What’s your favourite tipple?
And how do time & place & occasion play a part in deciding which tipple you fancy?
tipples
17 Thursday Aug 2006
Posted in food & drink, life stuff
17 Thursday Aug 2006
Posted in food & drink, life stuff
What’s your favourite tipple?
And how do time & place & occasion play a part in deciding which tipple you fancy?
casa azahar 
Dry Cider at the pub, and wine at home. I find wine available in pubs is still pretty grim often, and vastly over priced. I’ve been through a lot of wine type stages. As a youngster I got into the sweet German stuff Liebraumilch, (yuk), then got more ‘sophisticated’, as the variety and quality of wines in Britain improved, like Merlot, Cabernet Sauvingon, Rioja, to name but a few. In the last couple of years I mostly drink dry whites like Pinot grigio, Frascati, Muscadez, but not Chardenay, (too resiny for me). But if it’s really good stuff I don’t care what colour it is.
In the UK there is an unbelievable variety of wine from all over the world, and the quality of cheaper stuff is vastly improved from even 5 years ago as people get more genned up, fussy and get to drink good stuff on holiday.
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I generally only drink on special occassions or when I’m out with friends. I think my favorite choices are red wine and a G&T. I feel odd drinking at home by myself. So I seldom even have my glass of red wine a day for my heart.
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I like red wine. Especially shiraz. But Merlot and Cabernet sauvignon are really good too. However, for very special occasions I like a brut Champagne. And at barbecues I prefer a good strong bitter ale.
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Tipple? Do you mean favourite alcoholic drinks?
Being forced by health reasons to be a teetotaller, I nowadays have to stick to mineral water, pomegranade juice and such.
However I used to like calvados with dark choc; oysters with chardonnay or bubbly – champagne when someone else paid ;). Red wine of the tastier kind with meat. The occasional cocktail. Guinness *yum*
But on the other hand, I´m less tired the morning after the night before…
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Fanny, I agree that a Pinot Grigio is good. I had some just the other night when I went out with friends.
Since we’re being more specific, I like a good Chianti. It’s the one thing I always have in the house. I also like cafe zinfandel, merlot and a good brut champagne.
And I always have some of my sister’s homemade wine around. 🙂
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At home I generally stick to wine, I have a friend who really knows his wine and has introduced me a wide variety, though I tend to stick to reds or roses, I’m especially fond of Zinfandels, Shiraz and a good Merlot
If I’m going out I’ll generally have spirits. If it’s just a night in the pub, I’ll have JD and Coke (I’m a recent convert to this, used to be a vodka and coke man), if I’m out clubbing I’ll go for cocktails, shooters and/or alcopops (don’t particularly like alcopops but they are cheap and do the job)
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For me, it’s beer down the pub, or vodka sometimes. Red wine whenever the mood strikes. Never white wine; it makes my head hurt while I’m still sipping at the first glass.
My preferred reds are grenache and grenache blends, and shiraz. The best blends I’ve come across have been grenache/shiraz/mataro, in varying proportions.
When I’m being sober, apple juice has its appeal. Not keen on orange juice, even when it’s 100% fresh.
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Oh look, I did a simulpost with Iago…
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Ooh, yes. Hypatia’s sister’s home made wine. The cranberry I got to sample was goooood.
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Not a big drinker myself, either. Red wine at restaurants, Roditys if we’re at a Greek place, and perhaps a bit of sangria or a raspberry margarita if we’re having Mexican.
One of the neighbors of my childhood home used to make homemade wine. I remember it being really awful. That cranberry stuff sounds intriguing, though.
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Oh, without a doubt a G&T. Best thing ever to come out of the British empire 😉
Lots of shared second places though! A good IPA is a nice thing, for red wine mostly Italians (Primitivos – you’d call them Zinfandels 😉 – or, for extravagancies, Barolo or Amarone), for whites a good Sauvignon Blanc, might well be from New Zealand. (or, indeed, a Pinot Grigio)
Other than G&T, we do not drink as much booze anymore. On occasions, still, a good single malt (say, Cragganmore or Glenmorganie Port Wood) or a caipirinha.
