To cover up the vile taste of vodka you can also try it with grapefruit juice. I was hooked on that for about 3 months a few years back until it gave me an ulcer.
Hey, I want some! Never drank that. Is it like any of the common beers here in the US? Like Grolsh maybe? I love that stuff--smells like the south end of a skunk when it gets hot though... so I just never let it get that way.
I like Grolsh, but I miss the swing-top bottles. I used to collect them and re-use them for homebrew. I have my fridge stocked with Pilsener Urquell right now. But no one underage will be getting any of it
The top swing bottles are neat! We brew our own beer here, so we have some that we use to brew. They're awesome.
Yes, but I forgot you're in the US. Over here alcohol is a lot less demonised. I've been having the odd pint in the pub since I was about 14. And the drinking age here is 18.
Hey, I used to home brew pale ale in the voluminous overflow of my empties I couldn't bear to throw away. If you replace the rubber gaskets, they last forever... well the bottle does anyway. I didn't know they quit making them with the swing top though. I haven't drank much in the last few years.
Yeah, but I don't have as many swing top bottles as I need for more than one full batch. So mostly I use generic brown bottles with crown caps. But I haven't brewed any new batches for a couple years. My most recent was an IPA.
It's been a long time for me too. But as I recall, I need 16 Grolsh bottles per batch and have enough for 3 batches--I use a Mr Beer 2 gallon keg but I make the brew from grain, can't stand those cans. Laugh at me if you will, but I've made some glorious brew in that baby.
I make 5-6 gallons in a run, in a glass carboy after the initial fermentation in an 8-gallon polypropylene bucket (covered, with a fermentation lock). When the initial rapid fermentation slows down, I strain the brew into the class carboy, discarding the barley and hop sludge. After the primary fermentation is done, I siphon the beer into a bottling bucket, add the priming sugar, and bottle it. Then it has to settle and age for at least a month It's just too much work if I'm only getting two gallons per batch.
Very true, the cleaning, OMG! One-Step helps a lot though. I started out small to see if I liked doing it--which I did--but never took the steps to make it a bigger operation. If I ever start it up again, I'll go to the 5-6 gallon at a time for sure.
I don't think alcohol is necessarily demonized in the US (certain Baptist areas of Michigan and the south excepted, of course), but more that kids in the UK are taught respect and acceptance of alcohol from an earlier age. I've been sharing pints with my dad since I was about 7 - a shot for me the rest for him, etc. As a result, when I hit 21 drinking wasn't this be-all-end-all of my existence. It wasn't forbidden in my household growing up, and I learned to treat it as an everyday occurance not really worthy of major celebration. Most American kids don't necessarily grow up that way, and so when they reach the legal age they have no idea how to behave appropriately around alcohol. It's always been the "forbidden fruit" and they don't know how to retreat the responsibility of drinking with respect. I'd say the Brits know what they're doing, and pints for 14-year-olds sounds like a great idea. It would have made my middle school years far less painful. Dang it! Now I need to go get a beer. All this talk is making me thirsty!
It sounds good in theory, but some people simply can't use alcoholin moderation, regardless of how they were raised with or without it. I've been allowed moderate amounts of alcohol all my life - I had my first beer, a shot glass of Ballantine, when I was three or four. I've always beenable to have a drink or two and stop, or even have no alcohol when surrounded by other drinkers. And yet, I had a friend in high school who was raised exactly the same way. He became a binge drinker, showing up drunk to class in high school, and he ended up blind and institutionalized in his early twenties. Damned if I know what the best policy is. I've raised my kids the way I was raised, because I too am inclined to believe the "forbidden fruit" philosophy. But teenage alcoholism doesn't seem to distinguish between those raised under strict temperance and those raised more permissibly. Immaturity takes over in either case, and unfortunately, maturity doesn't necessarily take root at ANY age.
