The Adventures of a 35yo (Alcohol) Virgin

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hit counter At 35 years old, I had never tasted, tried or drank an alcoholic drink of any kind. During 2012 that all changes drink by drink and you get to enjoy the results post by post.

Permalink QUICKIE: Bud Light LimeOh god. I really like this beer. And I’m SOOOOOOOOOO SOOOOO far behind on my blogging. Which makes this post bittersweet. I wanted to hate it. It’s fucking Bud Light Lime. A faux summer cabana mall bar drink sponsored by Applebee’s. At best.Joe and I walk home from work just about everyday. It’s about a 3 mile walk from downtown DC to NW DC in our neighborhood. And everyday we walk past one of the area’s iconic bar/restaurants: Nellie’s.“Ha, Nellie’s. That sounds gay, Ben.”It it gay, random stranger who clearly never read my prior post about my first kamakaze shot, at this very bar. It is gay. And careful, you’re sounding kinda jerky. “Sorry.”Its cool, random stranger. It’s cool. Anyway… every day Joe and I mention stopping by Nellie’s Sports Bar for dinner and drinks before heading home. And without going through the specific banter details: this time we did. I we ordered some wings, a few entrees and I ordered my first Bud Light Lime.  When in Rome, right? “Hey… are you making a gay’ish joke? That’s not fair!”Yo, random stranger. Chill. It’s cool. Don’t over-analyze this. Just enjoy the post.It was clear, cutting in taste and kinda deliciously playful. It’s a far maltier beer than you’d think and pretty rich for a light beer. Crisp, clean, the finish is slightly salty, an pretty damn refreshing. It’s sweeter (read: sweet) than a Corona, but far more layered than a traditional Bud Light. I found it pretty summery and pleasant. Lord help me, I almost ordered another. But I stayed strong and clear headed and stopped myself. And then we paid and left. The end.“The end?! That’s it?”Yeah, random stranger. I told you it was a quickie. Man, you are driving my last nerve. Go, calm down, get some Bud Light Lime… and just chill. And quit talking to me. You’re freaking me out.Cheers, BenPS: Coming up from my delay a post from our friend’s Oktoberfest and my very real, very amazing, unbelievable Georgia-themed firstdrink and meeting with famed Author and personal hero Alice Walker.
Permalink LemondropAh, Friday night. So, to kick off the weekend, Joe and I were having a “couples night out” with several of his office work friends and their significant others. Most of the group were completely new to me—outside of the occasional brief introduction at prior work events. We started the night by heading over to Poste at the Hotel Monaco. But several of the folks were concerned the drinks would be too expensive, the atmosphere too fancy, the place too upscale hipster. Totally a fair assessment.Ok, no problem, right?  So where next?…35minutes later after naming every bar in a 1 mile radius followed by a “eh.” or “meh.” or “no…” we all decided cheap drinks were key, low noise was a plus and someplace close was necessary.Joe and I—kinda as a joke in consideration of all the requests—asked “What about McCormick & Schmick’s?” And they all said yes.You are correct, we are to blame. I know this now.Oh, are you familiar with M&S? It’s fine. Honestly. Its a much nicer chain than Red Lobster—but not half as fun. But they’re still pretty hit or miss. And they over-charge and often under-deliver on portions and quality. But again, it’s fine.And as a mid-up-level chain, it was pretty dead on a Friday night in downtown DC. We were seated all together and it was quit, but those were the highlights. They run a end of the night “happy hour” featuring food and drinks so hopes were high for cheap too, but… well…Ok, so first things first. Their drink & cocktail menu is odd. On one hand they don’t seem to really feature classics. Instead they seem to feature classics with a house-twist. But as it’s a chain and not it’s own unique place, each house drink was something like HoneyRita® - Made with Jose Cuervo® tequila, SueBee® honey-flavored vodka and a splash of soda water, you’re going to be buzzing about it. Wait, what?Everything was just a bit off. Where it just wasn’t an odd mixture, it was an terrible sounding one. They also had loads of standard and upscale liquors and mixers, but that’s not a shock.The table ordered a round of drinks and a few things to munch on. But not before the Waitress—who, lord help her, was taking care of our entire section alone—mentioned that one of the bartenders was a trainee.A trainee on a Friday night? Then again, its not like the place was hopping. But alright, at least we were warned.In retrospect, that warning helped save her credibility.Half of the drinks that came to the table looked off. And apparently tasted off. Joe’s and a few others experienced drinks they called “tasteless.”, “weak.” and “literally like nothing.”  