response 1 of 74:

May 29 03:03 UTC 2002

I am a light drinker.  Normally a beer in the evening is enough for 
me.  Two makes me unfit to drive, three is more than I'm likely to have 
under normal circumstances.

Tonight I stopped by the Merchant of Vino, and, on a whim, browsing the 
beer, when an employee asked if he could help me, I asked if they carry 
mead.  I'm reading The Hobbit to my son for the second time, and mead 
is mentioned several times.

In college, I had a professor of literature from whom I took a couple 
of Arthurian Romance classes.  She told one of my classes that a group 
of her classmates had ordered mead, imported from England, in order to 
try it.  She said it tasted like what it is, spoiled honey.  She said 
it was awful.

The Merchant of Vino carries several brands of mead.  I picked what 
they recommended, Chaucer's.  It was $12 for the bottle.  When I got 
hmoe, I slipped it into the freezer for a couple of hours, making sure 
it was cold, before opening it.  While I was paying for it, another 
customer told me to open it when I and my friends could drink it all, 
as it wouldn't keep well. I will see about that.

I've waited for 20 years to try mead, so I decided, while reading to my 
son before his bedtime, that that was long enough to wait.  Anyway, 
whom would I ask to join me?  So I opened it, and poured a little for 
John, and, expecting the worst, sat down to read to him, and drink some 
mead.

It's very sweet, but only tasted a little like honey; more in the 
aftertaste than the flavor when I drank it.  It wasn't awful at all.  
Clearly I didn't get what my professor had tried.  I wouldn't probably 
pick anything tasting that sweet if I were choosing to drink wine.  
(I'm not much of a wine drinker, but that's not what I'd probably 
pick.)  I was very pleasantly surprised; I half expected to have to 
spit it out when I took my first taste.

I drank about half the bottle by the time I read my son his 10 pages of 
The Hobbit.  He took a couple of sips, too, and liked it all right, but 
he didn't want more than that.  I finished his off, too.

After half the bottle, and an hour after I stopped, I'm still tipsy, 
and still wouldn't drive.  I'm a prudent drunk, I guess.

I'm going to try some of the other meads at Merchant of Vino in 
upcoming weeks.  Once I finish off what I already got.  I sealed it 
with a Baggie and a rubber band.  If anyone is really anxious to try 
mead, and can make it to Tecumseh, let me know and we'll arrange 
something.

response 3 of 74:

May 29 03:25 UTC 2002

What kind(s) do you brew, Scott?  Is it difficult to get started doing 
that?

response 5 of 74:

May 29 03:41 UTC 2002

A dozen years ago I knew someone who brewed his own beer.  He got me to 
switch from Budweiser to other beers, and turned me onto Bass & C Pale 
Ale.  Nowadays it's found in grocery stores, but then I had to look 
around to find a party store in my area that carried it.

Around that time, I visited Rochester and spent some time in a brew 
pub.  I became fond of a beer they called "bitters".  It was 
wonderful.  I went for years before I found anything like it.

The Merchant of Vino has several ESB beers, that's "extra special 
bitters".  I guess advertising beer as "bitters" isn't very effective.  
I went there tonight to get some ESB beer; that's when it occurred to 
me that'd be the place to ask about mead.

Tonight the ESBs I got were Belks and Red Hook.  I've also tried 
Arcadian ESB (Arcadia ESB?), which is made in Michigan.  They might 
have one other I've gotten before.  I'll never be a connoisseur as I 
can't remember which I've had.  It's too long between six-packs anyway; 
I might drink one in a week or two and take two or three months for the 
next.  I keep trying what I think are different ones, and I like them 
very much, but they're new every time.

response 7 of 74:

May 29 11:40 UTC 2002

The Polish that I like isn't as sweet as Chaucer's.  I wish I could remember
the brand name.  I quit buying it when I was getting it from my friend and
haven't seen it since he moved.  I don't drink mead often, a bottle every year
or three so haven't tried any of the others.  I'll check Merchant of Vino and
Big Ten Party Store to see if either of them have it.

response 9 of 74:

May 29 12:05 UTC 2002

re #7: Thanks!  If you find out the name, I'll probably try it some day.

re #8: Do you make beer from a kit or package, or do you add your own 
hops, malt, etc.?  How long does it take to make beer?  How many 
different kinds have you made?

response 11 of 74:

May 29 17:05 UTC 2002

I've read some WWW pages, but they tend to be written by and for
hard-core enthusiasts for whom brewing is their lifestyle.  I might try 
home brewing myself some day but I'd be doing it in a very casual way.  
It sounds like what you're doing.  That's where my interest comes from 
in what you're doing.

response 13 of 74:

May 29 19:13 UTC 2002

I used to like gin and tonics.  I also used to like Scotch and soda 
which I drank from a Florence flask.  It's been a long time since I've 
had either, and I haven't missed them all that much.

I also make some Irish coffee occasionally (about annually).  

response 15 of 74:

May 29 20:31 UTC 2002

A gin and tonic does sound kind of good to me right now.

I'm going to be responsible if we all turn into alcoholics as a result 
of this item.

response 17 of 74:

May 30 01:27 UTC 2002

If it's beer, my tastes generally oppose anything that's "big commercial
American" and most everything else.  I'd drink up to a couple six-packs
a month when Brewbaker's was open in Kerrytown - i liked like their stuff
overall better than any other beer brand i've had, i like buying from 
little local merchants, and i could buy mixed 6-packs (6 different kinds)
from them, so i couldn't get bored or annoyed with the kinds that i didn't
like as well.  Since then...hmmm...i enjoyed all six bottles (over a week)
of a Bell's Stout 6-pack once, but they aren't cheap or local, and deposit
bottles are a bother.

Most days i'll drink a single glass (~5 oz.) of econo-brand red wine.  It
jazzes up my fairly-monotonous eat-at-home diet a bit and is supposedly a
bit good for my heart.

I really didn't drink at all until i was well into my 30's.  This makes
me some sort of freak by most American's standards, but supposedly not
drinking until after 30 massively reduces the risk of alcoholism.

response 19 of 74:

May 30 03:35 UTC 2002

I've always liked gin.  I think it's because I've got very pleasant
associations with the smell of juniper.  It grows wild all over the place up
in Ontario where my family goes on vacation each year.  

response 21 of 74:

May 30 19:15 UTC 2002

I think wine coolers originally were made with wine. Basically wine 
mixed with fruit juices. Then someone figured out that you can make a 
malt beverage cheaper that tastes about the same. End of wine coolers. 
For some though, the name still stuck but you wont find the word "wine" 
on the label of those malt beverages. 

response 23 of 74:

May 31 00:49 UTC 2002

Re: #18
By any decent definition of "beer drinker" that i can think up, i've
never been one.  How do you define it?

Do be careful about mixing alcohol, depression, and meds for the latter
together, jep.  Lots of people have gotten fried that way.

Re: #20
Macrobrews taste bad?  They mix 1-2 oz. of something that might be called
"real beer" if it was higher quality, 9-10 oz. of carbonated water, and 
1 oz. of the cheapest flavorless vodka that money can buy, stir, and call
the mix "beer".  It doesn't have enough taste to be qualify for either
"good" or "bad".  If you want taste, drink *anything* else; if you want 
to pee, drink tap water; if you want to get drunk cheap, get BargainBox
wine or (better) help for your alcoholism.