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I drank every cocktail

aaronson.org

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Re: I drank every cocktail

#91

Post by alexjplant »

MuffinFlavored wrote: post #13

> I have more than a drink or two in one night I'm curious the opinion of those here on this. Are you able to be classified as "having a problem with alcohol" if you "only have 2 drinks a night" a lot?

It depends on your parasympathetic nervous system tone. After getting a fitness tracker that analyzes sleep and heart rate variability I've discovered that my body is rather sensitive to alcohol. I need to have a baseline level of cardiovascular endurance and be properly hydrated with good electrolyte balance to be able to truly enjoy two drinks. If I'm not doing moderate-intensity cardio five times a week and taking my supplements, then even moderate boozing will tank my HRV and negatively affect my sleep. Bad sleep means diminished cognitive performance and lethargy to the point that I'm not giving the world the best version of myself. To answer your question: yes, if I'm having two drinks a night and not taking care of myself I'd consider that to be a problem. A lot of people are probably in a similar boat but don't have the data to spot it so they just keep wearing themselves down in a half-tired haze.

I've also discovered that brown liquors are twice as bad for me in this regard so I now try to stick to wine, sake, or gin. I'm not mad at this as I've grown rather tired of what bourbon culture has seemingly become... the capitalization, enshittification and marketing games have largely put me off from the category.

Re: I drank every cocktail

#92

Post by mNovak »

ordersofmag wrote: post #40
maest wrote: post #30

> First semester that year, I took a Beverage Management class, which was ostensibly about managing bars, but it was no secret that everyone took it because of its tasting component. Is this breadth of topics common for the American higher educational system or did the author go to a special university?

At the very largest universities there is a really really wide variety of programs and courses. For example here's a course catalog where a search for 'intro' returns 3500 different courses. https://classes.osu.edu/#/?q=intro&client=class-search-ui&ca... You can see the variety, from "Introduction to the Army and Critical Thinking" to "Introductory Meat Science" This breadth is typical of the very largest universitie…

As an aside if you're in Ohio, the OSU Animal Science lab sells meat raised at the university teaching farms for very good prices [1]

Related to the broader catalogue, I had fun in my Riflery and Table Tennis classes in college.

[1] https://ansci.osu.edu/about-us/facilities/sales

Re: I drank every cocktail

#93

Post by mNovak »

getup8 wrote: post #11

I had a similar obsession with cocktails starting in 2019 after moving out of NYC and missing it. So I started making my way through the Death & Company book and it inspired https://www.cocktaillove.com to keep track of everything and know what I could actually make given the ingredients on hand. It’s been a fun side project ever since, and I’ve made a little over 200 (and photographed them all) so far.

These are your photography? Looks very nice!

Re: I drank every cocktail

#94

Post by plorkyeran »

MuffinFlavored wrote: post #13

> I have more than a drink or two in one night I'm curious the opinion of those here on this. Are you able to be classified as "having a problem with alcohol" if you "only have 2 drinks a night" a lot?

1-2 drinks every night (which is not what the author said they were doing there) can be anywhere from not a problem at all to high-functioning alcoholic. I think the simplest way to tell where on the gradient someone is is how they handle a night where they don't get a chance to have a drink. Is it something that's not remotely a problem and they wouldn't even realize it was the first night in a while they hadn't had a drink? Is it something that bothers them but they'll deal with it? Is the idea unthinkable and they always have alcohol on them so that they can sneak a sip even in circumstances where it's inappropriate?

Re: I drank every cocktail

#95

Post by mNovak »

It's strange to note that a Dirty Martini, probably one of the most popular cocktails in the world, isn't on the IBA list. Likewise I've found many cocktail books also won't deign to list it as a 'real' cocktail. But I'd argue the heritage is the same as a great many now classic prohibition drinks -- adding ingredients to distract from low quality liquors.

I think that's a disservice, and it's worth standardizing; just like many of these, it can be surprisingly hard to get just right.

Re: I drank every cocktail

#97

Post by pragmatick »

aaaronson wrote: post #32
jamestimmins wrote: post #9

Such a fun and entertaining read. I'd never suggest someone give up a software career to become a food writer, but I'd love to read more of OP's writing as he pursues these goals.

Writer of the post here, really appreciate this! When I was really little I did say I wanted to be a food critic when I grew up...

Hi! I wondered why the Gin Basil Smash is in the column with rare, specialized ingredients? Sounds pretty basic to me, especially compared with the other cocktails in the list.

Re: I drank every cocktail

#98

Post by wirrbel »

Just reading the title.

As a college student the premise of screening through the cocktail menu would have sounded like a great project.

As a 30 something I am more interested of drinking my way through the mocktail menu.

Re: I drank every cocktail

#99

Post by ashoeafoot »

Missing the dictator. A bloody marry in a soup coup, with a brainshaped bannana vodka jelloshot in the middle. Decorated with dark chocolate pistols, dark choclate toy soldiers and a stenciled sugarlines looking like cocaine maps on the rim.

Would that (a redecorated bloody mary ) get in the list?

Re: I drank every cocktail

#100

Post by ReptileMan »

antognini wrote: post #77

If anyone is interested in getting into cocktails I really can't recommend Cocktails with Suderman enough. The early posts are free and go into the theory of how cocktails are structured and why they work. Once you start to understand the structure of the major cocktails it makes it a lot easier to understand how you can play with the ingredients and make something new. For instance, tons of cocktails fall into the "…

My rule of thumb for cocktails is - they were created to mask the flavors of shitty base liquors so this is what should be used. The best old fashioned comes from jim beam white label. Unless you use some really strong medicinal smoked whiskeys you probably won't be able to pick up much of the delicate flavors from the good stuff with so much syrup and bitters in it. and if you want to add complexity - just make a more complex syrup.
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