The Official Booze Thread

[SlimKlim]

The Meat thread has taken off pretty well, apparently we have a bunch of foodies amongst us. I know a good number of us alumni, and perhaps current students who are of age, are beer nerds, booze aficionados, or just high-functioning alcoholics who still have taste.

At any rate, I've been a pig in mud since moving to NOVA where the beer options are practically endless. I'm almost reluctant to buy the same six pack twice just because there's always something else to try. Here are some of my favorite discoveries from the past few years:

Daily Drivers:

Troegs Hopback



Just fantastic. Possibly my favorite beer. Hoppy without succumbing to the "hops race" that has been ruining perfectly good IPAs lately. Just a nice clean amber ale with a malty base and a healthy dash of hop. Would probably be my desert island beer. The Troegs Pale Ale is good too with a more bitter hop flavor if you want something that has a bit more punch without stepping up to the hardcore IPAs.

Founders All Day IPA



The only beer that could challenge the Hopback for my desert island selection. Just a nice simple IPA with a strong, citrusy hop flavor that isn't overwhelming, and a 5% ABV that actually lets you drink a few of them on a hot summer afternoon without screwing up whatever you're doing. Hence the "All Day" thing.

Winter Favorites:

Samuel Smith Taddy Porter (5th from the right)



This stuff is expensive but worth picking up a bottle or two from Total Wine if you're even a passing fan of the Porter style. I think it's the best one I've ever had. Pitch black, heavy notes of coffee and chocolate. Very creamy mouthfeel and only gets better as the beer warms up a little bit.

Guinness Foreign Extra Stout (right-most, previous photo)

Also expensive but worth picking up a bottle, I've only seen it at Total Wine. Pours like used engine oil, strong roasted malt/nut flavor, the standard heavy hit of cocoa you'd expect from a good stout and a hint of dark-fruit sweetness. Very good beer.

Non Beerz:

Bogle Phantom:



Lauren usually heads up our wine drinking department but I'll occasionally dabble. This one particular blended wine has stuck out to me. It's only available in the fall and usually sells out by Thanksgiving time. I picked up a tip somewhere that while it's a very good wine right off the shelf, aging it for another year will put it in a "whole new class" whatever that means.

So I bought a few bottles and tried it, and son of a bitch if it wasn't amazing. I couldn't even try to give tasting notes because I know jack shit about wine, but I'd recommend grabbing a bottle to bring to your Thanksgiving table next year. I've started an annual tradition of buying 3 or 4 bottles a year and spreading them out over the following year's special occasions.

Blanton's Single Barrel



Nectar of the gods. Hands down my favorite sipping bourbon. Best kept secret is 2 of these little 375ml's is actually a bit cheaper than 1 750ml. No idea why, but I'm not complaining.


Now I'm ready to start tucking into some spring seasonals. I've already gone through a pack of the Bells Smitten Golden Rye Ale which is a great beer to pretend it's not still miserably winter outside, and I'm anxiously awaiting the April release of the Founder's Kentucky Breakfast Stout so I can finally try it. Availability is insanely limited and I keep missing it.

[*insertusernamehere*]

Oh I'm excited for this thread. As soon as I'm 21 I'm gonna try every beer listed in this thread. I can pass on the liquor :vomit:

[.RJ]

Blanton's is good stuff. Hudson baby bourbon is better though....

[WRXtranceformed]

Nothing much to add here anymore since I haven't had a drink for almost a year now. What I will add in case you didn't know is each Blanton's pewter bottle stopper has a letter stamped on it to spell out B L A N T O N S. Some letters are harder to find than others. You can collect em all like Pokemon!

You can see it under the horse's foot:

[Apoc]

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[SlimKlim]

Holy shit, do you quantify your whole life?

Nothing much to add here anymore since I haven't had a drink for almost a year now. What I will add in case you didn't know is each Blanton's pewter bottle stopper has a letter stamped on it to spell out B L A N T O N S. Some letters are harder to find than others. You can collect em all like Pokemon!

You can see it under the horse's foot:

Yea I got like a shitton of L's. Maybe an N or two. By the time I'm 50 I might have the whole set.

Oh I'm excited for this thread. As soon as I'm 21 I'm gonna try every beer listed in this thread. I can pass on the liquor :vomit:

You might grow to like it once you're out of school and are around people who enjoy having a drink or two, not a bunch of bros attempting to race each other to the stomach pumping station of the emergency room. I never really liked doing a shot of anything, except maybe Jager, but I haven't even seen that stuff since school. I'm way too dainty to knock back a full "drink" in one swallow. Also, shitty liquor is shitty, you definitely get what you pay for.

My main liquor drinks are a nice bourbon or scotch to sip slowly with a single ice cube (i've tried to drink it neat, and with whiskey stones, but again, I'm too dainty for that), and in the summer I like a nice cold gin martini or a 50/50 (half gin, half vodka), dry and dirty. Sometimes I'll have a nice simple Gin Rickey (gin, club soda, lime), or an Old Fashioned (bourbon, bitters, splash of simple syrup, ice, bit of citrus).