There were several returns, re-orders and new orders placed. I kept it simple and ordered my first Lemondrop martini. Simply made with vodka, tripple sec, superfine sugar and fresh lemon, it’s a classic. This one pushed the lemon envelope a bit and had Citron vodka as its base. Smart.It was straight lemon fruit juiciness—even with a touch of pulp. Bright, tart, sweet and slightly sharp, it had a nice burn from the vodka heightened by the fresh lemon zing. It was really refreshing, nicely upscale and adult, nothing dramatic but very pleasant. It was an adult lemonade, more class and sass than a Mike’s Hard Lemonade, but admittedly less fun. Rimmed with sugar and served with a lemon wedge, it was just shy of great and bordered on pedestrian. But I enjoyed it nonetheless. I’m starting to realize that I’m craving balance from my drinks. I like sweet over not, but I need depth. I’m relating to alcohol like I relate to hot sauce: I need flavor and heat. And I’ll take flavor over sting every time, but their marriage is my sweetspot. I like the brown and yellow liquors because they have something more to offer: flavor, depth, layers, personality. The clearer the liquid, the more boring the beast, I’m afraid.[note: also, this is not necessarily a political statement.] The reminder of the experience was just as run of the mill. The bartender never seemed to find his footing—each drink ordered by the same people looked different from one another and the alcohol levels and mixers were consistently off.Adding to that people still getting a bit drunker, louder, more impatient and it starts to get increasingly awkward for everyone. Thankfully, we had decided to head over to another bar before things got too tense.  We all agreed we paid too much and were underwhelmed. But I clearly got enough to keep the blog moving and for what it’s worth, that’s perfectly good for me. ha. So sorry, M&S, you were pretty substandard, even for a chain. But thanks for a perfectly solid Lemondrop. And while everyone else felt cheated by their swill, mine gets immortalized.Oh life. What a wonder, am I right?Cheers, Ben
Permalink [ _______________ ]One of the greater pleasures in spending a certain amount of time at the Blue Banana is owner Jamie’s interest in my drinking journey. This interest spans from being the gracious host to my charity events to friendship, having an alcohol-insider to talk shop with and without-a-doubt: trying new-fangled drinks. Jamie is always presenting me a idea he’s kicking around or inviting me to try something we just concoct right on the spot. Some of my very original favorite drinks have come from Jamie’s mind and out of the Blue Banana’s bar: The Puptail, Stinger and the Georgia Avenue Punch to name a few. All crafty little drink blessings that if you ever visit my favorite DC drinking haunt, you need to check them out (ask for 2 Stingers, you’re going to order a second anyway…)So, Joe and I were catching up with our cousins and their dog Maybee, hanging out on the back patio of the bar this past Thursday when Jamie asked me what I’d like to drink. Just recently back from my August hiatus, I wanted something fun and original. Something that kinda bridged the gap between summer and fall. We talked through a couple of options and then Jamie’s inspiration caught fire: he mixed some Hubert’s Lemonade brand Cherry Limeade, some fresh lime and some housemade cherry infused Southern Comfort. SIDENOTE: So, did you know that Southern Comfort isn’t actually whiskey? Yeah, no, it’s actually an American liqueur made from natural spirits with fruit, spice and whiskey flavorings. Hm. I found that interesting. Also, the lowest proof you can get is 70 US proof. Or 35% alcohol. I mention this, because I want to accurately describe the flavor of this drink Jamie made. Have you ever had a cherry limeade. A really good one, homemade, strong lime bite, rich cherry flavor, sweet while also tart. Cool, refreshing, summery but grounded?  Yeah, well exactly.No. See, that was it. That was this drink. Exactly. A really good, really tasty cherry limeade. Cold, crisp, sweet, delicious… but that was it.Sorry, let me explain. I watched Jamie add the cherry-infused SoCo. It was at least a 2 finger pour. A double shot. And then the juice. And then the fresh lime.It tasted only/just like a cherry limeade.So. At first I thought, “oh, damn. too bad, I wanted to taste some whiskey.” And then the drink was so nice otherwise, I didn’t really care. And on the first few sips, I had thought about going back to joke with Jamie that someone’s been watering down his SoCo.But you see, work has been really busy, and when it’s busy I don’t always remember to eat lunch. So I hadn’t really had anything since my breakfast shake 12 hours earlier.So halfway through the drink I didn’t need to wonder any longer if those