Gee – sounds quite alcoholic, doesn’t it? *hiccup* 😉
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I don’t remember ever tasting shiraz. I must buy a bottle of it. Is there a particular brand I should look for?
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I like Australian shiraz … can’t remember a particular name at the moment.
I’m also more fond of wine than spirits as a ‘tipple’. At Christmas and on special occasions I love a swig of a perfect single malt whiskey, such as a well-aged Glenmorangie. Or the occasional ‘rusty nail’ (blended whisky with drambuie and a slice of lemon).
This past summer zoomer wanted to buy us some ‘booze’ (other than wine) so we settled on some Absolut vodka, which we put directly into our freezer – it’s always gotta be served very cold!
But mostly we go for wine and sometimes lager. A very decent rioja or ribera del duero might cost about 4 euros here, which is quite good for a basic ‘house wine’.
When I lived in Bristol 15 years ago I was paying twice as much for total crap.
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Yeah well that was 15 years ago. There’s good cheap wine widely availavble here in the UK now. Thank goodness everyone’s palette has developped. Most people just won’t put up with crap anymore. Can’t remember the last time I got a headache from a £3,99 Italian white or red from Sainsburys. There’s decent house red and white aplenty available now. And naturally better stuff for a bit more.
But as I say the pubs still often serve crap.
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Australian shiraz… I don’t know which labels export to your part of the world, Hypatia, but anything that originates in the Barossa Valley or McLaren Vale is likely to be good. Mind you, I’m biased; I grew up halfway between those two districts, and spent a lot of time in both of them.
If you should happen to see any of these labels, you’re in luck… Bethany, Rockford, Turkey Flat, Charles Melton, Wirra Wirra, Ingoldby, Woodstock, Shottesbrooke… They’re among my favourites.
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Hypatia, it might be different in the US, but one of the nicest bottles of wine I’ve ever had was a Jacob’s Creek Shiraz, it was absolutely phenomenal. Costs a bit more than I usually pay (£6.25 in a supermarket, when I usually pay 4-5 quid) but I think it’d be cheap at twice the price.
My housemates last year made wine. Some of it was lovely (elderberry champagne – yum!) and some of it was dreadful. The only way to which it would be was to taste it.
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Simulpost again Ivan – what a coincidence
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Jacob’s Creek… That’s in the Barossa, just outside Lyndoch where there’s a superb bakery. *sigh* I think I’m a bit homesick.
British tourists keep stealing the ‘Jacob’s Creek’ signs from the bridge over the creek, much to the annoyance of the local council.
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Jacob´s Creek used to be a favourite of mine during my wine drinking days. I usually had a lebottle or two in my storage (the uppermost shelf in the walk in closet. Lindeman´s Bin 65 is a nice aussie white that shared shelf with Jacob.
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We have a grocery “chain” which specializes in “store label” gourmet and organic product. They buy their wines direct from the bottler and therefore pay no marketing and advertising expenses. You can get a really nice bottle of wine for $4 or $5. I usually get, when I do get, either the Rene Barbier Mediterranean red, or a “green” sparkling white wine from Portugal called “Vinho Verde”- either one is $3.99 for a 750ml bottle. If we’re having company, I go for either Georges DuBouef Beaujolais or Cubee Rouge, or a nice Australian shiraz-grenache blend.
*note to self: bring a nice shiraz along when we finally visit Hyp*
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Vinho Verde! *gets nostalgic and mid teen ager in Portugal again* 😛
Very nice to have cold a warm summerday. Yes, I´ve drunk later.
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I´ve drunk Vino Verde later.
