Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with beverage

I'd like a cold beverage by my bedside in the middle of the night.

Fortnight Bender — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 20:13:29 -0800

I wake up in the middle of the night thirsty occasionally. I like my beverage cold. I don't want to have to stumble to the kitchen for satisfaction. Is there a single bottle or can cooler that will suit my need? Any recommendations? I've checked the usual online retailers and while there are some, it's difficult to tell if any are actually good. A dorm sized fridge seems like overkill for what I want. There are wine bottle coolers, but I don't know if that would be suitable. I mostly would like to use a 16 oz screw cap type water bottle, but a 12 oz can cooler might work as well. I really like my drink to be so cold it hurts my teeth, but I suspect the coolers I'm seeing online won't go that far. I could pack a bottle in ice before retiring, but doing that every night plus the ensuing mess might not be worth it. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Like a caramel apple in a can.

eschatfische — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 21:06:12 -0800

The first night I was in Japan on vacation, I got a drink out of a vending machine that was a combination of apple juice and condensed milk. It was surprisingly good, and while I looked for another can throughout our stay in Japan, I never saw that combination again. What did I drink, and how can I get some in America?

Low-priced drink not such a good deal afterall

Anonymous — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 07:44:52 -0800

What ingredient is it in Sobe drinks that consistently gives me diarrhea? [maybe not NSFW, but a bit graphic] Any time I have a Sobe drink (in the past it has been their Pina Colada flavor, but today it was their Raspberry Lemonade), a couple of hours later I have to camp out in the loo with bowel-clearing diarrhea. I'm thinking maybe it's their artificial sweetener...? (Today I got lucky in that I only drank about half of the 20oz bottle)

A quick Google search for "sobe diarrhea" brings a lot of hits but no definitive answers. Some other people mention being hit with nausea as well, but I guess I'm lucky just to get the big d.

Any ideas as to what the possible suspect ingredient might be? (The only other foodstuff that consistently gives me similar problems, though not as bad, is onions.)

Here's the ingredients of today’s Raspberry Lemonade drink:

filtered water

erythritol

lemon juice concentrate

pear juice concentrate

natural flavor

pectin

REB A (purified Stevia extract)

potassium citrate

calcium lactate

gum arabic

ascorbic acid (to protect flavor)

black carrot juice concentrate (color)

lycopene (color)

Tap that.

furnace.heart — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 11:44:02 -0800

How to make a (non-beer) tap? Is it possible to make a beer-tap style beverage dispenser for a non-carbonated beverage?

I'm constructing a soda water dispenser, and have a beer tower tap, with two faucets on it, for all intensive purposes, similar to this one. One faucet will be used for a soda water, this leaves me one tap to have some fun with.

Just to be explicit, I'm not looking to use this as a beer tap right now, that's another project entirely.

Is it possible to (inexpensively, hopefully) turn this extra faucet into a non-carbonated beverage tap?

Pimp my lemonade

np312 — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 20:38:53 -0800

Best non-alcoholic ingredients to add to lemonade to make it extra-delicious? So I've decided to have a special lemonade stand at my summer wedding, specifically for before the ceremony when guests are arriving but before the bar area opens (no alcohol can be served prior to ceremony according to my venue's rules.) The lemonade will be provided by the caterer in a glass dispenser, but it's up to me to provide add-ins that people can muddle into their glass as they desire. Here's what I've brainstormed so far:
--Berries (Blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, etc)
--Perrier
--Lavender syrup
--Ginger syrup
--Mint
--Honey/Agave

Any other interesting ideas?

Bonus points if you can come up with a name for the lemonade stand that basically equates to "Pimp your lemonade."

Thanks!

How do I overcome the limitations of my upbringing and make Ayran palatable?

jason's_planet — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 14:16:46 -0800

How do I make Ayran drinkable? I have a bottle of Ayran in my fridge. Specifically, this brand.

The last time I tried Ayran straight, at a Turkish restaurant in Brooklyn several years ago, I thought it was simply godawful. Sour, nasty, overly-tart. I have an all-American palate; I didn't grow up drinking this. I rather doubt that I'll ever acquire a taste for the unadulterated version. But I would like to try adding things to this drink to see if I can make it palatable.

