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  2. Single Malt whisky. However I haven’t drunk any alcohol since mid Febuary. I am considering indulging in a bottle to keep me company over Christmas & New Year but I don’t really enjoy drinking alone so that decision could still go either way.

  3. These days generally a good red wine – with Reserve De La Comtesse (Bordeaux) and Domaine Thenard Givry (Burgundy) being standard favourites, although I’m also partial to a good Super Tuscan.

    Also a good single Malt is up there – Bruichladdich my standard, Springbank if I can get hold of and new favourites, Arran and Ancnoc 24.

  4. Draught ale is my final answer, having tried to convince myself it might be red wine or malt. It’s true, I enjoy each of these, but a wine without a meal seems pointless. Likewise, a good malt is a once a week treat, or often much less. Good honest beer, or ale, I suppose I should say, is the tipple of choice for just the simple pleasure of a pint or two. Or two seems now the operative word, that tending to be my limit, in my weekly retreat to a local bar of a Thursday pm, or, when out for a gig. One before and one at the interval. I’m often driving so any more would be foolish. A third is a pleasure reserved for when I am training it, after the gig and before the last train. Unfortunately, gigs in central Brum haven’t enticed me for a while, so it is the car and Kings Heath.

  5. Beer, of many varieties. First choice is Guinness, although Doom Bar and Newcastle Brown Ale are high on the list.
    Brixton Brewery Coldharbour lager is a favourite at the moment (when I can find it).
    Irish whisky (Proper Twelve, Paddy, Pogues are current picks) or Canadian whisky (Bearface, Pike Creek) provide a mellow finish to the evening.

  8. Whisky, I’m partial to a nice malt but find it gives me harsher hangovers than blended so I tend to stick to Famous Grouse. Having said that the organic single malt NcNean is pretty bloody special!

  9. For wine, a warming red. La Orphica Monastrell from Naked Angels is a current favourite.

    For beer, a dark best bitter or a stout. Just about the best pint I’ve had all year was Hanlons Devon Darkness at the local ‘Spoons the other week. There are things you can knock ‘Spoons about, but they do typically keep a very good pint and interesting range, particularly welcome here in Essex which can be a Greene King wasteland. Or maybe a Belgian Trappist. Since moving to Colchester I have been delighted to find a superb pub at the end of my road and an excellent beer and coffee shop in town.

    Spirits, not so much. I do enjoy a gin and tonic but I’m happy with the Aldi own brand. And despite being Scottish I’ve never developed a taste for whisky.

  11. Quite a few favourites If I’m honest and I love a pint of Old Peculiar but over the last few years I have discovered Croft Original Sherry over ice. Delicious with a good book and some tunes.

  14. Draught Beer and Scotch Whisky.
    Current fave Single Malt is Auchentoshan Three Wood, absolutely gorgeous.
    Have to say that despite being a proud Scotsman my favourite beers tend to be traditional English bitters. Spent some time recently visiting friends in the Cotswolds and enjoyed the local Donnington Brewery beers. Also partial to a good pint of Guinness

  16. We’ve recently added Oban 14yo and after a whiskey tasting session at Grape and Grain a Balvenie 14 yo as well to our wishlist. Both not cheap. I would come back to Dalwhinnie 15 yo as my favourite single malt if I had to pick one, not the Winter Gold which is not the same at all.

    One that always elicits surprise and often amusement, sometimes a conversion, is Strega, and Italian herb digestive. As there’s a witch on the bottle it’s become slang for an old crone in Italian.

    Not a rum drinker at all until a friend showed me Diplomatico Riserva. Oh my god.

    Better stop there.

  17. That’s a toughie, living in the world’s biggest wine producing region as I do. I’ll get back to you.

    I’ve thought about it – it’s wine and wine from the Languedoc. Wine when made from the myriad of small producers who have flocked to the area in the last twenty years is the match of anything produced in Bordeaux and Burgundy. For 7 or 8 euros you can buy eminently drinkable wine and for 10-15 euros you get something that would cost you three, four, five times as much from elsewhere.
    It’s hell living here, hell.

  18. I do enjoy a drink. The family wine is Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, from when the Rafferti great-grandfathers came over from Pescara to Scotland.

    If it’s a pint, it is either Guinness, or a hand-pump real ale. Yorkshire Ales seem to be particularly suitable for my palate, as I enjoy beer up to an including 5%.

    For whisky – Islay malts, especially the younger one, like Bunnahabhain Stiuireadair which are packed with sparky spikey flavours, but also any Caol Isla

  19. As I get older my head gets lighter and my bladder (even) weaker.

    If out, it’s either a Guinness or a Gin and Tonic. The latter made with the gin recommendation of the bar staff. That can be hit and miss but I have had some rather delightful surprises.

    If in, it’s a good solid Montepllucio or a Barolo. Or Vouvray. Or a bottle of Leffe Blonde. I’m fond of Belgian beer, but being a pissy pants lightweight now it has to be consumed in the safety of the living room. Not Belgium.

