Posting in AskAnAmerican because I’m sure bars in other countries may be different in what they carry and the culture around drinking will be different. I really just want USA-specific insights, so that’s why I’m not in AskReddit or NoStupidQuestions
I’m turning 21 in a year, so I’d like to see what people would recommend to someone who actually followed the law and never drank before turning 21. Also, what should someone avoid as their beverage of choice until they’re more experienced with alcohol? I’ll likely be back in a year to update y’all on how it went, but I just wanted to give y’all a year to come up with a consensus
45 comments
Malört shots. That’s my answer for both questions.
Start with something light, beer, cider or seltzer, don’t get super drunk your first time.
If you want to try cocktails start with the basics and branch out from there, you can find a list of the most common cocktails on the internet. Maybe a margarita or Martini to start. An old fashioned is the iconic cocktail.
I would advise that most alcohol tastes bad at first and is an acquired taste (except for, like, sugary cocktails and stuff). I guess I’d say to just try a variety of drinks and see what you like. I would also recommend not to get wrapped up in what you “should” like; some people can get very weird about what alcohol is good or bad to drink and it’s stupid. Disliking scotch or whatever doesn’t make you less of a man. If you only like to drink chardonnay it’s fine! Also if you try alcohol and it turns out you don’t like any of it, that is also perfectly fine.
Oh yeah also drink slowly. One drink (glass of wine, can of beer, shot of 40% abv liquor) per hour is recommended to avoid becoming intoxicated. Drink plenty of water. Don’t drink on an empty stomach. Absolutely do not drink and drive.
Ty a great craft beer. Get into the good habit of buying the occasional beer and enjoying Alcohol once in a while, rather than abusing it, which is easy to do with shitty beer.
Avoid E&J Brandy. That shit is fucking gross lol.
I would first tell them that you don’t have to drink alcohol to fit in, then I’d recommend anything with vodka to minimize their first hangover
Tropical drinks, rum runners, Mojitos or Pina coladas
My advice is that you don’t go wild. Getting sick from alcohol on your 21st birthday is a “rite of passage” best left in the past.
Here’s some important advice- don’t start your evening with beer or wine then switch to mixed drinks and hard liquor. Especially if you are not an experienced drinker. If you drink a substantial amount of alcohol quickly you will continue to get drunker after you stop drinking as it takes some time for the alcohol to hit.
Also, “Doing shots” is not something you do with good liquor.
my first was a whiskey and cola mix. any hard liquors you’d want to mix with something else to mask the taste until you become acclimated to it. no shame in ordering a light beer either
Start with any [drink that doesn’t taste like alcohol](https://tinroofdrinkcommunity.com/drinks-that-dont-taste-like-alcohol/).
Avoid all [drinks that don’t taste like alcohol](https://tinroofdrinkcommunity.com/drinks-that-dont-taste-like-alcohol/).
– If you’re looking to avoid tasting alcohol without being bombarded with either sugar or strong flavors, you can’t really go wrong with a moscow mule or a gin & tonic.
– It’s worth trying beer to see if you like it.
– If you’re tipsy & want to be a bit more intoxicated, don’t go for hard liquor. Lower ABVs will slow you down & give time for the alcohol already in your system to be felt, so that you won’t overshoot & be sick.
Cider. Vodka & cranberry. Avoid: goldschläger, rumplemintz, tequila, Jaegermeister
Beer. Any beer, really.
Avoid hard liquor. You’ll only drink too much.
I started off with White claws and Modelo. But now that I’ve tried a bunch of stuff, Rum and Coke is probably the best first drink.
I’d say you’ve got to try all the different kinds. Some you’ll like and some you won’t. The caveat is don’t mix alcohols. If you’re drinking beer, stick with beer for the day. Try liquors another time.
TikTok recently taught me that tequila is for sipping, not for shots.
My preferred drink is rum and cola.
Start with beer. Start with cheap beer. This is alcohol at its lowest common denominator. Cheap beer is the drink of the people. Tell them to develop a taste for shitty beer and go from there.
When it comes to shots, think singular, not plural.
Mix hard liquor with something- e.g., rum and Coke, gin and tonic.
Eat while you drink- at least get an appetizer or something. The food acts as a sponge for alcohol.
I think I started with lighter beers (e.g. Labatt Blue) and cider. Those are readily available, and if you don’t feel like drinking much and don’t want to be pressured, you can hold and sip from a bottle for ages and not be bothered.
Can’t go wrong with American or German lagers and pilsners as a first
I’d recommend a drink called Twenty Grand (cognac and vodka mixed). That stuff is dangerously smooth. Best I’ve ever had. Drank it straight out the bottle without so much as a wince of discomfort.
