The Swamp

I strongly disagree with Sabo. My tolerance for shit gin is much lower than my tolerance for shit vodka.

govmentchedda wrote:I strongly disagree with Sabo. My tolerance for shit gin is much lower than my tolerance for shit vodka.

I just don't think there's a massive difference in taste between a Gordon's G&T and a Sapphire G&T to justify the difference in cost. And while Gordon's is cheap I wouldn't classify it as a shit gin. Save that description for gins like New Amsterdam.

If the question at hand is whether it easier to notice the subtleties of good gin/vodka vs. bad gin/tonic I'm going to say it's a lot easier for me to notice when the gin is shittier. I kind of agree with Sabo's sentiment re: vodka. I buy Tito's for the house, but even then I can much better notice the difference in quality between gins.

Sabo wrote:

govmentchedda wrote:I strongly disagree with Sabo. My tolerance for shit gin is much lower than my tolerance for shit vodka.

I just don't think there's a massive difference in taste between a Gordon's G&T and a Sapphire G&T to justify the difference in cost. And while Gordon's is cheap I wouldn't classify it as a shit gin. Save that description for gins like New Amsterdam.

I have no idea if Gordon's is shit or not. I have just liked very few gins that I have ever tasted. I don't like Sapphire either. I like Tanqueray 10, regular Tanqueray, and this one that I had the other night.

brian wrote:If the question at hand is whether it easier to notice the subtleties of good gin/vodka vs. bad gin/tonic I'm going to say it's a lot easier for me to notice when the gin is shittier. I kind of agree with Sabo's sentiment re: vodka. I buy Tito's for the house, but even then I can much better notice the difference in quality between gins.

I love Tito's, and think that taste wise it should be much more expensive. I prefer that over anything else, and it's relatively cheap.

govmentchedda wrote:

brian wrote:If the question at hand is whether it easier to notice the subtleties of good gin/vodka vs. bad gin/tonic I'm going to say it's a lot easier for me to notice when the gin is shittier. I kind of agree with Sabo's sentiment re: vodka. I buy Tito's for the house, but even then I can much better notice the difference in quality between gins.

I love Tito's, and think that taste wise it should be much more expensive. I prefer that over anything else, and it's relatively cheap.

My new go-to drink when I'm at a concert or something is a Tito's-soda-lime. Love 'em...

For some reason the casino by my house won't comp Titos but will comp Ketel One and bunch of others that are more expensive. Pisses me off every time.

Much like football, everything I know about Tito's I learned from Mike Periera...

So, based on some tasting at local watering holes, I ignored my pocketbook a bit and bought some top-shelf Manhattan ingredients. I'm now enjoying my second one of them. One place got me trying Whistle Pig Rye, which is very nice. Strong taste for a rye, while still tasting smooth. Another place sold me on Carpano Antica sweet vermouth, which is much more herbal and complex, less sweet than others. Combined with a couple dashes of Angostura bitters and a cardamom cherry, makes a killer Manhattan. Getting a bit drunk and primed for the most recent episode of Better Call Saul, which most of you have already seen.

sancarlos wrote:So, based on some tasting at local watering holes, I ignored my pocketbook a bit and bought some top-shelf Manhattan ingredients. I'm now enjoying my second one of them. One place got me trying Whistle Pig Rye, which is very nice. Strong taste for a rye, while still tasting smooth. Another place sold me on Carpano Antica sweet vermouth, which is much more herbal and complex, less sweet than others. Combined with a couple dashes of Angostura bitters and a cardamom cherry, makes a killer Manhattan. Getting a bit drunk and primed for the most recent episode of Better Call Saul, which most of you have already seen.

I have another trip to the Bay area in the works...

Just let me know!

I just unpacked all my beer. Oh, it's beautiful.

Big day at Halftime in Poughkeepsie. Jai Alai (maybe the last time), Flower Child from CBC, SingleCut Full Stack, a bottle of Prairie Bomb which I've never tried, some one offs (including my first sink beer in a long time) and a 6er from the super underrated Alesmith.

mister d wrote:Big day at Halftime in Poughkeepsie. Jai Alai (maybe the last time), Flower Child from CBC, SingleCut Full Stack, a bottle of Prairie Bomb which I've never tried, some one offs (including my first sink beer in a long time) and a 6er from the super underrated Alesmith.

