Originally posted by MitchMan
In my youth when I used to manage c-cktail lounges and restaurants, all us coctail lounge managers were alcoholics or near alcoholics. What I found
interesting was the common evolution from non-drinkers or casual drinkers to becoming "experienced" frequent drinkers.
Everyone started out drinking mixed drinks, usually weak rum based tropical dinks. After drinking alot of that stuff, everyone graduated to asking
for and wanting more rum in the drink. The next level was when you got tired of the sweetness in the drinks, then you graduated to bourbon and 7-Up
or rum and coke and an occasional boiler maker when the evening got going. Next was gin or vodka and tonic. Finally, the sweetness of even those
drinks was too much, that's when everbody went to bourbon or scotch and soda water. Now the drinker had arrived. But, when you start drinking alot,
which everybody eventually did, everyone inevitably graduated to the occasional bourbon or scotch rocks with a water or soda back (plain small glass
of soda water or plain water with some ice in it). You had completely arrived if you abandoned the bourbon or scotch and soda mixed drink altogether.
By that time, all of us managers were functioning alcoholics in fact or nearly so.
Finally, I noticed that virtually all of us were exclusively scotch drinkers and only a few remained bourbon drinkers, very few. And, all were into
the heavy smokey scotches like Pinch and Johnny Walker Black. You never drank beer, too weak. You only drank wine if there was no scotch around.
Several tell tale signs of alcoholism was that bill boards with those beautiful pictures of the crystal clear icy moist glasses of booze were all
looked at while driving and that they were sooo beautiful, in movies everytime you would hear the "chunky" of ice in a glass my interest would perk
up, and finally, straight scotch had a "sweet" sugar water taste to it and no "burn" going down. Man, that was trouble.
Those days are past, mostly because the body can't take that kind of abuse any more. Now, my wife and I have a full bar at home and have a glass of
cream sherry before dinner occasionally, and from time to time we'll enjoy a Manhattan up with good bourbon and a good sweet vermouth.
It is only lately that I have been turned on to beer. I keep stocked on Negra Modelo in Baja and Miller Genuine Draft in bottles in USA. Dos Equis
is not bad at all, and kinda like Pacifico Clara. Keep a couple of 6 oz empties of Pacifico clara in the truck box in Baja, turn it in at a Mexican
liquor store and pay only $6 pesos for quick shot to head behind the corner in my truck on those hot La Paz summer days in town. Once an alcoholic,
always an alcoholic, just drink less so that I don't die.
[Edited on 2-21-2012 by MitchMan] |
But I'm still goin' with Johnny Walker Red, Black, or
Blue 
