Did you ever “break up” with a brand of beer or any other type of alcoholic beverage? I did. I chronicle my history of beer breakups in my latest Ms. Mug column for Ale Street News. Later, maybe I’ll recollect my past affairs with Kahlua and Bailey’s Irish Cream. Or not.
"Lauren Clark takes readers on a supremely sudsy tour of New England ales, lagers, pilsners, and porters. This is the New England the Puritans warned everybody about, but few have chronicled."
– Wayne Curtis, And a Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in 10 Cocktails
Drink sites
For club kids
Friends
Tom Schlesinger-Guidelli (invented at Craigie on Main)
1 1/2 oz William Grant & Sons Scotch
3/4 oz St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur
1/2 oz Fresh lemon juice
1/4 oz Clear Creek Douglas Fir Eau De Vie
1/4 oz Fresh orange juice
1/4 oz Demerara syrup (1:1 demerara sugar and water)
2 dashes Bittermans ‘Elemakule Tiki Bitters
Shake very well over ice, strain into a cocktail glass, and garnish with a lemon twist. Notes: Find demerara sugar (or sugar in the raw) at specialty stores like Christina’s in Inman Square. Also, S-G is pretty insistent on the brand of scotch: “I think the honeyed nature of Grant & Sons is really beautiful here.”
September 22nd, 2008 at 12:37 pm
A hilarious and clever column!
My relationship with beer is sort of a “friends with benefits” thing: we used to be all over each other, but I’ve moved into a more serious relationship (with wine and proper cocktails), though I still sneak out once in a while for a mad fling, usually centered around sporting events, where our hoochie-love first bloomed.
September 22nd, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Excellent column, Lauren.
Last night I had mentioned to Fred that I am not so enthralled with gin anymore. My godfather considered it one of his more important duties to impart sensible drinking habits, so he taught me how to drink Beefeater martinis (can be enjoyed year-round) and G&Ts (never between Labor Day and Memorial Day, much like white shoes). Now, it’s a rare occasion when I request a gin-based cocktail of any type, and even the Pegu has soured for me, if you can believe that.
September 22nd, 2008 at 3:54 pm
Thanks, MC and Andrea. It was fun to write. MC, I’m glad to hear you haven’t abandoned beer altogether. Andrea, wow, no gin?! Are you strictly a whiskey-tequila-rum girl now?
September 22nd, 2008 at 6:13 pm
I, um, er, well, it was just an experiment in college.
Corona = surfer dude – too good! I have a friend whose surfer dude ex-husband was just about as complex as a Corona.
September 22nd, 2008 at 7:58 pm
Loved the article – really fun to read.
I’ve never really been a “beer boy” and moved to whiskey pretty early on in my drinking career. (boy, I wish they’d pay me to drink – that’d be awesome.)
I find after a few beers, even light ones, I get way too full to enjoy anything else – like food, or conversation anything but my bed.
There are those rare days though where they go down easy like a test-tube shot at a sorority party. I haven’t been able to predict or create those days yet, but I’m working on it.
As much as I like Manhattans – it’s tough to drink them through a whole Sox or Pats game.
September 22nd, 2008 at 9:32 pm
As one of Bass Ale’s closest confidants, I’ll just say that he deserves another shot.
Personally, I’m over Jack and Coke’s. They used to be my go-to beverage back in college – stronger than cheap beer, tastier than cheap beer, and plenty of positive memories from nights that started with them. That said, I’ve become more appreciative of Irish whiskeys and single malts, and I can’t justify mixing them with anything but ice. Even if I go back for the old college try with Jack, I usually drink it with ginger ale, or alone as shots.
Also, Jager and I have a dysfunctional relationship. I refuse to call back.
September 23rd, 2008 at 4:52 pm
I don’t think Bass Ale’s lacking for fans — I’m guessing it’s forgotten all about me. As for Jack and Coke … I might as well state for the record that I have never been able to stomach that combination or any other combination of liquor and soft drink: rum and Coke, whiskey and ginger, Stoli Raz and Sprite … even gin and tonics. Jason, break it off for good with Jager and get involved with Fernet Branca:
http://drinkboston.com/2007/03/01/fernet-branca-jager-for-men/.
September 24th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Lauren, if you ever get the chance, go to northern England and have Bass Ale at one of their BA Houses. It will leave you stunned, as it tastes like probably the best beer in the world. This is often true for most of the brewery owned “houses” around the UK (the Newcastle ones in, uh, Newcastle are incredible as well). But the Bass Ale was the best and most revelatory of all the various beers I’ve had there.
Jagermeister — my pal The Millionaire, guitarist/cocktail consultant in Combustible Edison, was so averse to Jag, due to overindulging in the 80’s, that he refused to drink anything that had an elk on the label. One time in Austria I found a digestive which had a hunter *shooting* an elk pictured on the label. I tried to convince him this was the anti-Jagermeister and it would be good to drink. To no avail. I can’t drink it anymore either. Their “So Smooth” ad campaign was pretty brilliant though. Fernet is the new Jager, no one will be able to drink it in 5 years.