Alesmith is underrated? I've never had anything from them, but I thought they were considered among the best. Been wanting to try Speedway Stout and variants for a long time. Went to a place last week that listed Speedway Vietnamese Coffee on Beermenus, but they ran out. Picked up a bottle of Prairie Bomb a couple weeks ago, haven't tried it yet. Let me know what you think. Had a SingleCut 2X Bon Bon TNT, which was good, and half a Half Stack in the fridge.

So are you saying you don't like Jai Alai?

Cigar City is perpetually rumored to be the next major brewery that gets bought.

Alesmith, I know they are never knocked, but I would put them above any of the CA breweries that ship to the east on a consistent basis, atleast in terms of their rotation beers.

mister d wrote:Cigar City is perpetually rumored to be the next major brewery that gets bought.

Alesmith, I know they are never knocked, but I would put them above any of the CA breweries that ship to the east on a consistent basis, atleast in terms of their rotation beers.

Yep. It's nearly a semi-annual occurrence these days. On a slightly related note, their consistent bumbling of major special events (Hunapu Day, El Catador Club sign up) only adds to the feeling that they don't have the infrastructure to deal with the demands of being so popular.

I really hope they don't sell, and I really want to see them fix their special event coordination. Starting a business from zero, to where Cigar City is now is a massive undertaking, and figuring out proper vendors, staffing and procedures are a massive headache for someone with little to no background in it.

So decided to give up drinking for a month. Not necessarily because I think I have a problem, but for a variety of reasons. Partly to adhere to a pretty strict training/diet/workout regimen so I can try to lose 20 pounds over the next couple of months, partly to prove to myself that I can go a month without drinking and partly for some kind of a challenge since I haven't done a half or full marathon in a year+.

Not sure the longest I've gone without a drink over the last five years or so but I'd venture to say no longer than a week or so. Won't be much of a problem at home. While I will occasionally have a beer or two in the evening watching TV I can easily live without that. Hardest will be visits to the casino or concerts when it is an almost automatic reflex to get a beer (or several). Went to go see M83 on Saturday and have to admit it was weird attending a concert stone sober. No idea when the last time that was.

Have a work dinner tonight (my bosses are in town for the NAB convention) so I'll have to come up with an excuse why I'm drinking iced tea or whatever. (Recovering from a cold so I think that will suffice.)

ETA: Oh and this is Day 4 for anyone interested. I'm shooting for May 14 for my next drink. Hardest day by far is going to be May 7 since it's Kentucky Derby day and I have tickets to a David Cross show.

brian wrote:So decided to give up drinking for a month. Not necessarily because I think I have a problem, but for a variety of reasons. Partly to adhere to a pretty strict training/diet/workout regimen so I can try to lose 20 pounds over the next couple of months, partly to prove to myself that I can go a month without drinking and partly for some kind of a challenge since I haven't done a half or full marathon in a year+.

Not sure the longest I've gone without a drink over the last five years or so but I'd venture to say no longer than a week or so. Won't be much of a problem at home. While I will occasionally have a beer or two in the evening watching TV I can easily live without that. Hardest will be visits to the casino or concerts when it is an almost automatic reflex to get a beer (or several). Went to go see M83 on Saturday and have to admit it was weird attending a concert stone sober. No idea when the last time that was.

Have a work dinner tonight (my bosses are in town for the NAB convention) so I'll have to come up with an excuse why I'm drinking iced tea or whatever. (Recovering from a cold so I think that will suffice.)

ETA: Oh and this is Day 4 for anyone interested. I'm shooting for May 14 for my next drink. Hardest day by far is going to be May 7 since it's Kentucky Derby day and I have tickets to a David Cross show.

Went to Pearl Jam last Monday and only had one beer. It felt very strange, but I had a crazy week ahead of me, and concert was on a fucking Monday.

Saw the National with only one beer two years ago when Missus D was pregnant and it was very weird. I was hyper aware of anyone who looked like they were drunk or too high.