What are some recipes for lassi/ayran style yogurt drinks that might appeal to someone who doesn't regularly drink it? I'm particularly interesting in learning about mint-based recipes. Extra bonus points for recipes that don't rely on large doses of sugar; I do love the stuff but I know that it isn't good for me.

Many thanks in advance!

Mmmm, tonic water my favorite.

zinon — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:43:27 -0800

I like the taste of tonic water, but don't like all the sugar and carbonation. What else can I try? I'm not a supertaster, but I can tell the difference between quinine and quinine hydrochloride in supermarket tonic waters (I prefer quinine). And I've been drinking diet tonic water as less sugar is preferred. Please, non-alcoholic beverages only, also I don't drink coffee or tea.

I've recently started adding a tablespoon of vinegar to a 1 liter of water. And, while, I like the taste of it I'm looking to expand my options.

Help me identify this sweet drink made from dissolving an orange solid!

cuculine — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 23:13:17 -0800

What was this home-made drink I drank in the 90s? It was made from dissolving a powdery orange 'rock'! In the early 90s, my mother brought home what appeared to be (to me, a young child at the time) a rectangle of orange-ish powdery 'rock.' (It was not actually a stone, but it was definitely solid, and my mother told me it was a rock.) She broke it into pieces and put one chunk into a pot of water, then boiled it. After the rock dissolved, she poured the water into a pitcher and let it chill in the fridge. The drink was sweet, almost like sweet tea, although there were no sweeteners added. It was all I drank at the time. I keenly remember how disappointed I was when we ran out the rock, especially when my mother said she couldn't buy it anymore.

I had almost forgotten this food memory. Now that I recall this drink so vividly, I want to find it again. I asked my mother about it, but her memory is spotty nowadays and she only vaguely remembers what I'm talking about - nothing specific about the 'rock' she purchased, just that "it's not an American thing." My mother did all of her food shopping in Asian grocery stores and weekend Mexican outdoor markets. I could've sworn she told me, as a child, that this mysterious drink was either something from her childhood or something that made her think of her childhood (she is from Taiwan), but she doesn't remember telling me this.

What was this drink? Anybody have a clue?

TervisTumblerFilter

answergrape — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 14:14:13 -0800

I have a 20-oz Starbucks Tervis tumbler. I want to replace the lid/straw with a "travel lid" since I'm trying to go straw-free. I see travel lids for the 24 oz. Tervis tumblers and I wonder if the 24 oz. lid would fit. Anyone got the 24 oz tumbler? What's the lid diameter/circumference (my cup diameter is ~9.5 cm)? Anyone else find another lid for the special-snowflake Starbucks 20 oz. tumbler?

Why do people put pepper in beer

Raichle — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 16:48:11 -0800

Anybody know why old-timers put black pepper in their beer? Mainly see it in 70+ war vets, but I suppose the question could apply to anybody.

Rum Punch Recipe or Ingredients from an Excursion in the Bahamas

purefusion — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 08:16:21 -0800

Need a recipe or ingredients for a creamy-tasting rum punch my wife and I enjoyed while on a snorkeling excursion in Nassau, Bahamas. My wife and I went on a Royal Caribbean cruise, and one of our stops was Nassau, Bahamas. While there, we went on a snorkeling excursion, during which they offered a refreshing rum punch beverage. We had ours without the rum, but it was still really good, and as I recall it had a somewhat creamy flavor to it. Several times, we have craved this beverage, but I haven't got the skills to even try to recreate it.

I have no idea what the ingredients were, but it definitely contained some form of (generic) fruit or tropical punch, as I remember seeing a gallon jug of the red punch. I have seen several recipes for "rum punch" whilst googling, but none of them seem all that close to what we had. Heck, even the rum punch thread on here doesn't seem much similar to what we had. Again, I remember it having somewhat of a "creamy" flavor to it, and that's probably the main ingredient I cannot place, but I'm not entirely sure.