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*makes notes about the shiraz – thanks guys*
My hubby was Portuguese. Some of the recipes he liked call for Vinho Verde. 🙂 I must say that I am not fond of Madeira. The only Portuguese import easy to find any place I’ve ever lived is the Mateus rose and white. Neither are awful, but they aren’t excellent, either.
Another standard that I would never go out of my way to drink is sherry. I have one chicken recipe that it is good in, but I don’t enjoy it just to drink. Of course there are many varieties and it’s possible I haven’t tried the right one.
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I don’t think I’d like to drink sherry, either, though I do cook with it quite frequently.
Vinho Verde makes nice mimosas, too, on warm summer mornings.
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Most of the time when people come to visit and I suggest a glass of sherry with starter tapas of jamon serrano, manchego cheese and olives, they go …ewwwwww. But in fact this is the traditional drink to have with these tapas and most people end up rather pleasantly surprised.
I think when most people think of sherry they think of a sickly sweet syrupy wine usually drunk by old maiden aunts, but there is an amazing variety of sherries in Spain and many of them are quite dry and crisp.
One of the most famous producers of sherry here is Gonzalez Byass, located in Jerez (which means ‘sherry’ in Spanish).
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Madeira and Port wine *yum*
Hey! … are you going to tempt me to break my wows?
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Port! Yes please… Or perhaps I mean ‘port-style fortified wine’, seeing the EU are being so brutal about controlling regional food labelling these days.
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Jane Brook´s White Port… Swan River, Western Australia.
I visited that winery in 1997. Nice wines, the bags very heavy when we left.
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It’s quite interesting the way certain drinks and foods go together. I normally hate sweet and heavy drinks, even good port. But if I sip away on a decent port with a decent chunk of stilton cheese, I’m in heaven.
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In Spain wine (in all its variations) is meant to be taken with specific foods. Which is why a light manzanilla sherry is perfect with a jamon serrano and manchego cheese starter, a rioja or rueda with a meal, later a porto or oloroso with a stronger cheese finish or a dessert.
Curiously the only rude drunken people I ever see or hear here are foreigners …
Not to say the Spanish don’t also like clubbing or going out for after dinner ‘copitas’ like rum&coke or vodka&whatever … just that they don’t usually tend to get so stupidly drunk and make a nuisance of themselves.
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I like a sweet white wine with a rich dessert. And dry, heady reds with super-spicy.
I really like a nice grenache with a chunk of strong blue cheese.
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Grenache and cheese. Right, that’s what I want for lunch… I’d better get some cheese before then.
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Oh dear. I drink far too much.
Beer at home…my default beer is the wonderful, stupendous Budweiser Budvar, which is as unlike the US Budweiser as it’s possible to get.
In pubs, I always hope for a decent Real Ale option…and not one of the ubiquitous ones like Courage or Theakstons. Scotland has come on leaps and bounds for real ale in the last few years, but I have to say England is usually better.
Wine…yes please. I will generally go for something Chilean or Argentinian because these represent exceptional value for money. I’m fortunate to live near a branch of Oddbins, and you really can’t fault them. (For the non UKanians…a superior wine/etc chain staffed by young-ish people who really care about wine, But they’re not snobby and I’ve seen them give good advice to liebfraumilch-drinking types. I’m on chatty terms with my local branch.) Generally I go for reds. I’m not a big fan of merlot, but pretty much anything else is fine. Since it’s been a hot summer this year, I’ve been exploring Rieslings, Gewurztraeminers and Vignoniers. I’m a firm believer in ABC – ‘Anything But Chardonnay’
Sherry – Oddbins do an excellent manzanilla which is bottled especially for them. I was sceptical at first, but it makes a great summer afternoon drink.
I don’t touch spirits much…but I like G&T, Gin Martini, the occasional malt, Armagnac or a good, upmarket bourbon. I have an unusual fondness for a post-prandial grappa or eau-de-vie.
I love vintage port…but last time I had one I got a migraine.
