Wine Lovers -- What Do You Drink When You're Not Drinking Wine?

We've all been there...at a party or non-fine restaurant...any place where the wine is either absolutely awful or just not really all that interesting.

What do you drink in these situations?

Me...it depends on the mood. But, I've been known to drink:

• Beers like Bass, Guiness or Brooklyn Brown Ale
• Ketel One and Tonic
• Bombay Sapphire and Tonic

Or, at softball games...whatever light beer we have in the cooler. And nine out of ten times, if we're at a party, I'm bringing the wine anyway.

I'd much rather drink any of the above over bad wine...are any of you SO wine-obsessed that bad wine is still wine worth drinking?

Comments

[Derrick Schneider]

The wine would have to be pretty bad for me not to order it, but I'm a fan of Belgian ales and Heffeweizen.

[Steve-o]

I'm a fan of Duvel and other strong-flavored beers. I like Spaten Premium and Optimator. And I drink the occasional martini or manhattan. But wine is my (nearly) daily drink - these are either for alternative days, or a cocktail before dining out (and occasionally in).

[Tim]

I'm with you, Lenn, and prefer beer (even "bad" beer like Budweiser) to bad wine. I try to stick with something flavorful, so it's usually dark. Funny thing is that I used to drink lager and think nothing of it, but got into the dark stuff after I got into wine. Related?!

[Sam]

DOn't you just hate it when you are at a party and there is no champagne and you have to drink the flat wine instead?

Only kidding - there are some really bad cheap champagnes that turn up at parties forcing me onto vodka cranberry or rum and coke or whatever other dregs I can find.

Kir Royales are a great way to disguise cheap party champagnes. at least, thats what i serve at my parties. sometimes.

[Andrew]

I rather like rum and coke if not drinking wine. But if out at a pub - where generally the wines are poor quality - I usually start with a pint of bitter Breakspears and Fullers London Pride if available. A G&T is good in the summer.

[Kevin]

It depends on the mood. After a shift on occassion I will have a Coors light ripped from a cooler in the parking lot and BS for the life of the can.
My wine drinking is usually to cut the edge of a long day.

I like to also drink wine with dinner if the right wine is on the list. Because the wife is not too much of a wine drinker, I rarely if ever get a bottle with dinner at a resturaunt. Unless amongst a group of friends.

When I am out with the boys, I dont drink the standard American Beer if ever anymore. A nice Sam Adams, Killians or bass is good.

I have to be feeling it to power drink, the hard stuff. But when I do, a Good Manhattan, or Vodka Martini (Ketel one or better please) Or a real well made Long Island Iced Tea. for that quick feel good goal.

[the angler]

Hey, I really like good wine. I like good beer even better. My experience is that just about anywhere I go BOTH the wine and the beer are pretty terrible. That's when I make mojito. However, I almost never go thirsty because I don't go to anyone's house without bringing some excellent beer. (Aside: Maybe it's just my friends, but there is a definite wine bias when a beverage is brought to a house and presented to a host. There are some really fine Belgian style beers that come corked and in 750 ml bottles that would do quite nicely as a wine substitute. Some of those Belgian style ales are brewed right here on the Island over in Southhampton, check out the Publick House. Good stuff.)

[Daria de la Luna]

I tend toward water, myself. But, if there is any Lindeman's Framboise Lambic, I always go for that. I am not a beer drinker, but this stuff is like a bit of raspberry heaven on the tongue.

[Fatemeh]

Hmmm... interesting question. Even as an "avid" wine drinker, I will often start the cocktail hour with a Tanqueray & tonic or a Maker's Mark Manhattan.

That said, I have been known to drink the swill they try to pass off as "wine" in coach class air travel. Fortunately, b/c I travel for work, I have the luxury of being able to upgrade on longer flights (where the wine can actually be quite nice), but on shorter legs after a crap meeting, I'll drink the cough syrup. Blech.

[jens rosenkrantz]

Except for the Ketel One and tonic, my list matches Lenn's but my first choice is always draft beer, not bottled. However, I would add that a well made Bloody Mary with celery and horseradish can be transcendent at times, and I can still make a mean Extra-Dry, Extra-Cold Gin Martini with Bombay Sapphire.

[Jathan]

MacTarnahans Amber Ale, Moylans Kilt Lifter, Saphire tonic, and Cosmopolitans (My wife loves them)