The Booze Thread (quality, not quantity)

[Lissa]

So, in one month, I can have the occasional drink again. Whoopee! Something I've noticed, though, is that we rarely discuss booze here at the Mutant Reviewers, even though we do have people that drink. I'm not talking the "Dude, I drank SO MUCH I was puking purple!" type of booze-talking, but along the lines of Serving Mutant... what do people actually drink, and what finds have you found? (Personally, I'm especially interested in what people have found in the wine categories.) What's good for not-a-small-fortune, especially if you're snobby like me and aren't into box wines (or The Beast or whatever for beer)?

I'm definitely a wine drinker myself- normally whites (chardonnay or pinot grigio), but after going to Napa Valley last year I finally got into reds (especially the cabs and the pinot noirs, although I still won't touch merlot. The nice thing about tasting is you can taste some wines that you'd never afford to buy. If I don't like a $125 bottle of Merlot, I'm just not gonna like merlot.) So, a couple of our recommendations:

(Just for reference, we generally pay between 10-25 for a bottle of wine, depending on the occasion. The ONLY exception is we have a special bottle of Charles Krug red called "Generations" tucked away for after the baby is born, but that's a pretty big exception.)

Sterling- this is Duckie's and my favorite vineyard. I'm not really well-versed in their reds, but I love their chardonnays. They're relatively inexpensive (usually under $20 a bottle, I think, and for some reason $14 is sticking in my head), and extremely tasty, especially if you prefer a drier wine. They also make very nice blush wines. I think we've found this to be one of the best wines under $20, especially for whites, ever. (And if you ever go out to Napa, the vineyard is GORGEOUS.)

Clos Pegas- I really, really wish we could get our hands on the reds from here more often. We had a bottle of pinot noir from here that was to die for (again, it was around $20, I think), and one of our good friends adores their merlot. Their chardonnay is pretty tasty, too. However, they're a smaller winery, and they're harder to find out here in Pa. And you can't ship wines to PA, so we can't even order them or do wine of the quarter or anything with them. But if you CAN get it, give Clos Pegas a try for a special occasion type night.

Kendall Jackson- A really good bottle of relatively inexpensive wine. I think this generally runs less than Sterling, but I'm not sure since I rarely buy the wine. We always have a bottle of this on hand for my mother.

Stimson- A much cheaper wine that reminds us a lot of Sterling. Not quite as good as Sterling, but that's good sometimes. It's nice to know that the extra money makes a difference Still, if you don't want jugs or boxes, Stimson makes a very nice bottled wine for not very much money.

Wine we DON'T recommend:

Hess Select. We've tried it. We had to. We don't care for it at all. We went to the Hess Winery out in Napa and tried their good stuff. We like the Stimson regular $10/bottle better than the vintage Hess. This is a bad sign. (But the art gallery was cool.)

I know Duckie has others- especially whatever it was we gave Drew and Ann this weekend that I can never remember the name of without the bottle sitting in front of me!

Anyway, I'm always looking for good wines, and I'm sure there are others looking for good beers or liquors. Any other suggestions?

[Head Mutant]

Um... I'm a fan of sparkling white grape juice. $4 a bottle. Grocery store. Does that count?

[PoolMan]

My alcohol intake, despite Justin's propaganda, is actually pretty low. I don't drink much at all most of the time.

I do really enjoy good, medium dark beers. I'm definitely not a Guinness fan, but I love good honey ales and the like. Sleemans is probably my favourite, but there's always a local brewer wherever I go that has a nice offering.

And if it were up to me, I'd make Bailey's a dollar a bottle, and live in sweet, creamy, Irish heaven for the rest of my days.

[Magill]

Ah, a topic near and dear to my heart. One of my mottos is "Life's too short to drink cheap beer (except occasionally only if it's free)."

