After turning 50 I have decided to change my ways. I have given up wine and beer, they did me no good. I have started drinking GIN.

I quite like raspberry flavored gin, they were selling bottles off cheap at the local supermarket the other month, should have grabbed the lot.

As a teenager, I once drank a liter of gin in one night. It was a long night. Story cut short, I had a hangover where I felt nauseous for nearly a week. I put the bottle on top of the TV in my room (this was the 90s) and every time I looked at it for YEARS, I felt nauseous. That's long passed, I enjoy a GOOD martini (dirty or not) or GnT on the rare occasion. I think my previous experience let me appreciate both the worst and the best the drink has to offer. My spirit of choice, though, is decent whiskey.

EDIT (I guess): To clarify before the connoisseurs come out, by Dirty Martini, I'm talking of a specific cocktail that was served to me as one using both gin and vodka. If there's another name, I'm unaware.

I did that with Early times. Drank nearly a fifth of that crap , i was around 14ish. I couldn't smell bourbon without my mouth watering like i was gonna throw up until i was in my 30's ..Alcohol is poison.

what was the bill last year?


you brits pay by the quarter?

Bombay Sapphire is a decent mainstream drinker. Sapphire and tonic with a fresh lime twist...gently rub the rim of the glass with the lime.

Look in your local area for good craft spirits. The good ones will surprise you.

You use one or the other. Gin or vodka. Then add olive juice from the jar of olives that is what makes it a dirty martini.