I hate having to pee when I'm enjoying a concert. And I have a bladder the size of a peanut, so it has occasionally been an issue. So, about twenty years ago, I gave up drinking beers at or before concerts. Replaced it with just a couple shots of tequila.

sancarlos wrote:I hate having to pee when I'm enjoying a concert. And I have a bladder the size of a peanut, so it has occasionally been an issue. So, about twenty years ago, I gave up drinking beers at or before concerts. Replaced it with just a couple shots of tequila.

This is always my conundrum as well. Pearl Jam was at Amalie (Lightning's barn), and we had seats on the aisle, so running to the bathroom wasn't nearly as problematic as a GA venue, but I still went 2x during the show. We're peanut sized bladder brothers!

mister d wrote:Saw the National with only one beer two years ago when Missus D was pregnant and it was very weird. I was hyper aware of anyone who looked like they were drunk or too high.

I've seen the National 2x, and both times were surreal experiences. Wasn't drunk or high for either. I can't really explain it, but both shows felt like out of body episodes.

OOH, I really like the ability to quote from two different earlier posts. Not sure if that's a new thing or not, but it's new to me.

So made it eight days so far. Been pretty easy though not without temptations (the usual ones I mentioned above). Also I've been sick as a dog for basically the last week so not really up for drinking. Once I get better, it might get harder.

Have a serious question for youze guys too. As stated the goal was to make it a month, but what if I was to designate a single day during the month when I can drink (the Kentucky Derby/David Cross Saturday (May 7). Does that completely defeat the purpose of the enterprise? Does designating a day two weeks in advance make it less of a "failure" than if I just broke down and had a beer at bowling?

I'm actually starting to think I really don't have an issue other than I'm probably too quick to reflexively order a beer as opposed to sometimes just drinking soda or whatever when I go but that could just be me talking myself into drinking by rationalizing it.

Anyway just throwing stuff out there. Not sure yet if I'm going to. If I do then it'll definitely be the one day over the month when I do.

brian wrote:So made it eight days so far. Been pretty easy though not without temptations (the usual ones I mentioned above). Also I've been sick as a dog for basically the last week so not really up for drinking. Once I get better, it might get harder.

Have a serious question for youze guys too. As stated the goal was to make it a month, but what if I was to designate a single day during the month when I can drink (the Kentucky Derby/David Cross Saturday (May 7). Does that completely defeat the purpose of the enterprise? Does designating a day two weeks in advance make it less of a "failure" than if I just broke down and had a beer at bowling?

I'm actually starting to think I really don't have an issue other than I'm probably too quick to reflexively order a beer as opposed to sometimes just drinking soda or whatever when I go but that could just be me talking myself into drinking by rationalizing it.

Anyway just throwing stuff out there. Not sure yet if I'm going to. If I do then it'll definitely be the one day over the month when I do.

I think only you can answer your question. How will you feel about designating a day? Might be hard to determine until after the fact, but that's what I'd try to consider.

ETA - nice work on the 8 days.

brian wrote:So made it eight days so far. Been pretty easy though not without temptations (the usual ones I mentioned above). Also I've been sick as a dog for basically the last week so not really up for drinking. Once I get better, it might get harder.

Have a serious question for youze guys too. As stated the goal was to make it a month, but what if I was to designate a single day during the month when I can drink (the Kentucky Derby/David Cross Saturday (May 7). Does that completely defeat the purpose of the enterprise? Does designating a day two weeks in advance make it less of a "failure" than if I just broke down and had a beer at bowling?

I'm actually starting to think I really don't have an issue other than I'm probably too quick to reflexively order a beer as opposed to sometimes just drinking soda or whatever when I go but that could just be me talking myself into drinking by rationalizing it.

Anyway just throwing stuff out there. Not sure yet if I'm going to. If I do then it'll definitely be the one day over the month when I do.

It all depends on why you quit drinking. You said you quit for multiple reasons, partly to lose weight, partly for the challenge and partly to prove something to yourself.

If you quit solely for losing weight, having a beer every so often is not going to derail your weight loss.

If you quit solely for the challenge, then having a beer will break the challenge.

If you quit solely to prove something to yourself, then you have to decide if you will think less of yourself if you break down and have a beer.

If you're giving yourself a cheat day for your diet, I don't see any reason why you couldn't have a beer during that day. But it's up to you to decide if that beer will break the other two reasons.

ETA: I guess govmentchedda and I have some sort of mind-meld going on ...

