Here is everything you need to know about drinks and drinking in 731 words or less.
All alcoholic beverages are either fermented or distilled. Your fermented beverages are beer and wine. Your distilled beverages are vodka, whiskey, rum, liqueurs, etc.
Distilled beverages are actually fermented beverages that have been concentrated, i.e., they have a higher concentration of alcohol. This is expressed as their percentage of alcohol by volume (%alc./vol. or ABV). Beers are usually around 5% alc./vol. Wines are about 12%. Spirits are mostly around 40%, except some liqueurs which go down around 25%.
Where does alcohol come from? Yeast! They eat the sugar in grapes or grains and excrete alcohol and carbon-dioxide. That is called fermentation. Distillation, a subsequent step, uses heat to separate the alcohol from the water in the fermented brew. This process is repeated two or three times until the alcohol reaches the desired concentration or proof.
Beyond that, alcohol is alcohol. The potency of any drink (i.e., its capacity to get one high) is just a matter of its percentage of absolute alcohol. Nothing else matters. Since alcohol is alcohol, all that matters is how many, how fast, and into whom. The percentage of alcohol is always printed on the label, except on beer in some states. Obviously, mixing alcohol with ice, water, juice, soft drinks, etc., dilutes it, i.e., lowers the alcohol concentration of the drink. The typical mixed drink (e.g., rum and Coke) contains practically the same amount of absolute alcohol as a 12 oz. beer or a 6 oz. glass of wine.
Among distilled spirits, there are straight spirits and liqueurs. Liqueurs (e.g., Kahlua, Bailey's, Jagermeister, amaretto, schnapps) are like mixed drinks in a bottle. They combine neutral spirits (i.e., vodka) with flavorings and, usually, lots of sugar. They come in a wide variety of flavors and alcohol concentrations. Some are only a little bit higher in alcohol than wine (e.g., <20%), while others contain as much alcohol as straight spirits like vodka or whiskey (e.g., 40%+). Liqueurs can be consumed straight, with mixers, or in combination with other spirits.
Among the straight spirits you have two categories: Clear (vodka, gin, white rum, white tequila, etc.) and aged (whiskey, brandy, anejo rum, anejo tequila, etc.) Aged spirits typically have a complex and distinctive flavor of their own and are consumed with nothing added ('neat'), or with only ice ('on the rocks'), water, or the simplest mixers (e.g., club soda). White spirits have little or no flavor of their own and so are usually flavored or mixed with something. The most popular mixers are fruit juices and soft drinks. Some mixed drink recipes call for a mixer, a straight spirit and a liqueur. Others mix several liqueurs together. The combinations are endless.
Some final words about potency: A mixed drink with a little liquor (the generic term for any distilled spirit) and a lot of mixer has an alcohol content about the same as a typical drink of beer or wine. Because they are more concentrated, spirits served without mixers and spirit/liqueur combos should be savored, i.e., sipped slowly, possibly accompanied by a chaser (i.e., water, sparkling water, beer, or some other no- or low-alcohol beverage.)
The practice of shooting a drink (called a 'shooter') is another matter. The idea appears to be to throw a high proof shot of alcohol down your throat without actually (or barely) tasting it. This is a venerable practice among people who wish to become fully intoxicated as quickly as possible. If rapid and utter intoxication is not your objective, avoid shooters.
So what should YOU drink? In bars, especially those frequented by young adults, there are usually all kinds of fad drinks. They come and go. They are fun while they are happening but quickly forgotten. My personal bias is for that pinnacle of the beverage alcohol art, Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey. I recommend a good but relatively inexpensive brand like Jim Beam, Evan Williams, Ten High or Old Fitzgerald to start. Either dilute it with water (up to 1:1) or ice, but not both. Adjust to taste. Practice makes perfect.
By learning to appreciate bourbon at the beginning of your drinking career you will save time and never feel the shame of catching a glimpse of yourself in a bar mirror with a big, pink drink in your hand.
copyright © 1997, Charles Kendrick Cowdery, All Right Reserved.