I think a lot of people must be drinking the wrong vodkas. I used to agree that it was pretty wicked stuff, but that was when I'd only sampled the paint stripper varieties available over most bars or the cheaper store brands. These ones seem and I believe are designed to be masked with a mixer. So it is no surprise they are pretty nasty. Also, most's experience with the stuff seems to be neat, out of the bottle, at a party or in a park, and warm. Again, it's no surprise that the enjoyment is lessesned. However, when I upped my game and spent more on the stuff, and took advice from a Russian - my appreciation grew. In my experience (UK only here sorry), Smirnoff is pretty terrible (biggest selling brand) and anything cheaper is worse. Stolichnaya is acceptable, Absolut likewise but still not great. Finlandia is pretty reasonable too. The key I have found, is that if you are drinking it straight, as I have done at Russian meals and with friends etc, that the drink (and glass) should be superchilled, as in out of the freezer. Then, the drink becomes completely different, viscose in nature and a lot sweeter. Though, I appreciate it's still not for everyone. If you don't like booze, you won't like vodka in any form, unless it's completely masked by a mixer of your liking. If you do like neat whiskey, bourbon, rum etc then I'm fairly positive that once you find your brand, you will like it. Sadly, that brand however may have to be a pricier one to avoid the aforementioned paint stripper qualities some have. But everyone's different of course, and that's why life is interesting, amongst other reasons of course. Remember, whatever you choose though, do so responsibily!
Russian vodka is amazing stuff. Incredibly strong though. And I agree about the superchilled glass. There was one place we went where we were drinking vodka out of shot glasses made from ice. It was good vodka too- expensive, but the best vodka I've had
I agree. I was raised by a tea totaling Bostonian mother and a non-drinking father. When I went to Vietnam, the drinking age for military dropped to 18 so I could buy alcohol without restriction...and I did! One evening, I got carried away with a fifth of Southern Comfort and ended up in the hospital with alcohol toxemia. That was really embarrassing. I was in the same hospital for legitimate wounds only a month before and the medics teased me unmercifully. Swore then I would never drink again...of course that resolution did not apply to the potent Southeast Asian dope. LOL
I've never been drunk before, doesn't appeal to me that much. I think its cos my parents arent big drinkers ; they'll drink on an occasion like a party or whatever, but even then they dont drink with the purpose of getting drunk. Its just to have fun and be a bit merry i guess? Vodka scares me so i haven't drunk it yet
My mum only drinks the occasional glass of wine, and my dad doesn't drink at all. But I agree with you about the lack of appeal of being drunk. I always drink in moderation (not that it matters, it takes a lot to get me drunk anyway).
I used to get my vodka at Costco, or one of those chain stores that have cheap booze, lol. I have had the more expensive vodka's straight and chilled in the freezer and didn't like it that way. Funny thing though, the drunker you get, the better all alcohol tastes. So I always saved the vodka and Grapefruit juice for when I was pretty well blasted already. And I agree with you and the others, drink with some sense of responsibility. I was guilty of not doing so for about three years and believe me, it's not a good thing. Those were some pretty bleak times for me and my family.
Good point, Cogito. Teenage lack of sound judgement is universal, but in my experience I saw more teens and young people in the UK who drink more responsibly than those in the US. You can be raised in the US with alcohol and have a take-it-or-leave-it attitude, but once you go to college the entire premise of alcohol permissibility changes. In your home it may be no big deal but once in college and outside of that constant parental influence, alcohol is and will be the reigning gold standard of a "good time", or whatever you want to call it. My experience of young students in the UK is that they treat alcohol as a social drink present at social gatherings, not the reason to have a social gathering (such as US kids do). This doesn't mean that teenage drunkeness is limited only to the US, because I know from experience that it's not. The one New Years I spent at a friend's home in Cornwall was more insane than any college drinking party I'd ever seen. I just think that the young people in the UK treat alcohol and social drinking differently than those in the US, and as a result those in the UK don't necessarily demonize it as many do here in the US.