    • Most Leffe Blonde available for take out sales now is a (to my palate) greatly inferior UK brewed version. The giveaway is that it’s 6% abv rather than 6.5%, otherwise you have to look very carefully to uncover the rather important detail of where it’s made (or taste it, which is a giveaway even if you’ve already paid for it by then). If you drank it in pubs then I think the draught Leffe ‘Spoons sells is the real deal.

      • You’re right of course. It’s not the Mayo and Chips Mannekin Pis authentic but it’s still a cut above. For me, anyway.

        I’ve not been in a Spoons since I lived in London proper. Once my knackered back is not knackered we’re off to Brussels to see some pals. Through the bottom of a round beer glass on a stem.

  21. Gin.

    I have a couple of bottles of North Uist waiting for me at home, as well as Isel of Harris.
    Willing, from the Top End.
    Some Chilli and Mango by Wild Oat Distillery.
    Christmas Gin from Prohibition.

    And some others. Did I mention I like gin?

  22. Beers:
    I prefer IPAs these days, hoppy but not the over-hopped American ones that verge on the medicinal.
    Some golden ales. Guinness recently, after not indulging in the black stuff for quite a long while. Not a fan of the malty dark bitters these days, though some are OK. Rarely anything over about 5.5%. Flavour comes above alcohol content these days.
    A couple of pints only when out at gigs, as I’m usually driving for at least part of the trip. Sometimes that’s a shame when I feel like getting stuck in.
    I suppose beer is my favourite alcohol, overall.

    Wines:
    I currently have a glut of it here, as I’ve been a Naked Wines subscriber for a few years but I wasn’t drinking the stuff as fast as my balance was accruing. I’ve suspended my account for a while to reduce the glut.
    All reds from various locations currently. Nothing absolutely stunning but nothing fit only for chucking in stews. Naked wines are good in that respect. Tempranillo, Minervois, Shiraz etc. I am no connoisseur and have no wish to be one.
    Not drunk any white wine for quite a while. Fridge space for chilling is always a problem, because you can’t just grab a bottle to drink on a whim when it has to be chilled first. Chenins and Picpouls were ones that I enjoyed.

    Gin:
    Having tried quite a few different ones I’ve come to the conclusion that Tanqueray, with a decent tonic, works well enough for me as a long drink. Keep both the gin and the tonic in the fridge and there’s no need to add ice.

    Whisky:
    Single malts for me, these days. Gone off peaty ones lately, though I may venture back that way in time.
    Bunnahabhain Stiuireadair is one that I like. Also Cardhu Gold. Both often available in supermarkets at good prices. I don’t have the spare money to go for the nice old malts, sadly.
    Never any variety of Jura, which is rank. I found Aerstone Sea Cask to be pleasant. Had some 12 year-old Singleton recently and it was lovely. I have a bottle of Bankhall British Single Malt on the go currently, bought cheap on a whim. It’s from Blackpool, apparently. It’s OK. Better than one or two Scottish malts I’ve bought and regretted, but not destined to be bought again once it’s finished.

    Rum:
    I dabbled with rum a few years back but concluded that it’s not really for me.
    I can remember as a younger man in Aberystwyth’s Angel Inn, late ’70s, drinking shots of Woods Rum washed down with pints of draught Bass. I wouldn’t do that these days.

    Cider:
    Very nice as a chilled summer drink. Haven’t had any for quite a while.

  23. When out for pints it’s always draught Guinness and I gravitate towards “good clean shops”, with a reputation for “a good hard pint”, as the Dublin vernacular passed on by my alcoholic father would have it.

    If I’m drinking at home (weekend only) I’ll have a crate of Budvar lager in stock and three or four 330mls bottles is plenty rounded off with a glass of whiskey, Irish of course. As a latecomer to the world of whiskey having tried a glass at a Scottish friend’s wake and discovering it was 12 year old Redbreast – a classic introduction, I have been working my way slowly through about three bottles a year since. My current favourite is Clonakilty Port Cask which I discovered at this year’s Whiskey Live event at the RDS in Dublin at which my notes tell me I sampled 29 different beverages. My friends and I all agreed that Gold Spot whiskey was the best we tasted but it’s well outside my current price range.

  25. Despite my username (It’s actually a play on ‘Jeff Lynne’), I don’t drink, for medical reasons. When I used to drink, it was really any kind of beer, but the best I ever had was this crazy Trappist-made beer in Munich. It was one of those where you can only drink a tiny amount due to the strength. Honestly it was an amazing explosion of taste (and alcohol.) Otherwise I would just drink socially, but there were times when I was… very sociable.

  26. Right now (well, not exactly right now becasue its morning) I’m liking red wines and particulalry those from southern Italy and bits of Portugal. Probably my tow favourites are Santodeno Negroamaro and Feuerheerds Reserva Douro. Negroamaro is an interesting variety and the M&S version and the Morrisons Best versions are also very good. Nero is also a variety I go to regularly.