two fingers of SoCo were potent enough. They were presenting themselves as so all on their own rather nicely. I was getting slightly light headed and I could feel the fuzzy, amusing onslaught of 70 proof on an empty stomach. All to the tastebuded tune of an unassuming fresh squeezed cherry flavored limeade.That shit is dangerous. So here is the thing. This drink needs a proper name. Jamie didn’t have one off hand and I’m struggling to come up with one. Cherry Bomb already exists, otherwise it would be a contender, trust you me. So I’m asking you for help. You’re welcome to visit the Blue Banana and ask to try one yourself, or by all means I’m sure you’ve had a cherry limeade on your own and can create a taste-related mental picture. This drink is a straight ninja. And it needs a proper name.So please let me know if you have one here. If we pick yours and you’re local, I’ll even toss in a prize. This drink needs to go on their menu and for once I’d like to contribute to the local cannon of the drinking world—even if I get to exploit my readers a bit. This is your chance to take a moment to ride my strange little coat tails to get a little fame yourself. Help me name this drink. Cheers,Ben
Permalink Piglet Ah, another first visit to a new restaurant here in DC. Joe and I are kinda addicted to trying the new places, and especially the ones that give us pause. I present to you, The Pig. Yes, The Pig. Just as you’d assume, a place that specializes in snout-to-tail indulgence of the porky kind. They’d been open for a little over a month and we were walking home down 14th for a change and there it was. “I forgot this was open, already.” Joey stopped and commented. We stood there for a minute. So, as you might have picked up over the last few posts, we’d been really, really socially busy. We had come off a really packed, friend-intensive week and weekend and were just commenting how we were looking forward to walking home and just doing nothing. And yet the pull of The Pig was just too great to deny. It’s a really great little place, rustic, playful and nicely casual. They’re another fantastic restaurant from the EatWell DC line of haunts that also happens to have one of our very favorites, The Heights. We were excited to try the newest kid on the EatWell block.  The menu is mostly—ugh—small plates, but there are thankfully some entrees on the menu. And the menu was pretty playful with some form of pig product or truffle—get it?—on the menu except for a few “vegetarian” items and one plate of some pretty damn good buttermilk fried chicken.  Oh, I put “vegetarian” in quotes because if you’re literally a vegetarian for animal-right-social-political reasons, you might as well be a peanut-allergy suffer visiting the Snicker’s factory because you heard they had a variety that contained almonds. But I digress. Food aside, they had a pretty fantastic drink menu too.  I had a hard time picking just one thing for both my interest and the blog. But then I saw it: The Piglet. On their smaller, “tasting” menu, there were a few items for sampling. And namesake aside, the Piglet just sounded fun. Made with Crispin Hard Cider, Aperol Bitter Orange liquor, Lillet Blanc and cranberry anise bitters, the drink was cute and tiny but packed a punch.   Little, refreshing, nice and darkly fruity, the Piglet had this fantastic apple skin richness and crisp pear-like finish. It was tart bordering on bitter, but homey. And the drink had a rich alcohol flavor but some brightness from the Blanc and cider. I liked it. It was complicated yet rustic. It was an educated cider, like it had some college in its years.  A cider with an old soul?  Eh, you catch my drift. Oh, but—and you’ll note this is rare—even better than the drink of the night was the dessert. And no, it didn’t contain any alcohol. But it did contain blood. Yep. Pig’s actually—I know, shocker. Called the Sundae Bloody Sundae, it was chocolate & pig blood ice cream with ginger whipped cream, a brandy cherry and spicy bacon peanut brittle. It was like this rich fudge cream with all the delightful toppings in tow. You couldn’t taste the blood—bummer, kinda—but you could tell there was something different and richer, creamier. It worked. Well. I was impressed it was not only on the menu, but it was real and really good. The Pig. The Piglet. Sundae Bloody Sundae. Oh sure, they’re driving the theme hard, but not into the ground. Oh no, I’d never let anything from that kitchen or bar make it that far from my mouth. No worries. Now go… go and be Pig. You’ve been commanded. Cheers, Ben
Permalink The absolute best Yappy Hour at the Blue Banana yet! Over 20 dogs, dozens of owners, lots of money raised for the Washington Humane Society, and tons of fun with my handsome husband posing with the pups as Summer Santa! If you want to see all the Santa fun photos, check them out HERE! Woof!
