

Does that recipe include a Blockchain? asking for a friend

[SciFiFisher]

Does that recipe include a Blockchain? asking for a friend

[SciFiFisher]

I also enjoy a good dark beer occasionally. So far Guinness is the standard.

[Thumper]

Mrs. T enjoys a Guinness. It's been her favorite if she's drinking beer. She enjoys the Stout at our closest brewpub (10.5%!) And at another one she was blown away by their latest Breakfast Stout. She said she preferred it way better than Guinness.

[Rommie]

So, I don't drink at home very much because I don't really like drinking alone. It's definitely a social thing for me to drink, and beer can sit in my fridge for months if no one is visiting. (If bf is in town though or my family, it'll disappear pretty quickly.)

A big thing lately in my beer drinking has become checking in as many different ones as I can on Untappd. Which I see geonuc does as well, and is in a better position than me to check in a bunch in Bend. So if there's a new beer on the menu in a place I go out I haven't tried, I will usually abstain from one I've had in favor of the new one. Turns out it's not that hard to do in the modern era. My tastes definitely swing towards ambers (stouts and porters I never try unless it's a sip of someone else's- really can't stand it), and it turns out I like bitters but not hoppy beers. I'm also pretty done with the Belgian beers more on the sweet side after living in Holland, funnily enough.

Finally, I'm definitely a one beer, perhaps two but won't finish the second if drinking at home. Simple reason, it turns out as I've gotten older my body cannot process beer as well, and if I haven't had it wear off before I go to bed in a drunken slumber I will then wake up for a few hours in the middle of the night before going to sleep for real. I also personally don't like the fact that in North America the usual standard for beer is a pint, because after years of the .3cL drinks in Europe I decided that was a far more sophisticated way to drink. Simple reason, I definitely gain too much weight drinking pints.
Similarly, I don't know if this is a Canada thing or it's happening in the USA too, but the stuff you buy in the shops lately are primarily tall boy aluminum cans, aka no smaller cans unless you're just drinking Molson, and hardly any bottles, because I guess it cuts down on breakage. So between all my weird preferences of trying to drink as many kinds of beers as possible without actually drinking a lot of the beer, I'm not a huge fan.

I'm also not a huge fan while I'm at it at how limited the choices are in the Ontario liquor stores for beer (aka the LCBO, which has a pretty big monopoly on beer in my part of Toronto), but that's another rant for another day.

[Parrothead]

Rommie: lcbo is the provincial store for alcohol sales. Beer store, previously Brewers Retail, is beer sales, run under gov't regs. by the breweries. Beer store grants the lcbo, through agreement, beer sales in lcbo outlets. Lcbo is limited in selling bottles at most by 12 pack. Bottles in larger cases must be bought through beer store. Strange laws, mostly for protecting sales.

Right now I have a couple of 2-4 s of Molson Canadian, in the stubby bottles. My drinks are Martinis (gin or vodka), measured 2 fingers worth in a large tumbler, splash of vermouth, lemon peel twist, couple of cubes of ice, swirled in glass. Manhattans and soon, as Derby time is not too far off, Mint Juleps for which I use Woodford Reserve bourbon.

[squ1d]

Mint Juleps are the best!

[Thumper]

My tastes definitely swing towards ambers (stouts and porters I never try unless it's a sip of someone else's- really can't stand it), and it turns out I like bitters but not hoppy beers. I'm also pretty done with the Belgian beers more on the sweet side after living in Holland, funnily enough.

Though I found most of your post interesting, this in particular. So maybe I've worn out my taste buds but I find ambers a little bland. Probably also because I drink so many IPA's between the High ABV and IBU of those, some ambers taste like the water you wash the kettle out with.

But I was struck by your comment about "bitter but not hoppy. " Traditional beers get their bitter profile from hops. I don't know what you'd add to the mix to create a higher IBU than hops. Wet hopping usually is for bitterness, and dry hopping is more for other flavor. Maybe you don't care for dry hopped beers. Maybe it's the resin or pine flavor you don't like.

I've for the most part shunned away from big Belgium's lately. I know they are great, traditional brews but there's something about the Belgium yeast that's not my favorite. My local brewpub came out with a great tripel recently and it was much better than I expected. But I have to skip dinner and just have one pint. It's a big, (10.5%) filling beer. Speaking of that pub, they've gone to selling in different portions. You can get any of their offerings in 4oz, 10oz, 16oz, 32oz, and 64oz. I believe the 64 is carry out growler only, they frown on guzzling a yard in house. We're members of their mug club which along with a cool wooden mug and opportunities to attend special events, you get some good pricing. The mug is actually 33oz, but if you order a half pour, you'll get more. They'll overfill a 16oz pour and allow for head. If you ask for 32, you can't get any more than that.

