Comments on: Good Non-Carbonated Drinks

Question: Good Non-Carbonated Drinks

decathecting — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 14:18:07 -0800

What are some good non-carbonated drinks?

I'm on a new medication that makes anything carbonated taste flat and metallic. That means that most of the things I used to drink, both alcoholic and non-, now taste like crap. Help me find some new drinks.

I used to be a huge Diet Coke drinker, all day, every day. I've been drinking a lot of water at work, but that gets boring. Prefer something without a lot of calories, and I hate coffee.

For alcohol, I usually drank beer, rum and coke, or gin and tonic. All of those now taste terrible. Wine still tastes fine, and I like that, but I spend a lot of time hanging out in dive bars where I need to be able to drink something a little more lowbrow. What are some non-carbonated drinks I might like that won't make my bartender roll his eyes at me? I prefer not to drink a lot of juice because it's too sweet, but something with a little juice mixed with other stuff might be okay. Thanks!

By: captaincrouton

captaincrouton — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 14:27:06 -0800

whisky sour

By: disaster77

disaster77 — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 14:27:21 -0800

As someone who can't drink a lot of carbonated beverages, when I get bored of water I drink Vitamin Water, PowerAde and Gatorade Rain.

By: bkeene12

bkeene12 — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 14:28:17 -0800

Zico Pure Coconut Water. Drinking some right now. If you want to "liquor up" add some rum- you will feel as if you are at the beach. If you want to quench your thirst squeeze in some lime.

By: chundo

chundo — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 14:31:11 -0800

You might like a Gimlet - basically either vodka or gin with sweetened lime juice. I'm usually a vodka tonic or gin and tonic guy, and I like it quite a bit.

By: chundo

chundo — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 14:31:57 -0800

Also, try tea at work.

By: spec80

spec80 — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 14:41:37 -0800

Seconding Vitamin Water, but I think the dark red ones taste the best. Do not get the lemonade. It tastes like lies.

Also, Pom Teas are mad delicious. My favorite is the Pomegranate Green Lychee Tea. I have only seen them at Whole Foods and you get the keep the glass after!

By: rossination

rossination — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 14:45:49 -0800

Although water does indeed get boring after a while, this is a great way to get yourself to drink less pop. I say this as a person who drinks about 2-3 cans of Diet Coke a day.

If water is boring, try adding a squirt of lemon or lime - even the bottled stuff is good for this.

Obviously this will not do in a dive bar, though. :)

By: Cat Pie Hurts

Cat Pie Hurts — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 14:46:58 -0800

Non-alc - Crystal Light Peach Tea - Tastes exactly the same as Snapple Peach.

By: scarabic

scarabic — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 14:52:14 -0800

I like the Vitamin Water beverages. They're refreshing, not too sweet, and they're fortified.

By: mmascolino

mmascolino — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 14:53:01 -0800

Coffee with liquor in it? perhaps some sort of liquor straight up?

By: chairface

chairface — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 14:54:53 -0800

You might try Guinness which uses a mix of carbon dioxide and nitrogen for carbonization. But if it were me and I couldn't drink fizzy booze, I'd go for the bloody mary.

By: jpep

jpep — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 14:59:00 -0800

whiskey, neat.

By: Becko

Becko — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 15:02:15 -0800

Tea, either hot or iced are great. If you want caffeine, I'd recommend black teas. However, green teas and white teas have a lot less caffeine, but also aren't quite as strong as black tea. There are a lot of great flavored teas, Republic of Tea has a great selection.

Propel is a really good drink. It's made by the same people who make Gatorade, but it's just a flavored water. I am picky about my flavored waters, because so many taste weird to me, but I love Propel, especially grape or lemon.

By: chundo

chundo — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 15:03:34 -0800

whiskey, neat.

Also one of my favorites (and will give you more street cred at a dive bar), but it can take awhile to appreciate if you usually only do mixed drinks...

By: sourwookie

sourwookie — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 15:19:52 -0800

I'm a huge fan of Propel, and when I'm sure no one's looking, (sugar free) Hawaiian Punch.

By: mdonley

mdonley — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 15:31:33 -0800

At home, ice cold skim milk.

By: milarepa

milarepa — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 15:58:00 -0800

Green tea, wine, whiskey.

You'll never need another liquid.

By: lekvar

lekvar — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 16:01:57 -0800

Mint tea in the afternoon is just about all that keeps me form going postal at work. Very refreshing and relaxing.

By: cgg

cgg — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 16:16:21 -0800

Nestea Zero. It's become my replacement drink since I was forced to give up my Coke Zero habit (4+ cans a day). It's flavored with Splenda (instead of aspartame) and even my bf, who despises all "diet" drinks, says it's not bad and is in fact drinkable. It doesn't have as much caffeine as (Diet or Zero) coke, but it does have enough to keep me alert during the day.