So I figured I would try asking here. Maybe someone has been on this particular excursion, or otherwise knows how to make a good "creamy" rum punch (rum optional, as I said, it was really delicious even without the rum). I just can't place exactly what those other ingredients were.

So, anyone got a recipe or at least some ideas of what ingredients might have been involved (besides the rum and punch, of course)?

How can I make restaurant-style Thai iced tea?

karizma — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 15:36:29 -0800

I need your help making Thai iced tea like that served in Thai restaurants! Can you help? Hello folks,

I would like to be able to make the same kind of Thai iced tea at home that I order in Thai restaurants.

Typically, the Thai iced tea I have in Thai restaurants is tan to almost orange in color and has a float of white cream (of some sort) on top. It's sweet, full tea-flavored, and sometimes a bit spicy.

I Googled Thai iced tea recipes and in the common recipes I've found, there are these ingredients:

- Thai tea (I purchased Thai tea bags from an Asian grocer)
- Water
- Sugar
- Sweetened condensed milk
- Evaporated milk or cream

I have purchased all of these ingredients and have tried several recipes with slightly different directions and steep times. Unfortunately, my Thai iced tea is still not coming out right. Its watery, bland, and not nearly close to the same flavor or color as the iced tea served at Thai restaurants I've been to.

I'm starting to think that I either have the wrong kind of tea or I need to purchase some sort of super-secret Thai iced tea concentrate that maybe the restaurants are using.

Can you help me sort this out?

BTW, I'm in the Seattle area if that helps.

Thanks!

Granny's Glasses...wine glasses, that is

Miko — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 18:24:31 -0800

Can you identify these wine (water? sherry? liqueur?) glasses? Pics 1, 2, 3, 4. They are from before 1960 and feature an etched design and, oddly, rose pink bases. Bonus question: what beverages are the different sizes/shapes meant to contain? These were my grandmother's, and she'd had them when my mother was a kid, so we know they were around before 1960. Over the years, many of them have broken and disappeared. I'm down to four of the larges and six each of the two smaller sizes. I would really like to know the name of the pattern and where it originally came from so I can track down some replacements. I scour antique shops for these glasses and still have never seen even one to match.

The etched pattern (best visible in #3) looks pretty Art Deco to me. They seem to be crystal or at least very nice quality, very clear and shiny glass. The rose base has sort of a matte finish and a radiating mold pattern underneath, but no maker's mark at all. These could be middle-of-the-road quality glasses from some department store, because my forebears weren't rich, but they could also have a been a splurge - they were lace-curtain Irish. The family has been in the Northeast since 1900 so I've often wondered if they came from a regional store.

Thanks for any help you can give. I know IDing dishware is often a needle in a haystack errand.

O So Clearly Canadian

xiaolongbao — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 21:33:45 -0800

Where can I buy Clearly Canadian in NYC? I must have some Clearly Canadian. Would like to pick some up locally, otherwise will order online, as I've seen can be done.

Jersey might also work. I know distribution is way more limited than it was in the 90s, when I last enjoyed it, and the packaging's changed, but, any leads?

I'll call the distributor listed on the website if I have to, but hoped some of you would have a source or have seen it around.

Any ideas for sparkling beverages that come close (hard to rival, I know, but still) are also welcome.

TIA!

Wine needed for arts event. Free is best.

soleiluna — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 20:48:10 -0800

I've been tasked with securing in-kind beverage donations / beverage sponsorship for an event at a music & dance education non-profit, and I'm failing pretty badly. I lack useful contacts in the beer/wine/liquor industry, and I lack knowledge of what companies generally support small arts nonprofits in this fashion. As an added bonus, our organization is fairly new. Please give me advice on how to not suck at this... I volunteer in development for a small, incredibly new arts non-profit. It's basically volunteer powered.

I've been tasked with finding in-kind donations of beer, wine, and spirits for a free event in a month and a half. I was given this same task for the org's first event and failed miserably, due in part to lack of lead time and the fact that the organization was brand new. I have a bit of experience in other aspects of development, but none in corporate sponsorship at all. And I clearly am lacking this natural skillset, evidenced by my abject failure.

