Adrian on drinks

Hi

I'm slightly dehydrated that the moment, which is why I'll start with water.

I like water and tend to drink pints of it quite regularly. Or at least I used to before I came to Britain, because the tap water in this country does just not lend itslef to be consumed in large quantities. Needless to say that this is because of all the chemicals in it. I wonder why the government does not realise that chemicals are bad for human beings? probably becuase they think that going down the supermarket and buying a bottle of water there is an easier sollution than them spending millions of pound on a sollution of the problem; i.e. a replacement of all the copper piping with plastic piping. But that's stuff for a government rant and I'm not going to go into that now.
Anyway I drink water a lot nevertheless and having it with squash overpowers the chemical taste of it, so I suppose I can live with that. I've also noticed that in different parts of town the water tastes different. How odd! In Caellepa for example the water tastes DISGUSTING! And I had to live there for a year.

Speaking of water, I can see the Menai Straight from my window. In fact if I were fit and able enough I could take a fifty foot leap right into it. Obviously I'd break all my bones and die in the process but then again I'm ot about to do that anyway.

To get back to the topic, The second drink that I could drink a lot of is Chocolate Soja milk. Tat stuff's absolutely gorgeous. I't quite addictive as well. And I think it works a bit like an energy drink. I sometimes get one of these small boxes in Health food stores and they totaly wake me up again. But if I get the chance I buy litre cartons. And I say "get the chance" becuase the store I buy them in selles them together with plain soja milk. the boxxes they stack contain 9 cartons of which only two are chocolate flavoured and obviously these are sold out within about one and a half days of them replenishing their stock. I don't know why they change this becuase it's so obvious that they sell hardly any of the plain flavoured stuff which means it takes them about a month efore they start filling up the shelf again.

Anyway, moving on to harder substances. I like my ale and I don't understand why Swiss breweries have never started making any! Maybe part of the problem is the fact that pub culture (or lack thereof) is different in Switzerland. People don't start filling pubs at four in the afternoon. They're go for a drink but they won't stay there. And I think for ale to be a viable substance to sell you need to get through a barrel relatively quickly and I can't see that happening in Switzerland. Not that we don't drink beer. In fact we're very patriotic about our beer. Well, lager, technically. But you see, the four main breweries are dotted around the country and people naturally form allegances with their brand. Needless to say that they all taste lightly different. Yes indeed, it's lager alright, but that doesn't mean it has no taste.
But here in Britain I like my ale and since I now live within tubling distance of my favourite pub I don't have to worry about supplies. I like trying new ales and I generally don't drink too much as I can't take too much alcohol in the first place. I maintain the convicion that alcohol is there to be enjoyed and not to get horribly legless on.

Which brings me to the phenomenon of the alco-pop. Alco-pops were invented to make people drunk. And they were not, despite what other people say invented to be a cheap alternative. They are not cheap, they contain a load of crap and the fact that they drink themselves like water means you get drunk really quickly having spent shitloads of money on them. I don't like them! If you want to drink a coctail, which is ultimately what an alco-pop is, then find yourself someone who is apt at mixing them and get them properly done. It might still contain cheap alcohol but at least you get the pelasure of watching barman coctail mixing skills.
I very arely dring spirits. A couple of years back I get the taste for rum and coke. Not the filthy clear stuff that tastes of nothing, but Dark Rum and Coke. Either on ice or without if the coke's chilled. Brilliant stuff that. I also like vermouth, which is a very cheap and possibly bastardised spirit, but sweet and with lime on ice it's quite nice.

There's one more variety of alcohol I haven't talked about yet. Homebrew. Amazing stuff that. I started home brewing about two and a half years ago. Unfortunately I started with a mead which I made far too dry but then everyone has to start somewhere. I have since then discovered the joys of the Blueberry wine, the Rhubarb wine and the Molasses and Ginger wine. I'm making Rhubarb wine for the second time now as it was gone all to quickly last time and people cried out to me for more. It is the single most gorgeous taste there is, I have to admit it. The Blueberry wine is great too, in fact all of them are quite nice brews. And they take so little to do. The only problem is of course the equipment and yeast and so on. If you don't have a supplier nearby you have t order the stuff in through the internet with costly effects. The other problem with fruit wines lies with the fruit you use and whether it's clean, contains any chemicals (from spryaing pesticide), or harbours any insectile impurities. Of course the sollutions to this problem is to be very thorough in choice and processing of the fruit.

But now I'm hungry. I'm going to have breakfast and then I'm going to work!

ta ta