Permalink Drink & bark for dogs at the Blue Banana! Our monthly charity Yappy Hour this Thursday the 12th is Christmas in July! This is event is being hosted by The Blue Banana and The Adventures of a 35-Year-Old Alcohol Virgin. Spread the word and we hope to see you there. Washington Post called this the Happy Hour of the Week!
Permalink Bellini MojitoSummer. 101 degrees. Dinner at The Heights in DC. 101 degrees. And yes, it’s worth repeating. As most of the country knows, it’s unbelievably hot these days. Scorching, disgusting, sweat-like-you’re-getting-paid-to-sweat hot. Baking cookies on your dashboard, even the breeze is 98 degrees and sprinkler water is 89 degrees hot. I think I even saw a 7lb poodle burst into flames. Maybe it was already on fire. Who knows.But seriously, it’s been 101+ degrees in the District for days. I mean, its been in the 98+ space for a few weeks. It’s gross. My white sugar does have a melting point, people. No one wants to see that.In fact, have you ever considered what a leading national tourist destination with a healthy homeless population smells like at 101 degrees? Wait. Hold on. Sorry. Don’t. Sorry. I’m sorry I even brought it up. My mistake. I wasn’t thinking clearly. Ignore me.…Anyway, the game plan every night is finding something cooling to do. Movie night, ice cream parties, quiet evenings at home in the A.C., naked dives into tubs filled with soothing frozen cubes of blue and red jello—you know it’s time to get out when you’re just sitting in purple goo. And on this occasion the plan to stay cool included a nice dinner out at one of our very favorite local restaurants, The Heights in the bustling, typically steamy Columbia Heights neighborhood.Home to a few former firstdrinks, Three Day Weekend and a Cool Cucumber Bloody Mary variation, and hands-down, the absolute best poached eggs for brunch, we were there to have a nice dinner, catch up with Chris & Natalie and hopefully drink something cold and refreshing.Scanning their summer July seasonal menu, I was looking for something with the fresh and delicious flavors of summer, but that refreshing straight from the firehose cool factor. And then Natalie found the potential cool summer drink holy grail: a full pitcher of Bellini Mojito.Part summer peach sparking wine, mixed with cooling mint and simple syrup, it just screamed “best suggestion” to beat the heat. Now, I’m not going to lie. In my head, I was hoping it would be peach wine mixed with white rum, simple syrup and muddled with mint and frozen peaches. I know I’m still the Virgin, but if you’re going to mastermix two classic summer drinks into one monster of a winner, go whole hog. But this was certainly close enough.Sweet, tangy, peachy, subtle with a nice sparkle from the clean, clear wine. Nicely refreshing, smooth but with a hint of alcohol, it was really lacking mint flavor but certainly had lots of mint leaves throughout. On one hand, it didn’t really have the peach punch of bellini, it didn’t have the sweet, minty spice of a mojito and while similar, it also didn’t even have the depth of a simple white sangria. It was tasty and thirst quenching in this heat, but it was more of a hyped peach wine water with some fleck of green garnish.So how do I put this? Its like when you ask for dessert and someone brings out a cheese plate. Sure, it’s dessertesque and it’s delicious, but it’s not what I asked for—or in this case what it was described as. So, one one hand I liked it and on the other it was kinda disappointing. Not that it matters, The Heights, you’d have to literally ruin 6 meals in a row for me to lower my love for you. No seriously, I’ve never had a bad meal. Or a bad service. So one mediocre drink isn’t sinking any ships. And it did make me forget about 101 degrees for a few sips. And for that, I thank you.Cheers, BenPS: It’s July! And next week we’re celebrating Christmas in July at our monthly Yappy Hour for Charity at the Blue Banana, supporting the Washington Humane Society. And this event even has an official beer sponsor, the aptly partnered Flying Dog Brewery!  First 20 people get a free Flying Dog brew, ALL dogs get free dog biscuits and come get your dog’s picture taken with Summer Santa (aka, my husband Joe in a summer Santa suit… no, I’m not kidding. He wishes I was…)
Permalink 7 months into this goofball project and I’ll occasionally get recognized in public around DC. More often however, no one has any clue who I am or what I’m doing. And then there are the even more rare occurrences like this one. I live for these moments. He was so nice and so chill. And pretty drunk and very confused. I just let him walk away. For all I know he wanted to give me my own show on the Travel Network. And now I’ll never know…
Permalink JUST ANNOUNCED! July’s Yappy Hour at the Blue Banana DC: Christmas in July! Get your dog’s photo w/ Summer Santa, free drink for the first 25 people from our Yappy Hour beer sponsor Flying Dog Brewery, and celebrate the holiday by supporting the Washington Humane Society. Your dog DOESN’T want to miss this one! We are kicking this event up a few notches!