We have another event approaching, and I'm not doing so well this second time around either. I've emailed as many of the local beer and spirits companies as I can think of, to either no response (mostly) or "thanks but no." In the pitch I sent, we're offering branding opportunities in our print and digital material, and our audience is a fairly desirable demographic/location. There's also all sorts of altruistic reasons why to support us, which I've included in the pitch as well. This time I've expanded the type of beverage companies in order to target some up-and-coming types of liquor that also happen to be somewhat ethnically relevant to the event itself. No takers so far.

I've asked colleagues in the field for advice. My day job (similar industry, very established company) has never been able to secure this type of donation, and the only orgs I've seen do this successfully are the symphony/opera/very large organizations.

I floated the idea of asking our board and/or other volunteers for donations, either cash or in kind, to cover the beverage need for the first event (based on a model of another org I know), but our executive director thought it was hugely inappropriate, since we're all already giving our time.

The beverages are going to be given away at the event, hence the "donation" goal rather than merely buying the cheapest thing we can find at Trader Joe's and selling it for 3x the cost.

Any words of wisdom on how to get better at this skill, and how to actually find any donors for our event?

Any recommendations of companies that are receptive to this sort of in-kind donation request?

Is this even a realistic goal, securing beverage sponsorship/large beverage donation for a new and mostly unproven organization?

Any other creative ideas for how to meet this beverage need in a low to no cost fashion? (Besides Two Buck Chuck.)

What can I do to not suck at this and get someone - anyone - to donate beverages to our cause?

(I'm in San Francisco, if it matters.)

The gateway drug.

cmoj — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 11:33:41 -0800

Help me get my caffeine. I drink a lot of tea that I brew quite strong, but sometimes I like a pretty good dose of caffeine, and I'd rather not drink energy drinks (though that's what I do when such a desire arises). What can I do without drinking gallons of tea?

I'm not really into coffee. I'd prefer an organic solution, though as long as I'm loading my body with caffeine, I'm not going to worry about it if it's better than the chemistry-set-in-a-can energy drinks.

No Sugar, No Caffeine Nowhere to be found.

Jezztek — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:30:44 -0800

Where can I find sugar and caffeine free fountain drinks? I crave the occasional fountain soda. It is an itch that just can't be scratched by bottled/canned or non-carbonated beverages. The problem is my doctor recently pulled me off caffeine, ending my twenty year love affair with that sweet stimulant, and I hate sugary sodas (ugh, so thick and sticky).

So now it is much harder to find a fountain drink that meets my needs (diet versions of clear sodas, grape/orange flavors or rootbeers tend to be good). The two places I've found are Panera Bread (diet-caffeine free coke) Sonic Drive through (Diet Sprite). Anyone else know of any others I may have missed here this part of the country (I'm in central Ohio) especially a convenience store-gas station chain open late?

Thanks much!

Margarita etiquette

Miko — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 09:33:45 -0800

Is there a proper etiquette for drinking a salt-rimmed margarita - especially when served with a straw? Am I doin it rong? I love margaritas; they're my favorite cocktail and a special summer pleasure. But what I love about them, specifically, is the mix of a few grains of crunchy crushed salt from the rim combined with citrusy-sweet liquid. Margaritas taste best to me when both flavors combine in each sip.

Because of this I have been known to lick salt from the rim of the glass, or rotate the glass so I can sip all the way around the rim and eventually get all the salt. But I feel self-conscious doing this. Especially when they serve the drink with a straw, which would indicate that you're expected just to draw liquid through the straw and be satisfied with whatever hints of salt fall into the drink and dissolve.

