Ask HN: What do you drink?

63 points by starpilot ↗ HN
Ethanol optional. My favorite beverage in the world is a two-shot long espresso with a bit of sugar. It's like a super-rich, more intense coffee. Hackers seem to have interesting tastes, so let's hear them.

250 comments

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Twinings Earl Grey and San Pellegrino do it for me.
Water. I used to drink an unhealthy amount of Pepsi One, but recognized that it was never making me any less thirsty.

It may be boring, but it's cheap (free), plentiful, and effective. The only downside is that I have to rely on willpower for late-night hacking rather than caffeine.

Will Power is my friend as well - water here too. I stick away from caffeine apart from the occasional tea.

I figure that if I really need the boost it'll affect me more because I'm not a regular user. Only downside is that 2 teas gives me the jitters.

Orangina.
I love Orangina. I had it in France when I was a young boy, was stoked to find it here in the states at Whole Foods.
There are a number of places that carry Orangina these days, Trader Joes for example.
Water here.

And a Diet soda or two a day. Whatever is deeply discounted at Safeway I get. My favorite drink of all time is Diet Cream Soda, but that doesn't seem to be sold in the Bay Area.

Cappuccino and Red Bull. We don't get good coffee in my current city :(
Water and Coffee. Occasionally a diet coke. I used to be quite anti-coffee, but it really does make me sharper and more productive. That, and it tastes delicious.
I have a french press on my desk at work. Without coffee, how can you save the world?

Other times: OJ and water. I average less than 1 alcoholic drink per month: I don't like the taste of most alcohol and I intensely dislike being drunk. I do like a glass of cabernet now and then.

I'm a pathetic caffeine addict so the mornings start with a large cup of strong coffee.

Whenever I feel thirsty I make myself a nice pitcher of ice water with a little lemon juice added to it.

At night, for beer I like hoppy West Coast style IPAs. If for some reason I'm trying to get drunk as fast as possible, fill a glass partway with cheap vodka and the rest with cheap beer (a strong beer cocktail, basically).

That actually sounds quite nice (the second). How do you do it, just squeeze fresh lemon juice into it or some sort of bottled stuff?
Morning: Normal Coffee with cream - The bolder the better.

Meals: Sparkling water- I am completely off of soda now. Usually flavored but sometimes not. I don't like the taste of drinking flat water so this was a middle ground that let me have a drink with lunch that didn't feel/taste odd. I usually drink this : http://s7d5.scene7.com/is/image/Staples/s0217240_sc7

Alcohol: Smokey single malt scotch on the rocks

Sparkling flavored water. Reminds me of a marketing idea I had - sell Crystal Pepsi as "cola-flavored spring water, lightly sweetened" in an eco-themed bottle.
You don't put ice in single malt scotch.. a few drops of water is fine, according to your personal preferences, but no ice.
I cringed when I read that. A splash of water is ok, but scotch is only drank on the rocks if it's mixed. If you really want to have it cold put a glass in the fridge serve your ambient temp scotch in it and let it stand for a minute or two.
I should have clarified- Not ice, but whiskey stones. Just didnt want to confuse people here not familiar with the stuff. I like it cold, dont know what to say :)
I really never agreed with the whole philosophy that you are never to drink scotch with ice. It brings out an interesting flavor that you cannot get when drinking it neat.

I also don't think it is such a cut-and-dry issue as some people make it out to be. Macallan even produces this: http://www.notcot.com/archives/2010/01/the-macallan-ic.php

Not scotch. Specifically single malt whisky.
I meant mixed as in blended. Sorry or the confusion. Blended scotch is ok to drink on the rocks... sometimes it's the only way actually. Single malt is in a whole different class though.
Mixed? I'm not sure what you're talking about.

But the guy above was talking about drinking single malt scotch on the rocks. It's not the temperature.

Single malt is enjoyed because of its taste and character, but if it gets mixed with enough water, from melting ice for example, it breaks and loses its appealing qualities.

Single Malt + Water = Former Delicious Whiskey. But in an emergency, you can use ice to make some awful blended whiskey potable.

I meant mixed as in blended, but I understand I could have been talking about mixing whisky with redbull so sorry for using that word. You do realize I was agreeing with you though? Single malt whisky should not be watered down by ice, but if you like it cold, use a cold glass to bring its temperature down (not my cup of tea but its a sensible choice). In contrast blended whisky (read Chivas, or Johnny black) while the flavor is ok they have very little "character" and sometimes taste better on the rocks.
Why the cringing then, if you agreed?

Edit: OK, maybe you confused me twice, first by seemingly cringing at me, and then by talking about "mixed" whiskey. I guess you may have meant that the post I was replying to made you cringe.

I have a small stockpile of non HFCS dr. pepper....

At work, it's Pu-erh, Jasmine, or Oolong in the morning and water + a diet soda or two during the day.

A lot of water. As little soda as I can manage.

Indulgent: a cold glass of organic chocolate milk

When I'm expected to drink an adult beverage: gimlet (gin) or the palest beer I can find.

Nothing on earth beats a glass of Trader Joe's Strawberry Lemonade on a hot day.

+1 for Trader Joe's Strawberry Lemonade. I had it for the first time this summer... great stuff!
If you're a Trade Joe's fan and are in the mood for a more Autumn-esque beverage, try their spiced apple cider.
In the morning I usually have AeroPressed coffee, sometimes with milk, sometimes not. And then during the day I just drink water or teas (green, white, black). I tend to forget juices in the fridge so I rarely get any.