Permalink Cuba Libre There are still lots of moments on the Adventure that sometimes give me pause. One of them is drinking at work events. It was always one of the more common places where people would “push” me a little even when I politely declined.“Oh, it’s ok to have a drink, we’re all having one, it’s even been budgeted for! Drink! Enjoy! Come on, we’re all drinking. At least have one.”Yeah, well, um…So anyway, as often is the case with co-workers, liquor seems to loosen the lips and awaken the mind of wanting to “know more” about each other. Wait. “know more” is not a sexy euphemism. I’m not sure why it’s in quotes. I think I’m trying to suggest that they’re a little tipsy and happy to ask more invasive questions, aka: “know more” but they’re not as interested as they are nosey.“So you DON’T drink? At all? Ever? NEVER? Are you kidding me?  Jim, hey Jim, come on over here, Ben says he’s never drank before! Can you believe that?”Yeah, exactly. And so I would explain my never-having-drank-before-story. Blah blah blah. blah blah blah blah blah.But see, now it’s all changed. One might argue, gotten worse, perhaps. But changed all the same.Now everyone wants to know what I’m drinking. What I think of the drink. If they’ll be in the blog. In a funny way, they become kinda self-conscious. It’s amusing. “Blah blah blah, workplace chatter blah. Wait. You’re not going to put this in your drinking blog are you?  No seriously, are you?”“I’ll put in ‘blah blah blah’… don’t worry.”So this wasn’t the first work-related happy hour I’ve attended, but it is the first where much of my co-workers are now very aware of the blog—and some reading it regularly. Ok, the more well known this project becomes—and I’m not over-stating this fact, it’s weird having the majority of people you know highly aware you’re writing about your first time drinking—the often more awkward everything becomes. Every word, every story, every little dance move and photo—let alone whatever I’m drinking—becomes a cautionary question. An embarrassed glance. Slight tension wrapped in apprehension. “No, seriously. Will this make his blog?”*sigh*I have to admit, I have put some juicy things into my blog that some people would have preferred I didn’t. I’m—at most—willing to change names. Never dates. Never a story. Never a detail. But a name? Sure. I’ll protect those I love and/or pay me. I know, I’m a gent.Sadly, at this particular happy hour, I didn’t have any juicy items to exchange for a few “blahs”.  In fact, I was the one dancing in the cage at the Dirty Martini in the Dupont neighborhood. But that’s nothing new. We were there post departmental retreat—where I had successfully raised my own bar by delivering a pretty solid personality/leadership activity for everyone—and enjoying a mountain of food and drink.We were upstairs at the rooftop Tiki Bar, listening to salsa music, so I opted for my firstdrink of Cuba Libre. Known as “the worlds second most popular drink”, the Cuba Libre is a Spanish born drink in consideration of the US. A highball variation—rum and cola—made with cola, white rum and lime juice, the Cuba Libre is a damn nice drink. Slightly tropical, warmth from the rum, sweet from the cola and tart from the fresh lime this drink has a little of everything.It starts cold, finishes warm. Hits most of your senses nicely and is a great drink on a hot day with its caramel notes, a citrus cut to your taste buds while offering a nice, slight alcohol burn. Everything plays nicely together but offers it’s own significance in the line-up. I greatly enjoyed it. Ask anyone. They asked me. Over and over. And over. And over. And they questioned if how many times I was asked was going to make the blog. You can’t make this stuff up. Well you can. But know that if I was out to make stories up for the blog, I’d add vampires or zombies. They’re so hot right now, I can only assume they’d raise my blog’s profile, garnering more readers. The Adventures of a 35yo Alcohol Virgin Zombie Killer.  Has a decent ring, I suppose.But nah. I’ll just keep keeping it real. Blah blah blah’s and all. I promise. No really, just ask. Cheers, BenPS: Still at the conference in Chicago… and I’m still playing catch-up. Forgive me firstdrink readers. Forgive me.
