Drink Matron

Category: Editorial

  • Summer time is a good time for drinking

    Summer time is a good time for drinking

    Tomorrow is the beginning of summer and I am excited! It’s been a great spring so far – a bit rainy, but perfectly mild – and I expect that summer will continue the same way. Great summers come with one of my favorite things – drinking outside. I love sitting outside at a bar, restaurant, or patio, sipping on beer, sangria, or a refreshing cocktail, and chatting with friends, or staying quiet and just enjoying the world around me. Life is just better with a drink and some sunshine.

    Along with drinking outside comes farm fresh brunches and day drinking. Bloodies Mary with just picked garnishes, mimosas with freshly squeezed orange juice, mint for your mojitos that the bartender sent you back to grab from the vine yourself – these are just a handful of reasons that summer day drinking is the best.

    Pool or beach side, summer brings us classic and new takes on margaritas, pina coladas, and daiquiris. These drinks bring us to a tropical state of mind and keep us their all day, weekend, or even summer long.

    And the beers! Oh, the beers of summer are the best, aren’t they? IPAs, wheats, kolsch, sour ales, and saisons make the summer nights so much more tolerable, bringing your spirits up and cooling your body down (and rocking your pallet all the while).

    No matter how you drink your summer, it’s going to be a good one. So fill up your cups, and go enjoy. I’ll be with you all the way.

    Cheers!

  • Drink Matron’s Top 5 Craft Beers

    Drink Matron’s Top 5 Craft Beers

    bells-oberonI love craft beer. If you find me in a bar, you will most likely find me with whatever local brew they have on tap. I’m not a dick about it, I just like beer and I like drinking stuff I’ve never had before. I wasn’t always that way, I drank Bud Light religiously for much of my early 20s. It wasn’t until I realized the bevy of what was out there, and the difference between what I liked and didn’t, that I put down the watery standard. Along the way, I’ve picked up some favorites, and since it’s National Beer Day, I thought I’d share them with you. I do not have the kind of pallet that can give you any real incite into why I like what I like, but I think my preferences are pretty solid.

    1. Oberon Ale/Bell’s Brewery, Inc.

    Bell’s Brewery’s summer seasonal is not only the first craft beer I ever loved, it also remains my favorite to this day. Smooth and fruity, it’s perfect for any summer night, especially one on the patio. I’ve been missing this brew, but now that Bell’s has come to NYC, you can be sure it will be back in my hand.

    2. Baba Organic Black Lager/Uinta Brewing Company

    This black lager hooked me the moment it touched my lips. It’s dark and creamy, but also light weight and straight up tasty. You can bet that if it’s on tap, it’s in my glass.

    3. Duvel/Duvel Moortgat

    It’s Duvel. Do I have to say more?

    4. 90 Minute IPA/Dogfish Head Craft Brewery

    Of Dogfish’s minute brews, I have found that 90 minute suits me best. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll take 120 any day – I like any strong IPA – but this one is just right for me.

    5. Two Hearted IPA/Bell’s Brewery, Inc.

    It wasn’t named the best IPA in the world for nothing. If you’ve never had it, you’re either a) not in an area where it’s distributed or b) crazy or c) not into IPAs (and that’s okay, but you should still try it). The next time you see this on tap/in a store/at a bbq, etc, drink it.

     

  • Apple Jack: The failed experiment

    apple ciderFor those of you who were on the edge of your seats (yeah right) waiting to find out how the Apple Jack experiment is going, I’m here to tell you, it’s over.

    “What? But your experiment was so fool proof!” you might say. You bet.

    Well, in the end, we let the apple cider sit too long before freezing it, and it turned into vinegar. The jars also leak a little bit, causing our freezer to currently smell exactly the way you would imagine apple vinegar would smell.

    So, that was two years of time spent that ended badly, again. Haha. I think it might be safe to say that Adrian and I aren’t necessarily cut out for making liquor, although I suppose it won’t be the last time we experiment with this kind of thing. For now, we’ll stick to beer and wine. Our track record is quite good there.

     

  • WE’RE BACK!!

    WE’RE BACK!

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    YIPPPPPY!

     

    DEAN CELEBRATION

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    WOO HOO!

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    So, raise a glass!

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    Toast a friend!

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    It’s time to start again!

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  • Don’t take your Sake too seriously – Sake! Sake! Sake! Bomb!

    Last weekend I was introduced to the sake bomb.

    For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, a sake bomb is a shot of sake only slightly balanced on top of two chopsticks sitting on glass half filled with beer.

