Topic: Gamer drinks? Or really, what adult beverages do you enjoy? (If you're not of age to drink, don't do it)

@bimmy-lee On average, just make it 1/3 rum, in whatever glass you like. The ice level is of course also up to each person's individual taste. Some like to stack ice cubes in it up to the top edge of the glass, while I just add two medium-sized ice cubes.

And I only do that in the summer. In the winter season, I don't need ice in my beverages...
(Which by the way also prevents the whole watering down thing. Although, to be honest, I personally think that the amount of rum in the glass I use, is more than potent enough, to not let me notice the melting ice cubes... )

I usually buy a bottle of Sambuca once every two weeks. Sambuca has the same alcoholic % of most whiskeys (about 42%) but it's much sweeter, which makes it perfect to mix with non-alcoholic beverages that need sugar. I usually put some in my espresso coffee in the morning (here in Italy it's not uncommon to drink a touch of alcohol for breakfast). I also drink it on its own after dinner, but again it's very sweet, very feminine.
Otherwise I'd go for a good old glass of rum and coke, or jack and coke - any scotch + coke, really, that's my drink of choice, forever. I haven't had a beer in 15 years!

@Heavyarms55 - I’m trying to expand my sake appreciation, and I’m enjoying it. My taste so far has tended towards the sweeter, milky colored sake. There are only a couple places in my town with a nice variety, so I envy the options available to you. I don’t have a taste for grape wine other than a glass or two of port a year, but rice wine is just right for me. I seem to have a pretty high tolerance for it, my wife and I have had dinners out where we split five or six small bottles. I have no tolerance for wine though. A couple glasses, and I’m toast and feel horrible the next day.

Usually Smirnoff's or Mikes. If Im really raiding D3 and when I get my comp back WOW, soda or water, coffee. As I dont want to be running in the wrong places while raiding, ie, Leroy Jenkins style lol

My liquid intake seems to be split mainly between coffee and wine, with the odd glass of water here and there for hydration. I'm not that fussy about wine varieties - red, white, rosé are all good - but I can't drink the bottom-end stuff any more. Very much a mid-price buyer, these days.

I'll also drink the odd beer, but really only when I'm out with friends. In that case, my preference is Asahi Super Dry. At home, however, I'll tend to go for a Brewdog Nanny State, which is the only palatable alcohol-free beer I've ever come across. It's cheaper, lighter and has less impact on the following day than a regular beer...

Don't really do the hard stuff. Brandy, now and again; gin and tonic, for sure; and the odd whisky.

Oh, and it's summer in Britain, so Pimm's. There's no better daytime drink.

Moonshine~

...meanwhile, back at the Duke Ranch, Uncle Jesse and @bezerker99 have been up to no good again.

Not a drink, but last summer I did the watermelon vodka (where you cut a whole hole and drench a bottle in it until absorbed) for a summer picnic. GROSS. Some people liked it but IMHO it was inedible and gross taste wise.

Next time I think half a bottle would be alright tho.

Last night I blended watermelon + fizzy water + light vodka + honey (again I'm not suppose to consume any alcohol but...) while replaying Red Dead on my PS3 was good tho. lol

In the past I've done blended honeydew melon + horchata + brown sugar + rum, it's okay. Maybe I need to put on other ingredients.

@bimmy-lee Was just about to say that the comment before yours made me think of two certain "good ole boys"...

@Lloiddd Yeah, those ARE gross, indeed. A better, and much tastier option, is to use the same method with either a honeydew melon, or any other type of cantaloupe (should either be green or orange on the inside), and take a liqueur such as Liqòr 43 (Quarenta y Très) or Pisang Ambon Green Banana Liqueur, and soak it in that.

Either do the "put the bottle in the melon" trick, or simply slice and dice the melon into bite-sized chunks, and then put it in a bowl, pour the alcohol on top, and let it soak.