I was in Sonoma a few Januarys ago and my boyfriend and I toured some wineries. My favorite was Chateau St. Jean. It was our last day in Sonoma, and my guidebook said they had a deli so we decided to eat lunch there before moving onto tastings. Since it was pretty nice outside (especially to us Midwesterners) we decided to eat on their patio. We were the only people there until a woman who worked at the winery said "It looks like you need some wine" and poured us a couple glasses of one of their whites (a Fume I think). After our lunch, we went in to do a tasting. My boyfriend and I were a bit disappointed, because we both like full-bodied reds and their regular tasting really didn't seem to have any. So the guy behind the counter scrawled a note and told us to go to their reserve tasting room for complimentary tastings of one of their fuller reds.

Once we got there, we figured that we might as well stay for the full reserve tasting. We got a bit more than that, because one of their more primo customers was there, so they were opening bottles for him that they normally wouldn't have. We really like their Cinq Cepages and my boyfriend or I will usually buy a bottle to hold as a gift for the other person.

The other wineries we visited were the B.R. Cohn winery, which also has a lot of olive trees and makes their own olive oil, and Benziger, which has a really cool tour. Again, since this was the off season, we were the only two on the tour.

Last September we drove from Portland to Kalispell, MT for a wedding. We visited a few wineries in eastern Washington (Chateau Ste. Michelle and some smaller ones near Walla Walla that I can't remember off the top of my head). The thing that really sticks out is that Washington wineries are really strict in how much you can sample (I guess they're worried about over-serving).

On that same trip, we also visited 6 breweries in 6 days (Widmer and Bridgeport in Portland, Full Sail along the Columbia river, a brewpub in Spokane, Glacier Mountain Brewing and Big Sky in Montana). Widmer had a great tour and great beers. They're famous for their hefe, but their winter seasonal, a milk stout (so called because they add lactose, which yeast can't break down, to make it sweeter) is to die for. Unfortunately, they only distribute it around the Pacific NW. Last year I made my cousing bring back some when she visited Seattle over Christmas. I'm heading to LA today for work, and I may look to see if I can find it.

I usually don't like IPAs because the overload of hops seem too bitter, but Bridgeport's IPA was really good. The hops added more citrusy flavors than bitter. By the time we hit Full Sail I was starting to get a cold, so my sense of taste was a lot worse.

Last summer my boyfriend and I started homebrewing. If you're a science/chemistry nerd like me, it's really fun! We did a few kits and made one off a recipe (a cherry stout that we made almost a year ago and still seems like it needs to mellow). We haven't brewed as much this year, because we're low on bottles (our last 2 brews haven't been great, which makes it hard to drink them quickly, and one of the brews caused a few exploded bottles that further limited our stock) and because we moved this summer and didn't want to deal with brewing before or while we were unpacking.

As for what I like to drink:

Beer:
In the summer, we drink a lot of Big Sky's Summer Honey Ale as well as Bell's (in Michigan) Oberon. They're both great. In the winter, it's usually something darker. Bell's has a good stout that they advertise as having something like 12 different malts in it. I like trying a lot of different breweries. There's one in Wisconsin, New Glarus, that always has good brews. Unfortunately, they don't distribute outside Wisconsin, so whenever I go back, I always pick up a sixpack or two. Other brews I like: Leinenkugels (their Honey Weiss is a reliable summer drink), Capitol (out of Madison), Summit (Minneapolis), Newcastle, Guinness, and a lot more I'm sure I'm forgetting.

Wine:
I tend to stick in Lissa's price range. While none of these are really stunners, they're all reliable. Chateau Ste. Michelle is pretty solid--I drink a lot of their cabernet. Cline does a good Zin, Lindeman's does good pinot and syrah, and I like Australian syrahs/shiraz quite a bit. I've started drinking some Argentinian Malbecs. I'm trying to try more Spanish reds--a guy at a wine shop said that Spanish wineries will hold onto their wine if they feel it needs to age more, so you can find older varieties than you might in other countries. I don't drink a lot of whites, but I really like Gewurtztraminer with spicy food, like Thai.

liquors-
Don't drink much of these. I hate gin, so I usually order vodka martinis or vodka and tonics. I really like tequila. The first time I ever got sick off of drinking it was after having rum, so I've pretty much sworn that off. I can do Bailey's in small doses or in with coffee. My boyfriend's parents have this tradition of giving him a bottle every Christmas, so we have 3 in our pantry.

