What Our Parents Drank.

[smokinjoe]

I remember as a kid that Dad usually drank anything cheap or on sale. But, it had to be good to him. Schaeffers, Blatz, Hamms, Drewreys, on the beer side. I remember him saying that Buckhorn was in his price range, but he couldn't stand it. He always spoke of a beer he drank during his youth in Cleveland, OH--Leisey's. He always said it was the best beer he ever had. A close second for him was Carlings Red Cap Ale.

On the whiskey side, it was Kesslers or Black Velvet.

Mom drank infrequently, Cold Duck on New Year's, maybe a vodka and OJ once or twice during the Summer, but I know her absolute favorite was the Harvey Wallbanger.

JOE

[TomH]

My dad's typical beers were either Weidemans or PBR (this may be the reason I never liked beer when I was growing up). Whiskey was either Old Granddad or Calverts (Blend). Mom always drank sweet mixed drinks where you didn't pay attention to the brand....occasionally she would have a 7 and 7

Tom

[jburlowski]

My Dad drank mostly beer (Schlitz before they ruined it; Pabst after) and since we lived in Milwaukee a shot or two of brandy.

He taught me that there was nothing wrong or evil about drinking. He also taught early on the effects of drinking too much (my head hurts with the memory. Never drink and drive and never drink so much that you act stupid or ride.

[ratcheer]

Great thread, Chuck.

I was one of the "bad experience" kids. But I remember on the infrequent occasions when my dad bought some good stuff, it was usually Canadian Club or Smirnoff vodka.

Tim

[jeff]

Great thread, Chuck.

I was one of the "bad experience" kids. But I remember on the infrequent occasions when my dad bought some good stuff, it was usually Canadian Club or Smirnoff vodka.

Tim

Me too, sort of. My dad died early as a result of a combination of alcoholism and agent orange. Probably would have died without the alcohol anyway. What I do remember of his drinking was mostly beer, Strohs in the barrel-shaped bottles. Every once and a while he would give me a drink...it was terrible, to a 9yo,

[ThomasH]

My grandmother owned a bar from 1945 to 1972 and had everything imagineable behind the counter in her establishment. For my dad, it was sometimes Canadian whiskey and maybe Seagrams 7. When it came to bourbon though, it was always Old Grand Dad BIB. I guess I get my love of 100 proof and up bourbon honestly. When my grandma died in 1998, my dad and uncle divided up her liquor cabinet, my uncle going for the vodka and rum. My dad ended up with all of the whiskey, which ultimately filtered down to me as he isn't allowed to drink much anymore. Many of my plum bottles came from her liquor cabinet. When my dad does have a drink, we get out one of those bottles from grandmas liquor cabinet. Cheers forever to grandma!

Thomas

[Isoflex]

My parents were not what I would call drinkers. Wine was always around but not drunk much. They would buy a case of Pabst now and again. I always got a small (double shot size) A&W mug full when I was just 6 or so on up till we moved South to a DRY County when I was 11. They would often have wine and cheese parties with various liquors available but mainly wines. (To date this, my parents would also buy Cigarettes for the guests lest the guests should run out - my parents didn't even smoke!) I guess that is why I get so much enjoyment out of hosting get-togethers nowadays.

[kbuzbee]

My parents believed that anything worth doing was worth doing exactly the same way every single day of your life. When my dad came home from work, mom would pour a bourbon on the rocks for each of them. Dad would have his at the table. Mom sometimes would sit but usually she was finishing making dinner. They would drink their drinks and talk about their days. We kids were usually in the next room watching old Three Stooges shorts.

Sounds VERY familiar, Chuck. One drink... every day. Usually for Dad it was Kentucky Tavern and water... Mom had hers with 7-UP. I can remember them taking a bottle with us on vacation. We usually went to see his mother and Mom's sister's family and Mom's father in Missouri. None of them EVER drank so the bottle was quietly "smuggled" into the house and the drinks were made & consumed in their room. I assume everyone knew but no one spoke of it... I was told not to mention it.

