Christmas boozing

[evilC]

This year, instead of wallowing in my usual sea of ale, I think I'm going to try some different things (all of them still cheap, though, since I have almost no money) . Thus, I think I'll try some (dry) sherry, some brandy and maybe even some port. I've read up (a tiny bit) on sherry and brandy, so I think I know what I'll be going for. Who knows, I might even finally try to get my tastebuds around the complex mystery that is gin!

Have any of you planned ahead with your booze 'strategies' too?

[ad hoc]

Christmas boozing

I'm in the planning stage. Romania has some very good wine these days and I will use the excuse of Christmas to investigate some of the ones that otherwise I would not buy as being too expensive (a very expensive bottle of Romanian wine is still no more than £10, but when you can get an excellent one for £3 one tends to stick to those). Also, I have recently discovered a couple of very high quality Romanian brandies. So, I;m being very patriotic in my drinking choices.

Also the bloke across the road with the still came over last night and took our barrels of plums with him, so we'll have a new batch of palinka to enjoy as well.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Christmas boozing

I'm going to take some of our very best wine (big name big reds from the Bordeaux region and Australia) to Christmas with the in-laws. We've got a few seriously good bottles, sufficiently expensive for it to be unthinkable to drink them other than on a "special occasion" (an elusive category of event somehow), and they've been languishing in our wine rack for too long mainly because my missus has been teetotal for health reasons (cardiac issues, not ex-alcoholism!) for several years now, which has resulted in a distinct dip in price and quality of the stuff I'm tending to buy and drink myself.

[hobbes]

Christmas boozing

Got a pair of 2002 Meerlust Rubicons for dinner at the in-laws. Tasty.

[steveeeeeeeee]

Christmas boozing

I've got just under 100 half-liter bottles of home-brew sitting in the storage cupboard. Should see me through, but I'll pop down to Lidl this weekend to stock up on wine too.

[Ginger Yellow]

Christmas boozing

I've already made and drunk/shared a batch of rum-based egg nog. Other than that I have a mixed crate from the Wine Society and a load of Deuchars and Landlord. Should last me the season.

[Mumpo]

Christmas boozing

OK so last time I was at ASDA I did their four for a fiver on bottles of cask-conditioned ales and went for their quartet of own-brand (though they're all actually brewed by reputable breweries) Extra Special ales - Whitechapel Porter, Mainbrace IPA, Gentlemen Jack Premium Ale and Golden Ale - with a view to comparing them over the course of Christmas Day.

Then hit Aldi and discovered that their 'Great British Brewery' (again own-brand but using 'guest brewers') now produce several types of craft beer, each retailing for a pound a pop, so I stocked up on a few of those.

Oh, and a bottle of Bowmore from ASDA too, not sure which one but for £20 it was too good to pass up.

[evilC]

Christmas boozing

Tesco's own IPA is a good cheap pale ale, too. £1:29 for a pint and at 4.7% abv, it represents excellent 'bang for the buck' as well as having a decent flavour. Some will probably hate it, but I rate it above anything by (local establishment) the Hogs Back Brewery, for instance.
-

[San Bernardhinault]

Christmas boozing

hobbes wrote: Got a pair of 2002 Meerlust Rubicons for dinner at the in-laws. Tasty.

Ooh! Very nice.

We have a rack of "Wine Which We've Probably Kept Too Long". Basically, reds that are older than 2005 and whites that are older than 2010. We've been drinking from it for the last few months and will keep working our way through. We get a hit-rate of about 1 in 3 undrinkable; 1 in 3 passable; 1 in 3 very good still. That's going to be the core of our festive boozing.

On top of that there are some really good young whites that we picked up on our road trip to Napa and Sonoma this year, when we want something reliable.

And on the beer front, it's mostly going to be drunk in bars, so whatever local stuff people have on tap - the new Stone Ripper is coming on stream in some places and is delicious; and the Alesmith .394 (Tony Gwynn Pale Ale for Baseball Nerds) is in lots of places. My local tiny brewery, Burning Beard, fills up 32 oz cans that last about 5 days, and I bought back their tasty dark vienna lager over the weekend, and might be tempted to have some more of that in the house.

I'm steering clear of anything stronger, on the whole. Winter cocktails tend to be either too strong, or too warm, for my current tastes.

[Hot Pepsi]

Christmas boozing

I took a bottle of Casillero del Diablo Malbec to a party. Everyone else brought wine. Nobody thought to bring beer. I wasn't feeling it so I had Coke Zero. Plus, I had to drive home. I have to drive most places, as this is America.

I have a local bottle of white in my refrigerator made by the winery owned and operated by my dad's PhD advisor and family.