By: elendil71

elendil71 — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 16:17:47 -0800

Single malt Scotch neat (well, traditionally with just a hint of cold water), Irish whiskey on the rocks (one or two rocks, no more). I abhore bourbon.

Love da Vitamin Water, drinking one now.

Herb tea - my fave now being Celestial Seasonings Peach Apricot Honeybush, perhaps more for the name because it sounds like the next Bond girl ;)

By: Industrial PhD

Industrial PhD — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 16:28:45 -0800

Sobe / Sobe lean, or Fuzion if you have it in your area.

By: muteh

muteh — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 16:33:14 -0800

but it can take awhile to appreciate if you usually only do mixed drinks
if you've got a good reason not to turn your nose up instantly it doesn't take long, honestly

By: Deathalicious

Deathalicious — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 16:37:42 -0800

Get your hands on a few Celestial Seasonings Herbal Teas variety packs. Once you've found a flavor you like, you can make your own dirt cheap "iced tea" by throwing a bag of tea into a half-liter bottle of water, adding sugar to taste (that is, if you'd normally use 4t of sugar for that much liquid, add it. If you want to go diet, Splenda or Stevia instead of sugar). If you leave the tea for 3-4 hours it will brew nice and dark and flavorful without having to be heated up at all.

For drinks, manly non-carbonated drinks include the Manhattan and the martini. Margaritas have a small amount of carbonation in them but it usually is so mild you won't notice.

By: armage

armage — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 16:37:45 -0800

Go to an Asian supermarket and buy a two-liter container of green tea or barley tea. Or you could buy bags and brew your own. Oolong tea also goes quite well with a relatively tasteless liquor like vodka (best with Japanese shochu, in my opinion) in a highball glass. You probably won't be able to find that at your local bar, I'm afraid...

By: jonmc

jonmc — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 16:39:05 -0800

alcoholic: Jamesons, neat.

non-alcoholic: Naked Juice is good.

By: oneirodynia

oneirodynia — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 16:40:56 -0800

Dive bars can usually manage a nice Manhattan.

By: dirtynumbangelboy

dirtynumbangelboy — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 16:57:49 -0800

Margaritas have a small amount of carbonation in them but it usually is so mild you won't notice.
posted by Deathalicious at 7:37 PM on April 13

In what universe?

By: headspace

headspace — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 17:06:04 -0800

I like Fruit 2O, the Dasani flavored waters, etc., etc.. Folgers also makes coffee bag singles now (like tea bags) that taste really good. And mint tea is a real pick me up. By the way, if you're taking Topamax, I discovered that a regular Coke is okay for a sip or two, as is Dr. Pepper. But don't go for the third sip. *shudder*

By: kidsleepy

kidsleepy — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 17:41:44 -0800

Seconding Vitamin Water, but I think the dark red ones taste the best. Do not get the lemonade. It tastes like lies.

@spec80 - i hope that isn't a typo for limes, because something that tastes like lies sounds much cooler!

By: WaterSprite

WaterSprite — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 18:18:11 -0800

Honest Tea Black Forest Berry with vodka (or without). One 16 oz bottle only has 16 grams of sugar/carbs, and it's DELICIOUS, tastes like fruit juice without the acidity. Sometimes I throw in a little piece of lemon for a bit of tartness.

By: oldtimey

oldtimey — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 20:14:58 -0800

You can buy little packets of Propel-drink-powder to add to plain water -- also, Target has the generic "fitness water" equivalent packets, and there's at least one other supermarket generic as well. A box of 10 packets costs about $3 (here). The stuff has B vitamins and makes water taste good.

By: commander_cool

commander_cool — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 20:44:09 -0800

Sugar-free Grape Kool-Aid. As a bonus, if you drink enough, it'll turn your pee blue and grape-smelling.

By: Four-Eyed Girl

Four-Eyed Girl — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 20:50:23 -0800

decathecting, thanks for this question! I believe I'm on the same medication as you, and even though I've been on it for years, I never thought to ask this question on here. These answers have really helped me out.

By: winks007

winks007 — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 21:25:58 -0800

Long Island Iced Tea, neat and hold the coke.

By: winks007

winks007 — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 21:38:07 -0800

Deathalicious, I think there are some health risks associated with sun-tea style brewing. My Lipton tea used to say something to like "when making sun tea - discard tea within 24 hours and wash container." I brew my own tea, add a lot of sugar 1.5 cups per gallon, refrigerate, and I'm set.

BTW, I just checked and it's not there anymore.

By: ikkyu2

ikkyu2 — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 09:30:40 -0800

Cask-conditioned ales, the ones that need to be drawn with a hand pump. They're still cool and hoppy and delicious but they have low to zero carbonation.

By: SisterHavana

SisterHavana — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 11:38:19 -0800

Wyler's Light Pink Lemonade. Love it.

I'm also a big fan of cranberry juice and juice blends - I go for the 100% juices though.