    Once all the shots are ready, the group of people who you are drinking with yell “Sake, Sake, Sake, Bomb!” while banging on the table, causing the shot to fall off the chopsticks and into the glass. You then immediately drink the shot, and then that’s all you can remember.

    Just kidding about the last part, but it is definitely quite an experience.

    Alternatively, counting to three in Japanese is also common. “Ichi, Ni, San, SAKE BOMB!”

    Now, I’ve read a lot of stuff on the ‘net saying that this is a vulgar tradition and that it’s offensive to Asian people, but I don’t agree. I think it’s only truly offensive to the poor people in the restaurant who have enough sense not to get the dang sake bomb in the first place, and have to listen to the drunk group of people yelling loudly and banging on tables.

    In other words, it’s fun!

    Nothing about drinking bombs is traditional or respectful. No matter what bomb your chugging, you have to remember that you are…chugging. Not sipping graciously and talking about the qualities that are added to sake once you drop it like it’s hot into a cup of beer. Just because much about Japanese and other Asian cultures is traditional, don’t count what’s done with their booze as trashing it.

    Plus, the shot had to come from somewhere.

  • The Ultimate Independence Day Drink: Beer

    At this time of year, lots of blogs spend lots of time finding lots of drinks for you to choose from when celebrating Independence Day. Many mixologists mix up fantastic concoctions, both simple and complicated, some find the most red, white, and blue cocktails possible, which, are really a shot in the bucket on taste, and others just reiterate the same old summer cocktails you’d be drinking if it was any weekend spent barbecuing or hanging out with friends.

    And you know what? There’s nothing wrong with any of it.  Booze is fun. Playing around with recipes for different times of year is how we have many of our favorite cocktails. There wouldn’t be books or websites like this one if it weren’t for the creativity of mixologists and home experimenters.

    This year, however, I’ve decided to promote another kind of drink for July 4th. It’s the one that most of you will probably be drinking anyway. It’s beer.

    Beer is easy. You go to the store, you pick out what you want, you buy it, you take it to where you’re drinking, and you drink it. No fancy ingredients, no over pouring. Sure, you need ice for keeping it cold, but even after that melts, it doesn’t water down your drink, and you can always get more, pretty cheaply too.

    What kind of beer, you say? It doesn’t matter. Whatever you want, drink it! That’s another beauty about beer – there’s something for everyone. Yes, there are summer beers that are perfect for 4th of July – Saison, Witbier, Kolsch, Lager, Wheat – but it’s what you prefer that’s going to make the day for you.

    So this July 4th, don’t let anyone make you feel bad about wanting a nice cold brew.  Just drink it, be safe, and have a great time celebrating.

     

  • Just a quick thanks to you, my readers.

    Being boozey is fun, but sometimes I realize that I have so much to learn that I don’t know why any of you read this. I’m not like other bloggers who know their beer, wine or liquor so well that they could spout off random recipes just by looking at what you have in stock. I’m not even the most knowledgeable person in my house – which many of you know and why Adrian does a lot of the booze reviews and pairing stuff. My pallet isn’t tuned yet, and really the most I give you is snarky reactions to things that someone else has done.  So I just wanted to take the time to thank you for reading. I’m learning, and I’m getting better, and maybe before you know it, I’ll be really good at this. One can only hope.

     

  • Who cares about Ernest Hemingway?

    I feel like I might lose some props as a writer/drinker/drink writer after this post, but for a while now, I’ve been thinking this needs to be said.

    Who cares about Ernest Hemingway?

    Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean his books, and I don’t mean his cool. He was brilliant. He could write. He could drink. He was the excuse I use when I want to write and drink.

    But why do I care WHERE he wrote and drank? Every time I do research for anything in the Caribbean, I read 17 articles about bars that Hemingway boozed at. Or hey, he boozed in France at this place. Or hey, he boozed in a bar carved into the side of Mt Kilimanjaro (not true that I know of). And he named this drink or made up that drink or blah blah blah drinky drinky Hemingway blah blah. Seriously people, he’s been DEAD 50 years. Find something else to fly on your banner.

    Edgar Allen Poe drank too and nobody’s claiming fame to his favorite bar. Or maybe they are. They probably are.

    When I first started writing about booze, I thought anything to do with Hemingway and drinking was worth writing about. Now, I see his name and I purposely leave it out. Unless he actually invented the drink, or owned the bar, or died there, I simply do not care.

    Just thought I’d let you know.