[bladestarr]

I only drink drinks that DON'T taste like alcohol. Beer makes me gag, so my main drinks of choice are mixed drinks; fuzzy navels, long island iced teas, Boone's Farm's Malt beverages and fruit wines (cheap yeah I know but it tastes good). Wine coolers are too weak for me, and Schnaaps are too strong, isn't that weird?

My favorite brand of drinks? Jack Daniel's pre-made cocktails, like Sour Jack, Tennesee Tea, Wildberry Jack, that kind of thing. However my favorite drink of all time that I could guzzle down by the gallon was Jack Daniel's Apple Jack, but I think it's been discontinued because I can't find it ANYWHERE and I've LOOKED. Not one single alcohol selling establishment in Dubuque, Iowa or East Dubuque, Illinois sells it.

By the Way, Dubuque, Iowa is crowned with the distinction of having the second highest per capita consumption of alcohol in the world, next to some small town in Germany. There is literally a bar and a church on EVERY block. Because when you drink enough, you'll probably end up doing somethin' that needs repentin'! ;D

[DocD83]

I love to drink but I don't do it much. I usually drink mixed vodka drinks or wine, but I'm geting into beer more lately.

Liquor: Cherry or apple schnapps and vodka, 1:1. Vodka martinis/vodka tonics. Manhattans (NO ICE! Why do baretenders keep putting ice in it?). Black Russians (no whites), on the rocks. When my room mate's girlfiend is in town, I usally mix myself a georgia peach out of the stuff they buy, though I never have the urge to buy the stuff myself.

I've been trying to try a different vodka every time I buy. Stolichnaya Gold or Finlandia are my favorites so far among vodkas I can afford to buy a whole bottle of.

Beer: Amber Bock. It's really cheap and really good. Spaten Octoberfest is a lot like it but better, more expensive and harder to find. Budweiser. Guiness. I used to drink Newcastle and honey brown, but I lost interest in those.

Wine: Usually whites, especially sauvignon blanc--it's like chardonnay but not as buttery. Dancing bull sauvignon blanc is really good and cheap. Century Cellars is ok and cheap.

Champagne: Anything Asti. I can't stand Brut. My favorites are Martini and Rossi's Asti (probably $14 or so), Jacob's Creek (I think that's a Brut/Supamante mix or whatever--stronger and cheaper than M&R), and Bug Juice (very weak but incredibly tasty).

The other stuff: Bailey's is good over ice. Hornsby's hard cider is like candy. I used to drink alcopops until they started making me ill (too sweet, I guess).

[Spiderdancer]

I, like Justin, prefer to imbibe carbonic acid rather than alcohol, but one of the Yakima Valley's big brag points right now is its wine. Lots of grapes are grown right here in the valley, and one or two of our vineyards are nationally acclaimed. At least, that's what people tell me. So if you're interested in Yakima wines, some of which are reasonably priced and many of whose makers will ship, check this out:

www.gonorthwest.com/Washington/Wines/yakimavalleywines.htm

Also there's the fact that were it not for champagne, I would have only one wonderful sibling instead of two.

[Head Mutant]

I have to say, I'm always quite amused reading your vast signature line, Shalen. The more you know, and all that.

