Haven’t started a thread since 1876, so thought I’d have a go.

I’m not sure we’ve covered this subject much of late, but I’m curious to see people’s tastes and opinions.

Essentially, which are your favourite drinks, and why?

I’ll start us off, and please feel free to critique.

Well I’m at the ripe old age of 36, and I can safely say for a few years now I’ve found my spiritual friend in the form of single malt whisky. Sampled many kinds, with many mixed feelings, but I seem to have stuck to the same scotch now for a year on and I still love it. Yes, I am speaking of my beloved Laphroig. I’ve three bottles now which should see me through the year. An Islay malt so that means very strong peaty and smokey flavours. Can’t recommend it enough if you’ve not tried it.

In terms of beer, I tend to be very satisfied with stocking Moretti bottles for a casual drink if bored/cooking.

Used to be into red wine but oddly no longer interested. That shit just makes me sleepy.

Lastly, our resident Belgian knows this, but I bet he is nonetheless proud of the fact I one day (on a whim) introduced the father in law to Duvel. An exotic beer for such a traditional man, but that is now all he drinks.

Cheers!

I'm going to be the incredibly boring one and say none. I've never been a huge alcohol fan, if it tastes or smells like alcohol in any way I can't stand it. Wine is the devil's drink, disgusting stuff. Mum tried to get me to like a nut wine in France once, vile thing.

When I did drink it was always vodka or gin, very watered down. I did love apple vodka and coke though (or vodka lemon and lime). I used to have it if we went round our friend's house but then I got a blood clot and couldn't drink while on thinners. After I came off those I just rarely went out anyway (I'm also at that ripe old age of 36) so unless it was at a wedding or something I went teetotal. Now I'm on thinners again, for life, so just easier to give it up. It's not a complete no-no to drink on thinners but it's really not a good idea.

Weirdly although I despise coffee in all forms, I do actually quite like Baileys though! I've also been known to enjoy a corona with lime provided I was already drunk and there was no alternative.

For me it's mostly an occasional beer. Preference varies, but i always enjoy Karmeliet. Grimbergen and Barbar or other beers that can be regularly found in my fridge.

Sometimes I drink a glass of wine, we have a good wine dealer near us, that has really tasty wine for a decent price. So like with Christmas and other festivities, we order a couple of bottles there. But in a normal week i wouldn't drink wine.

Dang... you guys sound old. At the ripe young age of 45, I enjoy a large variety of victuals.

Beer ... I like much beer. I do enjoy various versions of American IPAs... many of these try to pour on the hops to ridiculous levels, and this I do not approve of. However, a nice balanced IP is a nice thing. I also enjoy lagers, pilsners, and other more moderate varieties. I do not typically care for stouts, farmhouse ales, or sours. Shiny, however, does enjoy those, so whatever. My favorite beer is still probably Kostritzer Schwarzbier. It would appear that Bitburger now owns them.... hopefully they leave it alone. https://www.bitburger-international.com/en/our-brands/koestritzer/our-products/koestritzer-schwarzbier/

Bourbon ... This is a big part of my liquor interest lately. For day-to-day, I typically drink Bulleit. https://www.bulleit.com/ More rarely, I do enjoy me some Bib and Tucker. Somewhat more rarely, I enjoy Eage Rare and very significantly more rarely due to its....rarity... I'll have some Pappy van Winkle. That last is almost impossible to acquire and very, very good.

Tequila ... less lately, but I still enjoy sipping some Don Julio 1942, Gran Patron Burdeos, Gran Patron Platinum and Avion Reserve 44.

Mezcal .. Despite what some may think, Mezcal is not tequila in any way. It's like comparing a Scotch and a Whiskey. I've been sipping some Ilegal Mezcal and some Del Maguey

Scotch .. My go to Scotch is MacAllan, but it's too damned expensive. I've tried various others and they're decent, but I really enjoy MacAllan. I won't settle for less than 18 years, and that's in the $200+ price range last I checked. So... not drinking much of this lately.

In addition to good liqous, I've also been partaking of less-than-stellar Vodkas, Rums and Sakes. It's not that there aren't good liquors in these categories, I just never really acquired the taste. They just make for good mixers.

And there we are... I may drink too much.

Can't seem to find any of that shit in the UK with the exception of J's Karmeleit, which i had for my birthday and was excellent.

I'm stilling drinking lots of Bourbon. I did recently start drinking more Brandy / Cognac. Nothing too expensive. I got Shiny and I bourbon whiskey advent calendars. They're different but are both full of American bourbons and whiskeys... imported from the UK. It was fun to try a bunch of bourbons that I mostly didn't know, though the inclusion of Jack Daniels was unfortunate.

https://thespiritco.com/collections/advent-calendars

Oh I must ask for one of those calendars for next year!

Cognac I tried once but found it very similar to whisky and thought it pretty pointless on that basis.

So bourbon remind me what makes that different…. Is it the type of cask? I think new cask only?

