I have a new mission. I want to try a bunch of alcoholic drinks from TV shows I watch. I think the best place to start would be with a show that basically features alcohol every second.
Mad Men
Everyone gets completely bombed on the show. Yet no one does it better than Don Draper. And what does he drink? Well pretty much everything. But his main drink is an Old Fashioned. Here is the recipe from Esquire. If I remember correctly, Don prefers Canadian Rye.
“Place the sugar cube (or 1/2 teaspoon loose sugar) in an Old-Fashioned glass. Wet it down with 2 or 3 dashes of Angostura bitters and a short splash of water or club soda. Crush the sugar with a wooden muddler, chopstick, strong spoon, lipstick, cartridge case, whatever. Rotate the glass so that the sugar grains and bitters give it a lining. Add a large ice cube. Pour in the rye (or bourbon). Serve with a stirring rod.”
Parks & Rec
I just started watching this recently. Well I watched every episode in like two weeks. Anyways, the greatest character ever is Ron Swanson and he drinks Lagavulin. I never heard of it, but after I looked it up, turns out that it is a premier single malt Scotch. I tried Scotch once, it was terrible. It was probably a shitty kind. Or I am a sissy and feel like alcohol burns my insides.
Justified
I think this one is pretty easy. The show is set in Kentucky and clearly the only thing they drink there is bourbon (I am assuming since I have never been to Kentucky). Obviously I am not a huge fan of bourbon. I tend to shake violently when I do a shot of it. Ugh.
However, I have been on a quest to find Pappy Van Winkle. I had never heard of it until Adam2 told me about it. Not because I really want to try it, but because I wanted to get it as a gift for him. And then try it since it is considered the greatest of all time.
So what the hell does this have to do with Justified? Well the other night, Sam Elliott’s character says that he used to reward his people by giving them bonuses. He says something like “Christmas bonus, President’s Day bonus, their kid graduated…here’s a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle.” I think he was illustrating that happy employees (i.e. henchmen) will be less tempted to steal from you. Whatever. The important thing is that he mentioned PVW. And I am betting it has been mentioned before.
I hope to someday try these drinks and most definitely make a disgusted face as I spasm and try not to throw up.
Bourbon is the best liquor. Interestingly, my wife has family who moved there, so I’ve visited. My drink of choice is The Old Fashioned, with Bourbon or Rye. Never Canadian Whiskey. Blech. I often use agave instead of sugar, and adding an orange peel is very nice.
Haha, I think I understood what you meant. And a friend recommended trying bourbon with lots of ice and then just sipping it, barely taking a drink. He said that is a good way to get over being a wuss about the taste of burning death going down your throat.
Damn. Can’t edit comments. The family members didn’t move to bourbon. They moved to Kentucky.