Permalink Samuel Adams Summer AleOur buddy David was in the DC area for a work conference and wanted to try and grab a meal or drink with us. His schedule was pretty busy so we kept ourselves open and as luck would have it, he was able to grab an evening drink early in the week.We were not sure if he wanted us to meet near him or if he wanted to come near us so the first net we cast was asking if he wanted to meet closer to us, “We could hit a bar near us if you wanted.”“As long as it’s the Blue Banana, for sure, I want to get in on another firstdrink.”Yes, exactly. It’s moments like these that make me pause and crack me up.  If you read often, clearly the Blue Banana is my “home base”, my drinking Adventures “bat cave”, if you will. So when someone references it directly when wanting to drink with me, it cracks me up a little.  Let alone when they use the term “firstdrink”…my goofy little Adventure’s world is catching on here and there. So basically, I’m famous. You knew it was coming. I’ll be signing autographs at an empty Borders near you soon.  Just wait for it.Anyway, I need to gain composure. Ok, so David was up for another drink. You might remember he and his wife Laura joined Joe and I for one during the Cherry Blossom Fest a bit back when I had my first Vanilla Cherry Coke cocktail. So there we were at the Blue Banana on a Tuesday, during super amateur comedy hour. The place was pretty packed, but luckily the back patio was pretty open and the night was fantastic. As my life is getting more interesting, I had oddly enough had most of the beers that were on the 12 taps. All but two, so I opted for the Sam Adams Summer Ale. One of their seasonal beers.  David and Joe got their beers and we headed out on the patio. Ok. Look. I’m sorry Samuel Adams. I swear. When I tried your Cherry Wheat a while back, I was kinda honest—but perhaps hysterically unkind—relating it to what it’s like to visit a petting zoo (fun at first, terrible half way through). And I stand by it, but you were so great and responded on Facebook, asking that I try another and give you another shot.And I did. And I will continue to, I’m sure as I continue on the Adventure. But. Oh my god, I really, really didn’t like it. I tried. Your description online make it sound so wonderful. Mentions of lemon peel, African pepper, mangoes and peaches. Lies? I just tasted hops, bitter fruit, hops and my sadness.It was yeasty like rye bread, sour, tangy, crazy hoppy. Hoppy. And not like IPA hop, like something else, more forced. And again, unlike lots of IPAs it didn’t have the wonderful citrus notes I’ve come to expect. The finish was the best part, and I don’t mean that as a joke. The finish was bready and nice. But I only got about 1/4 through my beer and I was done.Thankfully, the company was great. Hanging with David is always fun and we learned all about their upcoming travels and a few upcoming highlights to their annual Oktoberfest in NC this fall.  If David plays his cards right, he’ll be on the Adventure a nice handful of times. Cuz I’m famous!!But seriously, Sam Adams. Can I call you Sam? Wonderful, thanks. Sam, I’m trying. You’re trying. And sometime in the middle we’ll meet. Maybe in your Porch Rocker, maybe your Chocolate Bock or maybe even the Vixen. Time will tell.Much love all the same. For now. Cheers, BenPS: I’m still far behind in my posts… I have a work happy hour drink coming up, followed by a delightful pairing of drinks at the house of Scotty & Patrick, two of our newest friends and then—drumroll please—a charity Yappy Hour drink from this past Thursday. I’m getting there… I’m getting there…
Permalink Three Day WeekendOur weekend visit with Angie was going really well. She was interested in seeing everything DC and we wanted to get in as much as possible. Well, that was before the onslaught of Girl Scouts. Let me just say, I have nothing against the Girl Scouts, I swear. But if you’re coming to the Nation’s Capitol to celebrate 100 years, BRING SOME COOKIES!Seriously? a quarter of a million giggling Girl Scouts everywhere the eye can see—and people try to walk—and no Thin Mints, no Samosas? Seriously? Not even those horrible lady-head-short-bread ones? I don’t want to imply that perhaps, you hate your country. But this lack of planning I think says it for me. Anyway, so after avoiding a mental game of Girl Scout wack-a-mole on the National Mall for a morning run, followed by a quick salad run for lunch, a giant walk around town including hitting the Smithsonian National Zoo and then ending the night with a fancy dinner at Zaytinya we took in a long night walk to see all the Monuments. It was a nice, full, DC kinda day. And if you remember back to my very 2nd post, my firstdrink of mimosa, we had to kick off the next day with the lifestyle known as Brunch in