Can we talk about booze?

[clseale]

I need some inspiration. I'm heading to Total Wine later, with plans to make my holiday boozy & bright! I always wind up grabbing the same stuff, but share your go-to drinks.

What's your favorite beer? Favorite wine? Favorite holiday cocktail recipe?

DH has been really into bourbon lately, and one of his gifts is bourbon glasses, so I'll probably pick up some stuff for old fashions....but I want other stuff too. 

[jene]

What price range for wine? Red or white?

[irene adler]

Tom and Jerry's are my absolute most favorite holiday drink. They are good with brandy or bourbon allrecipes.com/recipe/tom-and-jerry/

[al320]

Mmm bourbon

At least at our total wine, they are SO helpful, that if you tell them what you usually like, they suggest things youll also like. Mh goes in for jameson, comes out with a bunch ofother stuff lol

Also, a few weeks ago i went to get some different things to bring to a party, and there was all this fun stuff, flavored vodkas and rums, i think i bought gingerbread soco. I love that store!

[clseale]

Dec 18, 2014 10:26:01 GMT -5 jene said:

What price range for wine? Red or white?

Nothing too crazy. I'm not trying to impress the in-laws (lol). Maybe up to $25? I like drier reds. Actually, the cab I brought to Kiawah was good, and it was on sale from $18 down to $14. I should see if that is still on sale. 

I'm also just curious to see what everyone else likes to drink and if anyone has any fun recipes planned for the holidays.

I might pick up stuff to make a mulled wine. There's a restaurant in Savannah called Alligator Soul. We ate there the night we got engaged, and they randomly brought a a few amuse-bouches to the table. One was this mulled wine, and they gave us the recipe.  

[kams]

::hanging in the corner. wistful::

[gt7301b]

We had a hot cocoa bar at our holiday party. I made tons of hot coco and we had Baileys, Kahlua, Peppermint Schnapps, and flavored vodkas.

[keweenawlove]

I've been liking moscow mules lately. They're fun and a little bit different.

For wine, I always just end up asking someone at the store for something good. Our grocery store's impressed me with most of their picks.

We stick to beer most of the time though. We drink a lot of Bells which I'm not sure if you guys can get. Christmas Ales from just about anywhere are always fun though if you like something a little different. Schlafly's got a goond one too. We've had a few Stone IPAs that I really like too.

[moreace01]

Favorite beer - Hitachino Nest White Ale. I love the logo too - the owl is so cute:


Favorite holiday cocktail - I've served this Rosemary Diamond Fizz cocktail at a couple of parties and it went over really well.

[thom]

I don't know if any of this is unique or not, but in the winter we like:

Wines - Malbec. No specific brand I can think of; we try different ones. The black box Malbec is actually surprisingly good if you want a glass or two but don't want to open a whole bottle. Ravenswood Zinfandel is one of our favs, maybe because we have both been there. (This is a dry red Zin, NOT like a white Zin.)

Beers: Summit IPA -- Minnesota beer is awesome. We also like a lot of the Leinenkugel's seasonal stuff, and some of the coffee beers I have seen/tried are surprisingly good.

Happy shopping!

[CallingAllAngels]

My favorite wine these days is Decoy Pinot Noir. It's about $20/bottle.

[runaways]

I love Moscow mules at the holidays. I mean I like them all the time, but they seem wintery to me. I don't have any good wine recs - I usually just grab something random off the shelf.

[labbie]

Of course we can- booze is a fave topic of mine, lol!
I'm not much help in beer department because brand-wise I like local microbrews the best, but type-wise I love a good IPA, porter or stout and I like most Christmas ales I've tried. One of my local breweries is launching a salted caramel chocolate porter.  Wines, I usually ask at the store for brand recommendations, but  I like a nice oaky California chardonnay and for reds I like meritage blends. The drier the better.

My go-to Christmas cocktail is spiked egg nog (could it be anymore Non-H&F?!).  New discoveries this year:  whipped cream vodka with hot cocoa,  and salted caramel vodka with apple cider (hot or cold).