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Oh…and to answer the original question…
And how do time & place & occasion play a part in deciding which tipple you fancy?
Many people…including me…find themselves craving a Bloody Mary whenever they step onto an airplane. I’ve asked around, and it seems to be a pretty common thing. But nobody…including me…ever drinks them at other times.
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There’s a pub in Sydney (in Balmain, to be precise) that does fabulous weekend breakfasts – either a huge fry-up or a vegetarian equivalent with lots of mushrooms, and a Bloody Mary. Sometimes it’s the only thing. *hic*
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I’ve never had a Bloody Mary on an airplane. There’s a little pub down the street that does a Sunday brunch, and their Bloody Marys are fab. Spicy, with a skewer of pickled veg, and a little sidecar of cheap draft beer to take some of the spicy edge off.
The only other Bloody Mary I’ve had, I’ve had at home. I make a mean one.
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I’ve never made a Bloody Mary at home; that requires the deliberate purchase of tomato juice, which I can’t see myself doing. Vodka-and-whatever’s-handy is the default cocktail at home.
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I’ve never really understood vodka-based drinks. It seems a bit strange to drink (eg) drunk-making orange juice. However, I have had vodka neat and very cold, in the Russian style. It has to be very good vodka, though. I was talking to a Polish guy who said that Zybwrov…Zwbrwov…bison-grass flavoured vodka is very nice mixed with apple juice.
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My great-aunt used to make her own vodka. Wonderful stuff.
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Home-made hooch is the biz! In Cyprus, I rented a house from a guy who made zivania in his back yard. (similar to grappa) I was later told it’s good for dabbing on the forehead (my Grandma used eau de cologne for that)…or for taking marks off windows.
Then, when I was working darn sarf last year, I got friendly with the east European hotel staff. One of the girls had her dad’s home-made slivovic – plum (or whatever’s going) brandy/schnapps.
Once, at a party in Glasgow, I tried some Irish poteen from an unmarked bottle. It was exceptionally smooth. Since then, it’s been legalised (It was originally banned because the British oppresor had the monopoly on ‘Government Whiskey’. Never mind that distilled beverages were originally invented by Irish monks. In fact…eau de vie is a translation of the Gaelic uisghe beatha.
Here’s a recipe for Pruno – a prison beverage made from oranges, canned fruit cocktail and ketchup.
http://www.blacktable.com/gillin030901.htm
Here’s mud in yer eye!
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That Pruno stuff sounds kind of gross.
I’ve been scared of home brew ever since a neighbor poisoned me with some apple wine that had gone wrong.
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Home-brewed beer is – thankfully – not as big here as it once was. Whenever someone tells me they’re into home brewing, I say:
“Do you know about those places they have where anyone can go in and buy a really nice pint of beer? Pubs, I think they’re called.”
And as for homemade wine – I was permanently put off that when I was given beetroot wine.
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I think the main advantage to homebrew is the price. Just before we moved out of our student house, we had a big barbeque and invited everyone around. For booze, housemate brewed some ale, we got about 50 pints of the stuff for about 2 quid and it was really nice at the BBQ. Didn’t get through half of it though, and it sat for weeks, while we drank the odd pint, and it ended up tasting like wheat wine and was about 13% which was unusual but nice.
If you’ve got someone who knows what hey’re doing, homemade beer ad wine is usually lovely and very cheap.
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I remain unconvinced that yer average home brewer can produce something as innately satisfying as the good people of České Budějovice.
(By the way…I was surprised recently that Psychocandy didn’t know this magical elixir. I’ve just found out that in the US it’s marketed as ‘Chechvar’). See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budweiser_Budvar (doesn’t mention Vaclav Havel’s intervention in the trademark dispute, though).
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No, I’d never heard of it. Not saying we don’t have it. I’m hardly an expert on beers: I’m allergic to hops. I’ll have to take a peek around and see how readily available it is, and at how much, for curiousity’s sake.
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