DC. So it was off to The Heights, one of our very favorite neighborhood restaurants for any meal, but man can they poach an egg for Brunch. It was also the first place I had a Bloody Mary variation. Great place, amazing food, solid service. After Brunch we were heading to the DC Pride festival, the National Botanical Gardens, Eastern Market and then an early dinner at Sticky Rice (where I had my firstdrink of Sake, I might add). So it was going to be a full-ass day.I needed a drink.And I knew exactly what I was going to have: the Height’s Three Day Weekend. This is one of Joe’s favorite local Brunch drinks and now it’s one of mine. A frozen cocktail, the Three Day Weekend is frosty, sweet, slightly creamy and is basically a mango mojito.  Made with fresh mango juice, mango rum, lime and mint, this is one fantastic drink. Its sadly small, but it packs a tiny little coordinating punch. The rum is perfect, warming and caramely. The mint and mango go hand in hand and it’s frosty delivery is a really nice counterpoint to my Brunch Burger—burger, poached egg, bacon, potato pancake and hollandaise. Damn damn damn. That drink and that burger should be illegal. Or legal? Free?  Yeah, free. Angie loved her meal, and Joe and I were happy as usual at the food the atmosphere and being able to show The Heights off to loved ones and friends. And I was very happy to finally try that drink. Very happy indeed. It was going to be a long, hot day in the District taking in the sights and it was the perfect, frosty item to kick it off right. Cheers to our weekend with Angie! Cheers to you!Ben
Permalink HC CoolerI could eat BBQ every day. Literally. And yes, maybe I say that about lots of different foods—Chinese, Indian, pizza, burgers Chick-Fil-a, seafood and rice pudding to name a few—but that’s not the point. For the sake of this story, it’s BBQ all the way.BBQ!!!So, since I can’t eat it everyday, mostly because I need to fit in my clothes, I look for good excuses to go get BBQ when it’s more of an “occasion”. One of those good excuses is when friends are in town. As you may recall, our friend Angie was in town from Ohio for the weekend. We started off with some watered-down-sangria in the park. But for dinner, we were getting some stellar BBQ at Hill Country off Chinatown. We love this place. Its slightly cafeteria style, but the meat is house-smoked, hand carved and the multitude of southern sides are almost too amazing when you have to narrow it down, choosing 1-2 so you don’t overeating.We warned Angie that while delicious, her fingers will smell like smoke for at least 3 days after. A good smell of smoke, but they’re that good at smoking meats that your own fingers will smell like tasty sausages. In my case they already look like them, so it can often cause some early morning confusion. Thank god for pain reflex.And to be honest, I wasn’t even going to have a drink with dinner, but these days I at least scan the drink menu to make sure I’m not missing anything I just have to try for the blog. …And there it was.An HC Cooler… a little drink with vodka, Tang and a touch of fresh orange. Wait, Tang? Are you kidding me? Yes, apparently Tang. The delicious vaguely orange-like breakfast drink. Made famous by Astronauts and then more famous as sexual slang (feel free to look it up…) Tang clearly caught my eye.They jokingly called it a “Texas take on a classic screwdriver.” I don’t know how Texans would care for that—nor do I really care—but I was highly amused. And so another firstdrink it was! Light, a moderate alcohol kick and nicely Tang’ish. The real orange juice helped make the Tang a little more robust against the majority liquid of vodka. Again, I don’t terribly care for vodka, but when it’s paired with something like Tang, it’s far more fun than when left to it’s own devices. Oh, and the BBQ. Angie, Joe and I ate until we just about popped, smokey, bloated, happy, asking if Hill Country—who has some of the nicest, sweetest staff—had a carry out to the curbside option for patrons as well as takeout. No, apparently they do not. Oh, and I’m excited to mention that for the very first time I had dessert at Hill Country! I mention this accomplishment because normally I’m so full off collard greens, pork ribs, lean brisket, corn pudding and hot german potato salad that there is just no room available for ball jar banana pudding, lemon icebox pie, Texas sheet cake or pb&j cupcakes. I know… my Dad is hanging his head in shame for me admitting this. Sorry Dad. I’m a Bisbee, I should be built for dessert. But this place is so good, I fail and fail happy. But this time, I saw they had a lemon/lime tart and so I had to make it happen. And it was amazing. So I popped a button on my shirt. I’ll buy a new one. And maybe I’ll swing by Target for that shirt. And while there I’ll pick up a container of sweet, sweet Tang. Who knew.Cheers, Ben
