Hey! It's my 21st b-day today, and I just got a phone call from my best friend who said, "Tonight, babe, you and I are going out for drinks." Only I've never drunk anything but wine and champagne, and she's thinking cocktails. I have no idea what I should get! So I ask you all (because you all seem to be rather knowledgable in this area): suggestions? I was thinking a sidecar, only because I know it has brandy in it, and brandy's sweet enough for me. (I've read some of your odes to vodka, but the smell alone makes my mouth pucker -- I don't like bitter things.) Advice?

Happy Brithday! Ask the Barstaff. Tell him/her it's your birthday and you want to try something sweet and they might give you some free drinks.

Princess: Chambord sours. They are sweet from raspberry liqueur and sour to add a little interest. You'll love them. I'm a bloody mary/vodka or gin & tonic/ jagermeister of beer gal myself. But I did a chambord sour phase. My friend Cheryl drinks old-fashioneds. I think they taste wretched. If I'm in a chinese or thai restaurant I order Pina Coladas which are genuinely FABULOUS, but inappropriate at the scary dive bars I favour. Happy Birthday!

I apologize to anybody who is a fan of this drink, but, AVOID LONG ISLAND ICE TEAS AT ALL COSTS. They will gradually turn you into a bitter, miserable woman. I have seen it.

Rhiannon: 1st of all congrats & happy majority! Since you like sour stuff/R.C. recommends: The Margarita: Skip the frozen 'Ritas until you're ready to make them at home. (In bars/the frozen ones usually come premixed & are always made w/cheap booze).Tell the bartender you want it made with Patron (a high-end brand of tequila) & Grand Marnier (nononono to the Triple Sec. Cointreau is okay to substitute for the GM). Tell him you want it shaken (over ice) & strained. (It will come to you in a martini glass.) Have yr 1st one w/salt around the rim & yr 2nd w/no salt so you can see the difference in taste. Margaritas are slightly sour (from the lime juice in the mix), slightly spicy (from the tequila) & a little sweet (from the sugar in the lime mix & the GM). I never do the salt thing/but some people swear it makes then taste better. The Red Shit: (becuz Margret reminded me of it) You can't just walk into a bar & order this -- I made up this one w/an old drinking buddy of mine & his favorite bartender (a woman named -- I kid you not -- Cinderella. At least/that's what her driver's license said.) when we were sitting around after closing/mixing stuff together at random. Cindy eventually came up w/the name Red Shit/as in "Hey Cindy/makes us somma that red shit we concocted the other nite!" - 1 shot Chambord (a shot = 2 liquid oz./I think) - 1 shot Absolute Citron (vodka) - 1/2 shot Cointreau - splash of orange juice - spritz of club soda Shake it over ice/strain & serve. Oh yeah -- what's the thing everyone in the city drinks now? My friend's roomate had one when we went out that nite in Bklyn..... Oh yeah -- a Cosmopolitan. Hold on while I find the recipe... The Cosmopolitan: 1 shot Absolut Citron 1/2 shot Rose's lime juice 1/2 shot Cointreau 1/4 cup cranberry juice Shake over ice. Strain & serve in a martini glass. Again/a good balance of sweet & sour. You can also look up drink recipes for just abt anything here: http://food.epicurious.com/d_drinking/d01_index/d01index.html Be sure to tell the bartender (at every bar you go to) that it's yr 21st birthday. That's always good for a round on the house (& from any guys nearby). And since this is the most significant birthday of yr life/be sure that someone buys you at least 1 bottle of good champagne. A birthday's not a birthday w/out champers. Most important of all/Be Smart abt Yr Drinking. Getting buzzed is fun. Getting bombed is not. You're not an experienced consumer/so make sure you take yr time (at least 30 min. btwn each drink) & eat something before you start drinking. And for god's sake/have somebody else (who is abstaining completely) do the driving.

A white russian. They're good. Made with kahlua. Mmmm. Also try Kahlua & Cream. Good.

oooh i forgot also try a mai tai. mmmmmmmmm pineapple.....

Hey! My sister Loves long island ice t-....nevermind. The only alcoholic drink I actually like (if they make the darn thing right!) is a fuzzy navel. I think my favorite part is asking if they have it and seeing the little bartender guy lift his shirt up to check. teehee!

