Brandy is Good

Denise Sawicki | August 10, 2005
Scott might be a bit alarmed at what a hard drinker I've become lately (frankly, I am a little myself) but I never drank in high school or college, in fact I've put off until now my phase of learning about different types of alcohol.

So, we got a fifth of Phillips brandy and it is really good! It has a nice flavor: not too sweet but not sour or bitter or moldy tasting. Also, you get a good value in terms of drunkenness for your dollar. I was really impressed because it is 40% alcohol but I have no problem drinking it straight even though I am a big wimp. It is good when you find a strong drink that tastes good because most of the time even the weak ones taste disgusting and you would have to drink multiple glasses to get any effect.

So, my question for all you people out there who have long since learned everything there is to know about alcohol is as follows: why don't you ever hear of people actually drinking brandy? Lots of people seem to like straight whiskey and that (though it has about the same alcohol content) is disgusting, in my opinion. It tastes like mold. Why doesn't anybody seem to like brandy, which is clearly a superior beverage?

My guess is, since it actually tastes decent, there must be a stigma attached to it saying that only wussies drink it. Never mind the fact that it is 8 times as strong as beer and that's what the jocks drink :P

On another note, I might have mentioned this before, but I hate whiskey and I hate Coke but a whiskey coke can be excellent depending upon who makes it. But brandy still wins out as a better drink, in my mind, due to higher alcohol content.

Lori Lancaster | August 10, 2005
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Jackie Mason | August 11, 2005
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Denise Sawicki | August 11, 2005
Jackie - I wasn't there when they bought it but they said it was about $3.50 for the 200 mL bottle. At 40% alcohol that is 4.38 cents per millileter of straight alcohol, a better deal than the $3 for a 750 mL bottle of 7.5% Boone's Farm "wine" which is considered cheap at 5.33 cents per mL. Heheh... you knew math would come in handy for something. Phillips is probably MUCH cheaper than the brands your old men with cigars would recommend, but I thought it was good.

You are right brandy is probably an old man thing. Darrell asked his older brother, "Who drinks brandy?" and his reply was pretty amusing:

"An older guy with a red bathrobe sitting on a leather chair with Oliver Twist smoking a pipe but before opening his book he pets his pedigree great dane and
smells his snifter before taking a nice drink"

But that still leaves the question of "who drinks *cheap* brandy" and why don't college students seem to do so. Perhaps because of the stigma of being thought of as an old man in a red bathrobe etc etc....

Lori: if you had made some of the bad alcohol choices I had you probably wouldn't say you like "sweet tasting things" without a qualifier :) For instance: blackberry schnapps, worse than cough syrup, only possible to drink when cancelled out with a near equal amount of lemon juice and some other juice (orange?) to thin it down...

Another bad choice recently was this bottle of pink milky stuff. I have no idea why I talked Darrell into choosing that for our latest attempt at a picnic a few weeks ago. It was strawberry flavor, tequila, and some kind of cream-like substance. Ewww. We took it out to their farm for a picnic and as soon as Darrin (D's twin brother) made a comment about Pepto Bismol I began to suspect what a bad choice I had made. Nonetheless we talked their grandma into letting us borrow the blender with some lame excuse about wanting to have crushed ice in our lemonade (apparently she is totally anti-alcohol). We went to this picnic shelter in a nearby park where they have electricity and a fridge and stuff and we tried to get our grill lighted... it wouldn't light so we had to go back to the farm and broil the burgers in the oven, all the while keeping the liquor and the blender in the car and dodging repeated questions of "when are you going to bring back my belnder" and "Do you like green beans? Take some green beans home with you. Do you like raspberries? Take some raspberries". We go out into the garage afterwards, shut the door behind us, plug in the blender, and no sooner have we done this than their dad arrives and starts talking to their grandma outside the garage door, which he then proceeds to open and find us all there... "Oh I can smile about it now but at the time it was terrible". Well they didn't ask any questions but it was pretty embarrassing and we finally wound up drinking our sweet, putrid, pink milk rather warm, with just a few non-crushed ice cubes, whilst closed up in Darirn's bedroom. Yes indeed, we are all of us 27-28 years old and we still had these trials and tribulations in trying to procure some alcohol.

I only drink once every few weeks, honest, and after my one experiment over a year ago with drinking til I was sick just to see what it's all about, I don't drink more than a couple in a row... :P

Jackie Mason | August 11, 2005
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Denise Sawicki | August 11, 2005
It was a different brand probably but it sounds similar. It wasn't *that* bad really but it didn't taste like strawberries. I guess my objection was mainly the warmness coupled with the indignity of the situation and finding yourself with the feeling of having drunk too much milk and too much liquor at the same time... as well as being overfull from having desserts placed before us even after protesting that we weren't hungry...

Kris Weberg | August 12, 2005
There's also Brandy Alexander, which is basically brandy in milk or cream.

Oh, and it's spelt "cognac," after the region from which it comes.

Michael Paul Cote | August 12, 2005
Try warming the brandy, gently usually over a candle. You don't want it scorching hot, just warm to the touch. And brandys can get extremely pricy, depending on what you get. I've found (fortunately) that if it gets too expensive it spoils the taste, but that could just be me.
Denise, have you tried mixing whiskey with gingerale? If you don't like Coke, GA is a nice substitute.
Jackie: A creamy martini...say not so! What would James (Bond) say about that...Shaken, not stirred, but nice and frothy? ewwwwww.

Denise Sawicki | August 12, 2005
I don't like any carbonated beverages, but whiskey coke is an inexplicable exception...

Amy Austin | August 13, 2005
I don't like any carbonated beverages...

Blasphemy. Like saying sugar makes you fat.

Jackie Mason | August 13, 2005
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Amy Austin | August 13, 2005
HAHAHAHAHA!!! (Don't forget the specifics, Jackie -- a *red* bathrobe... ;-DDD)

Michael Paul Cote | August 13, 2005
It's a "smoking jacket" not a bathrobe and red paisley if you must know. >:-)

Amy Austin | August 13, 2005
Hahahahaha...................for real? ;-)

(I don't care what you say, Mike -- a "smoking jacket" really is just a fancy bathrobe. ;-D)

Michael Paul Cote | August 15, 2005
Yeah and "Oliver Twist" is just the cover! It's hiding a "Spiderman" comic. :-)

Dave Stoppenhagen | August 15, 2005
Denise I've replaced Coke with 7up or Sprite for my Jack Daniel's less chance of a hangover for me and can drink them all night, and only drink it straight if it's JD Single Barrel.

I like my beers though for the day to day.

Scott Horowitz | August 16, 2005
My drink of choice lately has been a Grey Goose and Tonic... I just can't drink cheap vodka anymore

Jackie Mason | August 19, 2005
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Scott Hardie | August 25, 2005
Earlier today, I was sent to listen to this audo sample (link) and I can't tell if the people behind this folksy promotion are geniuses or morons.

Aaron Fischer | August 26, 2005
Huh, I guess you have to be from the south to make that determination. I'm not qualified.