Posted by:
SL Cabbie
(
)
Date: January 28, 2011 02:15PM
I'll probably have to head to an AA meeting after writing this one--I've been sober since the Carter Administration; quit drinking before Jimmy's late brother, Billy--but here goes...
I usually don't have much to say about products from the British Isles in comparison with what we Yanks produce (ever try to fix a Spitfire or an MG after an afternoon's drive in the country?), but in the drinking game, the mother country wins on this one--and I don't mean with dry gin either. Of course there's nothing wrong with gin for a summer drink with tonic or what-have-you...
Whisky means Scotch whisky, period, but I don't know how to tell you to acquire a taste for it. Cabdriver confession: a friend and I sacrificed a bottle of Pinch to some 7-up--God might've rendered me an alcoholic as punishment--in order to acquire the taste. Worked for me, but I'm embarassed to talk about it...
So scotch and water and later on the rocks became my poison-of-choice right there until the end... Chivas is a bit of a ladies' scotch, but you might start with it. Either of the Johnny Walker's, red or black, is a good blend you don't have to apologize for... Pinch is way too smokey until you've grown your drinking legs...
Perhaps to start out, a "Rusty Nail" is a good choice (no more than two, however, and probably only one). One ounce of good scotch and 1/2 oz. of Drambuie, a liqueur made from scotch and a bit of honey. Historical note: Drambuie may have actually been the legendary Viking brew, "Mead," and the Scots may have given it to the Vikings to stave off their depradations, well, until they got fed up and kicked the Norsemen's arses, and the longboat crowd never returned, knowing there was easier plunder to be had...
Anyway, on the subject of American Whiskeys, there are lots of hillbilly concoctions, and to my way of thinking, George Dickel's Tennessee sipping whiskey is the only stuff that doesn't taste like pond water.
You can also go with the soda pop way (hey, a 7&7--Seagrams 7 and 7-up--won't make a bartender cringe the way putting 7-up in real whisky would). That might do you until you're read to take the peat plunge...
Last, give the Rebs their do, and don't overlook Southern Comfort. Start with the lower proof version, and go real, real easy, and if you get too much, make sure the cabbie seats you by a door you can open easily...
SLC
Just demonstrating where he learned his art of bullshippin'