May 28th, 2009
Guilty pleasures & gateway drinks
OK, fellow imbibers, let’s pretend we’re at a group-therapy session. Let’s clear the air, shed our intellectual armor, spill some secrets. You know what I mean: talk about the embarrassing crap we used to drink before we discovered “real” cocktails, before we knew what Punt E Mes was, before we started saying things like, “You can’t make a proper Aviation without Creme de Violette.” And if you really want to dangle your cred off a ledge, admit that you’re still fond of these youthful potions on occasion.
I’ll go first. Hi, my name is Lauren, and I used to drink dirty Bombay Sapphire martinis. Loved ’em. Go ahead and scoff at my faux sophistication, smartypants boozers, but this drink was truly my gateway to gin cocktails of all stripes. It’s been a few years since I’ve had a dirty martini, but lately I’ve been getting nostalgically thirsty for some olive brine in my juniper sauce.
And way back, before the taste of alcohol became desirable to me, I was all about taking my spirits in an envelope of cream and sugar. White Russians, Mudslides, that sort of thing. My mature self rolls its eyes at these boozy milkshakes, but my inner 21-year-old would suck one down in a heartbeat if no one was looking.
There. I feel so free now.
Your turn.
Permalink | Filed under Cocktails, Whiskey | Tags: dirty martini, Mudslide, White Russian
August 26th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
My guilty pleasure is Mike’s Light Cranberry Lemonade with a lime stuffed into it. And the occasional John Daly.
Man, if my friends knew this, my beer geek street cred (talk about an oxymoron) would definitely take a hit.
August 26th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Embarrassing indeed, Joe. Ha, I’d never heard of the John Daly before: sweet tea vodka and lemonade. I wouldn’t drink it, but I see the appeal.
October 8th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Love this thread!
SoCo & Coke: another vote for this one as Upstate New York high school training wheels
Kamikazes: a flirtation cured in one brutal night my freshman year of college before finals — I slept through one, in fact
Margaritas: still in the rotation; the quality of the ingredients just keep ratcheting up
December 28th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
I’ve never had much of a sweet-tooth with drinks. For me it was beer-based drinks. Jim Beam poured directly into a can of Old Style =Boilermaker. Orange juice poured into a partially drunk 40 =Brass Monkey. Or in an innovation that still blows my mind, frozen grapefruit juice concentrate spooned into the 40. I still wouldn’t turn any of these away.
June 26th, 2010 at 6:59 pm
Got myself a taste for Tequila sunrise at an early age… though I’ve settled for more mellow drinks, as the taste for hard liquer has subsided with older age 😉