As for alcoholic beverages, I discovered a cucumber variant of the Moscow Mule to be my absolute favorite drink. Smash 2-3 slices of cucumber in a glass, add 3 parts ginger ale/beer (beer is better, but hard to get), 1 part good vodka and a little lime juice, decorate with some more cucumber. The cucumber adds a fantastic fresh taste to the cocktail and makes the ginger ale sparkle even more.

Water. I quit drinking coffee three years ago and never looked back.
Tea, then a large cup of coffee, then water in the afternoon. If I take coffee after 16:00, I'm awake till 2:00 in the morning, so I stick to water.
Tap water, Gerolsteiner mineral water, Bell's beer, loads of coffee, orange juice.
Tropicana fruit juice at home - best juices I've ever tasted, by miles. I'm also getting into Fentiman's Ginger Beer.

Water at my day job, which I've always found really refreshing.

Agreed on Tropicana fruit juice, including their orange and also their 100% fruit juice blends.

For apple, I like Simply Apple. It has a noticeably different (and better) taste from the standard juice aisle apple juices.

Scotch. Macallan 12 or 18, occasionally Glenlivet, and on special occasions Johnny Walker Blue. mmmmm so good.

And coffee, but no soda. Stopped drinking soda many years ago.

Man those are the Scotches I don't drink. JWB is good but too damn expensive, I'll take a Laphroaigh or Lagavulin any day.

Or JW Green...

> Lagavulin

Absofuckingloutley.

This particular spirit has been my drink of choice for the last two weeks or so.

You just named my two favourite scotches.

Strangely enough, I've also identified Macallan and Glenlivet as two scotches that are less pleasant than they "should" be, given their price. This must be characteristic of having an Islay gene.

Talisker is also high up on my list.

If you've only tried "fine oak" Macallan, you should try the sherry cask versions too.
Funny you mention JWB. I was at my local liquor shop on friday night grabbing a bottle of JW Black, my normal "non special occasion" scotch. The guy in front of me bought four bottles of Blue, all the stock the shop had.

I felt so jealous of being able to just casually drop a grand on scotch that I spent all weekend working on my startup.

I dunno man, I think if I had a grand to blow, I'd buy a bottle of Lagavulin and keep the $930 change...
I find Laphroaigh a bit too smoky for my tastes. Haven't tried Lagavulin but I'll keep my eye out for it.
I'll confess depending on which one it is, Ill throw in a few cubes to make Laphroaigh a little more drinkable.

I know many people disagree vehemently, but certain scotches lose a bit of the bite and less of the flavor just a wee bit watered down.

STAR (Beer) - When I am in Nigeria.

Budweiser (Beer) - When I am in the UK.

Ginger Beer - When I am Bored.

Water - When I have to.

Apple Juice - When I have spare pennies.

Plain Tea - When I want to feel like a Geek.

Milk - When I feel I should add some muscle.

Sprite - When.. When.. Whenever.

Coffee - Never again. Except I want an upset stomach.

etc - When I feel like being random.

At the moment, Water.

Wait, you go to the UK and drink Budweiser? Are you mad, sir? There's beautiful fine British ales to be had, not to mention the congregation of the world's finest lagers. Next time you're in the UK, please try a Peroni, a Staropramen or a Schneider Weisse if you're used to Bud and get the opportunity.

Also Nigerian Guinness is pretty tasty too :)

This depends on whenever it's american "budweiser" or original Budweiser (Budvar). With original Budweiser being certainly better that anything Staropramen, but you are probably in for a hangover, as it has particularly high sugar content for light beer (the brewery had even financed scientific study few years ago into what caused this).
Budweiser Budvar is a fantastic beer, but Busch Budweiser actually came before it. The original Budweiser is apparently sold as "Burgerbrau" in the US, something I've never heard of.

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Budweiser

The article you've linked to says it's the other way around. The Burgerbrau Budweiser beer came before the Busch one and was exported to the US a year before Busch started marketing their version of Budweiser.
When talking about specific companies, yes, Busch was first. However, in this case, this is "regional trademark", the beer with this name was brewed in Budweis (Budejovice) long before the company was established. It is a name of the town, after all.

The same way for Pilsner. "Pilsner Urquell" (Plzensky Prazdroj) is brewed in Pilsen (Plzen).

The point is the identification of Budvar as "original" is misleading at best. A better word would be "authentic".
I lived in the UK for a bit and was amazed that brits actually aren't beer snobs. In fact, all of my coworkers seemed to enjoy Stella, which is worse than american macro beers. Not to mentioned Budweiser is all they serve in football stadiums.

Also according to my Italian friend Peroni is the pabst blue ribbon of european macrobrews.

I know, it's depressing about the Stella, and Carling too. Especially when there's amazing ales like Landlord, Jaipur and so on.

I don't know pabst blue ribbon, but Peroni is the closest to a drinkable mainstream lager I can find in the UK.

21st Amendment Back in Black IPA.
I gave up coffee a year and a half ago. My current daily drink pattern:

* 8-13:30 - lots of water

* 13:30-19:30 - steamed milk

* 19:30-22:00 - water

* 22:00 - 1:00 - wine (usually italian red)

21st Amendment Monk's Blood.