Drinking help

[Valknott]

Drink for taste, don't drink to get wasted. Alcohol is poison to the body, don't forget it.

I drink mostly beer, prefer the taste and like carbonation. Kirin Ichiban, red stripe, various stouts and ales. But what I suggest is going to a local microbrewery, that's where the fun really begins.

Rum and whiskey for harder stuff. Jamaican rum and irish whiskey. Appleton Estates is my favorite for rum, and The Glenlivet for whiskey.

 

[DustyDrB]

Pabst is my party beer of choice, but I don't dare to claim it tastes good. It's a good choice for beer pong or anything like that.

Beers you may like:

-New Belgium's Fat Tire
-New Belgium's 1554
-Magic Hat #9

If you're want cheaper, lower alcohol content beers that still taste good (and these are really easy to find. Other than Fat Tire, I can't say that about my other suggestions):

-Blue Moon
-Yeungling
-Dos Equis

Those are the best tasting in the world, but most places are likely to serve them and they are good. Most of the more common beers (Budweiser, Michelob, Corona, Guinness, Rolling Rock, Heinecken, and so on) are just foul-tasting to me.

My personal top 5 beers
1. Dogfish Head Chicory Stout
2. New Belgium's 1554
3. Flag Porter
4. Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA
5. Magic Hat #9

As far as liquor goes, I'm less experienced there (mostly because I've found drinks I like and not explored much). I'm not a fan of gin. I mostly go for rum and bourbon based drinks.
Favorite liquor: Maker's Mark bourbon.

 

[Buzz Killington_v1legacy]

Go with the smirnoff, all vodka tastes bad. I really don't really see the point of having a favourite.

No. No. No. No. No. Quality vodka doesn't taste bad. The kind of stuff you get at much below the price point of Smirnoff might as well be cleaning fluid (and I've actually used it as such in a pinch). It's oily, harsh, and burns going down.

Good vodka like Ketel One or Grey Goose is smooth with a little bit of bite to it. You'll pay for the quality, unfortunately, but it's totally worth it. My personal favorite is Hangar One made by a distillery in California--it's smooth enough to drink straight at room temperature.

 

[gustcq]

Grab some Absolut or grey goose vodka, also black or blue label whisky and get trashed...beers will just get you a beer belly

 

[DanDeFool]

Haven't tried it myself, but I hear good things about mixing Boddingtons Pub Ale with vanilla ice cream to make a beer float.

Sounds tasty to me.

 

[deleted_by_strongbad]

Go out and experiment, find what you like but here are some suggestions based on category depending on how you are feeling.

"heavy" beer: Dirty Bastard by Founders
"medium" beer: Red Stripe or Killian's Red
"light" beer: Pilsner Urquell

vodka: good but expensive: Grey Goose, less good but cheaper: Svedka, best: Krolewska
vodka special mention: Spiritus, cheap and powerful (about 95% alc) and doesn't taste too bad
vodka mixes with anything, good stuff shouldn't have flavor, classics: Cranberry Juice, lemon-lime soda, Orange Juice, ice and strained into a glass that had been rinsed with vermouth maybe with a twist of lime (Vodka Martini)

spiced rum: Captain Morgan or his cheaper twin brother Admiral Nelson, never found anyone who can taste the difference when given AN when they thought it was CM.
silver rum: Bacardi
"rum" aka coconut flavoring w/alcohol: Malibu, I can't stand it but I can't debate its popularity.
Rum mixes well with cola, especially spiced, it also mixes well with fruit juice. Spiced Rum is also a welcome addition to coffee.

Whiskey: Jameson.
Scotch: Balanced: Oban 14, Glenlivet 12+ Peaty/Smokey: Laphroic
Misc: Southern Comfort, this is not bourbon despite its claim, I don't like the stuff, but like w/malibu, I am the odd man out, people love this stuff.
Mix SoCo with coke, or sprite. If you must mix Jameson, coke, coffee, and oddly enough Mountain Dew (the right proportions make it taste like cream soda). Also Ginger ale and lemon.

Tequila: I like Cuervo Gold, best balance for price/quality I've found imo.
Amazing mixed with Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice.

Gin: Tanqueray
Mix it with citrus juice "punches", squirt, tonic. Like vodka ice, strained into a glass that has been rinsed with vermouth, and a couple of olives. <-Gin Martini

side note: allrecipes.com has some amazing mixed drink recipes.

 

[Blindswordmaster]

Visited a liquor store for the first time today. Was completely overwhelmed by the selection. Now I'm new to drinking~

Here's a question;
Why do you WANT to start drinking?

I have a couple of valid reasons:
1-Because I can
2-to avoid the social stigma of not drinking
3-to drink the pain away

 

[Blindswordmaster]

Visited a liquor store for the first time today. Was completely overwhelmed by the selection. Now I'm new to drinking~

Here's a question;
Why do you WANT to start drinking?

I have a couple of valid reasons:
1-Because I can
2-to avoid the social stigma of not drinking
3-to drink the pain away

But your reasons aren't valid and they're quite stupid..
1. Okay, fair enough I won't argue that. Just think before you do though. It's your choice.
2. Then you're folding for peer preassure. What's next? Drugs?
3. You can NEVER drink the pain away (maybe physical pain but not emotional).