Permalink Sangria RojoThere is something pretty damn awesome about seeing something you love through the eyes of someone else. This is why living in Washington, DC is so great. Not only does it have so many cool things to see and do, but it’s a destination city and so people sometimes come here anyway.And not just to see us. This was the case with our friend Angie. She was going to be just outside of DC for work early this week, but decided to come in early and spend the weekend with us visiting and taking in as much of the city as possible.And 20+ walking miles, 4 excellent meals out, invisible pandas and dodging millions of Girl Scouts later, I think she got her visit’s worth.One of the first things we did was take her to Jazz in the Garden at the National Gallery of Art’s Sculpture Garden down on 7th and Constitution. A favorite of Joe’s and mine and one of the very first things we did as tourists, it’s a really great time.Or I should say, it’s normally a good time. Eh, it wasn’t a bad time. But it was busy. Like too-many-people-in-the-pool-is-the-water-getting-warmer busy. I mean, every square inch of grass or place to sit or stand was occupied by 20+ somethings enjoying the weather and breathing each other’s air. It was intense. So busy there were dozens of people waiting to get in. Waiting. At the gate. Like it was a concert. It was insane. And the line to get sangria was just as bad, apparently. Thankfully, Joe and Angie had a full pitcher of sangria waiting for me by the time I got there. The sangria at Jazz in the Garden is famous. Not because it’s that great, but because it’s cheap and plentiful. Typically offering one variety, that night was red. But I’m being fancy and calling it sangria roja. I know, fancy. It was alright. Pretty watered down, nice tart sweetness from the wine, slightly alcoholy, and a touch of lemon. Alone, the sangria was just ok. But in the atmosphere of good friends and the masses it was fun, social, and really helped to kick-off summer. And Angie loved it. She was already quickly impressed with DC just off one event and the weekend was just getting started. In fact right after we headed over to Hill Country BBQ for some dinner and yet another firstdrink… but that my friends you’ll have to read about tomorrow with my HC Cooler post. Oh, and then I had another firstdrink on Saturday. But then, ironically, I rested on Sunday. So the DC Adventure with Angie continues. You’ll just have to wait. “Another 3 parter, Ben?!” Yes, shut your face. Just sit back and enjoy it. If nothing else you know it’ll have brief moments of amusement. Brief, but they’ll be there.Cheers, BenPS: 3 words: Charity Yappy Hour. 2 more: This Thursday. 5 final words: Your dog will thank you.
Permalink Boozy Rootbeer FloatThis week is insane. And I’m 3 firstdrink posts behind so this post is going to be quick and dirty. Enjoy.Ok, so yep, you read the drink right above. A boozy rootbeer float. It’s a shot of Jägermeister, a shot of Stoli Vanil vodka, over a scoop of vanilla ice cream and then fill it to the top with traditional rootbeer. I found a variation of this recipe on Pintrest.com and immediately knew I wanted to try it.  So as I was heading off to the Blue Banana for the weekly Yappy Hour last Thursday, I emailed Jamie in advance and asked if he was willing to make it. He was totally game and picked up a gallon of ice cream and a two liter of A&W.As you can see above, the drink was absolutely awesome looking and tasted even better.  Exactly like a rootbeer float with a slight kick.  As I’m sure you’re wondering, yes, the Jäger melds into the drink almost seamlessly. Its cold and refreshing. A perfect summer boozy drink. I’m not sure if it’ll make the Blue Banana special drink list, but I can promise you that if you bring in a scoop of ice cream and some rootbeer? They’ll serve you up one proper. And trust me when I say, it’s worth it. On a side note, a friend told me that if I’m officially trying to sneak liquor into typical drinks, I’m clearly losing my “virgin” status. He suggested changing the name of the blog to the “35yo Alcohol Whore”. Ha. I won’t deny that I’m far from a virgin now, but I ain’t no whore. At least not until I do something from an ice luge, funnel, or perform a keg-stand. Then we’ll talk.Cheers, BenPS: Come one, come all and bring your dogs out to June’s Charity Yappy Hour this Thursday from 6-9pm. And we’re excited to announce that we’re changing local charities and starting this summer we’re proud to be supporting the Washington Humane Society who is going to work directly with us to help promote the event and bring out some pet-loving supporters! 20% of the night’s proceeds will help support local animals! We hope to see you out this week!