Good Morning.

Despite a tumultuous week here in Boston, I've got nothing this morning. (Besides, aren't you all tired of Boston-Centric blogs by now?) Yes, the President threw gasoline on what should have been nothing more than a local footnote. Yes, he's trying to make it better now. (Compare and contrast to the previous guy, BTW.) So.....even though I'm here essentially at ground zero, I think I'll leave it alone.

Instead...let's revisit a topic that's near and dear to most of us. Adult Beverages.

We've blogged about this before. The last few times we've needed information about how to set up a home bar, or a couple of freestanding 'drinking game' blogs for various political events.

But let's get personal today. Everyone must have a favorite drink or brand or place that you keep going back to again and again. Here's some of my faves.


VODKA - far and away my number one drink. I well remember my first real taste of the stuff. I was a senior at ol' Saugus High School, and we had gone out Thanksgiving morning for the usual Turkey Day football thrashing at the hands of the mighty Tanners. This year was no exception, and the weather was just as cold and bitter as the fans. At halftime, I followed my friend Bing out to his car with some of his buddies, and they had two bottles of Smirnoff under the back seat. I've been drinking the stuff ever since.

But recently, I've noticed that I've been liking it less and less. For years, I used to drink about one gin martini per annum, primarily to remind myself why I don't. I used to think it tasted like lighter fluid, but now I find it's the vodka that's starting to taste that way. Changing tastes, I suppose. I have a bottle of Svedka in the house right now, but I also cycle through Sobieski, Stolichnaya, and Smirnoff when the mood strikes me.



BRANDY - Ah, I thank ol' pops for this one. He's always got a bottle of brandy in the house, and I'm no exception. Whether you've got music on, friends over for dinner, or just need to unwind after a busy day, this is your drink. And it's absolutely required if you're going to sit out back and smoke a cigar; either one alone is somehow lacking. I could spend hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars on a bottle of it, but fortunately my tastes in brandy run cheap. I prefer the Italian Stock 84, which I find to be quite smooth with a sweetish aftertaste, but I also cycle through Christian Brothers, E&J, St. Remy, Napoleon, and Courvosier (which I know is cognac and a different animal entirely.)


SCOTCH - What can I say? Perhaps the most beloved, widely-studied, most written about distilled beverage on Earth. I'm not talking about the mass-bottled, blended scotches we all know and probably drink. (Johnny Walker Black, in that regard.) Nay, single-malt is where it's at. On my "bucket list" is a visit to Scotland to do the whisky trail someday. For now, I'll have to satisfy myself with the mid-priced single malts. I've got a bottle of Bowmore, which is a fine scotch, but my preferred Islay is the Talisker....at about $95 a bottle the last time I priced it. Then there's Mclellan. It's priced far below the others, but it is a single-malt, and some tasters I know seem to like it. You'll have to look on the lower shelves for it, but it's pretty damn good to these taste buds. (especially the Islay, and this one does benefit greatly from a wee dram of water in the glass.)


There's more out there that I skip around to now and again. Two years ago, I made homemade eggnog for a Christmas party. I'm no fan of eggnog either, but I have a Colonial-era recipe that calls for rum, brandy, and bourbon in the mix, so we simply had to try it. As a result of that, I've been tasting around various bourbons (a drink I never cared for previously) and decided that I like Barbados rum but not Puerto Rican rum.

Lastly....there's Gin. As you well know, my mixed drink of choice is the Martini. I have a lengthy, 24-hour process to make one that I find acceptable. (documented elsewhere.) Of course, I always drink the vodka martini....but over the course of the last year, I've had more Gin than vodka. I don't know, I used to hate the stuff, but I suppose there's changing tastes at work as TriSec gets older.

The point of all this today? Well.....none, really. It's the middle of the summer. Aside from the gloom in New England, I hope everyone has been out and about and trying to do what you can to enjoy yourselves. Surely you need a drink while sitting in the sun?

But I digress.