[ktzmoh]

I'm not a wine lover, but when I drink it, I really like Rieslings or a really good Port (is that technically a wine?).

Mostly I drink scotch whiskey, gin or bourbon. Earlier this year we had been exploring some of the boutique gins I see on the shelves these days (and boutique tonics to go with them) and loving it. Since my trip to Scotland I've been focused on powering through the bottles of whiskey I brought home.  At Christmas though, we usually do Bourbon because it's such a warm and cozy kind of a drink. Try Buffalo Trace for a nice bourbon at a very reasonable price. It's made by the same people that make the incredible-but-impossible-to-find Old Rip Van Winkle bourbons. 

If you want to make fun cocktails, try an aviation , they are so pretty and also delicious. My SIL made cranberry moscow mule (substituting sparkling cranberry) which I thought was really good and very festive.

[hannahb]

We have been into dark n stormys recently. Also I tend to gravitate towards the drier red wines this time of year. There's also a local winery that has a spiced wassail that I love to heat up and drink by the fire.

[mrsjthompson]

God I love Total Wine. I wish we had a Mecca of Alcohol closer to us.

For my money, I'd go find some Evan Williams egg nog. EW only makes a single batch every year, so when its gone, its gone. I also like slipping Baily's into hot chocolate this time of year, and bourbon old fashions.

[clseale]

Thanks, everyone! These are great ideas! I'll definitely pick up some bourbon, and this thread reminded me that we still have some vodka and gin from Thanksgiving that we can use, so all of the mixed drink suggestions work with that! My BIL has taken an interest in fun craft cocktails lately, (and DH is getting him some fun bar/mixing stuff as part of his gift) so I might just grab some stuff to have a few different options available.

I already have a few Stone Enjoy By (12/26/14) IPAs that I was going to bring up, but keweenawlove, you reminded me how much I love Sierra Nevada's Celebration Ale. I'll grab some of that too!

[trigal]

Holiday cocktails...egg nog with rum or kahlua and peppermint martinis.

We drink all sorts of wine, but I love Gewurtztraminers for white and Zinfandels for red.

[ghostmonkey]

Beers- Stella Artois, Widmer Bros Hefeweitzen, Empyrean Ales Burning Skye, Sam Adams Winter Lager.

And now I must head to the store tonight.

[breezy8407]

Wine - I am not a wino...I buy Bota Box whites. I bring a few random reds for xmas like Cupcake brand. Nothing fancy.

Beer - Now, I can write a few pages about beer. I am an IPA lover. Some of my favorites are MN beers, so that probably won't help. If you have Summit, their Saga IPA is decent. Surly Furious (IPA) is one of the best MN beers in my opinion. I am not sure they distribute outside the Midwest. Sierra Nevada Celebration is a great pick. SN's Torpedo is another great IPA. Bell's has some great beers. Two Hearted is their IPA, but it's really easy drinking for a 7.0% beer.

More seasonal, look for Left Hand's Milk Stout, Deschutes Jubelale or Deschutes Black Butte Porter. Bell's has some good stouts, too.

[breezy8407]

Dec 18, 2014 12:20:20 GMT -5 @vtcupcake said:

I'm a dark beer girl, so this is the most bestest time of year for porters, stouts, bocks, etc. I love Breckenridge Vanilla Porter, Bell's Chocolate Cherry Stout, and Left Hand Nitro Milk Stout. (And Sam Adams Chocolate Bock if you can find it anywhere).

My favorite wines this time of year are pinot noirs, Beaujolais Nouveaus, and Grenaches. They're just a little bit spicier, drier, and yummier by the fireplace.

Cocktails, hmm...I make my own wassail from scratch for our big holiday party (beer, booze, spices, oh my!), and our german friends love bringing/making us Gluwine, which if you can find the mulling spices for that, doo eet. As far as more spirited spirits, two of my holiday faves are a gingerbread man martini (baileys, vanilla vodka, goldschlager and buttershots), and a great Manhattan with some exotic bitters with just a hit of clove either stirred or shaken with the bourbon. Or, hell, just some good bourbon, so like Bulleit on the cheap end and Angel's Share or Blanton's on the higher end) over ice.

