gin and tonic.

i dont understand why you would like to give up beer, since it is nothing but liquid sunlight which cleans the body and warms your soul.

Classic Martini (i.e. with gin): very good evening drink. The best I've had have been in the American Bar in the Savoy on the Strand. This bar, which looked like it would accommodate Graham Greene, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall quite comfortably, was under refurbishment the last time I checked. Hopefully, they will not ruin it.

Whisky Sour: delicious. The Pisco Sour is great as well.

Bloody Mary: superb hangover drink. A good way to start the first or second morning of a boozy weekend.

Mojito Royal: Since it is summer, and the mojito is an ace sunshine drink, then one might as well bling with it and add champagne. The bar at the BFI Southbank does these well, or at least used to. The bar staff were ridiculously attractive when I went, so try not to fall in love if you go.

Rusty Nail: a favourite that my dad taught me. This is potent and tasty. If memory serves, it gave me the sensation of half my brain being twisted around the other half. This was a real physical sensation, mostly entertaining. The recipe linked is a little fancy: I would not bother with the lemon, personally.

IR: This was named by my paternal uncle after my father's initials. They were taught it by some weird old man in a pub in Chelmsford, so it is not his to claim. And it is not strictly a cocktail, but still... Simply take half a pint of bitter and half a pint ofbarley wine, mix, drink, sit back.

Sazerac: this is the grandfather of cocktails. Probably the winner, particularly if you want to appear Old School. Last time I had one, it blew my head off. A wee bit of a kick.

Cheeky Vimto: A new pretender. Have not tried, but I think that I need to build up to it.

Edit: I meant to post my own interpretation of the Sazerac, the Fuck Up:

In an email home, I wrote:Surjeet left Nainital today for Delhi, which was sad. So Billy suggested that I play barman again, making vodka and limes for her and Ruth, and a variation of the classic Sazerac for myself. As I lacked some of the ingredients for the latter, I improvised:-



1. Take one part cheap mixer whisky.
2. Take one part cheap brandy.
3. Mix.
4. Take a teaspoon of gur (unrefined cane sugar) and soak in the mixture.
5. Lift out gur with teaspoon and attempt to light with some matches. When this fails, swear and crush roughly with a fork. Then chuck back into the mixture and stir.
6. Noting that the gur does not dissolve, drink.
7. Mutter darkly and sit down to write

I love the Pink Shocker featured on "Manor House."

* Vodka
* Rhubarb juice (the syrup produced when you cook rhubarb with sugar)
* Ground ginger
* Ice

Put a generous measure of vodka, 2 tablespoons of rhubarb puree and a sprinkle of ground ginger over ice for each person into a cocktail shaker. Serve with a small stick of rhubarb.

I suggest pureeing it together and letting it sit overnight before straining it over ice.

When I first turned 21, my ex-boyfriend and I were really into duplicating the preferred drink of the old farmers in the taverns near where we lived-- half-and-half tomato juice and beer.

I got bored one night while bartending in Green Bay and created the Black and Hamm's. There was this one cheap old bastard who would come in once a week or so and always insist on a tapper of Hamm's. Problem was, we didn't have Hamm's on tap. In fact, the shittiest/cheapest beer that we had on tap was Leinie's Honey Weiss, which isn't even all that shitty. We in fact had an awesome beer selection with lots of imports and I'm pretty sure that the Hamm's was leftover from the former owner or was part of some sort of deal with the distributer, and it was in cans. Most of what we sold was PBR or Old Style (the Old Style was a backlash against the hipsters starting to drink PBR as a "trend"), either of which was only $1.50 a bottle. This guy was too cheap to just order one of those, or even to buy the whole can of Hamm's.

Whenever the old guy would come in and order his 25 cent tapper, I'd be left with most of a can of Hamm's and while I found that beer vile, I also hate throwing things out. Thus, I poured some Guinness on top of a glass filled with the remaining Hamm's and offered it to anyone who wanted it for $1. It looked like a pool of black sludge floating atop a well of piss, but someone was always desperate enough to brave the Black and Hamm's.

I got really good at making Blue Hawaiians one summer. I had the proportions just right so it wasn't sickly sweet and you still couldn't trace the tremendous amount of liquor in the drink.

I rarely drink anything but neat or rocks whiskey. But there's a joint in Brooklyn that mixes some fantastic cocktails. They've got one called the Moscow Mule that's top-shelf vodka, homemade ginger syrup, lime juice, and seltzer.

Fucking delicious and goes down so smooth, I was 5 deep before I knew it and could barely talk.

Sailor Jerry's and Root Beer is great.
You cannot beat Bourbon on the rocks with a beer chaser on a hot day.
I also like Cognac and tonic.

The Code is Almighty wrote:The bloody mary. Nothing's better than a good bloody mary.

A bloody mary is an excellent choice if you go to brunch.

I forgot about the mojito. Excellent with Cuban food.

Sangria (not the bottled kind) is good as well, especially during the day, with Mexican food.

Three words: Wild Turkey 101. Four more words: With a water back.

Ty Webb wrote:I rarely drink anything but neat or rocks whiskey.

Bourbon or Scotch variety? Count me in on a nice neat Balvenie or whatever they have on the top shelf. Been into the Manhattans lately as it makes me feel like a grandpa when I order one. Also will have a Margarita on occasion.

DM wrote:Three words: Wild Turkey 101. Four more words: With a water back.

Fuel.

Tequila gimlet. Nice and crisp. Like a mojito, without the 82 gallons of simple syrup Chicago bartenders like to use.

For wines, Sancerre and Prosecco are delighting me. And Champagne, which I drink probably more than anything. Crisp and tingly.

At the Matchbox/Silver Palm there is a house-made ginger-infused vodka with which they make ginger gimlets.