I know a 21 year old might not be able to afford much luxuries in life. but the cheapest of cheap alcohol like the “40s” you see at gas stations, One Cup Sake, bottom shelf hard liquor, that shit tastes nasty.
The major brand of beers from the Miller/Coors/Bud line are fairly inoffensive. Most of them won’t taste BAD. Just pretty generic and like nothing.
Be careful with local craft beers, some of them can really stack up in the alcohol.
You don’t need top shelf stuff, but I think spending a few bucks more than the cheapest is worth it.
Trader Joe’s and Costco have great deals for wine, and wine is probably something that I can drink the cheap shit and it mostly tastes fine. I did try the Two Buck wine at Target recently and that shit fucking sucked. But like the Costco boxed wine? Yeah, I’ll drink that.
Wine is a good drink to nurse throughout a meal or while watching a movie. Red pairs well with red meat, whites stuff like pasta.
Can’t go wrong with an old fashioned. Or a margarita.
Remember:
Liquor before beer, you’re in the clear.
Beer before liquor, ~~you’re in the clear~~ never been sicker
*That said,* don’t go crazy if you don’t want to be sick. Hydrate while drinking – that means *water*, not soda or juice! It also helps to have a snack while drinking, or else immediately before. Don’t drink on an empty stomach or you’ll find yourself real drunk real quick.
The first cocktail I ever tried was a midori sour. Mojitos are also good but don’t order one unless the bar isn’t busy because they’re a pain in the ass to make. Margaritas are awesome but your mileage may vary depending on the bar. At any rate, just remember cocktails will get you drunker faster than beer or wine, so be careful not to overdo it.
Beer is great but there are a lot of styles and flavor variations within those styles. You’ll probably see IPAs a lot. IPAs range in flavor from citrus to straight up grass and dirt. I love em but they’re not for everyone. Pilsners, lagers, and ales in general are pretty good. Darker beers like stouts and porters tend to have a thicker mouthfeel and taste kind of bready.
Wine is also fantastic but not from a bar (bars tend to have extremely limited wine menus, usually something local and cheap). Wine tasting is a whole thing that I won’t attempt to cover here but if you get a chance, doing wine tasting at a vineyard is usually a good time.
Liquor.. liquor is one of those things where you really do get what you pay for. Cheap liquor (jack Daniels, johnny walker black, capn morgan, sailor jerrys, jameson – anything $30/bottle (retail! You will not buy a bottle of jameson at a bar for $30) or less, typically) is better for shots or cocktails. Good sipping liquors in my experience start around the $60/bottle range.
I would say, stick to “traditional” liquors like vodka whiskey and tequila and gin and recognizable drinks like martinis and old fashioneds, and make sure you don’t get them too strong; and avoid overly fruity sugary artificial weird liquors and liqueurs and ciders and malts that come in colorful plastic bottles and weird fruity cocktails etc. I guess as you get more experienced you can try stuff but many young people make big mistakes with things like sour apple pucker or peach schnapps or weird pina coladas.
Over time, try a lot of different types of wine (e.g. cabernet vs merlot vs pinot noir etc) and see what you like. Same goes with beer (lagers and IPAs and stouts etc). There are so many types, it’s great to try all sorts. I guess this is kind of the opposite of my liquor advice
Try a French 75 if you want a mixed drink, it’s my favorite cocktail.
Get a nice fruity cocktail. Mojitos are great if you don’t want something really sweet. All alcohol is nasty overall especially if you’re not used to it, and cocktails mask the taste so you can get the buzz without the taste.
Don’t take fireball whiskey.
I can tell you what not to order. Long Island Ice Tea. Don’t make the mistake that I did and think this is just tea with a little bit of alcohol. LOL!
Long island iced tea. Go big or go home. Lol
Jagerbombs and Caribou Lou
Have you ever heard of a chilly Willy shot? You can’t go wrong with that, just make sure it’s top shelf vodka.
Also… drink with friends you trust.
Actual use of what many consider a “date rape drug” is pretty rare. By far the most common substance that predators will use is just plain old alcohol. These predators are looking for an easy mark, so don’t overdo it, avoid the temptation to “do shots” (you won’t enjoy them and they will likely give you a hangover the next day), and stay close to your friends.
If you have a sweet tooth, I might try sweeter drinks to begin with. But beware that they can fuck you up waaay faster because they’re more palatable.
