What to Drink If You Don’t Normally Drink
When you don’t drink often, you usually come up with a cocktail, booze, or beer that you like and gravitate towards it when you go out. When you don’t drink often, the drinks menu can be tricky to navigate, and what all your friends like may be slightly different from what works for you. For example, double IPAs and smoky scotch may be good for experienced drinkers, but less off-putting.
I believe that everyone should try everything at least once to determine what they like and what not. However, as a group drinker, I often get questions from friends who don’t drink as often: “What should I order?” The question arose on a broader level this week when a friend in his early 30s who had never drunk alcohol asked where to start.
Obviously everyone has different tastes and what Tim loves outside the gates may seem awful to Bob and Sally (which is why you should try everything), but if you are not drinking much and are looking for something to order when you are out with friends or at a wedding (or to start in general), here are some good places to start:
Liquor
The key to enjoying alcoholic beverages is not to consume cheap drinks. This doesn’t mean you have to buy vodka off the top shelf, but try ordering cocktails using mid-range spirits.
In general, vodka drinks are always a good excuse for those who don’t drink often. By design, vodka is tasteless and mixers are often fruity. This means that you will end up with something that tastes very similar to what this vodka is mixed with. Most bars (and weddings for that matter) have everything you need for a cranberry vodka or screwdriver (vodka and orange juice). Grapefruit juice also pairs well with vodka and is easy to find.
I’m also a big rum fan. Rum is sweet and is also most often mixed with fruit juices, sometimes in tiki-like cocktails. Rum and cola is an easy order. Personally, I prefer Dark and Stormy – rum with ginger beer. If you like ginger, that’s divine.
If you really want to dive into alcohol, our Three Ingredient Happy Hour can be a great place to read and learn how to make an assortment of amazing cocktails.
Wine
I prefer a glass of good Barbera wine, but if you don’t drink wine then red wine is sometimes too much.
A good place to start is sparkling wine. If you don’t like the taste, adding a little fruit juice (like OJ to make mimosa) can make the drink more appetizing. Sweeter whites can also be a good starting point. Both Riesling and Gewürztraminer are sweeter, but often not too sweet.
For reds, start with something like Merlot or Pinot Noir before exploring more daring varieties.
Beer
Most people drink beer for the first time in college, where the budget is small, and someone with a fake ID managed to get a crate of the cheapest beer possible. It was terrible and now you think you don’t like beer. The point is, all cheap beer is terrible (or at least it’s a tried and tested flavor that shouldn’t be purchased by anyone).
I drink a lot of IPA now, but the first beer I ever enjoyed was Duck Rabbit Milk Stout. Milk stouts have a creamy mouthfeel and often have notes of cocoa and malty sweetness. They are lightweight and very easy to drink. For years, I grabbed one when I could.
I recently invited a good friend of mine who “hates” beer but loves wine to the Almanac Pub in San Francisco. While still not a big fan of beer in general, he managed to drink all the sour drinks from their menu (in taster form) throughout the day. For him, sour, fruity and slightly tart (and sometimes very tart) beers were ideal beers. He objected when we initially went to the bar, but at the end of the trip asked to come back again.
Lambic can be a good starting point for sour. I’m also a big fan of gose, most often fruity, slightly salty beers with a very low alcohol content (so you can have a few). My personal favorite is Briny Melon Gose from Anderson Valley, but Sierra Nevada also makes a great Otra Vez that spreads all over the country. Both are available in cans perfect for picnics or parties.