On warm summer days he would occasionally mix a Tom Collins or a high ball. One day when I was home from college he made me a high ball. It was great... I guess I didn't care enough back then to even ask what was in it. Just enjoyed a summer evening with my folks. I'd forgotten all about those drinks until the recent thread on Gin... Made one. Wow... the memories came back.... They're a perfect summer drink. That one is now in my regular arsenal.

I don't remember beer ever being in the house... I do remember them taking their old pewter mugs to the neighborhood block party every summer where there was a keg. His mug had a flip open lid... Hers was open. Both had glass bottoms....

As for stupid waste stories.... When I was maybe 6-7 I remember pouring a 16 oz tumbler of Bourbon for Santa!!! (Wonder what my folks really thought of THAT?!?). I noticed the sink smelled of Bourbon the following morning.... Guess you shouldn't drink when flying with reindeer:lol:

Thanks for the memories...... I miss them.

Ken

[Sijan]

My folks don't really drink much, and didn't really drink at all when I was a kid. They're members of the Nazarene Church, which is directly opposed to drinking (and dancing!, anything fun, really), so that kind of put a damper on things. However, my Dad was always a beer drinker and occasionally would hide some beer in the back of the basement fridge. When I was a kid, I once found some empties hidden in the back of the freezer (during a church party, of all things), but my mother's quick talking made it sound like they were somehow part of a recycling drive that I was doing for boy scouts. I'm not sure what kind of beer he drank then, but I know he's mentioned Oly, and I think he drank Bud as well. Probably any of the macro brands available on the West Coast and in the Mountain West (he spent much of his life in California, but we moved to Idaho when I was two.)

Now, my folks will drink occasionally - mostly wine - though I've never seen either have liquor straight - my mom will occasionally have a mixed drink while on vacation. My dad still drinks beer, but his tastes have improved a bit - he was sucking down the free Sam Adams and Heinekens at my graduation.

Given the lack of drinking in my house when I was younger, it was pretty surreal to go to wine tastings with them in the past few years.

I don't think they understand my interest in bourbon at all, and I think they are concerned and maybe even mildly embarassed about it. I had something like "collecting and drinking fine bourbons" as one item on a list of several in the interests section of my resume, and my dad strongly recommended I take it off. I left it on, and had a number of good conversations with interviewers about good bourbons, what makes bourbon different from JD or scotch, etc.

[kbuzbee]

I had something like "collecting and drinking fine bourbons" as one item on a list of several in the interests section of my resume, and my dad strongly recommended I take it off. I left it on, and had a number of good conversations with interviewers about good bourbons, what makes bourbon different from JD or scotch, etc.

But did you get the job?? I've always had a problem listing things 'not work related' on a resume... I know they say it shows you're a more well rounded individual and early in my career I followed that logic. Later in life I had trouble limiting a resumee to a couple pages and still say what I needed to say so things that were disrelated fell off quickly.

Ken

[Sijan]

I got several offers...didn't seem to affect anything negatively, and like I said, had several good, positive conversations with interviewers on the subject. I just sort of figured a lot of attorneys would probably enjoy bourbon or scotch, or at least have a passing interest

[cowdery]

Ah, memories. Reading yours has brought back more of mine. I hadn't mentioned beer, but my mother's family was German Catholic, so beer was like mother's milk, literally, and not really "drinking."

But bourbon? As Walker Percy wrote in his 1975 essay, “Bourbon,” “Bourbon does for me what the piece of cake did for Proust.”

[tmas]

My father always had a gallon jug of wine sitting in the corner of the dining room. He would find a new brand when the one he currently drank became unavailable, Italian Swiss Colony, CK, then Gallo or Carlo Rossi, usually they were called "burgundy" but of course they were a mix of Calafornia grapes. Those jugs were my first taste of an alcholic beverage, mixed with some seltzer for a taste when I was a kid. My father would have a couple of small glasses each night with his dinner and that "jug wine" was pretty good with dinner! Nothing fancy, just simple fruity wine.