  • Artistic License vs. Profit Margin

    I started thinking about this when I noticed that bars started installing auto tap systems.  These systems are designed to pour an exact amount of liquor into a drink and bar owners install them to minimize profit loss.  The problem I have with this is that I always envisioned the classic bartender as being a master of mixing drinks.  Each bartender has their own way of mixing drinks and in different quantities, giving each drink a “signature”.

    I used to go to a bar when I was in college specifically for the Old Fashioneds that one of the bartenders made.  They were to die for and because they were so memorable, that bar got more of my business than any other bar in the area.  There are memorable signature drinks like that spotted throughout my adult life and, without hesitation, I will go back to these bars if I’m ever in the area whether I have that drink I remember or not.

    If most bars implement this system of hamstringing the bartenders to make a buck, most people will still go to the bars and they will still pay out the nose for these drinks.  Just look at the fast food market!  Fast food restaurants make their burgers and sauces in a facility far away from the counter you pick it up from.  They get sent to the store where the employees make it (ideally) using very constrained instructions and portions.  By all rights, that burger in front of you is a hamburger, but it isn’t a good hamburger.  If you wanted a good hamburger, you’d go to a pub, or a restaurant you know makes good burgers.

    The same thing applies for bars.  Most people will still go and drink, but the drinks won’t be memorable.  Bar owners will have to rely even more on the ambience of their bar.  If you know anything about the bar industry you know that this can already make or break a bar, and what works today may not work tomorrow.

    If you’re going to cut off the bartenders ability to add a little flair and tweak each drink specifically for the imbiber, you might as well just started making premixed drinks.  Just start a bottling company that premixes the rum with the coke or the gin with the vermouth and send those bottles of perfectly mixed, perfectly portioned beverages to each bar in the country and take the art completely out of it.  Heck, let’s just bring back the automat craze from the fifties, fire all the bartenders and just put bottled drinks behind a glass door and let the customer just drop money into a machine to get it!  Then we can just sit around in a sterile building getting ourselves drinks that were made in a facility in China… or we could all go home sit comfortably with our friends and a couple bottles of booze, mixing our own drinks.

    I really don’t think it will ever get that extreme.  Thankfully, there are still some people out there that have some sense and understand what a bartender is actually supposed to be doing.  I, for one, will continue to frequent establishments that make me drinks that have a little panache.

    Copyright of Drinkmatron.com.  Contact website admin to obtain permission for republication.

  • Low Calorie Beers – What’s the Point?

    A couple of years ago, when I was trying to lose weight, I went camping with a group of friends. MGD 64 had just come out and a couple of my girlfriends were drinking it.  They were thrilled because it was only worth one point on Weight Watchers, and said it tasted pretty good. I decided to give it a try.  It definitely didn’t taste that good, but I figured I could drink a few beers a day, get drunk and take in only half the calories of a normal light beer.

    So I drank it.  And drank it. And drank it.  And drank it.  And by the time the end of the night came around, I was still drinking shitty beer, and I STILL wasn’t drunk.

    But for some reason, I thought it was just a fluke.  So the next day, I drank more.  And once again, by the end of the night, I wasn’t drunk, again.  It was pointless.

    Recently, another friend of mine has taken a liking to Bud Select 55.  So I gave it a try.  While it’s slightly more tolerable than MGD 64, I know the end result, so I’ll keep away.

    Now, I am of the mindset that beer has two functions.  The first is that it should be enjoyed.  Whether it’s over dinner, after a long day, or as a refreshing beverage on a lazy afternoon. When beer is used for this function, it should be full of taste and chosen carefully.

    The second function of beer is to get you drunk.  This is reserved for times like a party, camping, or other various social gatherings where you’re staying in one spot for the night or have a ride home.  In this case, it doesn’t really matter what the beer tastes like, since by the third or fourth you can’t taste it anyway.  In other words, insert any beer in my cup, and I’ll be happy.

    Low calorie beers, and I mean the low low calorie beers like MGD 64 or Budweiser Select 55, go against both of those functions.  Because it doesn’t get you drunk, it should, by my thinking, at least taste good, but, unfortunately, it tastes like someone pissed in a can and you drank it without realizing what it was.

    So because of this, I ask, what is the point?  To lose weight and still be able to enjoy a drink?  Come on!  There’s so many better tasting ways to drink on a diet.  Bacardi and Diet Anything is better than this junk.  And there’s zero calories in that.

    Copyright of Drinkmatron.com.  Contact website admin to obtain permission for republication.