Pretty much any mixed drink you order out is going to be disgustingly sweet because most people need to hide their booze behind a mountain of sugar. I almost always strike out if I dare to try a mixed drink off a menu instead of sticking to beer.

[JPolen01]

Joey, have you seen things like the ice ball for scotch/bourbon? Better than ice cubes because it melts way slower. <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.thewhiskeyball.com/">http://www.thewhiskeyball.com/</a><!-- m -->

[SlimKlim]

Yeah I think they're really cool. I think I'd like one more than the stones because I actually do want to water my booze down a bit for optimal sipping. It's just kind of a gimmicky thing I haven't been motivated to buy

[premiershine9]

Nothing much to add:

Blantons/ Makers guy as well, not a big fan of vodka

I'm game for any type of beer- the german style brews are mein favorite

Wine.... well I've been drinking a crap ton of it lately and trying a lot of new blends- favorite reds are the mixes by Dave Phinney/ Orin Swift- The Prisoner still is my favorite. Shatter, Saldo, and his location wines are quite sexual.

[premiershine9]

Yeah I think they're really cool. I think I'd like one more than the stones because I actually do want to water my booze down a bit for optimal sipping. It's just kind of a gimmicky thing I haven't been motivated to buy

Grab these:

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Got a Monogram K in a set for both my brother and my dad- I have the normal "green" discs, they work excellente

[JustinG]

I stick with your typical dark liquors, Jack, Jim, Capt, Sailor Jerry. Also enjoy SoCo and Lime, entirely too much

Really enjoy Knob Creek "Small Batch" 100 proof Rye on the rocks. I also like the Smoked Maple, smells super sweet, but it isn't. I want to try their 100 Proof Rye, just haven't yet. It is entirely too easy to spend a couple hundred bucks in an ABC store.

I got some whiskey stones for xmas, and im not a fan, they just don't cool the booze down enough nor do they hold the temperature long enough. I am not sure if its cause they were cheap or if its common among the stones. So I have resorted back to a couple of cubes of ice. I need to order one of those ball ice cube molds.

Summer drinks typically involve Gin (usually Tanqueray) or shine, not a big fan of vodka. Gin and tonic, or Shine and some Rasberry Lemonade, om nom.

Im not a beer snob, I will literally drink anything from Mich Ultra to a Stout. Favorite winter is Hardywood's Gingerbread Stout (local Richmond Brewery). I used to hate IPAs but they have grown on me. I always try different beers and I am typically, OOOOOOO thats good, and completely forget what it was the next time I visit the restaurant, I will try better moving forward.

I enjoy wine too, but not a snob on that either, I have had some good and some bad, just never documented it. We typically just grab some 2 buck chuck from Trader Joes ($3.79 a bottle) and a couple of "nice" bottles, ie $10-12 bottles. If you ever make it down to New Kent Winery try their White Merlot.....pretty good stuff, they use Merlot grapes and prep it in Stainless, taste was along the lines of a Viognier. Williamsburg Winery also has a great Red Blend, we are a big fan of those red blends. Their "Gabriel Archer Reserve" red blend is one of our favorites - <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://store.nexternal.com/wmbgstore/the-williamsburg-winery-gabriel-archer-reserve-2009-p359.aspx">http://store.nexternal.com/wmbgstore/th ... -p359.aspx</a><!-- m -->

[SlimKlim]

Yeah my whiskey stones taught me that I want to slightly dilute my liquor. Sue me. I might pick up a whiskey ball at some point, until then a regular old cube works pretty nicely.

I'll have to pick up a bottle of the Prisoner, I've heard a lot of people mention it.

[Apoc]

Holy shit, do you quantify your whole life?

Doesn't everyone? :lol:

[Sully]

Ive been on cider (or sissy bitch cider as Rex would say) lately since having a girlfriend and being slightly more social rather than working every weekend night.

I started with Redd's which isn't a cider but then tried the angry Orchard Cinnful Apple and really liked the cinnamon flavor which was super strong. I've tried the original which was decent too and the ginger which I hated. Also had both light (colored) and dark bold rock and found both of those to be suitable as long as the dark comes after something else. Tried Stella cider a week or two ago and didn't care for it all that much but It might make a good second drink deal.

Been trying to get my hands on the special AO, straw man and iceman but no luck in this area and it can't be shipped here yet.

Really looking for some craft ciders if those exist but as I have determined through talking to Rex about brewing my own, I like very sweet bitch cider so I probably wouldn't even like craft stuff. :dunno:

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

[SlimKlim]

Holy shit, do you quantify your whole life?

Doesn't everyone? :lol:

I just kinda wing it. :dunno:

[Apoc]

It's not much different than creating this thread. I just do it in my own thread as needed and then crosspost.

[SlimKlim]

Fair enough.

[Mike]

I do the same.

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Only started keeping track in August.

1-5 scale with 1 being best.

[Senor_Taylor]

I don't see how you guys casually drink Bourbon. Maybe I've never had the good kind, but the guys I wheel with are always drinking it around the fire and want me to taste it. I don't see how anyone drinks anything hard like that by sipping it.


Acquired taste?

[Apoc]

The wife keep tracks of wine; I need to start getting serious about coffee.