The first session of 2012 comes from Mario over at Brewed for Thought…..
“So as we are all incredibly interesting people, and almost always drink beer, let’s talk about what we drink when not drinking beer. Maybe your passion for coffee rivals that of craft beer, or it could be another alcoholic beverage such as scotch. My daughter being a root beer fan would appreciate her dad reviewing a few fizzy sodas. Maybe you have a drink that takes the edge off the beer, be it hair of the dog or a palate cleanser during the evening.
Beer cocktails, wines, ciders, meads, you name it as long as it’s not beer. Try to tie it in with craft beer in some way for extra credit. Be creative and I’ll see you guys in the new year.”
I must admit that I am just a dabbler, pinkie toe in the cold water type of guy when it comes to other beverages.
I can tell you that Dr. Pepper made with actual sugar is unarguably better than the mass produced stuff. I often enjoy coffee from the folks at Intelligentsia on lazy weekends. And my extremely tiny liquor cabinet is primarily populated by smaller batch distillers.
But beyond that? Well, I just don’t know that much. And it is because my passion is not there. And/Or, I just don’t have the cranial capacity to hold The Oxford Companion to Wine and the Companion to Beer in my head at once.
With the preamble now out of the way, there is one tipple that even though I am not a beverage multi-tasker, I enjoy most often when craft beer is off the table. A simple gin and tonic. Compared to my favorite brew, I feel freer when drinking a gin and tonic because I don’t have to analyze and then over analyze each little sip. I can simply enjoy the subtlety of the gin and the fizz of the tonic at the roof of my mouth.
And there are some tremendous gins out there from Junipero from Anchor or Hendricks that lightly trip across the tongue. And maybe it is that effervescence and complete lack of beer-i-ness that keeps me coming back. Or maybe it was instilled in me by my father and our trips to the bar at the Empress Hotel in Victoria B.C. Whatever synapse fires when I order one is darn close to the one that goes when I select a beer. Just writing about it is making me wonder if I have any tonic at home to go with my Aviation “eau de vie de Genievre”.
Now let me get back to my GinAdvocate magazine and rating the latest on RateGin.com.