If you do the bottle in the melon thing, take care to not use a full bottle, since these types of melons are obviously quite a bit smaller, so an entire bottle isn't going to go in there, and the fiber is also slightly more dense than that of a water melon, also making it less absorbent...

Or, as an alcohol free appetizer, wrap small wedges of honeydew melon into slices of any kind of air-dried ham. The sweet and salt is a great combination. Also goes great with barbecues or any other kind of summertime event.

@ThanosReXXX I actually thought that a "cooler" way would be to poke watermelon, drain the meat, blend it and mix it with choice alcohol, keeping shell of the watermelon and putting a drink spigot through, adding the mixture in and voila.

I think why it was gross was because watermelon is 99% liquid and very absorbent (as you stated) that too much alcohol = too bitter and too strong.

It tasted like I was biting into shots and shots of vodka. lol.

As for popsicles, I've done those too as well as jello shots. It's been a while though, now in my 30's I'm less adventurous with alcohol. Nowadays the simpler the better. Only when I'm out with younger folks, esp. on a date or with a chick that I ever consumer 'fancy' alcohol.

Thanks for the tip. Currently trying to avoid alcohol, as hard as it is, for health reasons. I'll be mostly Shirley Temples for awhile.

@ThanosReXXX - I couldn’t resist. I never know if a reference will stick given the wide range of ages and nationalities here. I just got back from spending a weekend in the beach with old college friends, and one of them made a pitcher top notch Bloody Marys yesterday to get the festivities started. He added homemade pickled peppers to every glass, and it added a really nice kick to it. I like mine spicy and salty.

@Lloiddd - I really like running a watermelon and blackberries through the juicer, then pour it in a cocktail glass with ice and vodka. A simple, refreshing drink. It blends well with ice as well. The college I attended always had a university sponsored watermelon bust party when classes restarted in August. Everyone did the vodka inside a watermelon thing, then met in the lawn in front of the library, first to crack open the watermelons and eat/drink them (I agree, they’re gross), but that quickly turned into mildly debaucherous acts mixed with low level assault with watermelon. It was pretty fun.

Edit - I should say that the university sponsored different events based on creative ways to destroy watermelons, but the student body made the decision to pour vodka in the watermelons and and then wear them as hats.

@Lloiddd So, actually a spiked melon smoothy?
Doesn't sound really appetizing to me. But the sliced and diced melon, marinated in either one of the liqueurs I mentioned, is really nice. Both refreshing and still gives a little kick. So fruit with a buzz, or whatever you want to call it...

@bimmy-lee Well, luckily for me, the Netherlands is VERY America-oriented, so I've always had my fair share of Americana over here, in Amsterdam especially, so you'd probably feel right at home. And we have quite a few American TV stations over here as well, and most of the Dutch commercial broadcasting networks have copious amounts of American shows and series, so I've been able to see all seasons of the Dukes of Hazzard, and a truck load of other 80's and 90's comedic action series.

And multiple times as well, counting all the re-runs over the decades...

P.S.

Obviously, the only correct way to destroy a water melon, is with a bunch of rubber bands. Well, at least: according to YouTube..

@ThanosReXXX - I somehow just noticed your last post from almost a week ago. I thought the Duke reference was pretty safe. My favorite cheesy old action series was and is The A-Team. So much good punching, great/funny vehicle stunts, the Ram Van was cooler than Kit in my opinion, and they made Kalishnikov rifles super cool. Even better, I was young enough then that I saw no irony in Howling Mad Murdock John Wayne punching a grown man across a room.

I had a good, old fashioned gin and tonic last night, Bombay Saphire with as much ice as I could possibly cram in the glass.

I've developed a fondness for apple flavoured Jim Beans.

@bimmy-lee Safe as in? I didn't say it was a bad reference, or did you mean something else? Damn text interpretations...

Just poured myself a Cuba Libre. I say don't mess with what works, and I hate experimenting.
I'm currently not really doing a lot of gaming, but Saturday Night sports events are also always a good excuse to enjoy a nice drink...