In the summer sometimes he would drink domestic beer. My recollection of domestic beer in the 60's and early 70's is that it was often pretty good! This was before all the independent brands went under or were bought out by companies like Stroh's which then simply put there generic beer in the can, invariably uninteresting and having nothing to do with what the original brand tasted like. Back then the independent breweries made some darn good beer! My father preferred Rheingold (I miss that beer!), Shlitz, Shaeffer,or Pabst Blue Ribbon, and there were other good ones like Schmidts in a squat round bottle, and Knickerbocker! I don't think some of these beers had national distribution, but they were all available in the NYC area were I grew up.

Hard liquor was for special occasions or holidays. That's the only time my mother ever really drank, her favorite being the brandy alexander. She and my father would each have one or two of these or a manhattan on New Year's or Christmas eve and the like. As for other hard liquor, the occasional gin and tonnic in the summer. I remember seeing bottles of liquor in the liquor cabinet that stayed there for 20+ years. Now that my folks are gone, I still have some of those bottles. Hmmmm......all this brings back fond memories, wish I could put my hands on a flash frozen can of 1965 Rheingold to savor with the memories! Tom V

[tgriff]

Like many posts in this thread have mentioned, my folks were not big drinkers when I was growing up. They would have the occaisonal beer or glass of wine at an oyster roast or holiday gathering.

When my brother and I moved out, they got more interested in entertaining and starting keeping liquor on hand: Maker's, Benchmark, various rums and tequila. My dad makes a great margarita.

[CrispyCritter]

My father is a teetotaler, mainly due to a very bad hangover experience when he was younger. My mother will have an occasional drink of wine with dinner (usually a white zinfandel these days).

As for grandparents, both of my grandfathers were teetotalers; on my mom's side it probably had to do with his father having an alcohol-fuelled mean streak, on my dad's side I think it just didn't interest him. For the grandmothers, on mom's side a non-drinker, on dad's side, a daily Manhattan, or sometimes a martini or wine.

[jspero]

Neither of my parents really drank much. My mom would (and will) add some rum or wine to something she is cooking, but I don't think I have ever seen her actually drink anything except a glass of wine on 2 distinct occations (my wedding and my sister's wedding).

My dad was never really a drinker, either, but I have shared a drink with him once in a while. His usual choice is Scotch, but I think he likely the Pappy 23 I shared with him recently to celebrate the birth of my son. He was also impressed with ET Lee and Weller 12.

I do have memories of a few cases of home-made rasin wine being in the house at all times when they were still married (they split in 1977). Somebody must have been drinking it, but I don't remember them ever having any.

Jay

[brendaj]

Chuck,

What a wonderful thread. Reading thru it has been a delightful trip down memory lane.

Although my folks didn't drink regularly, I remember most my Father being really excited when he scored a bottle of Maker's Mark (this would be in the late 50's, early 60's). You had to know someone that knew someone, etc. to get a bottle...

My Grandfather on my Dad's side played poker with distillery guys. For them it was Yellowstone, Early Times, and Beam (had a boatload of Beam bottles with his name on them).

Pawpaw (Mom's side) was German, so he liked his beer. I remember him warning everyone against drinking Oertel's...He said there was a 'headache in every bottle'...:slappin: I also recall a story about the 1937 flood. Seems he and Mom had to be evacuated by boat, and during this, the boat capsized. She was always amazed at how he treaded (is that a word?) water until they were rescued, with a 7 year old on his shoulders, in a heavy wool coat with a bottle of Bourbon in each pocket...:slappin:

The mention of Mogen David reminded me of my Great Grandmother Garrett. She always used the blackberry to soak her jam cakes for Christmas.

Very cool thread,

Bj

[SBOmarc]

My mother could count the number of drinks she had enjoyed on one hand. Even that would be a stretch.

