Drinking days
on Oct 03 in General by DanIn preparation for Greg’s visit last weekend I bought a four pack of Strongbow cider. The reason behind this is a running joke which would probably loose ninety nine percent of it’s humor in the telling, so I shall spare you the details. Suffice to say when Greg and Deb left on Sunday evening all four cans remained in the fridge untouched.
Now normally I am a beer man right down the line, but this evening I decided to put my usual principles aside and crack open a cider. I took one sip and the memories came flooding back.
There comes a moment in every teenagers life when they try alcohol for the first time. However the problem with most booze is that to the virgin pallet it tastes like unrefined battery acid. The trick therefore is to find some sort of gateway beverage, a drink that bridges the gap between 7up and pure ethanol. These days the modern youth has it pretty easy, alcopops such as Bacadi Breezer, Smirnoff Ice and WKD make the transition from sober teen to rowdy yob relatively easy. In my day though we had only two choices: Castaway or cider.
I was first introduced to the delights of drinking by Coddy, Wardy and Ali, three friends who were all in the venture scouts; an organization that was as far as I could tell dedicated to providing 15 – 18 year olds with their first alcoholic and sexual experiences. I, along with two other mates, Barra and Dib, tried both gateway beverages and came down on the side of cider. My rasoning was that castaway (a mixture of wine and tropical fruit) carried with it an undesirable air of femininity. Cider on the other hand; well to be honest cider pretty much carried an air of femininity too, but it tasted marginally better.
They were good times, and I look back on them fondly. This was the era of the great pig farm camp out, the cat’s eye caper, and of course the curious incident of the talking tree. As often happens I’ve lost touch with nearly everyone now. I only see Barra anymore, and then our contact is sporadic.
However I did run into someone today who told me that Coddy is currently working as crew on a luxury yacht. Sitting here looking out of the window onto a cold Yorkshire autumn I like to imagine him thinking about those times too. Sitting on deck in some Caribbean paradise, a smile on his face and a castaway in his hand.
Related posts:
- You were laughing at my helmet hat
- Ten days
- Snow Days
- Pumpkin Carving, Movies, and Drinking Far Too Much Beer
- Before there were four
« « DadCentric: The Book| Harvest festival » »
Ohh yes, the gateway beverage. For me it was Boones Farm Strawberry Hill wine. I remember it fondly. A mixture of strawberry juice and cheap wine. $2.00 a bottle and the guy that hung out in front of the 7-11 would buy it for for $5.00. The good ole days?
I was never a big drinker…but I do remember Boone’s farm as well…and Mad Dog…and some horrible beer called Natural Light :)
Bradley
The Egel Nest
We used to drink wine coolers out of 2-liter bottles and beer so cheap and crappy that the winos wouldn’t touch it.
Good times.
I actually like a good cider on occasion. My wife likes to layer it with Guinness for a ‘Bruised Pear/apple.”
cider = headache
So, who was it that provided you with your first sexual experience?
I’m guessing Coddy.
My gateway beverage ?
Anything that was left in the punters glasses at kickoff time – having an uncle who ran the bars at headingley meant that my weekend jobs started with glass collecting and graduated to actually serving behind the bar.
The referees whistle and the roar of the crowd at kickoff clears a bar quicker than any “last orders” call and leaves behind all sorts of unfinished drinks.
I was always a very happy little glass collector by half time.
Amelia –
Coddy was a german shepherd!
Wardy was Dans nickname for his barbie.
I never had a gateway drink. My first experience was drinking beer around the kitchen table (when my folks were away) with my brother and his friends when I was about 14. After 2 beers I was sitting there talking to them and then just started sobbing uncontrollably. Naturally they thought this was the funniest thing they ever saw.
Like Whit said, good times.
My first experiences came while I was under the employ of the Boy Scouts of America, which was kind enough to employ females as well for their summer camp staffs. I seem to vaguely recall cheap wine coolers and Mad Dog 20/20.
It’s not “gateway drink” Jeff, its gateway beverage.
Jeeze, I’m trying to start a cultural phenomenon here damnit.
How about wine coolers? I remember some of my first experiments with alcohol were with them.
Cider! Or rather half of cider, half of Guiness and a shot of scotch in a pint glass. There was a drink to conjure with. Or tumble over with. I have a lot of happy memories of cider, none of which are printable in a family blog.
Gateway beverage? Country Kwencher, the same thing basically as Boone Farms. Kool-aid with alcohol, yes indeed.
Then I graduated to drinking sloe gin and sour, which tastes like punch. My sister Pam told me once about one of her friends throwing up after drinking sloe gin–it looked like she vomited blood.
We were having fun at the time, right?
I’m sad to say I think I started with wine coolers too…Bartles & Jaymes. Then I went right to gin.
I think I must have been hanging out with Whit and Darren – Bartles and James, Seagram’s, etc. – what on earth were we thinking? We would also throw in some Purple Passion (an Everclear experiment in commercial cocktails) to add to the good times.
Bad beer was also a rite of passage: Natural Lights, Old Swillwaulkees, Pabst Blue Ribbons, Schitz, Falstaff and, the malt liquor of the teen set, Heffenreffer Talls.
“You’ve got antifreeze!”
Hahah I loved that movie. Man I’m so behind on my blog reading.