...really? You can't tell that I'm joking here? Really? Why does everyone take me seriously even when I'm saying the most ridiculous things?! WHY?! I'm obviously joking with the second two, but I'm completely serious with the first one. Please note, that I'm just looking for something that tastes good, I'm not really a party guy and I'm not looking to get drunk, maybe just take the edge off of a stressful day.

 

[PayneTrayne]

Ciders: Strongbow or Magners, both are fantastic and in my opinion nothing beats a half pint of Strongbow with a half pint of Guinness poured into it over a bent spoon (called a Snakebite).

no a snakebite is with cider/beer. guinness is a stout. The difference being that guinness tends to overpower anything its mixed with. I'm not saying your not allowed to like it or drink it though, just arguing the terminology.

Ah, I'm going to assume it's a location thing. As anywhere I've been in Canada and ordered a snakebite I got Strongbow and Guinness. Also, a stout is a type of beer, dark, toasty, tastes like breakfast. Plus I find that it tastes like apple juice and looks badass as hell because of the cloudy darkness of it.

Cheers!

 

[Boris Goodenough]

Has anyone mentioned Hoegaarden yet? If not, SHAME ON YOU!

 

[dagens24]

Visited a liquor store for the first time today. Was completely overwhelmed by the selection. Now I'm new to drinking, so I really don't know what I like yet, so I just bought a four pack of Pabst blue Ribbon because it was 3.50 and I heard good things about it. Please, give me your suggestions for what alcohol I should buy upon my next trip. Though any input is good, beer suggestions are most appreciated.
P.S. I know I FUCKING hate Bud Light, so one of that.

Try making some cocktails. Spend $50 and get an assortment of 10oz 'mickies', then grab some fruit, and whatever else you need.

I'd recommend gin and tonic, a gimlet (either gin or vodka), something rye based (either rye and coke or rye and ginger), vodka tonic maybe, etc.

Diversity is the spice of life, figure out what you like by trying it all.

Now if you'll excuse me, you've inspired me to go mix a G&T.

 

[pejhmon]

Beer is a tricky topic. On the one hand, (for the average person) unless you get through at least 4 cans/bottles you wont even start feeling tipsy, so it's not the best choice for trying to get drunk. On the other hand, if (like me) the taste is what's important and you want to enjoy the evening and not just getting pissed for the sake of it only to forget the night (and where the contents of your stomach ended up) then there are many good beers to enjoy slowly.

Beer has such a different taste depending on where it's from. My personal preference is Corona with a lime/lemon but from what I've come to notice is that Amstel is a good Dutch beer, Alhambra is a decent spanish one (but San Miguel is much easier to find, just don't get Cruzcampo), mainstream english and american beers are to be avoided like the plague (I'm looking at you Budwieser (not a beer), Carling/Calsburg (identical in everything but name)), Stella/Fosters/Heineken (only out of lack of other choice), Ale is alright but isn't everyone's cup of tea and is definitely not meant to be drunk quickly. Although, personally, I'd rather have a cider over any beer (for those who don't know, a cider is like a beer made from apples (sometimes pears but those are shit) instead of hops etc.) but the best ones are not mainstream (mainstream being "insert prefix here"-ners (Magners, Bulmers etc.) such as Savannah (my fav, a South African cider) and so many others that I can't name because I've only ever had them at one pub in particular.

On the liquor side of things, it's down to personal preference combined with how you have it. I love Amaretto either over ice (straight) or with coke. Tequila/Sambuca is fun with friends in shot form, Southern Comfort is the only whiskey/bourbon I like, Vodka is just a generic drink that I neither like nor dislike but it does go with everything (I had some flavoured Polish vodka that my Polish friend brought over once and that was really nice, even straight or with orange juice) but there are countless other drinks I'm yet to try.

My advice is try to sample everything to find what you like and (when it comes to liquors) try with different combos (a long island iced tea with lemonade is much better than with coke imo)

 

[Pumpkin_Eater]

Would be nice to know your budget, but some beers I'd recommend are Blue Moon, Shocktop, Boulevard Wheat, Wild Blue, and LeinenKugel's. Woodchuck is my favorite hard cider; Hornsby, the other popular brand in this area is good too. Most flavors of Smirnov taste pretty good, but be careful not to get your man card taken away.

Coconut Rum/liquer is great when mixed with cola (very sweet concoction). Captain Morgan's is pretty solid as far as spiced rum goes. I would avoid vodka for awhile as a new drinker, unless someone else is feeding you mixes (white Russians are delicious). Irish creams like Bailey's are used in a lot of mixed drinks, and you can also drink it straight.

I personally get the most enjoyable buzz from wines; concord red is my overall favorite type, and Golden Rhine is my favorite white. I generally buy the Missouri labels, so unless you happen to be from around here (Le Burgiose is good, Stone Hill is usually a bit better) I can't offer much help in terms of specific bottles you should be looking for. Peach is the only fruit wine that I've enjoyed; it had a very strong flavor though, so definitely not for everyone.