Will it damage my, um, Sorabji cred if I tell you I only had two drinks and some champagne? I know it's, like, tradition or something to get wasted on this of all days, but there are too many lushes in my family for drunkenness to hold any appeal. And it's also a family trait to become violent when inebriated, and we were at a fairly classy place, so brawling was out of the question. For the record, I had a sidecar (mmmm, lemony) and its grandchild (or so the bartender stated), the margarita (with salt rim), which was a bit too strong (spicy?) for comfort, but had promise. After these two, I noticed that I was feeling awfully flushed and as if I were riding on a fast train, and then I noticed that my friend's voice was severely grating on my nerves, so I decided to stop there before the old Doyle temper emerged. [I didn't have to tell anyone it was my birthday because I look about 14 on a good day, so the ID was flashed immediately after my entrance. And no free drinks were offered. :( ] Then we ate, and the weird feelings went away. Then about 4 hours later, at my friend's house and with her family (who are more genteel in their approach to the demon liquor), had some champagne. Don't know its name, but it was good stuff. Had about 2-3 glasses, then got reeaallly sleepy. Fell asleep on her bed. And so ended my night of debauchery. I've got a ways to go to enter the big leagues, haven't I? That Red Shit sounds interesting...

Save it for yr next Girls Nite In. And rent some Nic Cage flicks to go w/it. Didja get any cool gifts?

rhiannon - happy birthday! two drinks sounds good, especially for a non-drinker. I have decided that my perfect number of drinks is three (perfect intoxication for the evening followed by a healthy-feeling morning), and I'm sure I weigh a lot more than you do. I love margaritas because lime is one of my favorite flavors. only the most annoying of purists will scoff if you order them without salt, as I do. if you like sweet and tropical, try a pina colada (rum, coconut and pineapple are the main ingredients). they're usually expensive, though, (around $5?) so if you're low on cash, you may want to ask about that first.

you may also want to try a dacquiri in your favorite fruit flavor. dacquiris are made with rum, which is a sugar-based liquor so it's sweet. gin is made from juniper berries, vodka from grain or potatoes, kahlua with coffee, brandy from wine. when you hear the term "well drink," it refers to a simple soda(or juice)-and-liquor combination. they're the drinks that are often on special. when you see a sign that says "well drinks $2," that means it's time for you to try a rum and coke. or a screwdriver (orange juice and vodka) or a greyhound (grapefruit juice and vodka -- the grapefruit juice is so sour that it kills the taste of the cheap house vodka they'll use). gin and tonic water are both bitter and foul, but most of the rest of the planet seems to like them, so who knows.

gin is made from grain and flavored with juniper berries. well drinks refer to drinks made from the well liquor, which is the cheap foul shit they keep below the bar. the key to avoiding (or minimizing) the hangover is to spend the extra buck and name your liqour. there is an enormous difference in taste and purity when it comes to cheap v. midrange liqour. drink cheap liquor all night and you'll probably wake up hurting, drink good liquor and you'll wake up feeling like a bluebird on easter sunday. margaritas should be drank over. a long island ice tea is a great way to start off a night. it's a good way to finish a night,too.

I don,t think this is an official drink,but it works for me.get a big 32ounce glass,put in alot of ice,pour in some skim milk,some diet coke,till the glass is half full,then slide that vodka in there till it,s 3/4ths full and fill the rest with Kahlua.

breakfast?

I,m ashamed of you Swine,you know Beer is for breakfast,you cheeky pup.

thanks. i think it's been over ten years since anyone's called me a "cheeky pup". when i was in the sixth form, my girlfriend's mom used to call me that all the time.

I like them cheeky Swine,so your all good.Rhiannon you might not like showing I.D.now,but you are gonna be so happy when you get older.I,m way old but still get carded buying ciggerettes and in Arizona you have to look like your under 27.Always use sunblock,best advise anyone ever gave me.

If you like a sweet drink try this: Peach schnapps, grenadine and cranberry juice - very sweet and fruity, but dangerous, because it can get you wasted very quickly!

Peach schnapps wdn't get yr teetotaling grandmother drunk! The last time I did shots at a bar/they were peach schnapps. I polished off nearly the entire bottle & was glad someone else was paying/becuz I had to switch to tequila to get a righteous buzz on. But there was this very righteous peach wine my aunt used to keep at her crib. Her mom (not my grandmother -- she was/is an 'aunt of courtesy') used to make it. And I dunno what she did/but that stuff was like a cross btwn brandy & sweet wine. Incredibly fragrant/totally yummy/& high in alcohol content. I remember going to see her over the holidaze & getting such a wonderful buzz off that stuff... And I'm not a fan of grenadine. It adds a nice color/but they just oughta spike it w/something. Like wodka/as my brother calls it. Speaking of drinks: For anyone on the low- carbo regime/I came up w/a cool new drink that has no sugar ('cept from the tequila) that you can drink & still keep losing weight. R.C.'s Mexican Icees© (becuz the texture is like the Italian Icees you used to get from the ice cream man as a kid.) Fill up a blender w/ ice. Add bottled lemon juice (abt 3/4 cup) or fresh-squeezed (a full cup). Pour in as much tequila as necessary to get yr groove on. Then sweeten it w/Equal or Nutrasweet (I used abt 18 packets per pticher.) Fire up the blender til you get a nice thick slush. Serve in martini glasses w/a spring of mint. I'm drinking them now & they're sooooo yummy!