Cool. Thanks for the insight. Legitimately helpful. No reason I need to decide today. Something to chew on for a couple of weeks I guess.

Unless you have a severe problem (which seems unlikely given he eight days) then I think it's ok to cheat a bit for a special occasion. And David cross qualifies.

Yeah, the last eight days was pretty enlightening. It's been a test, but not that difficult to not drink. I've been out on three or four different times where I normally would have had a drink or two. (And between being sick and eating better I've lost like 7 pounds in a week.)

If I can make it the next two weeks then I'll feel pretty good and won't beat myself up too much if I allow myself a cheat day on Derby Day. Especially if I stick with the original plan and don't give in the rest of the month.

Day 14. As I'm finally more or less recovered from my sinus infection, it's getting harder and harder. Was really tempted at bowling last night but considering I'm still on antibiotics and codeine, not the greatest idea regardless.

The big test is going to be tomorrow. I have to go downtown and redeem about $150 in free slot play at various casinos. In the past it would have been a no-brainer to have a few beers while playing, maybe grab a couple coney dogs or such sushi, but won't tomorrow. But I am going to give myself a cheat day on Derby Day since I got comped a couple of tickets to a private Derby party, so Rams Fanny and I will be attending that. I think (hope) it's an open bar, but if not it'll be close enough to the Diamond Lounge to score some free drinks here and there anyway.

A cheat day definitely ruins everything and leaves you worse off than where you started.

Well, at this point I'm doing it solely to try and lose some weight, so I'm not too worried about it. It's kinda scary how quickly the weight melts off when you're not having the occasional drink.

I made Moscow Mules for myself this weekend. They were ok.

Congrats and continued good luck on the non alcoholic drinking experience, Brian. I myself find reducing my sugar intake as being tougher than alcohol. I can easily go without drinking for weeks on end without thinking twice. But to avoid cookies, cake, and just about everything else sweet? Near impossible.

Saturday was the hardest day yet for me because I had to swing into some of my favorite places downtown to redeem some comps and whatnot and had to tell my favorite bartenders I was drinking soda (I don't care what they think about me, it just seems kinda silly to sit at a bar and drink pop). But I told them I was still on antibiotics which was partly true. (I finished the course on Friday.) In any event I did it. I now feel like I accomplished what I wanted to and if I have some drinks on Saturday then no biggie.

In a related story, a guy I sorta know in Las Vegas is opening a bar in downtown Las Vegas (in the arts district not the casino/Fremont East district) and it's either the most awesome idea for a bar or the worst idea for a bar ever. It's essentially an antiques/curio shop/bar.

In any event I definitely got in on the Indiegogo campaign. Can't wait to check it out.

(Oh and this made me make myself laugh. I said earlier in this thread I didn't remember when I had gone a few weeks without drinking and totally forgot about my brain surgery. So that would have been about three weeks without a drink, so by Derby Day I'll have at least tied that.)

brian wrote:Saturday was the hardest day yet for me because I had to swing into some of my favorite places downtown to redeem some comps and whatnot and had to tell my favorite bartenders I was drinking soda (I don't care what they think about me, it just seems kinda silly to sit at a bar and drink pop). But I told them I was still on antibiotics which was partly true. (I finished the course on Friday.) In any event I did it. I now feel like I accomplished what I wanted to and if I have some drinks on Saturday then no biggie.

In a related story, a guy I sorta know in Las Vegas is opening a bar in downtown Las Vegas (in the arts district not the casino/Fremont East district) and it's either the most awesome idea for a bar or the worst idea for a bar ever. It's essentially an antiques/curio shop/bar.

In any event I definitely got in on the Indiegogo campaign. Can't wait to check it out.

My best friend in Denver had a place in artsy, hipster LoDo that was a combination art space/picture framing shop/small bar. He got plenty of bar business, but his alcoholic wife (now ex-) and her loser friends made the bar a money-losing proposition. So he sold that place, dumped her, and moved to a different LoDo spot, where he now has a picture framing shop/art space. Sans bar.

I’m thinking that drinking to stay a step a head of a headache is gonna catch up with me at some point this evening.

2:1 water:beer and you’ll circle around it.

Just soda’d up at dinner. I almost never drink it and it feels good.