I believe broubon and whiskey are the same thing, though to be called bourbon is has to be produced in a specific area. Like cognac / brandy, or champange / sparkling wine. Same shit but you have to produce it in a specific geographical reason to call it something. Cognac / brandy to me has a sweeter finish than bourban/whiskey, but yea, very similar.

Holy shit you love Laphroaig too? High five! I'm not a huge whisky drinker but I do love me some Laphroaig. I can also appreciate a Lagavulin. That peatiness...mmm. The way it stings your nose and your eyes. Beautiful. Do you have a preferred Laphroaig? I'm really happy hear your father in law is still on the Duvel train haha! I've had a few of those moments in my life where I introduced someone to a particular good beer (like Tripel Karmeliet for example) and they go 'holy shit this is amazing, why have I been drinking that other dishwater all my life?!" And then they never stop.

I am of course mainly a beer drinker. Here in Northern France there is a lively beer culture thanks to its historical and cultural connection to Flanders so I have access to a very wide range of very good beers. I don't usually drink during the week but I will have a few in the evenings on the weekend. I also have a perfect draft which I mostly use in the summer for drinking ice cold draft beer in the comfort of my own home.

That's it mostly. I rarely drink wine despite being in France and I don't really drink cocktails either.

I'll need to try one of Satis' bourbons at some point, clearly. I know they tend to have a softer vanilla-ish sort of taste which I think I'd appreciate. As for Mezcal, I had enough of that when I was at uni. At the worm and everything. I think I'm good.

lol.. typically the Mezcal with worms is the cheap stuff. Kind of like most of the pretties tequila bottles have the shittiest tequila in them (with some exceptions of course). But yea, you're welcome to stop by any time and I'll be happy to share whatever I happen to have on hand. The Perfect Draft looks interesting... like a Keurig for beer. We have actual kegerators, but both of them have CO2 leaks and I'm just not particularly interested in buying more kegs, CO2 cans, and tracking down/fixing the leaks. It's easier to just buy beer in cans/bottles.

Did you think 21-year old me was drinking top shelf Mezcal?

Yeah the Perfect Draft is a nice and relatively hassle free alternative to having a proper kegerator! The kegs are "only" 5 litres each, but I'm mostly by myself here and as you know they don't stay ok forever. You need to finish most of them within 30 days to be on the safe side, and if I put on something a little heavier (like Tripel Karmeliet) I'm gonna take my time to get through it. In summer though I'll put in some IPA or easy to drink lager and that will be gone very quickly.

I mostly bought it to have something remotely fun in my house in the first year of the pandemic when I was locked up in here. I don't use it as much now. But it's still a nice thing to have!

No judgement. I drink way more than I should, but it's probably helped keep me mostly sane through almost 2 years of hunkering down to weather the storm.

Currently drinking some cognac and kinda dreading work tomorrow.

I'm thinking of cutting down some of the drinking (he said after drinking way too much only 2 days ago haha). Or at least plan it more strategically. It's not because I'm worried I have a problem, the hangover or any health problems per se, but I'm starting to feel like it cuts into my sleep too much when I overindulge. And I usually only drink Friday and Saturday evenings, and the weekend is the only time I ever get to sleep in.

For some context, I'm an evening person, and I can't really sleep before 1 AM on even regular weekdays...but I work a 9 to 5 job like most people. So I don't really get enough proper sleep during the week, and I tend to 'compensate' for it (in as much as that is a thing) by sleeping in on the weekend days, but even that is tricky as by the time I'm on my normal sleep schedule again on Sunday I gotta switch back to my work schedule. What I found is that drinking alcohol tends to disrupt my sleep on exactly those 2 days a week when I can sleep in without any problems....it's not that I don't sleep enough, or that I'm super dehydrated or hungover, it just really degrades the quality of my sleep.

Having said all that, I'm planning to still get somewhat hammered at least once a week. I don't have a lot of very unhealthy habits and I enjoy a few good drinks way too much, especially while gaming or watching sports with friends.

Yea, I'm trying to be a little less overindulgent. When I do get rekt though I feel it the next day. Working from home helps... it doesn't matter so much if I'm hung over so long as I can still use my brain. Though I certainly try not to get too messed up on a weeknight. I hear you on sleep though.. if I drink a lot, I tend to not sleep very well and don't feel so great the next day. Hangovers are less common and usually just because I neglected to drink enough water. Ah well. Maybe I should switch to alternative methods of intoxication.

A weekly session is sometimes necessary though. Lots of tension/stress builds up during the week due to juggling various things + work + people + money etc. A tactical bottle of wine on Thursday / Friday night for example.

I prescribed one to the other half the other week as she was struggling with all sorts of shit (mostly work). We shared a bottle (only takes her 2-3 glasses) and she was right as rain.

Usually I’ll also aim to have a big session with the father in law every 3 weeks or so. We have an enormous dinner, followed by inadvisable quantities of Irish whisky. The food soaks it all up. All this goes on during the family meal, so by the end of the evening it becomes quite a challenge maintaining the illusion of control to the others. We start to run out of ways to answer (lie) to repeated questions of “how much have you had”.