fluffboll: Drinking inspiration

Alcohol was, for a very long time, very much not my forte. I just could not see the point with it. Beer was bitter and icky, whine was bitter and icky in another way and hard spirits was just expensive and uninteresting. The home made stuff made people blind, and was icky (unless from a known source and mixed with melted turkish pepper and turned into glorious shots... I learnt some years later...)

The first time ever I got drunk was the new years eve of 1996 (and into the morning of 1997). My brother and I was at a party with a bunch of his friends and I felt completely safe in knowing he would be able to take care of me if I got too drunk, and also in knowing that he would try to make me drink too much. :)
Another friend, of the right age, had bought me a few bottles of mead (I still miss those, tasty tasty mead) and when those were finished it didn't matter too much that beer tasted icky... alas. Interesting night.
However, after that I did not get properly drunk until in my twenties.

The reason, well, I have never ever understood why one should drink icky stuff just to get drunk. I could have just as fun or even more stone cold sober. Although I often had people thinking that I was drunk just for being me.
It took until I started working with mansaxel and he introduced me to Laphroaig that I understood what that nice alcohol thingie was all about. He tried with wines as well, and succeeded with a few, but giving me the interest for good whisky is something I will always be thankful for.

Except for whisky and porter I have found it really tricky to have any alcohol to a meal. Probably mostly as the sweetness of the food makes the bitterness of the drink a bit too bitter for me. However, we found a good restaurant here in Cambridge where it actually all works out. It is called Alimentum and has excellent food, lovely drinks and utterly competent sommeliers. Very much recommended.
Alcohol IN food however... Let's just say that I am a firm believer that wine in food should be just as expensive and exclusive as the wine you want to drink to it and that whisky makes almost any dish better. If whisky doesn't then rum it is!
One of the best dishes I have ever helped to make in this world is chocolate moose.
Bowmore enigma, rose pepper and dark chocolate makes a lovely marinade and the base for an excellent cream sauce...
But it doesn't have to be that exclusive either. Whisky in burgers, especially the peatier kind, adds a nice smokiness that just helps that BBQ flavour along lovely.

Nowadays I am shareholder in BrewDog, a young and inspiring brewery in Scotland who has taken the Swedish market with storm. It is a fun thing to be. They are cocky and provocative with both beer ideas and marketing, unfortunately for me they are a bit too fond of bitter IPA hops. Then again, their stouts tends to be amazing and the Tactical nuclear penguin, first edition, is probably the best beer I have ever had, or possibly shared with Avery brewery Mephistopheles...

Alcohol that actually matters to me: Whisky, mainly single malt and quite often Islay.
Alcohol that might be interesting once in a while: Good craft beer, especially real ales, good stouts and porters, Belgians... they are special.
Guilty pleasure alcohol: Midori and green drinks in general, well made LIIT, turkish pepper shots, well made non bitter drinks (give me a drink with a straw and I will try it, and get drunk, so I tend to stay away from straws...)

Source: http://fluffboll.livejournal.com/193880.html

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