    Having said all of that, I love a beer – mid strength cask ales, had a decent pint of Landlord in Wokingham this weekend, would never refuse a gin and tonic (Caoruun or Martin Miller) and discovered a whiskey liqueur called Shanky’s Whip that is delicious mixed with a decent version of cola (Fever Tree is excellent).

  29. Malt whisky for me. My current favourite (a new discovery) is The Glendronach. Here’s my list:

    The Glendronach
    The Balvenie Doublewood
    Caol Isla
    Bowmore
    Highland Park
    Bunnhahabain

  31. Very boringly, beer. I much prefer a decent (what used to be called) bitter, but IPAs are fine if they aren’t tasting of bloody citrus fruit. A really cold lager – preferably Czech – in the summer. There is a tendency for lagers to be sweet, so I do look at canned versions to make sure they haven’t added glucose syrup (many have).

    We are Virgin Wine Bank members, which I thoroughly recommend. You pay a minimum of £10 a month, on which they actually add 20% interest monthly – yes, really! You don’t have to cancel a monthly wine box or any of that nonsense – you order what you want and when you want (we actually put in £30 a month). Every now and again they add money into your account, or have special offers – my wife has a personal wine adviser ( the account is in her name) who rings her up with deals – this is a source of great mickey taking on my part! The wines are universally terrific.

    For gin my favourite is Helen Browning’s organic. We went to a tasting where it was compared to your Tanquerys and so on and it was another level.

    I find single malt scotch difficult on my stomach these days and tend to go for a bourbon – I currently have a bottle of Dylan’s Heaven’s Door which is marvellous.

          • In the pub I would say 5.5% is my preferred top end, and am partial to many a 3.8% with flavour, like Hook Norton. At home I can be partial to some of the stronger brews, but that strength suits better continental brews of the yellower sort, strong lagers and all that. There are a few special seasonal bitters around 6.5% that are a treat at this time of year.

  32. Various gut related issues have put paid to any fondness for beer, though a pint of Theakston’s Old Perculier on draft used to be my tipple of choice. That said, I do like a sip of a nice craft ale every now and then. I’m also partial to cider, the more locally brewed to wherever I happen to be the better, though I do like a nice couple of Inch’s when I’m in the mood. (This site desperately needs a stand-in for Moose). I like a decent white wine, though I’d be lying if I said my palate was particularly sophisticated. I read somewhere once – possibly on here – that the reason white wine is best served chilled is because it’s so disgusting at room temperature. As with most things in life, you get what you pay for.

    • That opinion re: white wines is the one held by my old mate up in Sheffield. I don’t entirely agree, but I will allow it’s a method that would work, to make the undrinkable become (just about) drinkable.

    • A few years ago I was looking at getting a beer fridge (to keep more room in the regular fridge) but didn’t care for the options, so looked at wine fridges. I learned that a regular fridge is actually too cold for white wines – wine fridges only go down to 7 degrees. This took me back a bit, but further investigation told me that there are actually different temperatures recommended for various wine types!

      • That has the potential to suck some of the pleasure out of just wanting something to drink.Though I suppose if you have a really superb bottle of something rare, then serving it at exactly the right temperature is to enjoy it at it’s very best.
        Even some beers have instructions about recommended serving temperature, nowadays.

  33. Having had drug-induced pancreatitis (which is best described as “unpleasant”) I was advised not to drink spirits any more.
    So a big new world chardonnay, or some quality IPA type beer. Thornbridge is a good start.

  36. Room temperature – isn’t that rather imprecise. Is it the natural temperature of a room unmodified by heating or cooling , a Uk winter or a an Aussie summer?
    I suppose it is a general comfort level say 21 celsius?

  40. A Negroni hits the spot for me. Gin, Campari and Vermouth. Nothing to dilute the taste. When you are out and order it it can be a let down. Weak and watery. Best to mix at home.

    A G&T also a treat. Fentiman’s tonic is best. We have a selection of gins. I enjoy Japanese Roku and Sipsmith but there are other good ones. We seem to have a lot of bottles which are nearly empty. Might to have to blend them a bit.

    Bubble is best though, preferably champagne. There’s a lot of flavour there if you get a good one but you can’t have it every day. Cremant is the best non-champagne I think. Langois especially. Prosecco is a bit sweet, Cava a little too much mineral taste sometimes. We go to a wine tasting group with guest speakers and dinner. I don’t know if I am any better in my appreciation. It’s a subtle business.

    Beer? Now and again but consideration to toilet visits is necessary. Lager only. IPA yuck. Bitter is a chore, disturbs the stomach. Poretti is nice, La Volpina red ale. Spaten from Germany.

    We only really drink on Friday and Saturday evenings, or on holiday, so there isn’t much time for all the above, but you know, if you make the effort. Mojito is one of the best cocktails I think.

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