Jinx!

[clseale]

thom and breezy8407, we're huge IPA lovers as well. I have my go to CA beers (Stone, Lagunitas, etc) and then local/FL breweries that I always grab from. They're awesome beers, but I need to explore more, because the rest of the country has some amazing breweries as well! I love Bell's Two Hearted, but I'm not sure if we have Summit's IPA or the Surly Furious. I'll keep an eye out! I also forgot that I have to stock up on beer when I'm in Charlotte. NoDa Brewing's Hop, Drop n' Roll is amazing.

[jene]

clseale, I think there is an obvious solution, you need to visit MN.

[jene]

I like nearly all beers, minus imperial stouts. Some of my favorites: Schlafly: oatmeal stout, kolsh, coffee stout. Summit EPA, New Glarus milk stout, Duck Rabbit Milk Stout (notice a theme here?)

Booze: I prefer vodka or Bombay Sapphire gin

Wine: I like a nice pinot noir, cab, or zin this time of year. Some favorites are: Trione Cab Sauv. (2009) Silver Palm, Educated Guess, and Scout's Honor. Trione is out of the price range you listed, but well worth the money, IMO.

[jene]

Dec 18, 2014 13:57:48 GMT -5 clseale said:

thom and breezy8407, we're huge IPA lovers as well. I have my go to CA beers (Stone, Lagunitas, etc) and then local/FL breweries that I always grab from. They're awesome beers, but I need to explore more, because the rest of the country has some amazing breweries as well! I love Bell's Two Hearted, but I'm not sure if we have Summit's IPA or the Surly Furious. I'll keep an eye out! I also forgot that I have to stock up on beer when I'm in Charlotte. NoDa Brewing's Hop, Drop n' Roll is amazing.

We have races up here, you know.....*cough cough, hint hint*

[jillybean222]

I like to make Stoli Doli (pineapple infused vodka) - just need to cut a pineapple or two and dump in a bottle of any decent vodka and let it sit for a week and a half or so. Careful drinking it though, sneaks up on ya

[arch01]

Dec 18, 2014 13:57:48 GMT -5 clseale said:

thom and breezy8407, we're huge IPA lovers as well. I have my go to CA beers (Stone, Lagunitas, etc) and then local/FL breweries that I always grab from. They're awesome beers, but I need to explore more, because the rest of the country has some amazing breweries as well! I love Bell's Two Hearted, but I'm not sure if we have Summit's IPA or the Surly Furious. I'll keep an eye out! I also forgot that I have to stock up on beer when I'm in Charlotte. NoDa Brewing's Hop, Drop n' Roll is amazing.

I love NoDa's beer. Yum.

[katyintx]

Dec 18, 2014 11:44:51 GMT -5 labbie said:

Of course we can- booze is a fave topic of mine, lol!
I'm not much help in beer department because brand-wise I like local microbrews the best, but type-wise I love a good IPA, porter or stout and I like most Christmas ales I've tried. One of my local breweries is launching a salted caramel chocolate porter.  Wines, I usually ask at the store for brand recommendations, but  I like a nice oaky California chardonnay and for reds I like meritage blends. The drier the better.

My go-to Christmas cocktail is spiked egg nog (could it be anymore Non-H&F?!).  New discoveries this year:  whipped cream vodka with hot cocoa,  and salted caramel vodka with apple cider (hot or cold).

This sounds amazing. 

That reminds me - if you're looking for a shot, Rumchata and butterscotch schnapps w/a little salt on the rim is amazing and kind of holiday-ish.  Maybe not, but it's really tasty, which is holiday enough for me.  And it's weak enough for the non-drinkers too.

[shelbyann]

I feel like I should be able to come in here and give all sorts of amazing recommendations. I mean I used to write a beer/wine blog. But no…I've drink from the sweet teats of Target wine cubes these days.

I need to re-educate myself.

*follows thread*

[clseale]

katyintx, I was thinking about picking up some rumchata for my coffee. LOL I have a 6 hr drive with DH & my MIL. I'm boozing up my morning coffee.