As for grocery store sales, most of the craft places are now selling in 6 pack 12 oz cans. Or possibly 12 packs. Canning is gaining traction over traditional bottling, and I've gotten used to it. Don't see too many "good" beers in tall boy cans. However, the ones that still bottle often sell in big (often 22oz or 750ml) Bombers. Rogue and Stone are popular west coast breweries that offer alot of these. The cheap American swill come in any manner of 12 or 16 oz cans, often up to quantities of 30. It's scary how many 30 pack Cubes of Busch Light I used to go through each and every week. I haven't bought one in 18 months. There's still a few cans left in the barn fridge.

[Loresinger]

damn it now I want a Long Island Ice Tea and its not 8 in the am. Gonna have to save my pennies to get all the ingredients but man!

I am pretty much a dark beer girl except in summer when something lighter and brigher seems apt. My current love affair is with caramel porter by Saranac. Ithaca also has some nice blends.

For liqueur its Whisky usually Segrams 7 but when I can afford it Makers Mark (which has a fruit flavor now). I also stumbled over strawberry bailies ... yummy!

For special occasions - Drambuis.

[SciFiFisher]

Just for shiggles and gits I may have to try the strawberry Baileys. I rather like the regular Irish crème quite a bit. I tend to put it on the rocks though and keep my coffee pure.

[grapes]

Have not had Seagrams 7 (knowingly) in 45 years. Last time (but it's just a coincidence), I was hitchhiking out of a small town in Wyoming. A couple local men had the previous year been charged with murder and cannibalism when they were hitchinkig in Montana. So, that day, I thought I was going to have to walk to the next town, thirty miles away. I was prepared to be impressed by whatever individual stopped to pick me up. He lived in that next town, and he talked nonstop. He apologized for his truck, which was brand new. BUT it had an automatic gear shift! Because, with a full leg cast it was difficult to work a clutch. He was down to two fifths a day, for pain, down from four. He was drinking 7 and 7, and he offered me one, and barely waited for the ok before he was digging in a cooler under the passenger seat side, by my knees. He threw ice and seven up in a plastic cup with Seagrams and handed it to me, while keeping an eye on the road. He was going 90. He filled me in on the highlights of his life (he owned a gas station and test drove motorcycles and snowmobiles), including the details of why his leg was in a cast. A woman (not the word he used) had pulled out in front of him while he and a friend were headed home on motorcycles at a hundred miles per hour. He even pointed out the stained spot in the roadway as we zoomed over it, that he claimed was his blood. We arrived at the exit where was his gas station, in twenty minutes. At the time, I didn't believe a word of what he had told me.

[Thumper]

But is sure made the time go by quickly?
So it's not what you drink, it's where you're drinking it...

[Parrothead]

Apparently it's National Mint Julep Day (U.S.) ! I just made mine, Cheers!

[Loresinger]

I don't think I've ever had one.

I am a sweet wine gal, and oddly happy with Bully Hill Red or Carlo Rossi Sangria. Both make nice foundations to other "punches" as well.

I prefer the pale ales in summer to the heavier darks, especially if they are nearly frozen.

Any type of spiked slushy....

[SciFiFisher]

I have discovered another variation of Guinness that I enjoyed. It's called Guinness Draught Stout. It comes in a can.
They nitrogenate it to give a smoother taste. It actually tastes almost like it came straight out of the tap.
And had the joy of introducing a younger person we recently became friends with to the joy of a good dark beer drank at room temperature.

[Thumper]

That nitro pill in the can is a good substitute if you can't get it on tap.
I've been drinking IPA's. There's a new one (or 10) every day. I've actually been enjoying some of the fruit infused brews.
Chill Wave from Great Lakes is out for it's short seasonal offering. I was trying to stock up for when it's gone. I can't keep up with demand.

[Parrothead]

Mint Julep: 1 Tbsp water (I use bottled spring water), dissolve 1 tsp icing/powdered sugar in the water, add 2 oz bourbon and 10 - 12 mint leaves. Muddle. Fill glass with crushed ice (I make ice cubes using bottled water for this drink). Garnish with 1 or 2 sprigs of mint. Enjoy! I don't have a Julep Cup, I just use either a Collins or Highball glass.

Seeing as I use Woodford Reserve for this drink, at times it's just as nice to enjoy a bourbon on the rocks with a lemon peel twist.