Drink

[Sonosailor]

I am not sure whether this thread should be under Galley, Entertainment, or Medical.

Please, no comments about quitting. I was just recently telling somebody about my plans to cruise. I suggested that I might end up drinking too much. When they began offering solutions and consoling me, I said: "Oh, sorry, I'm not worrying or complaining; I'm just making plans."

What novel way do you have of acquiring, storing, serving and ingesting alcoholic beverages while cruising? What tips do you have for overcoming the ice cube habits and the pop habits?

My sailmaker, from Lunenberg, NS, tells me that the locals quickly wean you off putting pop in your rum, and also take ice only if offered. My wife is gonna scream if I just cut back the number of cubes in her rum and coke, although I have, at times, had her happy with just lemon or lime juice in her rum. I imagine lime will become a staple aboard. It is also quite useful for consuming fish.

We've been thinking of storing large volumes of home-made dry red wine aboard, but are not sure what storage vessels would work. Any ideas? The good things about red wine include no need for pop, ice, or refrigeration. We have toyed with the idea of a large reservoir and a dedicated tap with handpump. Anybody ever do that?

The red wine in some locations is high quality and low cost. I would likely buy lots in Martinique or Trinidad, and forget the home-made. I have just enough room below the floor boards for bottles and 2-litre boxes of wine.

I am hoping I will not be too finicky about my beer, and will learn to drink it warm. My father preferred it that way. If not, I will be powering up a lot.

What are the drinking habits aboard your boat?

[BC Mike]

Freeze the beer and use it as ice cubes. Drink the beer as it turns to liquid. Can't help you with the other stuff except to suggest you drink Canadian rye whiskey straight with a beer as a chaser. If you go to NZ they have a drink called Lemon and Pairoa, use that as mix for your rum and whiskey
BC Mike C

[delmarrey]

You could always carry liquid nitrogen.

[Sonosailor]

That's good - that's thinking out of the box. I wonder - any experience? How much would a litre cost, and how much value do you get out of it?

I just remember science class, and using the stuff to freeze and shatter carrots and hot dogs; although I once used it to say goodbye to a planter's wart. I suppose a little could make an ice cube in a hurry.

[Pblais]

Perhaps what works the best is what the sailors of old did. You ration it!

I did this for many years while mountaineering. Like the sea it's no place to be in a storm or a bad situation with too much to drink. You need a fit crew in the morning or a sudden storm.

We still had happy hour every day and it was always a nice event! We were reasonable but we did not go without. If you set limits it works. Designate the bartender to pour only measured amounts for each person. The limit can be adjusted but if you do it that way you can manage to keep it reasonable. Add more to the time with food and other things to make the time more fun with less to drink. It's about having fun and you sure want lots of that. Just add some things that don't have liquor in it to make it go farther.

Since we backpacked we usually just went with Scoth and Water. On a boat you can drink anything. We also were limited by the amount you can carry. for 4 people for two weeks it's easy to see that the math tells you that you can't drink heavily every day. 4 onces times 4 person is a pint per day time 14 pints and it gets to be a lot of weight.