@FX102A If you like apple flavoured drinks, then perhaps you should give apfelkorn a try, or liqor de manzana. Both are more or less the same, except the first is German, golden yellow in color and made from red and yellow apples, and the second is Spanish, clear-colored and made from green apple.

But both taste great on the rocks...

P.S.

There's probably also an English variant...

@ThanosReXXX - Sorry, I’m too vague sometimes. Safe as in I would guess the Duke boys are two of the more well known 70s/80s American television stars. I’ve been thinking about a television related thread. I’ll tag you in it if/when I do it. Those apple liqueur sounds nice. I had a gin rickey made with green apple vinegar at a Thai restaurant years ago, and it was fantastic. Memorable. What sports are you watching? Football is so close here in the US. It’s in the air. It’s a very electrifying feeling.

@bimmy-lee Yup, soccer/football. National league has started again last weekend, after the so-called summer-stop, which is about 2,5 months, and allows the players some r&r.

I was wondering about my comment that you said you missed, because I was under the impression that you already answered it in #33. And over here, all American action series of the 80's and 90's were broadcasted, AND re-aired, multiple times. I think it's a safe bet that most of the popular ones, including the ones you named, and others, such as Airwolf and so on, were aired in pretty much all of Western Europe, and in most Eastern European countries as well.

On a side note: what do you mean by close? If it's about players breathing down each other's necks, I'd say that American football is closer than soccer, in that respect.

And by all means: tag me in any classic TV series/movies related thread, I'm all for a trip down memory lane...

Oh, and as for that apple liqueur:
https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/berentzen+apple+korn+schnp...

That's about the easiest way to find a shop in your area.
Drink it either pure as shots, mostly done in winter, to warm up, or on the rocks in the summer, usually in a whiskey glass.

@ThanosReXXX - I guess I did answer your question in #33, but I missed your reply in #35. Thanks for the link. I’d have to travel a good distance to get my hands on a bottle, but good to know I can get one. A friend of mine has bottle exchange friends in a lot of those cities, so I could potentially get a bottle.

By “close”, I meant the NFL regular season is near. This is a fun time of year for any proper fan. Training camp news, preseason games, infinite hope and possibility. For a sport that’s so popular in season, it mainly goes out of the general consciousness during the off-season, then wakes up late summer like a hungry bear who waaaay over hibernated.

I don’t really have a (proper) football team to follow. If you have one, and want to share; I’ll make them my team and follow them in the standings.

@bimmy-lee Ah, okay, completely misunderstood you, then.
As for that website: I haven't really looked into it, but I figured that some of the mentioned establishments/shops might also be more than willing to send a bottle to you, much like any other webshop would do, so you'll probably have little to no trouble at all getting your hands on one.

Let me know when you do, and here's hoping this specific beverage agrees with you. It's not that expensive, but still a waste if you don't find it to be to your liking.

As for teams to follow: the Dutch league isn't really anything to write home about anymore, although internationally, they perform better. Probably because there's more money involved there...

But still, it's entertaining enough for me to keep track of it. Since I'm living in Amsterdam, the team I follow is Ajax, or AFC Ajax in full, which stands for Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax. They'll be playing the Russian team Dynamo Kyiv in the Champion's League next Tuesday evening.

But if you want some real interesting matches to follow, then I'd suggest any curious person to either follow the English, Spanish or Italian league. They have the most interesting matches, in the opinion of quite a few people. As for what or who to follow in those leagues: in every one of them, follow the top 3 or top 5, anything lower isn't interesting, unless they're actively fighting their way to the top.

But ultimately, some teams are simply destined/doomed to either always remain in the middle of the list, or in the bottom regions, so their goal is mostly fighting to keep their place in the premier league of their respective countries, because that will obviously earn them more money than dropping down to a lower division, and having to spend an entire season fighting their way back up again...

I'd imagine that the same is more or less true in American Football, or any other sport, for that matter.