*Sweeter alcohol may include:*
Ciders (dry ciders are more sour)
Light beers (Blue Moon is a very popular starter beer) (also look for lower IBU and/or ABV)
Sweet wines like Moscato and Porto
Light wines like Chardonnay, Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Rosé
*If you’re interested in cocktails I might recommend:*
Screwdriver
Mojito
Mai Tai
Piña Colada
Margarita (lots of different kinds)
You might ask it to made softer or lighter (as opposed to harder) so the alcohol flavor isn’t as forward.
These recs are largely based on my own experience not liking hard alcohol by itself nor very bitter or vinegary flavors.
It’s harder to overdrink with something like beer, so I’d go with something like that. You don’t want to do something where it’s easy to get way drunker than you expect, and things like vodka do make that easy. Besides, beer is easygoing and social and a bit of an acquired taste.
I love rum and coke, cider, blue lagoon, and cosmopolitans. These are all rather sweet so you might enjoy them
You don’t *have* to drink at all. There, I said it, now I’ll answer your question.
Try a lot of things (not all at once). You may find you have a taste for one thing and not for another. You may find your tastes change over time.
You could start with cider, which is relatively sweet and has a modest amount of alcohol.
Get in the habit of alternating one alcoholic drink with one glass of water. This will slow down your intake, save you money, and reduce the inevitable hangover effects.
If you’re at a bar, tell the bartender you haven’t drunk before and to suggest something that someone new to alcohol might like. Tell them to keep it in your budget, though, whatever that budget may be. You can also look specifically for a bar that does tasting flights, which is usually 3 to 6 small sized drinks.
If you’re drinking at home, see if there’s any place that lets you build a six pack and put in a few different styles of beer and one or two ciders. I’m not a big beer fan, but I like pilsners for being mild in taste.
If you want to try wines, a Moscato is very sweet if you find sweet appealing, otherwise, I’d buy a red and a white of either barefoot brand or Trader Joe’s brand. These are both decent at a fairly low price and the taste difference between red and white is the single most obvious thing to taste between wines.
Alcohol alone is sweet and bitter, so any alcoholic drink is going to have at least hints of both of those. I’ve got a friend who’s very sensitive to bitter. The only drink she hasn’t found absolutely disgusting is a Mississippi mudslide, which is mostly ice cream.
Avoid starting with overly sugary drinks like daquiris or similar. Yes, they are tasty, and there’s nothing wrong with drinking them regardless of your gender or “manliness.” However, if you have little experience with drinking, it’s way too easy to get way too drunk and ruin the fun.
I would recommend something like Rum & Coke that is still somewhat familiar but might offer a bit of “resistance” in your initial enjoyment without being entirely offputting. It’ll make it a little easier to pace yourself that way.
Also, don’t start with beer, get a little drunk, and then move on to the harder stuff. That’s a surefire way to end up laying on the bathroom floor in front of the toilet by the end of the night.
Rum and coke with a lime-Cuba Libre
I don’t like alcohol that much but some drinks can be good or at least good enough. I prefer thungs sweeter, not boozy tasting, and not dry. I also tend to dislike beer for its usually bitter taste.
* Long island iced tea
* Mojito
* Sangria
* Dark and Stormy
* Hard lemonades
* Hard Cider (ask server which one they have that is least dry)
* Moskau Mule
* Rum
* Wine
7&7
Edit: For a tip, never use a straw
Just know this: alcohol disrupts the brain’s regulation of kidney function, the kidneys are left “on”, constantly filtering water out of your blood. It makes you pee a lot, and this is how you become dehydrated and lose water soluble electrolytes. This is what partly leads to the “hang over”. If you do heavy drinking try to end your night with Pedialyte.
Avoid it all.
Fellow autistic female here. I enjoyed drinking in college because it eased my social anxiety and helped me “be normal” and fit in. I would have been much better served by treating my social anxiety – turns out it magically disappeared with a low dose antidepressant. Wish I’d figured that out BEFORE developing bad drinking habits.
If you have social anxiety, please deal with it before giving alcohol a chance to become a crutch.
As for what to try, tastes vary so widely (as demonstrated by this thread.) Do you want to mask the flavor or taste it? Do you want fruity or chocolatey or savory? What is your ultimate goal?
If you’re near Decatur, I recommend Brick Store on the square. The servers there are super knowledgeable, esp re beer.
I would recommend feeling no pressure to drink.
The best place to have a first drink is in a situation that makes the second drink unwise. My first drink was a mimosa served at the church luncheon after some of us were confirmed. (They call us Whiskeypalians for some reason.) Drinking with friend who know when to stop is also recommended.