[kylerexpop]

i guess i'm not yet at the maturity level where i pay attention, or even notice, the various qualities of alcohol that i'm imbibing.

temecula wine country, the vault, tailgating ucla games, drinking 24 packs of beer in the backyard with friends, all the various home brews my friends make . . . it's booze, it's good, I'M SO HAPPY.

i will say i prefer vodka martinis, "full-bodied" red wines, trader joe's barefoot champagne, coors light, corona (with lime), and rum and coke.

oh, and every halloween thus far, i buy a fresh bottle of jack daniels, then stick out on the porch and polish it off while i hand out candy. i tell parents i'm "drunk man." by the end of the night, i don't have to play-act, and i hazily notice every years that parents' eyes get wider and wider as the hours go by.

my friend lindsay is hanging out, and i asked her what she thought. her only response: "i don't drink budweiser."

[TheLuckyOne]

Beer. As much as possible. The only difference between college and now is that I'll no longer tolerate Beast, Natty Light, or Iron City. The 1/16 Irish in me loves Killians', too.

If you're really looking to ritz things up -- and, why? -- there's a couple of mixed drinks I like. Though I don't like guinness alone, Irish Carbombs rock my socks. Also, you can't go wrong with a Red-Headed Slut. (And the drink isn't bad either.) Finally, Jaegerbombs will put hair on your chest, and not in a bad way. As for Captain Morgan's spiced rum- good in small quantities, but I have seen firsthand the effects of someone chugging half a bottle... and sister, it ain't pretty.

-D

[TheLuckyOne]

poolman said:

My alcohol intake, despite Justin's propaganda, is actually pretty low. I don't drink much at all most of the time.

Only at weddings, right?


-D

[Spiderdancer]

Thanks, Justin. I try to spread the love about spiders as much as I can, since so many people seem to conclude that "hairy + funny markings = poisonous." There are only three spiders in the US that can make you sick (hobo spiders, violin spiders/brown recluses, and black widows) if they bite you, and only two of those can kill you. And that generally only happens to those less than a hundred pounds and/or very feeble due to age or medical condition.

Captain Morgan? I actually have some of this at home. I bought one of those cute little bottles along with some kahlua at my local liquor store, which has one of the most depressing sets of decor I've ever seen, by the way. Most supermarkets are WAY more cheerful. Anyway, a little rum or kahlua makes for REALLY good mini-cheesecakes or fudge. Plus it's fun to watch the alcohol fizzle off the surface of boiling milk/sugar/butter substance. (WHO has a boring life? I do!)

[dajaymann]

I'm not a big drinker at all, which is ironic since a significant portion of my job seems to be hanging out at clubs and drinking. You see, most alchohol just puts me down to sleep, and that's not very fun at all. However, when I do feel like partying the epic party, my drug of choice (and I know I'm gonna be in the minority here) is Tequila. For some reason, tequila just doesn't knock me on my butt like everyone else I know.

When my wife feels like getting her drink on, she's pretty exclusively a Sex On The Beach girl. Like many others, she goes for the drinks that don't taste like alchohol, especially the fruity variety.

[duckie]

magill said:

Chateau Ste. Michelle is pretty solid--I drink a lot of their cabernet.

The bottle of wine we gave to Drew and his fiancee (are you used to hearing that yet, Drew?) was a Chateau Ste Michelle chardonnay. It's one of the wines I usually keep on hand, as it is pretty solid. (By the way, I believe that Stimson - another wine that Lissa mentioned - is operated by the same folk.)

Another winery I really like is Rosemount Estates... they're an Australian winery, and are one of the better wines in their price range (usually <$15).

As for beers, I really like the dark, thick or wheat beers. Boddington's and Guinness are on the top of my list... although they're usually too expensive to keep around this house.

As for liquors, I love Captain Morgan's rum, as well as Grey Goose vodka.

[duckie]

theluckyone said:

poolman said:

My alcohol intake, despite Justin's propaganda, is actually pretty low. I don't drink much at all most of the time.

Only at weddings, right?


-D

I seem to also recall a wee bit of drinkin' occurring during a certain wedding weekend... ;D