I've been having a lot of headaches and dizziness lately. So haven't been drinking. And it's not a big part of the holidays for us, whereas it seems to be the point of the holidays in Europe.

I have a pretty well stocked bar and a shitton of beer in the basement. I bought some stuff that claims to make a great old fashioned. Just add whiskey and bitters, which I have. I'll try that this weekend, maybe.

So anyone is welcome to stop by and help me work down my booze stock.

That's it for me.

[ursus arctos]

Christmas boozing

We have a rack of "Wine Which We've Probably Kept Too Long". Basically, reds that are older than 2005 and whites that are older than 2010.

Our version of this is the mixed case we brought back from vineyard visits in Italy and are still "saving"

[hobbes]

Christmas boozing

I've got a bottle of very decent gin from Guildford, suprisingly that I'll probably take a run at from time to time.
I'm trying to lay off the bourbon because I tend to drink it too fast, and beer makes me fatter, so red wine aside it'll be gin and slimline.

[Hot Pepsi]

Christmas boozing

Had to look up "slimline."

This is my new go-to. Gotta support The Commonwealth's tradition of whiskey-making. We had a rebellion about it, you know. In retrospect, maybe it would have been better if that had succeeded.
http://dadshatrye.com/

[Lang Spoon]

Christmas boozing

Schiehallion by Harviestoun no longer seems available in Ireland, so it's Staropramen for my gaff guzzling (and manky Heineken probably for my works do tomorrow unfortunately) or a decent Rioja- El Circulo is good for the price. If I move from beer when drinking outside I'm guaranteed a messy night.

[Gerontophile]

Christmas boozing

Hot Pepsi wrote:
http://dadshatrye.com/

Did he indeed?

[Vicarious Thrillseeker]

Christmas boozing

I'll be drinking a nice glass of Calvados on Christmas day, to make a change from my usual bucket of cheap port. I'm actually a bit squiffy, as I found the vin chaud stall at the Christmas market in Geneva, and it seemed a shame to leave early.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Christmas boozing

I've already got 3 litres of Baileys in the fridge, and our christmas delivery order will include 18 cans of stella, 6 bottles of pinot grigio, a couple of roses (one sparkling) and a sherry. That should see me through to when 'the entire universe starts on boxing day. I'm not repeating the error of last year when we got some tia maria in and after finishing half a bottle one night I spent two days shaking like a shitting dog.

[delicatemoth]

Christmas boozing

I think I'll try some (dry) sherry

Do you have a Sainsburys? Their own brand fino and manzanilla are both cheap and tasty when chilled.

I have a few teas in to select from, including a couple of 'special reserve' oolongs from China Life and a rather tasty packet of Silver Needle from my local tea shop, Good And Proper Tea. Will keep an eye out for a cheap bottle of sancerre/chablis in the supermarkets, but that's probably as far as it will go boozewise.

[hobbes]

Christmas boozing

If you can't find a chablis, a Macon Village is very similar and usually a couple of quid a bottle cheaper.

[Kevin S]

Christmas boozing

Gerontophile wrote:

http://dadshatrye.com/

Did he indeed?

lol.

Sticking to the clichés here with Tia Maria, Bailey's, and prosecco for the dinner.

[pebblethefish]

Christmas boozing

I am going to my brother's for Christmas. Therefore my "booze strategy", as always, is to drink whatever he's got.

[Paul S]

Christmas boozing

At the risk of treating people on OTF like young children who know nothing, I thought I would bring up the annual drink drive campaign:

None for the road

Also its twin brother for people who are designated driver for the evening:

Hero of the Road

It's worth considering that if you have a skin full, it takes 12 hours from your last pint until you are sober enough to drive the next day.

[Jah Womble]

Christmas boozing

I'm in California for Christmas, so it'll probably mean a fair few bottles of indigenous craft ale. And a couple of fingers of whisk(e)y. I always kick off the day itself with a Bucks Fizz, so that won't be changing. (My older daughter likes those fruity cider things (Kopparberg, etc), which I suspect aren't likely to feature prominently in many LA liquor stores.)

New Year will be at big sister's place in Kent, so perm pebblethefish's strategy for that one. (She generally stocks up well - and I 'will' be contributing financially.)

[ad hoc]

Christmas boozing

Those fruity cider things seem to have spread everywhere from nowhere in the last couple of years. I can even buy Kapparberg and Old Mout here in small town Transylvania. I bet you can find them in California

[longeared]

Christmas boozing

Got a mini-keg of Bradfield Farmers Belgian Blue coming today, made a start on a bottle of port a couple of weekends back which will probably last into the new year. Other than that it'll be items from my bottled beer collection and whatever I find in pubs, I don't really like most booze outside of beer, port and whisky.