Dad could make a case of beer last a year depending on who dropped by without bringing thier beer preference. Dad got what he called the best whiskey of all.."vendor bourbon". As early as I can recall, it was OGD 86 through the 60's and 70's. The 2-3 bottles he got for Christmas every year would last till the next holiday season. He reasoned that a working man can't really drink a lot of bourbon. When he retired he discovered WT 101, and life changed for him. He evolved from his OGD with club soda, in a tall Collins glass, to drinking his whiskey first on the rocks, then neat. Luckily for me, despite geograpy we were able to have "Can You Top This" bottle visits before he passed. For me Bourbon remains a bond that he and I have shared for as long as I can remember.

[wispotsill]

I wish I had a nickel for every half a gallon of Ten High my daddy drank, I would be a very rich man.

[JDutton]

I stumbled across this old thread and have enjoyed reading through it. When I was small, I remember my Dad always making himself a Martini and my Mom a Manhattan. I would usually beg for the cherries out of Mom's Manhattans and sometimes she'd give in. I still love the flavor of a maraschino cherry that's been "marinated" for 1/2 hour or so.

I don't remember any brands except that the vermouth was Martini & Rossi. I thought it was fascinating that there were 2 kinds of vermouth. As far as I knew, the only drinks that existed were Martinis and Manhattans. Dad did drink beer (probably no particular brand) on occasion as well. I don't think Mom cared for it.

Jeff

[cowdery]

My Mom drank bourbon rocks, not manhattans, but she liked those maraschino cherries too. There is no greater love than for a mother to give up her manhattan-marinated maraschino cherries for her child.

[SBOmarc]

have you seen this?

http://mailfreepostcards.com/funvideo.html

My Mom drank bourbon rocks, not manhattans, but she liked those maraschino cherries too. There is no greater love than for a mother to give up her manhattan-marinated maraschino cherries for her child.

<sniff>...so true, so true.

Dont forget to see http://mailfreepostcards.com/funvideo.html !

[RoyalWater]

Neither of my parents have been even casual drinkers. I think my dad may have drank a bit when he was in the Air Force; he says he and his mates drank Seagram's 7 Crown and Jack Daniel's Brandy (? does JD make brandy ?). He says he never drank a beer in his life. My mother did some Schlitz in college but hasn't drank beer since; she's from North Dakota and Schlitz and PBR were the bar standards. Now she does strawberry daiquri on special occassions, sweet red wine in the summer, and champagne at New Year's, but only if I buy it.

My uncle on Dad's side, who is 11 years younger than my dad and 11 years older than me likes Icehouse, Corona, JD, blended and single malt scotch, and Smirnoff or Grey Goose vodka. My other uncle (mom's side) is an alcoholic and likes whatever macro-brewed domestic is on sale, wine coolers, and Windsor Canadian.

[Father&Son]

Vodka martinis made from Smirinoff's. Martini & Rossi vermouth.

I can recall them both having one (sometimes two) in the evening after work just like Chuck's parents. I don't recall seeing them drinking when I was younger, but noticed it while I was in High School. Perhaps my adolescence that drove them to it! :grin:

Oh...and Coors beer.

[MikeK]

I always remember my parents and grandparents having beers and cocktails, but I think it tended to be run of the mill stuff. I don't know where my love of high end spirits came from, my parents are always likely to have plastic jugs in the cabinet.

When I used to go visit my grandparents as a young lad in the 60's and 70's I remember we would go out to eat early in the evening. It would start with cocktail hour(s). It was a formal and dignified thing, and dinner would not be sought until later in the evening. My grandfather would always order a Bourbon "perfect" Manhattan, with a twist, not too sweet. I believe this meant to use both dry and sweet vermouth. He would always look the waitress in the eye to see if she was following what he said. If he saw a glimmer of doubt he would say, I'm not being pompous, that full description actually means something, come on back if the bartender doesn't know what I mean.

He never specified a particular bourbon, but when he makes them at home he uses JD black label. He's still at it, bless him, at 90+ years old. I've tried to get him to try some of my bourbons, but he has no interest.