so i came from long line of drunks.. i'm about it :) my father doesn't drink. my grandfather never drank. but i started drinking since i was 3. beer has always been my favorite. it started with OB. yes, that's korean beer otherwise known as horse's p.. anyway, it's about as good as bud or slightly worse. 

for whatever reason, adults in korea used to think it was cute to get 3 yr old me drunk. and of course, when going on winter mountaineering in korea, everyone took a shot of soju. supposed to keep you warm. but those were occasional events. not like i swam in alcohol. 

then i came to america in march of 1980. back in nyc during that time, driver's license didn't have pictures on it, and no one ever really checked to see if it really belonged to me. my fake license said i was 6' 2" and blonde. it got me beer and jack with no problem. that was back when i was in 7th grade. my favorite bar was on northern blvd and it was called bits and pieces. they were raided after i left nyc for serving minors.. or so i heard. that was when i discovered Guinness, whiskey sour, screw driver, harvey wallbanger, gimlet, grasshopper and others. 

when i was 9th grader, i started playing bagpipes. that was 1983.. i found scotch. it was round the time when single malts were staring to come into general public.. on my $20 a week allowance, single malt was out of my reach.. white label was my choice of whisky.. along with cutty sark. soon after, i relocated to nc. 

by this time, licenses started to have pictures on them, and i didn't have one that was handy. but i hung out of shriners playing bagpipes so, beer was always handy in vending machine at their lodges, but getting drunk for cheap thrill had lost its novelty. i was sophomore in high school. occasional bud here and there was about it. 

soon, i was in college. didn't really drank much in college. didn't find it interesting. by this time, i have been there and done that. it was rather silly to see all those drunk frat boys running around like junior high school kids.

then i finished college and went to grad school. in middle of grad school, i found out i hated grad school. skipped most of the classes and learnt how to ice skate. love hockey for longest and it was great. gin was my preferred drink at that time. 

then, i moved down to atlanta. oh.. what a beautiful city.. at least it was in 1993. beautiful women, cheap drinks.. i had a job that paid well.. life was good. every weekend was party, and every night was party also. it was like being back in junior high. i didn't know you can drink beer upside down doing handstand over the keg. nor did i know girls love drunk guy who offers breakfast in the morning. life was wonderful. 

soon afterwards, i got married with my college sweet heart. my drinking stopped. well.. not really. but i kept to a pint of Guinness here and a pint there. nothing to get me drunk. it's was more of.. taste and enjoying the moment thing. not to get drunk out of my skull and scream at passing cars  in the middle of the night.. nothing do to with barking at moon and things. i picked up a new hobby of brewing beer. 

we had our first son, i quit smoking.. for 6 months.. i had pager duty and started smoking again. 

had second son.. 

changed my drinking habit. now it's more of social drinking.. or hard stuff here and there. found spiced rum. and found jack again. 

hi, my name is peter and i'm not an alcoholic.. damn it x) this jack and coke is really good.. yum. 

Quite a story!  Vodka-tonic for me.

Chocolate milk...yum

i remember duke saying "milk is for baby.. water is for horses, give me whiskey". 

J/K!!!

Pete, Pete, Pete, 

I knew I recognized you from somewhere. When you left Atlanta, every night another liquor store owner on the news sobbing Pete Pete.  

there as a pub in marietta called derby back in 93. when i when down there again in 95 or so it wasn't there any more. they patented their french fries. it would never go soggy. one night i finished their stock of Guinness.. or what was left of it. i think that was only 12 pints. they need to plan ahead. it was monday night and their delivery truck didn't make it that night. talk about unhappy customer... 

Speyside or Highland single malt, on a single ice cube.
Even a peaty Islay in a pinch.

That's how you know you're no longer a young man,
when scotch straight up is a favorite sipping drink.

I drank a fair bit in the service and in college. It's been
a some years since I was even buzzed much less blitzed. On
the crew change plane out of Prudhoe bay, they allow the
departing workers 2 drinks. That's my biggest drinking day
of each month, 2 drinks on the flight home :) 

Lagavulin with a drop or two of spring water to release the aroma. my single malt of choice. back when i was undergrad in college, one of my best friend gave me a box with 6 single malts for my b-day. for me, Lagavulin stood out among all else. tried some others, but Lagavulin just hits the spot. no ice for me. it numbs the taste. come to think of it, she always got me alcohol for my b-day. 

Spring water for me. In the summer I enjoy it slightly chilled. I occasionally will have a cup of tea as well.

Favorite Drink: Coffee,  Have a mixed drink maybe once a month......Ice Tea with a little Tequila....then maybe rant on the forum....LOL    Remember I said "Just Pull the Leaves Off"  that will get those fig trees growing again...LOL

Straight vodka or tequila . No mixing, why spoiling good stuff:) Oh yes, and the dark beer always welcome.

Water.....hate to admit it but that is my favorite drink.