I'm worried that I'm being gauche in my ardent pursuit of the salt-citrus combo. Is there a right way to do this? There are a lot of cocktails these days with something (salt, brown sugar, flavored sugar, etc) on the rim. If you see people discarding the straw and drinking from the rim of the glass, do you point and laugh? Is there any sort of consensus on polite ways to imbibe cocktails with some sort of flavoring on the rim? T

Root Beer!

serazin — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 21:02:44 -0800

We're makin' root beer! (Help?) Me and my buddy want to make our own root beer, and possibly also ginger beer or other soda-type beverages. I would love any suggestions you have to offer: books we should check out, relevant websites, favorite recipes, particular products we need, etc. Please share your home root beer brewing stories, warnings, advice, etc below. Thank you!

Does all fortified wine taste like raisins?

DeucesHigh — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 05:06:50 -0800

Help me find a fortified wine that doesn't taste like raisins! So typically I'm a cocktail guy, but recently I've decided I want to find at least one sort of fortified wine that I'll like. Something to have after dinner, as a dessert beverage. To that end, I've been sampling the bottom-shelf offerings of my local Wine & Spirits store to get an idea of my options.

Marsala was the first stop on the fortified wine adventure, and it was so sickly sweet and raisin-y that half the bottle got thrown away. Next, a cream Sherry (might have been Bristol Cream), with high hopes. Nope, this tasted very similar. Madeira? Pretty much like the Marsala. Finally, a five-dollar bottle of ruby Port. This was... slightly better, but nothing I'd buy again.

So my question is this: am I giving myself a totally wrong idea of these wines by buying only the cheap stuff? I'm sure some aficionados will chime in with "absolutely, yes!", but clearly there's some relationship between the taste of $5 ruby port, and $75 vintage port, in the same way that Ten High and Pappy Van Winkle -- while hugely different in quality -- are both still recognizable as bourbon.

Lastly, should I go down other alleys? White Port, fino Sherry? I like the idea of drier and paler, but these are harder to find, at least in Pennsylvania liquor stores.

Club-Mate in Los Angeles?

thedaniel — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 13:56:08 -0800

Where can I buy Club-Mate in Los Angeles? So far I have called the Alpine Village Market and Galco's Soda Pop Stop, and signed up for the newsletter at club-mate.us. No Club-Mate yet. Help?

How do I get this drink on the shelves

Scientifik — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:08:14 -0800

How do I help my mom sell her iced tea in stores? My mom has been making her own unique flavor of iced tea for years and has always received compliments on it and requests for it at parties from different people. She's semi-retired would like to start bottling it and selling it in stores; doesn't have to be nationwide at wal-mart or anything but a little local or regional action would be nice. I don't really have the time to help her start a business but would like to point her in the right direction of some companies that will help her get the ball rolling for manufacturing and distribution, any suggestions?

Replace my Samael coffee cup

Wolfdog — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 09:00:08 -0800

Back in the 90s, Century Media made a lot of 1,000 (if I remember correctly) black Samael coffee cups showing (if I remember correctly) both the moon from the cover of Passage and the yin/yang design from Rebellion. It was my favorite coffee cup ever, and somebody swiped mine. Anyone got any idea where I can find another? There must still be some out there somewhere!

tead off

luriete — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:37:44 -0800

I started with Earl Grey, and drank it for years with milk, until I tried better quality teas and gave up the milk. Then oolong, which was too weak and subtle for me. Now I've moved on to Lapsang Souchong and a malty golden-tipped Guangxi black called Golden Downy. I like strong teas, with no herbal additives; can anyone suggest other teas as strong as the Lapsang, smoky or not? After a recent heart attack my cardiologist, a researcher, suggested I start drinking 4 cups of black tea every day, and that the health benefits - for my heart, at least - might rival even those of green tea. So, now I'm looking for a bit more variety.

Moving, and have 3 urgent questions, so anyway, about Pinot Grigio

dawson — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 13:03:51 -0800

SO setting the more pressing questions aside, I'm having an evening of wine and conversation with my former educational director and always friend...Wine is the libation of choice... She is a winebibber, and wine is not my poison of choice. And when I do imbibe I prefer reds. Or a cold Zinfadel if I'm in a hurry.
So (as there will be more than one bottle) what do you recommend for under, say ten/twelve bucks? The difficulty, she wants Pinot Grigio. "My preference". Except I don't have one.
and for future reference as well...