Pete, I love your story. Brings back many memories. I want go all the way back to high school and then the U.S. Navy.  I don't have
the time or the memory. My last drink of choice was Crown on  the  Rocks. I loved it. Couldn't get enough of it.
Yes, it is expensive but not as much as my drink of  choice before it. That was The Balvenie, aged at least 17 years, single malt. You
can get it aged fifty years if your a millionaire. Something you would never mix with anything, including water. Now, my
drink of choice is decaffeinated sweet tea or water. What a switch.

glenlivit is the best scotch around. you can actually taste smoke. molson's export [not their others] is better than american beer.

mostly i drink green tea. if you  make it exactly right, it's great. i drink it all day, til near bedtime i switch to peppermint tea. cheaper than premium scotch n beer.

when i can't enjoy nice alcoholic beverage.. like right now. nice cup of PG tips works for me. i like teas.. any type actually. iced tea during the summer is just the right thing. i used to know a friend who would brew couple of gallons of iced tea every morning. that involved large number of tea bags, huge amounts of sugar and steeping in the boiling water for good amount of time. 

An upside down latte with two raw sugars in the am, mid day iced unsweet tea or water and in the evening whatever wine goes best with dinner.....got to have the right drink for the right time of day...

black tea is inferior to properly brewed green tea, but you have to do it right.

next to my comp is perfectly brewed green tea in a glass pot on a stand over a tea lite to keep it hot.

this is called luxury.

I'm sipping on coffee right now but I also drink and brew Kombucha tea.

A nice malty cup of Assam tea for me please.

I drink coffee all day every day.
I don't really drink much anymore. But I do enjoy some bourbon and an ice cube every now and again.
And I drink kava to help sleep at night.

Hi Pete, great story, great life. I live and work near Northern Boulevard. Thank you.

I don't drink but my wife loves Fireball whiskey.  I stopped drinking when I hit 21 and was a toker until about a year ago. now I just have to give up the cigs. my wife wishes I'd give up the figs but thats a habit she's just going to have to live with.

A frothy cappuccino or a spicy sweet Indian chai will do it for me.

We don't drink much but occasionally when we do homemade Limoncello is a very tasty drink :-)

When it come to alcohol. Pretty much seems to be the same case as is with many...don't drink much anymore. I was a bartender for about ten years, those were some good times. When I want a beer I usually have a Warsteiner Dunkel, I keep a half case in the garage fridge at all times so there is a nice cold one when the desire hits or if company wants a good beer.  Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey and Don Julio Anejo tequila fill any need for the hard stuff, sippin straight or in a top shelf mixer. Some say it's sacrilege to use these in a mix, I disagree. If your only going to have one occasional drink it may as well be a damn good one. Oh, and a nice glass of Pinot Noir or red Zin with a great meal like prime rib, oooh yum.
To put it into perspective though water, coffee, milk, tea, and OJ are in order from greatest to least what I drink 98% of the time.

.

Shot of straight "Patron Tequila"  with a quarter piece of Lime with Salt!

tequila.. body shot.. i sort of remember something like that back in 93 in atlanta.. all sort of fuzzy now.. 

Spanish red wine made from old vine Grenache grapes

Craft beer and microbrews...porters/Irish reds/ales!!!!!! Beer has as many unique tastes as figs!!!

If you get a chance, and enjoy Irish Whiskeys, RedBreast is like a high class Jameson, more flavours like a scotch but of course it's not the same, still a great whiskey to be had.

Gin n Tonic of course is my go to.

ice cold tea

Pete, I had my crazy partying moments in my youth too so it was interesting reading your post.  I still drink to excess on rare occasions, and like to tie one on, but now that I'm older I tend the get nasty headaches and overall exhausted feeling in the morning because alcohol messes up my sleep.  So when I do drink it is typically one or two beers (microbrew or craft) or glasses of wine.  I did a Belgian beer/brewery tour a few years back and would love to do something similar in southern Germany  I've also went through a phase of brewing my own beer and would love to get back to that hobby but gardening and figs (and home improvement) take most of my spare time.  Most days I only drink water and tea.

Wild Turkey tonight as we wait for the List!!!!

I am with you Dan Wild Turkey American Honey

tennessee honey on rock tonight :)

Hi,
I'm on sparkling water. It has the bubbles as the beer, and with a bit of lemon juice, it gets a fruity taste as beer :)
Then once a week, try a Brown Leffe .

[IMG]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Pitu_cachaca_flaska_ljus.JPG[/IMG] Cachaça

Favorite spring beer: Terrapin's Maggie's Peach Farmhouse Ale
Favorite summer beer: Three Tavern's White IPA (the ONLY IPA I will drink!)
Favorite fall beer: Southern Tier's Pumking
Favorite winter beer: Terrapin's Wake & Bake Coffee Oatmeal Imperial Stout

Favorite affordable white wine: J Lohr Estates Riverstone Chardonnay
Favorite cheap red: Garnacha de Fuego

There is a tie between my favorite cocktails: a good Dark & Stormy (Sprig, a restaurant near me, infuses their Gosling's rum with homemade blackberry puree and uses spicy ginger beer, it is to die for) and a Ginger Lily - I use a 1:2:3 ratio of muddled pineapple and mint with ginger simple syrup : fresh squeezed lemon and lime juice : Jameson's Irish Whiskey, then top off with a spicy ginger beer.

Current drink of choice: flavored club soda with a spritz of lime juice (stupid diet...)

When I was under 30 it was usually beer then Stoli on the rocks and now wine, usually Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio, whatever is on sale